LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-10 AT 01:39 PM (EST) by Gryphon (admin)
 
[This appears to be specifically about technology in the UF universe, so I'm going to move it to UF General. --G.]

Fair warning, the following is the product of an idle mind on too much caffeine, not enough sleep, during an extremely monotonous graveyard shift.

Given all the various technological sources we've seen over the centuries in UF, what is the most potent man-portable heavy weapon? In 2015, it would have been the Ares Arms "Thunderbolt" that Asrial carried, but there's been 4 centuries of technological advancement since then. So what would a Grey Lensman in need of a bigger boom carry? The only thing that comes to mind in recent years is X's Delta City Express (when you absolutely, positively have to make a giant fucking hole...). I know given the fact the some of the Grey Lensmen themselves qualify as a heavy weapon makes the need for one infrequent, but you know some of them like to carry heavy ordinance just for the hell of it *cough* Shepard *cough*. Speaking of Shepard, what would the M-920 Cain be like if Skuld, Washu, or, let's be honest, any of the IPO's extensive R&D department got a hold of the concept?

PS. Since Corwin can summon him anywhere he wants, would Big O count as a man-portable heavy weapon?

I'm old school, so:

Android's Wave Motion Rifle, UF1.

Janice's Photon pistol

--The future aint what it used to be.--

I imagine with some heavy ordinance you really can't improve on a design. A shotgun fired photon torpedo... you can't get any more epic as far as shotguns go. Its the same reason we still use the Browning .50 cal and it was developed in 1933.

You realize Washu or Skuld would take that as a challenge just to prove you wrong.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-10 AT 05:13 PM (EST)
 
>Given all the various technological sources we've seen over the
>centuries in UF, what is the most potent man-portable heavy weapon?

In the early 2400s... well, that's a matter of considerable debate. It's not like in the old days, when there was one single weapon you could point to and say "it doesn't get any badderass than that."

In large part it depends on how you define "potent". In terms of sheer blowingstuffupability, it's still hard to beat the old Ares Thunderbolt, but they're out of production and can be hard to find. You can get close, expendable-munitions-wise, with an Earthforce Marine Corps XM-381 "Atomic Alice" tactical nuclear catapult, but with a Thunderbolt you don't have as much chance of catching yourself in the blast radius.

Energy-weapon-wise, again, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you want to make big holes in fortified structures (or take out really impressive deflector shields), you can do a lot worse than the good old WDF Armory WM1 wave motion rifle, if you can get hold of one. The SPARTAN Laser is good too (particularly since ExoSal have finally fixed that delay-firing flaw), as is the Ragolian "Justy" Getter-beam sniper's rifle. The Justy isn't so adept at making big holes in things, but it will make a very precise small hole through a really quite surprising thickness of armor.

Ragolian energy weapons in general tend to be among the best of their kind, not necessarily among the most powerful in their class (though most do have an emergency overclock setting that puts their competitors in the shade, for one shot at least), but generally among the most reliable and easiest to maintain. On Ragol, a hunter with a less-than-utterly-devastating weapon just needs to be a better shot, but a hunter with a malfunctioning weapon is lunch.

On the other hand, if what you need is the galaxy's most powerful antipersonnel weapon, that'll probably be another B-ATech/WDF Armory creation, the GVL-42 Vengeance rotary blaster - a descendent of the Vindicator PBG seen in Crossroads. If you have an entire army to mow down, and you're not too particular about the condition of the backdrop when you're done, there's really not anything out there that can match the Vengeance for sheer capacity to make the donuts. It doesn't make a noise quite as good as the old Vindicator, but it's much more efficient.

>Speaking of Shepard,
>what would the M-920 Cain be like if Skuld, Washu, or, let's be
>honest, any of the IPO's extensive R&D department got a hold of the
>concept?

I've always found the Cain too temperamental and dangerous to the user to be of any actual value in a battlefield situation. It's flashy, I'll grant you that, but it has the same problem as the Mk I SPARTAN Laser and the old Autobot plasma cannon: delayed FREEM. Makes it very annoying. Gin Shepard, since you brought her up, won't use the things; she insists on immediate destruction upon trigger actuation, which is why she prefers George.

>PS. Since Corwin can summon him anywhere he wants, would Big O count
>as a man-portable heavy weapon?

The IPO actually has a seperate classification for that, Weapon (Summonable). MCPO Sir John Spartan has used the Martian Cannonball so often to be delivered to battle scenes in the nick of time that some have joked about classifying him under that rubric for purposes of battlefield asset declaration.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I always figured part of the problem, as tech continued to develop in UF, was that they could certainly make more destructive man-portable stuff, but the survival of the user became a very uncertain thing...

