Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Difference between revisions
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The story is set in some high-tech and/or [[The Future|futuristic society]]. There are [[Everything Is Online|massive computer networks]], sentient robots, and [[Casual Interstellar Travel|ships that can zip across space with the same amount of effort it takes you to go to the store down the street.]] Despite all this technology, however, combat isn't all that different. [[Powered Armor|Battle armor]] may have some gizmos on it, the guns may have higher muzzle velocities and an ammo count greater than the population of several rural communities, war vehicles may be able to do some fancy new tricks, but combat is the same at heart, bullets and shells still rule the battlefield. If there are [[Energy Weapon|energy weapons]] in the universe, they either are horribly disadvantaged with fewer shots before a replacement is needed, experimental, hard to get, or wracked with issues like overheating, and that's supposing anyone other than the attacking alien race/evil faction even has ''access'' to them. And that's if you can get them to actually be capable of hurting things.
An argument in favor of projectiles in fiction is, surprisingly, [[Rule of Cool]]
Sometimes kinetic weapons themselves don't appear to have advanced, either. Future weapons won't necessarily ''look'' more "advanced" or really be that different from modern ones: whether rounds are fired from a modern rifle or a [[Magnetic Weapons|space railgun]], precise guides held by a solid external structure are still required to accelerate the projectile.
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* 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 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
* Pretty much anything [[David Weber]] writes, such as the ''[[Honor Harrington|Honorverse]]'' or the ''Empire of Man'' (''March Upcountry'', etc.) series, gives futuristic forces some form of high tech mass accelerator weapon. They don't actually share any technology with gunpowder firearms, but they still have the same "fast pointy thing goes in the soft squishy thing" principle. And if they have 1000 round magazines or can tear apart a tank, all the better.
** Also, the protagonist will inevitably wind up using an old-fashioned gunpowder weapon for ''some'' reason or another, just for [[Rule of Cool]].
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** 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 FREAKING HUMONGOUS. Those hives did pack some bulk, after all.
* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Starfleet developed a projectile weapon known as the TR-116, in the event that personnel were in environments where phasers would not work. The rifle had some interesting uses; Chu'lak modified it with a mini-transporter, allowing it to beam its bullet to ''other rooms'' only a few centimeters from its target, and a high precision visual sensor, allowing for lethal targeting up to the maximum range of the micro-transporter (plus the effective range of the rifle). The rifle never entered service due to the invention of newer technologies. In some of the ''Deep Space'' novels, however, the rifle is said to be quite useful, especially against the Borg. It is also implied that another reason Starfleet doesn't use the weapon is because it is ''too good'', since one can modify it to transport bullets, allowing potential assassins to do their work with little effort. Whether or not it has a semi or full auto function isn't mentioned... but all things considered, it can be assumed.
* Played straight in ''[[Babylon 5]],'' but in an unusual way: Everyone on the station uses energy weapons ''because'' they're less destructive than kinetic
** While most weapons in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' are energy weapons, in early seasons the planet Narn is devastated by use of simple "mass drivers"
** Also, Garibaldi has inherited his gran's S&W .38 Special, and states that kinetic hand weapons are still used, but only in planet bound places, because a shot from a slug could rupture the hull.
* In ''[[Andromeda]]'', most large ships only use energy weapons for point defense; most combat uses relativistic missiles or, at extreme close range, anti-proton cannons. As for hand-held weapons, people typically carry gauss pistols with smart bullets or [[Swiss Army Weapon|force lances]] that can fire mini drones or plasma bursts depending on the situation.
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** In ''Call to Power 2'', the sequel of ''Civilization: Call to Power'' weapon technology development continues past the [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|first half of the 21st century]].
*** Similarly, the ''Beyond the Sword'' expansion featured a [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|near-future scenario]], with the option of adding some of this technology into the later end of a normal game.
* ''[[Descent]]'' arguably falls into this; the vast majority of primary weapons ARE energy-based, but most secondary weapons are rockets, and ''Descent II'''s Gauss Cannon is regarded as a [[Game Breaker]] for good reason, mostly damage and [[More Dakka|fire]] [[Gatling Good|rate]]-partially because the kinetic primary weapons here are [[Hit Scan]] and the [[Frickin' Laser Beams|"lasers"]] are '''not'''. (Except the Omega Cannon, but its range is ''very'' short.) Same goes for ''Descent 3'''s Mass Driver, which functions much like a ''[[Quake]]'' railgun in [[Hit Scan]], damage, and fire rate, with that last point balancing it out compared to the Gauss Cannon, now [[Nerf
** To top it all off, the most feared [[Demonic Spiders]] in the series are Class 1 Drillers, which are equipped with Vulcan Cannons just like yours. That means ''they're the only enemy with [[Hit Scan]] weapons.'' [[Oh Crap]].
** Also, ''Descent 3'' has breakable glass. Only kinetic weapons can break glass. This is ''required'' to progress in certain levels. See where we're going with this?
