# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/61 "2017-01-31T13:33:13Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > 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? I like The Big Bang’s take on Power Rings – the Golden Age Green Lantern’s ring didn’t work against wood, and the Silver Age’s ring was powerless against yellow “I don’t like that both superheroes can be beaten by a number 2 pencil” ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/62 "2017-01-31T18:45:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That was Niven, and is yet another proof of just how shaky his knowledge of optics is. Now I’m trying to remember the author who had mirror-finished armor as defense against laser pistols. Still Niven? Regarding Niven, the Kzinti Lesson may be true in real life, but also impractical. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/63 "2017-01-31T19:27:25Z")
In _Star Trek_, both TOS and TNG, the pistol phasers had no trigger guards. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/64 "2017-01-31T20:38:22Z")
> [@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. Hello, Friend Troubleshooter! Be mindful of any Commie Mutant Traitors around! Praise the Computer! ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/65 "2017-01-31T21:12:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That was Niven, and is yet another proof of just how shaky his knowledge of optics is. Explain, please? ---
**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 31, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/66 "2017-01-31T21:31:14Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Now I’m trying to remember the author who had mirror-finished armor as defense against laser pistols. Still Niven? > > Regarding Niven, the Kzinti Lesson may be true in real life, but also impractical. Mirror-finish armor sounds a bit like Starship troopers, maybe Harrison’s Forever War. Also for Niven, the slide-selector on the pistol that went all the way to “nuclear explosion” (_The Soft Weapon_). ---
**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, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/67 "2017-01-31T21:39:50Z")
Mirror-finished armor would actually work reasonably well against a laser, so long as the mirror finish isn’t damaged by some other weapon first. But the problem with just matching colors is that most colors we see are not monochromatic. If you have a shirt that reflects, say, both red and green light, it’ll look yellow, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to reflect yellow light. As for bat’leths, I’m fond of the Mimbari traditional ceremonial weapon, from _Babylon 5_. It’s a quarterstaff. They use some fancy alien technology to enable it to easily collapse down to pocket size or expand to full size for use, but for actually fighting with it, it’s just a good old fashioned stick. You ask me for one weapon that aliens are sure to have actually used, and the stick is it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/68 "2017-01-31T21:57:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Mirror-finished armor would actually work reasonably well against a laser, so long as the mirror finish isn’t damaged by some other weapon first. > > But the problem with just matching colors is that most colors we see are not monochromatic. If you have a shirt that reflects, say, both red and green light, it’ll look yellow, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to reflect yellow light. > > As for bat’leths, I’m fond of the Mimbari traditional ceremonial weapon, from _Babylon 5_. It’s a quarterstaff. They use some fancy alien technology to enable it to easily collapse down to pocket size or expand to full size for use, but for actually fighting with it, it’s just a good old fashioned stick. You ask me for one weapon that aliens are sure to have actually used, and the stick is it. I agree about the mirror finish – it’s great as long as it’s perfectly reflecting. The enemy of Perfectly Reflecting Mirrors is DIRT. You get a spot of dirt on it, and it absorbs the energy from the laser and it heats up. The heat damages your perfectly reflecting surface, which starts to absorb itself, so the next shot heats up the dirt and the damaged mirror, which then damages still more mirror, and so on. The process bootstraps, eventually blowing a hole in your mirror. This isn’t some theoretical idea – I’ve seen high power laser mirrors get destroyed in a handful of shots from just this behavior. The solution is to use a mirror that either can’t be damaged by heat (HA! Larry Niven’s stasis fields do this. Call me when one’s available) or that self-repairs. I knew a guy who built liquid metal mirrors for precisely this reason. As for the bat’leth, its fatal flaw is the damned thing has no _reach_. You hold the thing close to your body, and it’s stable as a rock. It’s clumsy to extend with one hand from one end, though, so a guy comes along with an epee or a foil and pokes you in the eye, because a sword’s got a reach and the tip can move swiftly. The bat’leth is fine for close quarters where your enemy can’t move away (maybe the Klingons used them in tunnel warfare, or something), but a guy with your quarterstaff can stay out of reach and keep bashing Worf over the head. ---
