# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/41 "2017-01-30T21:54:31Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I always thought the Star Wars laser cannons were silly. Speed of light weapon that has no targeting and has to be aimed from a WWII ball turret, like a B52. > > Dennis A lot of Star Wars “silly” stuff is what makes it so good. Yes, it needs a LOT of fan-wonking, but… Not a great show if everyone is blowing up everyone else from bunkers and ships so far away no one sees anything. The WWII turrets with flash-zip-bang and screeching fighters were way cool. I fan-wonked the noise by imagining that they had wired the ships to provide better auditory feedback. But it was pretty cool how a farmhand or pilot could basically take their ships and droids apart, maybe slap on a patch or modification, put it back together, and off you go… It’s a return to pirate movies and a retreat from 2001: a Space Odyssey. I guess my point is that things ought to be a bit silly. (BTW- despite my above post, I hated the episode VII planet buster. What!? a biggerer betterer planet buster? What will they think of next?) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/42 "2017-01-30T22:06:49Z")
Another real-life story: in an autobiography of a WWII B-29 pilot, the author wrote of accidentally dropping all his bombs…while the plane was stationary on the field. He pushed the wrong button. Later re-designs shielded the button. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/43 "2017-01-30T22:26:23Z")
The weapons in _Galaxy Quest_ look suspiciously like submarine sandwiches with triggers. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/44 "2017-01-30T22:27:58Z")
TOS phasers had five settings: Heat, Stun, Disrupt, Dematerialize and Overload. On a slide selector. Try to set it to “make the wall go away” in the middle of a firefight and… boom. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/45 "2017-01-30T22:44:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Another real-life story: in an autobiography of a WWII B-29 pilot, the author wrote of accidentally dropping all his bombs…while the plane was stationary on the field. He pushed the wrong button. > > Later re-designs shielded the button. So, how did that not leave him in a crater afterward? How were the errant bombs cleaned up without blowing a hole in the tarmac? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/46 "2017-01-30T22:47:57Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > The weapons in _Galaxy Quest_ look suspiciously like submarine sandwiches with triggers. Oh great now I want a sub for supper. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/47 "2017-01-30T23:01:26Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > So, how did that not leave him in a crater afterward? How were the errant bombs cleaned up without blowing a hole in the tarmac? I think the detonators arm themselves from an impeller on the nose of the bomb. Falling a few feet wouldn’t be enough to arm themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/48 "2017-01-30T23:07:36Z")
I bet it was enough to make the ground crew wet themselves, though… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/49 "2017-01-30T23:15:47Z")
Are SW blasters laser weapons? I always assumed that they fired charged particle beams. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/50 "2017-01-30T23:47:52Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > This is not so. The Death Star was bristling with turbo laser and blaster batteries. We even see them in the movies. The Death Star definitely did not need escort ships. The DS was armed to hold off capital ships, not fighter attacks. Even when the republican forces started their attack run, they only had 30 x and y wings, so when Darth takes it to them, they only had maybe four or five ties on screen, when they should have had 10 or 20 squadrons hitting the republicans in a meeting engagement, even before they got within range of the DS. The only thing that we can conclude from this, is that the DS was designed to be assaulted by Imperial forces, should the commander of said DS go rogue and reach for the purple. As that worthy would have been the second most powerful man in the galaxy, with no apparent fail safes. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/51 "2017-01-31T00:52:08Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > The only thing that we can conclude from this, is that the DS was designed to be assaulted by Imperial forces, should the commander of said DS go rogue and reach for the purple. As that worthy would have been the second most powerful man in the galaxy, with no apparent fail safes. Sith happens. 😃 > [@Alessan](#): > > Are SW blasters laser weapons? I always assumed that they fired charged particle beams. Never entirely clear. The color we see could just be a tracer so the users know where the heck they just fired. Just from Star Wars: The Double-bladed lightsaber. Using two lightsabers. Arguably lightsabers altogether, however cool they are. In _Iron Man 3_, the Mark 42 armor. Good concept… has some _slight_ issues with stability. And impacts. And not knocking Tony on his butt. In _Batman Begins_, the armor prototype. Yes, it’s good, but Lucius Fox was being a bit silly to complain that Pentagon was too focused on the cost (three hundred thousand **per suit** ), given that the same amount of money could be better spent almost any other possible way. Also from Star Trek, the Bat’leth. And even the later, better-made Federation phasers are so poorly designed than the power supply can actually fall out accidentally, plus the whole thing is not ruggedized at all. The Enterprise-D had a saucers separation thingy, which was so useless is was forgotten for the almost the entire TNG series. And that’s not getting into all of the outright insane weapons that various mad scientists attempted to create, all of which went disastrously wrong in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/52 "2017-01-31T00:56:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Finagle** : > > I once read an article (Larry Niven? Isaac Asimov?) on the whole idea of laser pistols. Apparently, not a really great idea. If the other guy is wearing the right color garment, it might just (briefly) reflect off. That was Niven, and is yet another proof of just how shaky his knowledge of optics is. