Would Scifi Energy Weapons Make Sense For Modern Soldiers? #Halo #warhammer40k #gaming

[onionking]

i imagine the main advantage would be ammo capacity and transportation

[AKlover]

"How power dense and cheap is your man portable battery?" Pretty much the only question that needs to be asked in this question.

[ironmangx-romt]

If you were to take the 40k lasgun as example is mostly beneficial when it comes to logistics because it's easier to make power packs to supply people with than bullets and can be charged anywhere. Meaning less weight more shots and easier to train on. I honestly don't think you could properly supply a force the size of the Imperial guard with just conventional powdered weapons just because of the bullets alone.

[conorlemon]

The main advantage of energy weapons would be not having to lug around heavy amunition all the time

[HadesCowboy]

The main benefit would have to be in logistics. Is it easier to produce, store, transport, and carry an amount of energy cells that produce the same amount effective fire? When that answer is yes We will switch to energy based weapons.

[temp]

I'd think making a glorified battery would be a lot more cost effective than say a 30 round magazine.
So in theory, it would just be less expensive to make something like a 40k lasgun.

[kingwendi]

You should take a look into killzone or resistance weapons too! Or media in general there's many interesting stuff, like the auger...

[vahidmoosavian]

the main problem with all energy weapons is a little thing called atmosphere, causing a lot of energy loss over distance (even pretty short ones), since there is still matter and stuff in the way of any beam or plasma that absorb and disperse them.
they do great in the void of space though!

[FIVEBASKET]

I think it would be used if it was more easy for logistics or you git the same amount of firepower for a lower cost/weight

[IrascibleTank]

Reminds me of an old comment I saw a while back, it says “So long as armor keeps getting more durable, people are gonna find ways on how to break it.”.

[GumballMachinery]

Counter argument - They look absolutely dope

[lucasaraujogalvaodamotta]

Carry capacity and ammo afordability are big bonuses (as most of the comments have said, so I won't detail that much), but also you would also rarely need to reload because of the capacity of a battery compared to magazine, there is no recoil and it is much easier to melt the armor of tanks, planes and basically any artillery vehicle with plasma than penetrate it with a bullet. So yes, it is justified even outside of logistics

[dororo]

The warhammer lasgun would (and a lot guard equipment) would be very good irl as your fighting people not demons and they are VERY durable, cheap, available (at least in that world), and a lasgun can recharge off of fires.

[psychosytheXmediaXco]

If, on the other hand, it was like a 40k lasgun and it got 150-odd shots per rechargable battery and you can charge said battery by chucking into a campfire (even if it might explode) it would simplify a lot of logistics, probably.

[eclairdawnlight]

In a Gundam series I saw standard munitions were outlawed for the risk of space debris near any station or travel.

[digitaljanus]

If we're talking about combats in future pressurized environments like spaceships, space stations, pressurized habitats on the Moon, Mars, etc., we're probably going to want to use some future equivalent to the Glaser Safety Slug to avoid breaching the hull. Can you have an energy weapon that can penetrate armour but not the hull of a spacecraft or habitat?

[nathanielnadeau]

There's more to a weapons efficiency in the battlefield than damage though. Energy weapons would potentially be much lighter in weight, and capable of holding much greater ammo capacities than standard fire arms.

[cosmicfails]

people are talking about weight and what not, but another thing I think would be good with weapons is standardising the ammo of weapons more
instead of fiddling about with .50 and 9mm and 7.26 or whatever it's called
you have just your simple battery packs that slide and lock into all manner of weapon models
means that your squad mate can always freely toss you an magazine to fit your weapon regardless of what you're geared up with

[thomasfrye]

I like the method with star-wars.
-It’s got similar effectiveness in most environments
-More effective than conventional arms in space and underwater
-far cheaper for them
-Ammo is a lighter than air gas in a small cartridge that, for the stormtrooper’s decent weapon, holds 500 rounds
-no hang fire
-no chain fire
-reduced misfire, but for different causes

In legends, the Mandalorians even use a combination of the two to hunt Jedi. It fires a slug surrounded by a bolt so that if the Jedi stops one, the other can’t be.

[daddysempaichan]

A thing to note is that Laser Weapons are banned by the Geneva Convention, at least against humans. That's because you wouldn't need to make a laser strong enough to kill a man, just strong enough to melt their eyes and render them blind and useless. They even work against cameras, so even Tanks can be blinded. There's a reason why lasers are used in defensive applications and not offensive.

In any case, the main issue with Infantry energy weapons would be heat, especially for lasers as whatever energy you're putting downrange is also being built up in the laser before being fired. On a larger platform you could for example pump Liquid Nitrogen into the laser between every shot to cool it down but Infantry, with their small size and limited carrying capacity, that might be overly impractical, expensive, and heavy. Perhaps you can do what Mass Effect did and make detachable heat sinks that you have to "reload" with after a couple of shots. Practically speaking, this might lead to laser guns having less overall shots and ammo, but in the wider context logistics would still be simplified as these heatsinks are likely reusable indefinably after cooling down and you don't have to ship ammo to the soldiers anymore, instead you just give them ways to generate energy.