Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Difference between revisions

[[File:RailUS gunNavy pre080131-N-0000X-004 impactPhotograph 8076taken from a high-speed video camera during a record-setting firing of an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., on January 31, 2008.jpg|framethumb|400px|Awesome = ½''mv''² <ref>For emphasis, that plume of flame behind the slug is ''not'' an explosive propellant - [[Up to Eleven|it's plasma being formed from the air being ripped apart in its wake.]] Also, the lensing in front of the slug isn't an effect; that's the air warping in front of it.</ref>]]

* In VenusWars''[[Venus Wars]]'', the militarized monocycles are armed with [[Magnetic Weapons|RailGuns.]]

* While there are Valkyries with beam armaments, the vast majority of Valkyries shown throughout ''[[Macross]]'' rely on [[Gatling Good|gatling gunpods]] to deliver [[More Dakka]] with a higher rate of fire than beam weapons.

== [[Film]] ==

* The ''[[I, Robot (film)|I, Robot]]'' movie includes conventional firearms, albeit more futuristic versions of them.

* The alien invaders in ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]'' use seven barreled arm cannons rather than the usual death rays.

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress]]'' (also by Heinlein) the Lunar rebels '"throw rocks'" (ie: 100 tonne boulders, jacketed in steel and fired out of magnetic catapult) down Earth's gravity well. It proves VERY''very'' effective. Cheap too.

* ''[[Beyond This Horizon]]'': the hero uses an "old fashioned" .45 pistol when every other man in his society uses some form of laser or similar pistol because he likes it and the noise is extremely disorientating to his enemies, who expect a silent gun.

* In ''[[Tomorrow War]]'' shields work only against beam weapons, so while lasers are used to shoot missiles and fighters, main weapons are missiles and high-caliber (e.g. 610 or 800&nbsp;mm) guns with guided shells. At least as far as wars between human are concerned—others use weirder weapons, up to gravity-based.

* [[H. Beam Piper]]'s assorted science fiction novels, including ''[[Little Fuzzy]]'' and ''[[Uller Uprising]]'', have faster-than-light travel and antigravity, but modern-style guns are still universally used (they also have huge mainframe-style computers programmed by plugboard, but that's [[Science Marches On]]). His justification for this was that Earth had fought a nuclear war in the early 21st Century, that had destroyed most of the Northern Hemisphere. While civilization was being rebuilt in the Southern Hemisphere, such technologies as hyper-space drive were developed, but weapons technology didn't change much, because what they had was more than adequate for the job at hand. This is why the ''Nemesis'' and the ''Enterprise'' (no, not ''that'' [[Star Trek|Enterprise]]) in ''[[Space Viking]]'' shot it out, in low planetary orbit, with autocannon and guided missiles. Interestingly enough, in spite of hyper-space drives and contragravity normal-space propulsion, both "field drive"- type systems, Piper never assumed the existence of defensive "deflector shields" or "force fields"; the space warships in his stories relied on heavy hull armor to keep enemy fire out. In ''Uller Uprising'' the weapons used by all concerned were automatic pistols, automatic rifles, machine guns, etc, the main difference with present-day warfighting technology being that self-propelled artillery was on contragravity vehicles, tanks had contragrav in addition to tracks, and contragravity airjeeps, air lorries, lighters, etc., substituted for tactical aircraft like fighter-bombers, helicopter gunships, and so on (the plot of ''Uller Uprising'', by the way, was based on the Sepoy Rebellion in India).

* ''[[Starworld]]'' by [[Harry Harrison]] has the rebel admiral explain to the protagonist why energy weapons don't work in the [[Arbitrary Maximum Range|vast distances of space]]. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided ''cannon balls'' to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a [[Flechette Storm]] of rocket-propelled bullets.

* One character in the [[Larry Niven]]-[[Jerry Pournelle]] alien invasion novel ''[[Footfall]]'' describes the alien invaders' primary weapons as "crowbars dropped from orbit". For that matter, the personal weapons used by the aliens are just scaled up versions of ordinary machine guns.

* In ''[[Dune|Legends of [[Dune]]'', both the [[Robot War|Thinking Machines]] and the [[The Alliance|League of Nobles]] (and later the [[Church Militant|Butlerian Jihad]]) almost exclusively use kinetic weapons, bombs, and missiles for aerial, space, and ground combats. While it is revealed that [[Frickin' Laser Beams|lasguns]] were popular during the days of the [[The Empire|Old Empire]], they didn't have the destructive capability of kinetic weapons. Plasma bombs are mentioned to be used occasionally by the [[Humongous Mecha|cymeks]], but those cases are rare.

