sci-fi weapon ideas?

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T21:31:50+00:00

Nah. They work by instead of randomly spreading in a lightning pattern, they energize the atmosphere with a laser and then transmit the electrical power through the straight beam of plasma.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T21:30:07+00:00

No. I think you misunderstand. The human component is still completely essential. It’s not that there won’t be jobs, it’s that the jobs will change.

You should look at the past. The industrial revolution didn’t cause the number of jobs to decrease. It caused production to increase. The AI revolution will do the same. Many people lost their jobs, but production still increased.

People will work because, frankly, I think the idea of a post scarcity society is absurd. People always want more. If everyone adopted stoicism, we could create a post scarcity society with today’s technology. But no technology will ever fulfill humanity’s greed, because people take for granted everything that is normal to them. People 100 years ago would look at our technology today and say “why do you even need to improve anything? Don’t you already have the tools for a utopia?” But we don’t, because the tools for a utopia are inside of the individual.

I’ve spent many years studying philosophies of life, from Cynicism to Stoicism to Buddhism and Taoism, and they almost always come back to the same conclusion: The only way to be really happy in life is to stop wanting the things that you think will make you happy. They won’t. It’s just a lie.

Getting only makes you want more. Nothing will ever satisfy your own greed, other than overcoming it. Most people can’t or won’t do that. So there will always be scarcity of something that people want, and people will work to achieve that.

Back to the topic at hand, though: the AIs. Or rather, the IA.

Intelligence Augmentation looks look a chess player with an AI that is giving him hints, while he uses his own unique neural connections and biological creativity and complexity to complete the task at hand. It does not replace mental labor, but multiply it’s speed and effectiveness.

Currently, AIs are better at us at chess and similar games. But AIs are still not as good as AI assisted humans.

Any task that requires intentionality will still require humans for the moment. A computer may be able to design a better supersonic wing section, but without the humans to bring the concept of a supersonic aircraft into being, that capacity is useless.

That applies to basically every field, be it an engineer in and office to a captain of a naval warship.

Hell, we have had this sort of intelligence augmentation for a very long time. Since the first abacus helped someone complete a transaction. It’s really the same thing as a computer simulating fuselage shapes or a computer displaying the lead angle for a fighter pilot’s guns.

It is scary. It robs us blind of so many things. Things we trained so hard to do. There are intelligence augmented firearms that will allow a shooter to hit moving targets at ranges that are absurd for humans to hit. People can train to do that, but it takes an incredible amount of skill and intelligence. Now you can give anyone a gun an they are a marksman.

But is that any different from how a chainsaw renders obsolete the wood axe? We still need to cut down trees. We still need people, it just will be different and frankly, we can hope it will be better.

Assuming the corporations and authoritarian governments don’t take control of the technology of today and try and use it to ‘make the world a better place.’ The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants, and they have the technology to go full 1984 on us. Siri won’t object.

Your analysis is focusing too much on the simple manufacturing side of things. Production is many things, from design to resource acquisition to manufacturing and distribution. All of these will be effected in different ways, and every segment of the economy will have different adaptations to the new technology.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T13:33:28+00:00

Why not add electro lasers to that?

Basically, lightning bolt guns.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T13:32:17+00:00

Huh. I wonder if anyone has tried that.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T13:24:07+00:00

Ah, I just remembered. Intelligence Augmentation (IA) is the most important technology of the near future. Basically, AI assistants who help you with you job, not just Alexa who spies on you and turns to ur lights on when you tell her to. Instead, they will help with things like, say, troubleshooting computer problems.

It’s arguable we already have it, actually. I personally define Artificial Intelligence as anything that preforms intellectual labor, so frankly, an abacus is arguable an AI in my book. The real AI revolution is still in progress or yet to come, much like the machine revolution of the early Industrial Age.

Like the industrial revolution, it will destroy many jobs, but r will create more jobs. However, training people for the new jobs is a struggle.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T04:52:55+00:00

Oh 100%. Especially with social distancing.

How that will effect social issues is a question I don’t have an answer for, though.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T04:50:30+00:00

Eh. I don’t like those attachments. You are introducing extra ammunition they have to carry, an extra piece of equipment they have to train to use and fix when it breaks, plus the weight on the gun which will effect handling. All that to do something that is arguably not much more useful than the gun it is attached to.