**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 31, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/69 "2017-01-31T23:08:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Mirror-finish armor sounds a bit like Starship troopers, maybe Harrison’s Forever War. > > Also for Niven, the slide-selector on the pistol that went all the way to “nuclear explosion” (_The Soft Weapon_). IIRC, the ‘Soft Weapon’ required some funny jiggery-pokery to get to the really destructive matter conversion mode. The slide just did a number of fairly mundane but useful things, causing the protagonist to speculate that it was a spy’s weapon, but not especially good for a foot soldier. Hence, he tried the jiggery-pokery. Now when you ASK the spy weapon how to get to the cool setting, that’s when the fun starts. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/70 "2017-01-31T23:23:41Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In _Star Trek_, both TOS and TNG, the pistol phasers had no trigger guards. Ditto for the Sandman guns in the _Logan’s Run_ movie. At least the book had the good sense to model them after wild west revolvers. ---
**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, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/71 "2017-01-31T23:34:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This isn’t some theoretical idea – I’ve seen high power laser mirrors get destroyed in a handful of shots from just this behavior. > > The solution is to use a mirror that either can’t be damaged by heat (HA! Larry Niven’s stasis fields do this. Call me when one’s available) or that self-repairs. I knew a guy who built liquid metal mirrors for precisely this reason. Or, just use something which doesn’t get bounced by mirrors. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/72 "2017-02-01T04:28:51Z")
> [@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 Are you kidding? Is there any reason at all that anyone besides R2D2 should be piloting the ship at all? For that matter, why is there even such a thing as an “astromech” droid? IOW, why would you ever want to take all the avionics out of an X-Wing and let it go on crazy adventures? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/73 "2017-02-01T05:06:34Z")
Now that I think about it, given we’ve SEEN how slow phasers are…battles have to be close. Photon torpedoes arn’t all that fast either. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2017, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/74 "2017-02-01T06:44:49Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Fuck that. First lightsabres need to be \*sabres. \* Yes, basket hilts could also work. But how are you going to get the blade to curve? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/75 "2017-02-01T09:29:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Yeah, that’s the one I thought the link was, didn’t even realize that there was a different version. And they might as well. Blowing up a gas giant is only a couple of orders of magnitude [more idiotic](https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-physics-of-the-death-star-c21ccc58ade9#.vxoy4fv7t) than blowing up a planet. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzoeEdW-EDQ) the original one. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/76 "2017-02-01T12:12:00Z")
> [@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. Also, when you are attempting to stab the other guy, he could grab the blade, force it backwards, and stab you with the other end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/77 "2017-02-01T14:48:09Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Or, just use something which doesn’t get bounced by mirrors. No radar for your jamming, no lasers to deflect Just armor made for ramming, and bullets worth respect –Leslie Fish, “The Discards” ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/78 "2017-02-01T15:28:35Z")
> [@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. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Also, when you are attempting to stab the other guy, he could grab the blade, force it backwards, and stab you with the other end of it. Which is why it is worthless as a piercing weapon. The concave curve on it actually inhibits slashing. It doesn’t have the range of a quarter-staff. You _might_ be able to use it like an axe. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/79 "2017-02-01T16:04:46Z")
Well, really, any robotic sci-fi weapon that misses. Or moves slooowly while croaking “Exterminate, exterminate” or “Kill the Robinsons!”. Granted, once you add higher cognitive functions to something, there’s no reason it would make decisions faster than a human, but the weapons subsystems? Once it decided to shoot something, that something should be dead in a millisecond. The Terminator movies and Robocop got it mostly right – except where the subject was protected by plot armor, they pretty much killed what they aimed for with deadly efficiency. Same thing with blasters and lasers. Is this the future or isn’t it? I have cameras now that can do sufficient recognition to pick out faces. Why would you build a optical-based weapon if it doesn’t have target recognition and lock? Especially if you’re going to be using those weapons in space ships? ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/80 "2017-02-01T16:32:32Z")
Sharks with freakin’ laser beams. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=5)