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/53 "2017-01-31T01:05:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Light sabres need crossguards. Fuck that. First lightsabres need to be \*sabres. \*What they get in the movies are lightswords ffs ! [QUOTE=asterion] The Fat Man from Fallout is objectively a terrible idea. A man-portable (not crew-served) nuclear weapon launched via catapult on the battlefield. The only thing that makes it work is the game mechanics. [/QUOTE] Loosely based on a true thing though. Google the Davy Crockett nuclear recoilless rifle. That piece of wacko insanity actually saw field deployment, too ! The Cold War was a weird time to be alive… (fake EDIT : so very ninja’d on that one :)) ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/54 "2017-01-31T01:46:47Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > The DS was armed to hold off capital ships, not fighter attacks. Even when the republican forces started their attack run, they only had 30 x and y wings, so when Darth takes it to them, they only had maybe four or five ties on screen, when they should have had 10 or 20 squadrons hitting the republicans in a meeting engagement, even before they got within range of the DS. > > The only thing that we can conclude from this, is that the DS was designed to be assaulted by Imperial forces, should the commander of said DS go rogue and reach for the purple. As that worthy would have been the second most powerful man in the galaxy, with no apparent fail safes. Bah. Pure New Republic revisionism. The Death Star had plenty of starfighters available. There was no flaw with it as a weapon (well other than that one little flaw introduced by vile treachery). The true flaw was in the leadership. The arrogance of Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader in assuming that there was no threat from the starfighters. A competent commander would have engaged the rebel scum with the full capabilities of the Death Star and they would have been destroyed. Man, still craving a sub. I wonder if Subway is still open. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/55 "2017-01-31T02:19:19Z")
Early Iron Man armour. No lenses. Gas in eyes? Bright lights? I assume Stark did not suffer from Photaic Sneeze Syndrome. Green Lantern ring. Weakness aginst yellow? What if you are an alien and you can’t perceive the human visual spectrum? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/56 "2017-01-31T02:31:22Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I think the detonators arm themselves from an impeller on the nose of the bomb. Falling a few feet wouldn’t be enough to arm themselves. Yep… But, as noted, it caused a very high level of stress in everyone nearby. The author said that the C.O. drove up in a jeep and threatened to shoot the man who dropped those bombs. The pilot said, “I did it.” He didn’t get shot. (Bringing the Thunder - the Missions of a World War II B-29 Pilot in the Pacific, by Gordon Bennet Robertson, Jr. Informative and educational!) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/57 "2017-01-31T02:34:31Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > . . . Also from Star Trek, the Bat’leth. . . . What’s wrong with them? They look cool, and they seem to combine the benefits of a sword, axe, and quarterstaff. Have people gone out and sparred with them, to reveal they don’t actually work very well? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/58 "2017-01-31T02:59:38Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > What’s wrong with them? They look cool, and they seem to combine the benefits of a sword, axe, and quarterstaff. Have people gone out and sparred with them, to reveal they don’t actually work very well? While some people are that nerdy ( 😃 ), the big problem is that you can’t actually do anything useful with it. Anybody with any real weapon would hurt you very badly in a heartbeat. You could do alright parrying with it, but you’re not going to actually do more than surface damage unless they stand around and let you - which worked out really well for Worf because he had the writers on his side. And the moment you try to go on the offense you’ve just painted up a massive target on your face. Your best bet would be to either throw it at your foe and run away while he ducks. Yes, it looks cool, but it’s a terrible design. One supposes it could be some kind of ceremonial dueling weapon, since those don’t have to make any kind of sense. But that’s not really how it’s presented. Also, the grip is designed so badly that you’re actually working against yourself; it would be mildly painful to use and impossible to properly swing. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/59 "2017-01-31T03:32:04Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Yes, it looks cool, but it’s a terrible design. One supposes it could be some kind of ceremonial dueling weapon, since those don’t have to make any kind of sense. But that’s not really how it’s presented. Also, the grip is designed so badly that you’re actually working against yourself; it would be mildly painful to use and impossible to properly swing. Producer Guy: “Hey! Prop Guy! Build me a bladed weapon that looks totally cool and alien! Oh and it has to work too!” Prop Guy: (under his breath) “Humanity has been making bladed weapons for about 4,000 years, ya think I’m gonna come up with something they didn’t think of? With this budget and timeline?” Prop Guy: (out loud) “Sure thing, boss! Here ya go!” Producer Guy: “Hey, this is cool as shit! Can you make a bunch of them to sell as collectibles to the [del]rubes[/del] fans?” Prop Guy: “Sure thing, boss!” (under breath) “Well, at least that’s the bills paid for a few more months.” ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/60 "2017-01-31T03:43:48Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Bah. Pure New Republic revisionism. The Death Star had plenty of starfighters available. There was no flaw with it as a weapon (well other than that one little flaw introduced by vile treachery). The true flaw was in the leadership. The arrogance of Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader in assuming that there was no threat from the starfighters. A competent commander would have engaged the rebel scum with the full capabilities of the Death Star and they would have been destroyed. > > Man, still craving a sub. I wonder if Subway is still open. The stench is strong with these imperial sjw’s. DS only had one shot, one. After that it takes time to recharge the big gun, something like 24 hours according to the Death Star Tome. So you blow the big gas giant, and yeah big meteors are going to fall on Y4, long after the Republic forces have vacated the area that you just turned into an asteroid belt. Sure blame Tarkin, no wait he is dead, Blame Vader, no he is equally dead, anyone with a pulse that you can think of to blame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=4)