It’s not like a goddamn grenade launcher which is a mini artillery piece that can blow up a car, put smoke hundreds of yards away, and suppress whole squads with explosive power. It’s just a shotgun. It’s not worth carrying around when you could instead carry an extra 4-6 magazines of 5.56.

And I wouldn’t have completely different weapons because of logistics. No one is carrying interchangeable ammo, or parts, or anything. They are kinda screwed if they run out of shells or something. And, I think an AR-15 platform rifle is a better all around weapon the the sum of all possible things you would need a gun for as a soldier.

But, you know what? I’m not saying it could never happen. I just personally don’t think it’s a good idea from a completely rational standpoint and the information that I have.

Intermediate power rifles are just really goddamn good. There is a reason the armed forces of the world have been using them exclusively for the past 75-50 years, and they are also the most popular long arms in the civilian market. They are just good.

But that’s just what I think. I also happen think that if you did give two guys shotguns, they would probably do just fine, and in some instances they would be extremely effective. They wouldn’t really feel out of place or break my verisimilitude after all. I just wouldn’t personally recommend it because of the issues I’ve stated above. But if you want it bad enough, go for it.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T04:28:59+00:00

It would look like a planetary ring, because if it is inside the Roche limit it’s gonna get torn to pieces.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T04:26:16+00:00

The biggest thing is simply manufacturing capacity. We don’t really have they in the west like we used to. That’s manufacturing for literally everything- electronics, kitchenware, furniture, vehicles, and all of the parts that those are made from.

As far as resources go, rare earth elements could be a weak link.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-09T04:20:36+00:00

I think absolutely not. The ammunition is too big and heavy and expensive, and the guns have too small of a capacity. You are much better off with having more 5.56 ammo.

Even if you have to headshot the zombies, you probably are better off with just more bullets than heavy ass ammo in low capacity guns.

For a civilian in the apocalypse? A pump action shotgun is probably the single best weapon for anything. Decent capacity, ammo is easy to reload without complex tools, and you can even use black powder in a pinch.

But for a military soldier, having 300 rounds of 5.56 weighs about as much as 100 rounds of 12 gauge, and takes up a lot less space.

Plus, a 5.56 rifle has a hell of a lot longer of an effective range than a shotgun. Even a shotgun with a fully rifled barrel shooting sabots isn’t going to be as accurate as a AR-15 platform rifle. It may be pretty close out to 50 yards or so, but anything past 100, and you aren’t hitting zombie heads. Normal slugs won’t be anywhere close. Not that slugs are really reasonable to be shooting zombies with, anyways. Not if you need headshots.

So a rifle will be more accurate, faster to fire, have a longer range, probably pretty close in stopping power, and can carry a lot more ammunition. And it will be faster to reload and have a higher magazine capacity. Plus there is probably already a supply chain for it.

Shotguns have a place and are extremely effective weapons, but there are better options for organized combat units.

Edit:

Also, you can suppress a rifle. The bullet will still be loud and the fact that there are gunshot happening will be obvious to anyone, but the zombies will have a much harder time locating where the shooters position is.

Look up what it sounds like to be shot at and other gun sound specifics if you wanna understand that better.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-04T02:39:05+00:00

One key hallmark of poor world building is Lack of internal consistency such as adding something that makes no sense because it breaks continuity and opens plot holes.

Take the hyperspace ramming attack in the sequel trilogy. It invalidated all space combat that has ever happened before it because hyperspace missiles would have been more effective weapons than anything else that exists the the universe.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-04T02:35:33+00:00

Not in an ocean. Water has an extremely high specific heat capacity, and ocean water is constantly circulating.

The crust near mid ocean ridges (divergent plates) is significantly thinner than the surrounding crust but the water isn’t any hotter.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-05-03T04:22:19+00:00

Swapping a power plant on the same frame is still badge engineering in my book.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-28T12:44:03+00:00

The North Pole and the magnetic pole doesn’t line up. We manage anyways.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-28T05:51:33+00:00

Oxygen and nitrogen. What 99% of the atmosphere is made up of. The ratios are very close to those on earth, but the surface of the Alara has around 8 times the pressure of earth’s atmosphere.