** In the ''[[Commonwealth Saga|The Commonwealth Saga]]'', a favored weapon in starship combat is the Douvoir missile. Essentially, the idea is that it's possible to control the speed at which the endpoints of a wormhole are moving. It is therefore possible to leave a wormhole at whatever relative speed (compared to whatever else is nearby) you want, without expending time and energy to accelerate to that speed. Douvoir missiles are simple projectiles that are shot out of a wormhole at a significant percentage of light speed, and as such do an enormous amount of damage.

* From ''[[Lensmen]]'':

* In Tanya Huff's ''[[Valor's Choice]]'', the main protagonist is asked by a pacifist member of The Federation (humans were recruited to do the fighting) why they use stretchers that need to be carried, rather than the local equivalent of anti-gravity. She responds that both they and "The Others" routinely attempt to disable all electronic devices used by their opponents, and they use hand-carried stretchers for the wounded for the same reason they use "primitive projectile weapons" that have to "be physically smashed to stop working".

* The plot of the [[Tom Clancy]] novel ''[[The Cardinal of the Kremlin]]'' centers around the US and USSR developing strategic laser weapons and trying to steal the plans of their counterpart's systems from each other, but after that book, laser weapons are forgotten about. Eventually in ''[[The Bear and the Dragon]]'', the lead researcher of the US team reappears and mentions that they never succeeded in making a laser large enough to be useful. All militaries in the series use conventional weaponry when fighting each other.

** In "Ariel," as Jayne and the Tams flee the Hands of Blue, Jayne fails to blast open a locked door by shooting it with a high-tech sonic stun rifle. A moment later, Mal and Zoe shoot out the lock from the other side with good old kinetic slugthrowers. Though that might be playing with the trope, because a weapon designed not to cause lasting damage [[Shaped Like Itself|doesn't cause lasting damage]].

** Played straight by the Ancients, though. After going through energy weapons in all sizes, powered by all kinds of things (another dimension, for example...) they still arrived at remotely controlled drones that simply fly really fast and penetrate their targets, turning them into Swiss cheese. The reason railguns seemed weak in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' was probably that the targets they were used against WERE''were FREAKINGfreaking HUMONGOUShumongous''. Those hives did pack some bulk, after all.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Played with in ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''.

** Bolt weapons, that is low-caliber artillery with armour-piercing high explosive rocket-assisted shells (there are also variants from toxic to frag to [[Holy Hand Grenade|anti-daemon]], of course). The standard issue bolter of [[Super Soldier|the Space Marines]] is not only iconic, but a superior weapon, both in the background and tabletop. The fact they fire 0.75 caliber (and heavy bolter is 1.0") armour-piercing high-explosive (there are also variants from toxic to frag to anti-daemon, of course) rocket-propelled rounds goes a long way to explain it. Bolts are expensive, but if you can get them legally at all, you probably won't pay from your own pocket and/or don't care much about prices in general outside the contexts of bulk trade and large-scale construction. Then there are Avenger bolt cannon, rotary cannon of higher caliber than heavy bolter (made for Avenger Strike Fighter obviously intended to resemble A-10 "Thunderbolt" with ''Avenger'' gun) and Vulcan Mega-bolter — dual and longer cousin of Avenger (for almost twice the range and rate of fire), mounted on superheavy vehicles and point defense turrets of spaceships.

** Energy weapons exist, and in fact [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] are explicitly both easy to mass-produce and more reliable than kinetic weaponry, but many people still swear by solid-projectile weapons, because a) it's easier to get full-auto fire from an SP weapon than a lasgun, b) It's somewhat easier to get decent armor penetration - many lasguns can be fired in overload mode to much the same effect, but this makes them ''less'' reliable and quickly drains power packs, and c) the roar of an autogun is just so much more ''[[Rule of Cool|impressive]]'' than the ''zzip'' of a lasgun. ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' goes into detail and doesn't contradict original 40k on this. To be fair, an Imperial pulse lasgun is still a powerfulvery good weapon by our standards, strongequivalent enoughof toassault blowrifle limbsin offperformance, awith humansome beingperks on top. It's just most humans' bad luck of being born into [[Crapsack World|the 40k universe]], where their fantastic futuretech guns and body armor have about the effectiveness of a flashlight and wet cardboard against everyone else. Hellguns (heavy-duty laser weapons with backpack power packs) are great, but they are rare, expensive and require more maintenance. And as sniper weapons go, even a hunting rifle is as accurate as a long las (at the same price) and it lacks a scattering shiny beam that hopelessly gives away the shooter's position, and a proper sniper rifle is more expensive, but also more accurate. Plasma weapons are expensive and dangerous due to overheating/containment issues, and melta (fusion weapons) is great at frying armored vehicles, but short-ranged and even more expensive, and in both cases ammunition costs much more and is available less widely than rounds for common firearms.