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** Many non-standard weapons superficially resembling [[Beam Spam]] are still considered mass accelerators:
*** The Collector Assault Rifle uses "metallic enamel" as a physical projectile, and the geth weaponry is exactly the same as other guns, except with a phasic envelope.
*** ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' explains that the weapons Sovereign uses that ''look'' like energy weapons actually aren't
** ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' also features an exposé on kinetic weapons by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bloy8-7vrk an ornery drill sergeant bringing a couple of cadets up to speed on coil guns].
** However, it is mentioned that if a practical and compact infantry-scale energy weapon that is unaffected by atmospheric beam dissipation was ever developed, combat will go through a huge paradigm shift because all current shielding technology is designed to repel kinetic weaponry, hence the term "kinetic barrier".
*** The Collectors apparently have done exactly that with their Collector Particle Beam heavy weapon. This is ignored in game for [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|balance purposes]] - the Collector Particle Beam still has to eat through shields before hitting any ceramic armor or fleshy stuff. Partially justified in that it's shooting ''particles'' as opposed to electromagnetic energy, and your kinetic barriers can still protect you from any high energy particles that have mass, such as plasma and even [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|deadly radiation from a dying sun]].
*** Shipboard laser weapons do exist, and are no less powerful than kinetic weapons (plus they ignore kinetic barriers): their main disadvantage is their range. Light refraction causes lasers to attenuate rapidly, while (as explained above) kinetic weapons can keep going for damn near forever. This means that GARDIAN lasers are very effective against fighters, and in short range "knife fights" between larger ships, but have effective ranges hundreds of kilometers shorter than larger kinetic weapons.
* The ''[[Fallout]]'' series gives the player access to energy weapons, but kinetics are the weapon of choice. And there's a wide choice, from hand-thrown spears to the electromagnetic [[Gatling Good|minigun]] (''Fallout Tactics'').
** In the second game the Salvatore gang in New Reno is widely known and feared for its exclusivity of use of the energy weaponry supplied by the Enclave. People in the game even said that a one thug with a simple laser pistol wiped out an entire squad armed with regular weapons. But it's quite an opposite in the
*** ''[[Fallout 3]]'' (without expansion packs at least) plays this trope much more straight than the previous games. Small arms are better than laser weapons, and even the late-game plasma weapons aren't a big improvement, have much more common ammo, and have a huge selection of weapons from short ranged devastators like combat shotguns to long ranged sniper rifles. The unique alien raygun is good, but so are many unique small arms like the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's repeater]].
*** However, as the game progresses this trope is averted. Plasma weapons become more available as does their ammunition. If the PC acquires A3-21's Plasma Rifle this weapon is easily a match for the damage and effectiveness of any conventional firearm. Also if expansion packs come into play the Metal Blaster Laser Rifle is a match for the most powerful shotguns while the Gauss Rifle is a devastatingly potent energy weapon that can challenge the best sniper rifles for damage potential. The alien Destabilizer, MPLX Novasurge Plasma Pistol, and Tri-Beam Laser Rifle are also very powerful energy weapons.
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* ''[[Master of Orion]]''
** In the first game, while energy-based weapons don't have particular weaknesses, in their tech class, particle/ammo-based weapons halve the effectiveness of shields. A side effect of this is that projectile weapons take longer to become ineffective due to the onward march of technology.
** In ''Master of Orion II'' both types have their advantages: artillery have fixed damage and always can get [[More Dakka|Auto Fire]] and Armor Piercing (also gives early [[Critical Hit
* In ''[[Front Mission]]'' the only instance of energy weapons are from orbital lasers and in 4 where laser weapons were developed at last. Most of the time however, Wanzers relied on smoothbore guns, grenade launchers, antitank rifles and autocannons. The Siege Rifle is essentially a giant railgun for Wanzer use.
** There was also the secret experimental beam weapons in ''Front Mission 3''. One of which was on an enemy mech, the other could be gotten through a secret code used on the in-game internet. It did tremendous damage, but the fact is you wouldn't be very skilled with it due to how late in the game you got it and it was difficult to fire due to it's high AP cost. Pretty though.
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** It's more accurate to say that energy weapons are useless against small ships. Those ion beams and plasma launchers of bombers, are very effective against frigates and capital ships.
*** However, in ''Cataclysm'', Somtaaw engineers manage to develop an energy weapon system that specializes in destroying fighters and other small craft. Unfortunately, Somtaaw either doesn't share this technology or the Hiigarans promptly forget it since it isn't present in ''Homeworld 2''.
* ''[[Darkest of Days]]'' future weapons are just [[BFG
* In ''[[End War]]'' 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.
* The ''[[Half-Life]]'' series simultaneously plays this trope straight and averts it while providing justifications for both. Energy weapons are repeatedly shown to be horrifically powerful (the Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun in ''Half-Life'', the former capable of destroying tanks and helicopters, and Combine Dark Energy weaponry in ''Half-Life 2'' and its Episodes) and also the epitome of [[Awesome but Impractical]], requiring enormous amounts of ''radioactive'' fuel to function. As a result, while every faction (the player included) uses kinetic weapons almost exclusively, energy weapons are still used in situations that require a [[Bigger Stick]] and/or when the requisite fuel is readily available.