There are some polities and groups in UF that might not mind that so much, I think. IPO and WDF are really not among them, though.

“They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid piece of harness. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot; and went on.”
-- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington

I don't know...for all that Big Fire doesn't usually worry too much about the fate of their rank and file, it -does- take a while to raise 'em from orphanage on...

Also, if your own guys get caught in their weapon's blast, it can make it a pain to recover that weapon later on. Unless it's expendable anyway. *shrug*

This description reminded me of a scene from the 3D Mark 2005 benchmark demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDzL8wSBLj8&playnext=1&list=PLAB3B90705E352F17&index=24

At about the 1:24 mark.

>On the other hand, if what you need is the galaxy's most powerful
>antipersonnel weapon, that'll probably be another B-ATech/WDF
>Armory creation, the GVL-42
>Vengeance rotary blaster - a
>descendent of the Vindicator PBG seen in Crossroads. If you
>have an entire army to mow down, and you're not too particular about
>the condition of the backdrop when you're done, there's really not
>anything out there that can match the Vengeance for sheer capacity to
>make the donuts. It doesn't make a noise quite as good as the old
>Vindicator, but it's much more efficient.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-07-10 AT 05:51 PM (EST)
 
OK then, which one is most likely to make the enemy soil themselves (even if they lack the anatomy to do so) when they see you wielding it?

Edit: spelling

Probably one of Geoff's handguns. It's a matter of style. :)

>Probably one of Geoff's handguns. It's a matter of style. :)

I'd argue that its the wielder in that case.

Not necessarily. I'm thinking of a particular Sam & Max panel:

"I can hear the ocean..."

perhaps....

(original version of thhe Jackal)

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>OK then, which one is most likely to make the enemy soil themselves
>(even if they lack the anatomy to do so) when they see you wielding
>it?

Some say his use is banned by Federation law, and that his sweat tastes like photon torpedoes.

Forget the Stig, I want to meet this someone that's licked both the Stig and a photon torpedo.

What would be stressful enough to make the Stig sweat anyway?

Some say that she's a literal Goddess gone slumming, and that the only potion she's never brewed was because no fella needed the help around her...

I must not be familiar with the source material because that reference isn't ringing any bells with me.

not sure if that's what's meant, but canonically, Urd is also a top-flight alchemist...

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

I knew Urd was an alchemist, but didn't think that was who he was referring to. Since she actually is a Goddess it didn't quite fit with the usual Stig one-liners where it's supposed to be an exaggeration (or so we think).

It is indeed a reference to Urd, because, well, that's what the audience would think, wouldn't they?

Ok then, looks like I was over-thinking it.

A book-signing tour and contract negotiations with Channel 5...

---
"Together we will build an empire of a million shining suns." -- Dave, Dictator of Utopia.

>In large part it depends on how you define "potent". In terms of
>sheer blowingstuffupability, it's still hard to beat the old Ares
>Thunderbolt, but they're out of production and can be hard to find.
>You can get close, expendable-munitions-wise, with an Earthforce
>Marine Corps XM-381 "Atomic Alice" tactical nuclear catapult, but with
>a Thunderbolt you don't have as much chance of catching yourself in
>the blast radius.

Not to mention the ammo is a lot lighter to carry and you don't have to carry a large supply of Rad-Away.

On the other hand, the Thunderbolt doesn't produce that nifty-keen mushroom cloud with every explosion.

>On the other hand, if what you need is the galaxy's most powerful
>antipersonnel weapon, that'll probably be another B-ATech/WDF
>Armory creation, the GVL-42
>Vengeance rotary blaster - a
>descendent of the Vindicator PBG seen in Crossroads. If you
>have an entire army to mow down, and you're not too particular about
>the condition of the backdrop when you're done, there's really not
>anything out there that can match the Vengeance for sheer capacity to
>make the donuts. It doesn't make a noise quite as good as the old
>Vindicator, but it's much more efficient.

Just so long as you don't have to fight your way through a cave full of Creatures of Unusual Size to snag one.

>
>>On the other hand, if what you need is the galaxy's most powerful
>>antipersonnel weapon, that'll probably be another B-ATech/WDF
>>Armory creation, the GVL-42
>>Vengeance rotary blaster - a
>>descendent of the Vindicator PBG seen in Crossroads.
>
>Just so long as you don't have to fight your way through a cave full
>of Creatures of Unusual Size to snag one.

No, all you have to do is make it past the Quartermaster.

Depending on who that is, some people would prefer the cave, armed with a butter knife.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

"And sign here...and here..."
"...I'd take monstrous, mutated, razor-clawed beasts over these blasted forms any damn day..."