# Sci-Fi weapons with BAD design flaws **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573 "2017-01-30T07:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/221 "2017-03-01T19:09:02Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Do you remember anyone ever reloading? Mom on Futurama. “Oh, hang on, I’m out of power. Where’s the charger for this thing?” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/222 "2017-03-01T19:27:38Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Do you remember anyone ever reloading? ST Phasers ran out all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/223 "2017-03-01T19:35:02Z")
In Star Wars, at least, the guns are supposed to be plasma/particle weapons, not lasers. I assume that refills for his blaster are what were [on Han Solo’s jacket](http://imgur.com/foVoopc). (Unless they are Imperial [del]ball point pens[/del] “[code cylinders](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/142964/what-are-imperial-officers-wearing-here)” for some reason.) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/224 "2017-03-04T14:04:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > ST Phasers ran out all the time. And an episode in _Firefly_ didn’t show a reload either, but low battery warning. It was the episode’s asshole so it turned out okay. Then there’s the time Jayne tried to shoot a door lock with an Alliance sonic weapon with negligible results. Grumbling about “high-tech crap” he bashed it open with the gun stock. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/225 "2017-03-06T21:47:43Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > 5 pages in and no one mentions replicants? Sure, they’ll die eventually but as Batty and friends show, they can do some real damage in the meantime if they get loose. No remote kill switch. No tracking system. Shoot, they can somehow magically evade being detected without a Voight-Kampff machine when they look exactly like their id pictures! > > Nobody thought of tattooing “REPLICANT” in big letters on their forehead? An RFID chip in their skulls? My humanoid robot has .50 Desert Eagle tattooed on his forehead. But seriously. What do they need a V-K machine for? The Blade Runner cops HAD MUG SHOTS!! Not too long ago I started [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19910884) discussing the flaws inherent to designing future robots as either “giant sarcastic robots” or “weaponized sex dolls”. There is literally no user experience value in creating killer robots that either drop a clever one liner before they kill you or that most straight males would want to fuck if they weren’t on a psychotic rampage. > [@Chronos](#): > > It’s really, really hard to fall out of the sky, especially for something unguided… Yeah…well. Tell that to the crew of the Executor. On a serious note, since the ships in Star Wars use anti gravity, they don’t need to actually be in a stable orbit. If the star destroyer in Empire was using its anti gravity for station keeping, it could very well get pulled to the surface by Hoth’s gravity once those engines became disabled. > [@Irishman](#): > > Lightsabers have an in-universe explanation for why more people don’t quisinart themselves - they are only used by Force sensitives. They’re able to control the weapons very precisely. Or something. > > A joke in my family, this was acted out: Han Solo sees a lightsaber on the ground, tries to pick it up like a club, but grabs the wrong end. How is it any different from picking up a regular knife or sword or even a blowtorch? I assume most people manage to do that without slicing off a limb. > [@DrDeth](#): > > It makes sense as a ceremonial weapon. Yes, if that ceremony involves presenting it to some Starfleet captain who just boarded your ship with a platoon of Federation Security troops or Marines or whatever they use. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/226 "2017-03-07T08:27:44Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > And an energy weapon turns you into a nuclear bomb It turns the _shooter_ into a bomb too. or just kills both shooter and target, it’s not predictable. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/227 "2017-03-07T08:50:31Z")
The anti-fighter missiles in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith that behaved like normal heat-seeking missiles except when they exploded instead of an explosive charge they instead deployed a bunch of small baseball size droids that latch onto your spacecrafts wings and deploy lasers to cut into your wings and tear them apart. I don’t care what the limits to explosions are in space, anything would be more useful to pack in that missile warhead then small droids that have to take a significant amount of time to do damage to the spacecraft as opposed to instantly knocking it out. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/228 "2017-03-07T10:19:07Z")
Peter David, in his ST:TNG novel, _Strike Zone_ conceptualized a weapon which would vaporize whatever it was aimed at. Unfortunately, the beam continued past the target, hugging the curvature of the ground, until it completely traveled around whatever world the user was standing on, and hit him in the back. It was labeled, appropriately enough, “Remarkably Stupid Weapon. Do Not Use.” > **[Strike Zone](https://books.google.com/books?id=KsZq2_2cDhAC&pg=PT143&lpg=PT143&dq=peter%2Bdavid%2Bstupid%2Bweapon%2Bdo%2Bnot%2Buse&source=bl&ots=py4_VqkZod&sig=gutuP9co6G-Un-PmktNDz_-PWLA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMl9XEk8TSAhVE7iYKHR1lBuoQ6AEIKDAD#v=onepage&q=peter%20david%20stupid%20weapon%20do%20not%20use&f=false)** > > Deep in the uncharted regions of our galaxy, the Kreel, a primitive, warlike race have stumbled upon weapons powerful beyond their wildest imagination. The Kreel have used those weapons to attack their most bitter enemies, the Klingons. Captain... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=11)