** The Gravity Gun manages to count as
* The Alt Eisen of ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2]]''. In a setting where most [[Humongous Mecha]] are powered by [[Applied Phlebotinum]], tinkered by [[Cosmic Horror
* Kinetic weapons makes up a substantial minority of the weapon options found in ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'', where they are favored by the Hivers, Zuul and Tarka. Kinetic weapons deal more damage and generally have longer ranges than energy weapons (though less so than missiles and torpedoes) and cause their targets to veer of course from the force of the impact. The game's premier anti-planet weapon, [[Colony Drop|Siege Drivers]], are also kinetic. Kinetic weapons are, however, wildly inaccurate without targeting tech and deflectable by armor technology, fire more slowly than energy weapons, and up until Argos Naval Yard lacked the late-level exotic weapon variants that you could get up the energy weapons tree.
** The latest expansion, however, did introduce the Rail Cannons, two or three of which are mounted on Impactor cruisers and six (or seven... or ten for [[Beware the Nice Ones|Liir]]) on Impactor dreadnoughts. Their decent enough reload rate makes them deadly against most ships. The only way to avoid being destroyed by these is to use [[Deflector Shields|deflectors]] (type of shield that blocks all kinetic weapons) or shield projectors.
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* In ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]'' Kinetic weapons (Mass Drivers) were one of the 3 choices you had for weapon tech paths, along with missiles and energy weapons. Which one was better depends on what form of defenses your enemies are using- shields defend against energy weapons, point defence protects ships from missiles and plain old armour plating stops mass drivers.
** Mass drivers do have the advantage of being the cheapest weapons though, but the second bulkiest (after missiles).
* In ''X'' series. Mass Driver would allow you to destroy hulls of enemy ships, bypassing shields (and non-capital ships usually have weak hull, relying almost completely on shields). They use almost no energy (Mass Drivers? I'll take eight!), their projectiles travel at very decent speed. To finish it off, let's remember that any hull damage inflicted on a ship may result in loss of equipent, including weapons, and cargo. And ship suffer speed penalties. Only
* In ''[[Vega Strike]]'' [[Magnetic Weapons]] are the most power-efficient weapons, have decent rate of fire and do some [[Deflector Shields|shield]]-bypassing damage, so they are good choice, though mostly in close combat. Same for [[Macross Missile Massacre|rockets]], and they don't even use ship's energy. Lasers usually pierce shields better, don't need ammo, and hit at a greater
* ''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.
* ''[[Starcraft]]'' 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.
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* Unlike [[Sci Fi]] and fantasy genres where all manner of exotic weapons are commonplace like lasers, phasers, blasters, lightning guns, plasma cannons, etc, in real life all of them are unnecessary due to one simple unalterable fact: The laws of physics tell us that anything, absolutely ''anything'' in the universe can be destroyed if you simply hit it hard enough.
* The most basic, ubiquitous kinetic weapon currently in use? Plain old firearms. A bullet fired from a handgun or rifle does damage to its target not by exploding, but simply by going really really fast. Every army on the planet uses them; arguably, there are more small arms and small-arms-ammunition deployed by the world's militaries than all other types of weapons combined.
* The Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilizing Discarding-Sabot (APFSDS) round, the standard anti-armor ammunition of the M1 Abrams tank and most other modern [[Cool Tank|main battle tanks]], is referred to by [[The Other Wiki]] as a [[wikipedia:Kinetic energy penetrator|Kinetic Energy Penetrator]]. It uses no explosives, and is merely a long arrow-shaped super-dense dart made of a tungsten or depleted uranium alloy which travels between 1,400 and 1,900
** APFSDS rounds will go all the way through an APC or lightly armored vehicle, sometimes without doing any real damage. (An APC is mostly big empty box) They will, however, cause any deer that wander onto a firing range to go pffftt.
* There's a legitimate interest in creating ''[[wikipedia:Rods from God#Project Thor|Rods From God]]'' telephone pole-sized flechettes composed of ultradense material (probably tungsten) dropped from orbit. There is the issue with numerous treaties are in place to prevent the weaponization of space, including orbital weapon platforms. However the treaties only ban weapons of mass destruction and the rods from god are not defined as such under the treaty or international law. However if the system were ever to become a reality there is a chance an update to the treaties would ban its deployment.
* The picture above is a round from the US Navy's prototype railgun, a [[Magnetic Weapons|weapon that uses electromagnetic fields]] instead of exploding gases, to propel projectiles to incredible speeds. It fired a shell at 10.64 MJ with a muzzle velocity of 2,520
** Navy fired BAE systems prototype railgun in late Febuary 2012. Unlike previous models, this railgun is the first model that looks like something that might get mounted on a ship. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uV1SbEuzFU\]
* The only weapons deployed on spacecraft to date were 23mm rapid-fire cannons mounted on the Soviet [[wikipedia:Almaz#Defense measures|Almaz space stations]] (the military versions of their Salyuts).
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