01-11-2017, 12:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-11-2017, 12:32 PM by Avalancheon.)
In the real world, there are three types of energy weaponse that are feasible: Laser beams, particle beams, and plasma bolts. While all of these types have potential for military use in the future, they have serious limitations when applied to handheld designs. Even within the OA universe, energy weapons are more fragile and temperamental than regular projectile weapons. They require a higher tech base and cannot be made soldier proof. Worse yet, their advantages in firepower and range aren't enough to overcome their disadvantages in other areas. (This is probably why rail-guns will never become standard issue among ordinary soldiers)
So my question to you is: What types of energy weapons are there apart from the 'big three', I.E, laser-particle-plasma beams? Do any of them have potential for real world use, or do the laws of physics rule them out of the question (as it does with ion cannons)? Will 'unpredictable' technology of the future enable the creation of weapons like disruptors or blasters? By 'unpredictable', I mean stuff that qualifys as an unknown unknown. Projectrho has a paragraph about this in their futurology section, and how difficult it is to make predictions even 50 years into the future.
''Each new surge is 90 percent what you might have expected from the last one, plus 10 percent magic (in its Clarke’s Law sense). So from the viewpoint of 1920, 90 percent of the gadgets of the (roughly) Manhattan Project through Apollo Project boom would be imaginable (indeed, some, like TV, were abortively available in the previous boom). But 10 percent (lasers, nuclear power, transistors) would be absolutely incomprehensible—magic.''
So my question to you is: What types of energy weapons are there apart from the 'big three', I.E, laser-particle-plasma beams? Do any of them have potential for real world use, or do the laws of physics rule them out of the question (as it does with ion cannons)? Will 'unpredictable' technology of the future enable the creation of weapons like disruptors or blasters? By 'unpredictable', I mean stuff that qualifys as an unknown unknown. Projectrho has a paragraph about this in their futurology section, and how difficult it is to make predictions even 50 years into the future.
''Each new surge is 90 percent what you might have expected from the last one, plus 10 percent magic (in its Clarke’s Law sense). So from the viewpoint of 1920, 90 percent of the gadgets of the (roughly) Manhattan Project through Apollo Project boom would be imaginable (indeed, some, like TV, were abortively available in the previous boom). But 10 percent (lasers, nuclear power, transistors) would be absolutely incomprehensible—magic.''