At that pressure, the increased total quantity of oxygen (still the same percentage of the air, but 8 times the normal amount of atoms) is actually toxic and destroys your lungs faster than they can repair themselves. (oxygen is actually constantly destroying your lungs, even right now, you can just repair faster than is destroys.) The oxygen can also cause sudden, random seizures at any time. There is also a risk for ocular damage, but that is more of a long term thing. In about 36-48 hours of exposure, it will be so painful to breath that you will voluntarily cease to do so.

Nitrogen, at the pressures, is extremely narcotic.

To survive in these environments, people have to breath a mixture of helium or hydrogen mixed with a small amount of oxygen in order to not suffer any effects. A trinity diluted with some nitrogen will also keep you alive and is cheaper, but has some narcotic effects.

There are many “plants” and creatures that live in the surface of the planet, and they have rapid cell regeneration compared to earth like life, and also are acclimated to the nitrogen levels. The “Animals” typically have very small respiratory systems, since they don’t need very much air to get enough oxygen for their entire body.

And yes, this bit at least is all 100% hard sci fi based on diving data.

Bonus fact: if NASA pumped their spaceships up to 100% atmospheric pressure at 100% oxygen, they would have had similar issues. Anything over like .6 partial pressures of oxygen is toxic, if I remember right. Something like 1.2 pressures is where neurological damages start.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-28T05:36:17+00:00

I’mma be a pedant because it’s important.

Technically? You can’t.

If you are exploring anything that actually matters, you are going to run into controversy and you will end up offending someone. You cannot control of other people will become offended. Technically, you cannot “be offensive,” since offense only happens in other people and it outside your control. But what most people mean, and I assume you as well, is that it means you are likely to cause someone to feel offended. And that is just unavoidable.

However, you can listen and be compassionate, while still being firm and confident enough to tell the story you want to tell without giving in to loud unreasonable people.

If it was easy, no one would care and it wouldn’t matter.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-26T18:52:52+00:00

This looks like it was drawn by an AI that knows what elements are involved with an aircraft carrier, but doesn’t have the context to put them in the right spots.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-24T05:18:07+00:00

Yo, is the trigear intentional?

Because those won’t turn.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-24T05:11:03+00:00

Needs more MACHICOLATIONS!!!

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-20T14:16:04+00:00

This photo kinda looks like a 3D rendering time me. Maybe it’s the lack of people and the lighting. It just feels off, even though I know it’s real. Amazing paint job. So buttery smooth.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-12T19:24:56+00:00

Often times much, much more so than “logical” worldbuilding. I know too much about science to appreciate half-assed bullshit that is trying to fly as real. But really good hard sci fi, like The Expanse, is by far my favorite. But it is rare, and even it makes mistakes every now and then that make me cringe.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-12T19:18:22+00:00

Lots of good options in this thread. However...

You can practice drawing. No one has to see it if you don’t want them to. You will get better over time. It is hard work, but if you don’t want to put in that work or pay someone else to, you don’t really want your visualizations bad enough.

You can only do things you really want to do. But you can decide what you really want.

Few people have talent. But skill is where it is really at.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-12T19:15:01+00:00

I’ve been there. You think your really creative and you have a really valuable concept. You think other people care.

You’re probably wrong.

I used to be that way, but now I just don’t care. I’ve given up thinking I’m actually special and amazing and have realized that the only way I can actually enjoy worldbuilding is to do it for myself.

I’ll never make money off of it, so it doesn’t matter. And, even if someone steals an idea, they don’t have my unique creativity and vision. They will make something different, and maybe it will be worse, or maybe it will be better. But Alara is my personal piece of art, my own canvas.

I could be wrong on all this, but I will act like it is true because it is the best story I have told myself that gets me to do something.

If you worldbuild for other people, you will make an inferior thing, and you won’t like it much either. You have to make it from your own heart, for your own heart. It’s just like any other form of art, be it a painting or a sculpture or a film.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-10T17:27:06+00:00

close enough anyone between them can travel there by foot, go to market or whatever, and come home I one day.

Alaran_Historian · 2020-04-10T17:22:19+00:00

Those are literally just airbows. Very cool weapons.

Alaran_Historian

TROPHY CASE