Swiss Army Weapon: Difference between revisions

[[File:sith swiss army knife 5625.jpg|link=Star Wars|frame|[[Villains Out Shopping|Even Dark Lords of the Sith enjoy camping now and then.]]]]

 

 

Having more than one weapon is a good thing. It gives you more versatility in combat, letting you handle more problems than someone with only one weapon. Unfortunately, carrying around many weapons is a hassle—not everyone has a [[Bag of Holding]], after all. Even if they could, they sort of have to [[Rummage Fail|rummage around their stuff to look for that one weapon that'll give them the edge]], which is a bit of a problem in the middle of battle. So what can a character do if they want the versatility of, oh, say... ten pointy and blasty things?

If you want another way to get many weapons for the price of one, see [[Bifurcated Weapon]], a weapon that can be separated into smaller weapons. The [[Morph Weapon]] is a kind of '''Swiss Army Weapon'''. See [[Every Device Is a Swiss Army Knife]] when it doesn't have to do with weapons, and [[Green Lantern Ring]] for an extreme version. The self-directed version is a [[Do-Anything Robot]]. Due to feature overload, often results in a [[Rummage Fail]]. And of course, this weapon goes ''very'' well along with [[Adaptive Armor]].

 

 

{{examples}}

** A slightly more subtle version is the Shot Selector weapon upgrade in ''[[Inquisitor]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay]]'' series - it allows a weapon to hold multiple magazines of different types of ammunition, allowing the user to switch between them quickly.

*** It should probably be noted, however, that in DH and RT the main use for Shot Selectors (according to posts on the official forum) seems to be tripling the weapon's ammo capacity, rather than providing extra shot types. The disadvantage of +0.5 kg (DH) or even +1 kg (in RT) extra weight usually is quite acceptable. This [[Internet Backdraft|has annoyed a number of people]] to the extent that many groups have a Gentleman's Agreement not to use them, or at least to use them as they were in ''Inquisitor'' (where they split the magazine into sections with different ammo types and Shot Selectors switched between them- even in a ''revolver''). Canon weapons with built-in selectors use either 3 magazines with significantly reduced capacity (Cadence "Spectre" Assault Device: 20 shots vs. 30) or 2 full-sized (Merovech-pattern Assault Lasgun).

** Combi-bolters are boltguns with melta, plasma or flamer built into them. They only have enough ammunition to fire the secondary weapon once. Bolters used by Space Marine Sternguard also count, as they come with various special ammo for different tasks, such as taking out heavily armoured targets or negating cover.

* As mentioned above, [[Humongous Mecha]] are pretty much already a type of Swiss Army Weapon, but in ''[[BattleTech]]'' they go one further: the Clans have invented OmniMechs, which rather than relying on fixed hard points that require an entire variant to be redesigned to get a different configuration have modular points that can field virtually any weapon or equipment, as long as there's unused mass and space.

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=81979 Umezawa's Jitte]. Pump yourself up? Check. Recover lost health? Check. Kill guys ''that you aren't even fighting with''? Check.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]''. The AUG-CSL Weapon System in the 1E/2E ''Street Samurai Catalog'' can be assembled as a submachine gun, carbine, assault rifle or light machine gun.

** And 4E has the HK XM30 (based on the XM-29 and the XM8) mentioned under Real Life. Baseline, the XM30 is an assault rifle with an underbarrel grenade launcher. Using different kits, you can modify it to have an underbarrel shotgun, become a carbine rifle, sniper rifle or a light machine gun.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Goblins]]'', Dies Horribly had his hand replaced with a shape-shifting living metal thing, which can imitate a normal hand, becomes a ridiculously spikey gauntlet when he's frightened, and has been used as a grappling hook and a long-range stabbing implement.

* There are several examples in [[MS Paint Adventures]]. In [[Problem Sleuth]], there was a running gag that weapons could turn into innocuous items, such as a tube of lipstick into a chainsaw and a paintbrush into a whip. In [[Homestuck]], Kanaya wields a lipstick/chainsaw as a [[Mythology Gag]], while Jane has a [[Improbable Weapon User|spoon]] that can turn into a fork at the flip of a switch.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Several of these appear in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. Diamond's [[Powered Armor]] (which uses [[Nanomachines|nanotechnology]] as a means of situational adaptiveness) can be equipped with everything from a 20mm cannon to an ultrasonic blaster. Rainbow Knight's [[Adaptive Armor]] does the same sort of thing, but with biotechnology. Omega is a [[Super Robot]] who can rework his own technology to gain any needed weapon as well.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** “[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Glitch.]] ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|BFG.]]''”

* An episode of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'', "Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love", had a group of Swiss criminals using oversized Swiss Army Knives that included zip-lines, laser blasters, and helicopter rotors.

* Hawkgirl's Energy Mace from ''[[Justice League]]''. It's made of energy-dispersing Nth Metal and can be electrically charged with a thought. So it functions as a light source, [[Anti-Magic|protection against magic]], and a [[Magical Defibrillator]]. [[Drop the Hammer|When she isn't using it to smash things.]]

** Its versatility and effectiveness against magic earned it the [[Fan Nickname/Comic Books|Fan Nickname]] "[[Deus Ex Machina|Deus Ex Mace-ina]]".

* The ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' episode "The Slaver Weapon" (based on [[Larry Niven]]'s short story "The Soft Weapon").

* ''[[Galtar and the Golden Lance]]'': the titular hero wields the titular weapon as a pair of sabers, which can join together at the pommel into a [[Double Weapon]] or combine into a more powerful sword, it also [[Retractable Weapon|retracts]] into a double pommel shaped stick.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** As well as the Swiss Army Knife's major competitor, the Leatherman Tool (get your minds out of the gutter), which uses pliers rather than a knife as the 'core' tool.

** Both of these, of course, are mostly ''not'' supposed to be weapons. Even more standard knives for other militaries are generally not designed for the sole purpose of killing someone - its an addon..

** Its major transforming gadget is an entire VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) system. That's pretty awesome.

** On paper it's awesome. In reality trying to cram so many functions and satisfy so many service requirements, created an aircraft that is a very expensive jack-of-all trades master of none. It can do air supremacy but not like the F-15. It's maneuverability is lower than that of the F-16 (and that's for the Air Force version, the Navy and Marine versions are even worse), it's stealth worse then that of the F-22 and it's radar inferior to an upgraded F-15. Bottom line, in long range engagements it would loose to an F-15 and in a short range engagments to an F-16, don't even consider sending it against F-22's or Russian PAK-FA. The Navy won't use it for air supremacy that's why they bought the F/A-18 E/F/G and it's AESA radar. For the tactical bombardment part, the aircraft is crippled again by it's low stealth compared to the B-2 and the fact that it carries about as much as an F-16 despite an empty weight twice as large. As for the Close Support part it's way inferior to the A-10, again, because of the low carried weight and also because of the high stall speed, less armoring and shorter loiter time compared to the A-10. Probably why the USAF decide to keep the A-10 in service well into the 2040s which is the time when F-35 will start being taken out of service,.

* The simple yet oh so effective trench knife. Knuckleduster guard, a several inch-long knife blade, and a hardened pommel nut for breaking open someone's skull.

** Similarly, the pata: a cross between a sword and a punch knife with a buckler built in. Presumably good for bashing as well, though I can't see a situation where you'd want to bother.