** The [[Wave Motion Gun|Nova Cannon]], the main weapon of Imperial battleships. It's magnetically fired at just under the speed of light for some... [[No Kill Like Overkill|interesting effects]]. It fires shells with a diameter of fifty metres, which are frequently packed with fun stuff - Vortex warheads leap to mind. The weapon can create an explosion that blows up a squadron of kilometre-long ships, thousands of kilometres apart, in a single blast. And if it's not nasty enough, there are Vortex warheads. For the same reason, their use is limited to long range, however, and they are not very accurate - so a ship packing one of these often achieves more with a laser broadside; so torpedoes are still competitive, and more versatile.

* In the discontinued ''[[Babylon 5]] Wars]]'' tabletop game, kinetic weapons ignored armor and did standard damage, which means that you could deal the attack's full damage to the component you hit. It'sIts main downside was that if you hit a less-than-vital component (like one forward gun out of thirty), then the damage would not transfer to the hull like the other weapon types.

* The classic ''[[Car Wars]]'' did have lasers, but as a rather expensive weapon. Most combat was with bullets, shells, and rockets. One [[Splat BookSplatbook]] calls out lasers as being not used in the military except for things like range finding and detecting.

* ''[[Borderlands]]'' is one of the best examples. Sooner or later, you will find an Eridian weapon, which shoots energy. But it soon becomes obvious the Eridian weapons are [[Awesome but Impractical]]-and some would argue on the word "awesome." While shooting highly damaging bursts of energy, said energy blasts are slow and ofteroften blinding and take a while to reload, and the only thing they work well against is - no, wait, they still suck against Eridian constructs. Last but not least, by the time you get them you'll have a fair amount of levels in the proficiency of the basic weapons while you'd have to undergo [[Level Grinding]] with the Eridian weapons to make them go up to the same level.

* ''[[Phantasy Star]] Online]]'' features the Yasminkov series of weapons, the only non-Photon weapons in the game. The Yasminkov 9000k is one of the most popular weapons for the ranged class, due to being a Mechgun (which usually barely have ranger greater than melee weapons) with the range of a Rifle (the longest range of any weapon in the game). In addition, all of these hit instantly, while the Photon weapons have a slight delay.

* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'': Energy weapons exist, but they are obtained too late in the game to be commonly used, and their ammo is so limited, it is advisable to only use them for certain situations. {{spoiler|For one thing, the Laser Rifle can be used to finish the last boss fight in seconds.}} Despite their power, they take up a lot of inventory space, compared to kinetics.

* In ''[[Lost Planet]]'', energy weapons draw energy from the same reserves your environmental suit uses to keep you from burning to a cinder or freezing solid. In the sequel, you can use abilities that reduces costs from the energy weapons.

* In ''[[UFO: AfterblankAfter Blank|UfoUFO: Afterlight]]'', Earth technology based projectile weapons have better stats than laser-based weapons and electricity-based weapons. And all other ranged weapon types become unwieldy heavy weapons in human hands. Your main opponents also use primarily projectile weapons, but tend towards [[Abnormal Ammo]].

* In ''[[End WarEndWar]]'' the JSF (America)'s WMD is a Kinetic Strike from the Freedom Star space station. Basically a large metal rod fired from space. The trailer shows 3 rods being fired at Paris to defeat the Russian forces overwhelming an American battle group.

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', you have access to a ridiculous number of ranged damage sets. Most of these are elemental or energy based, but three (Archery, Assault Rifle, and Dual Pistols) rely solely on kinetic weaponry. While firing a bow and Arrow isn't as cool as [[Playing with Fire]], the Weapon Sets certainly aren't starving for damage. They also have a unique advantage in the fact that their "Nuke" powers don't leave themtheir users exhausted after useruse.

* ''[[Contra (video game series)|Contra]]'' for the NES invokes this on accident. The Laser Gun powerup is almost useless because firing a second shot will instantly erase the first shot from the screen. Thus, firing rapidly will reduce your gun to little more than a laseriffic chainsaw.

* ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'' contains a general balance between energy weapons and kinetics (although energy weapons make up a disproportionately larger portion of the very high end attacks). The Protoss rely pretty much entirely on energy weapons (including energy melee weapons), but they are pretty balanced against the bullet and missile wielding Terrans and the claw and acid-spit-or-something wielding Zerg.

* In ''[[Star Trek Online]]'' this is a major component to early space combat. Use your energy weapons to knock down shields then use kinetic weapons (photon torpedos) to deliver the deathblows. Phasers will do around 100 damage to the hull of an enemy ship, a torpedo can easily go over 2000 damage. The exception is Cruiser players who specialize in [[Beam Spam]] due to torpedoes having a limited firing arc and Cruisers having a low turn speed.

* ''[[Spectre (video game)|Spectre]]'', though set in an explicitly virtual environment, uses projectile weapons on all characters (including the player) that shoot.

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