# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/101 "2017-02-02T00:32:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of MIRVs, does anyone else remember the game Scorched Earth? Played that game for many hours with friends as a kid. You can [play it online at archive.org](https://archive.org/details/msdos_SCORCH15_shareware). ---
**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:** [February 2, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/102 "2017-02-02T00:33:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of MIRVs, does anyone else remember the game Scorched Earth? Specifically, does anyone else remember the Death’s Head? And did anyone else ever set the explosion sizes to the maximum possible? > > In all of the thousands of times I’ve played that game, I think I might have survived using the Death’s Head twice. But it was always worth it. Oh YES! So much wargasming! _goes to look for an android version_ ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/103 "2017-02-02T00:56:45Z")
I always thought that was one of the most impressive feats of technology in both Star Wars and Star Trek. The technology to build an energy weapon that somehow shoots slower than modern ballistic projectiles is some incredible engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/104 "2017-02-02T03:49:22Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Now I’m trying to remember the author who had mirror-finished armor as defense against laser pistols. Still Niven? [Don Tait](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080062/fullcredits/) ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/105 "2017-02-02T04:18:37Z")
Julian May’s Many Coloured Land books too I think. Vaguely recall that the dead Tanu champion Lugon (spelling?) had mirrored armour to deflect photon beams. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/106 "2017-02-02T14:22:00Z")
Thought of another massively stupid SciFi weapon last night. Those flying aircraft carriers of Shield. I can’t even think of how many ways those make no freaking sense. Even under normal operating conditions, you’re burning up huge amounts of energy to keep a massive infrastructure in the air. At any sort of altitude that would keep you out of weapons range, the flight decks would be freezing and low oxygen. As the first Avengers movie demonstrated, any sort of damage to the engines is catastrophic. And unlike normal aircraft carriers, they don’t seem to be ringed by a number of support vessels to ward off attack. And they must have an enormous radar signature. And, oh, yeah, they exist in a universe full of flying superbeings who tend to be easily pissed off. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/107 "2017-02-02T15:48:09Z")
The biggest problem with those is, if you have the technology to make a flying ship, why is it a carrier? Aircraft have the big advantage that they can fly, but the disadvantage of low dwell time: You can’t just park a bunch of planes in the sky right next to a misbehaving country. Ships have great dwell time, but can’t (with current technology) fly. An aircraft carrier is a compromise solution that gives most of the advantages of both, for the technology that we have. But if you can make something that flies and has long dwell time, just put the weapons directly on that thing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/108 "2017-02-02T15:52:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But if you can make something that flies and has long dwell time, just put the weapons directly on that thing. You mean like [Project Insight](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Insight)? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/109 "2017-02-02T18:27:50Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You mean like [Project Insight](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Insight)? Man, don’t get me started on Hydra’s evil scheme. What’s the point of having AI predictive software that figures out who your enemies are when you have massive flying platforms that are murdering people by the millions? It’s pretty safe to assume that \* everyone\* who isn’t on one of your mobile oppression palaces is going to be your enemy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/110 "2017-02-02T18:32:53Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Thought of another massively stupid SciFi weapon last night. Those flying aircraft carriers of Shield. I can’t even think of how many ways those make no freaking sense. Even under normal operating conditions, you’re burning up huge amounts of energy to keep a massive infrastructure in the air. At any sort of altitude that would keep you out of weapons range, the flight decks would be freezing and low oxygen. As the first Avengers movie demonstrated, any sort of damage to the engines is catastrophic. And unlike normal aircraft carriers, they don’t seem to be ringed by a number of support vessels to ward off attack. And they must have an enormous radar signature. And, oh, yeah, they exist in a universe full of flying superbeings who tend to be easily pissed off. Yes helicarriers are massively stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/111 "2017-02-02T18:41:24Z")
I’ve got the beginnings of a list of sci-fi supersoldier programs that produced fighters that are 1. Unreliable, 2. Uncontrollable, 3. Actually have pretty severe limitations compared to a conventional infantryman, 4. Don’t seem to be any more effective than a conventional weapon (like a bomb), or some combination of the above. A running theme I’ve noticed seems to be that giving a zombie a machine gun is usually much, _much_ more trouble than it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/112 "2017-02-02T18:55:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes helicarriers are massively stupid. Since SHIELD was originally a UN organization, the helicarriers were a way around the problems with SHIELD headquarters being in one specific country and a stationary target. The MCU versions are, however, a different story. Unless you posit some heavy-duty stealthing along with the optical camouflage, those things must give a radar return you could spot with a microwave oven. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/113 "2017-02-02T18:57:23Z")
[QUOTE=Kobal2] Astromechs are actually fairly limited in what they can and can’t do. They’re here to plot lightspeed courses that don’t plow through stars - that’s their stated and major role, with a secondary repair task because the little guys can crawl where human mechanics can’t and operate in space without any issue. Many pilots just also happen to use them as ad hoc autopilots, flight recorders, computer experts, amusing chirping sidekicks, what have you. But it’s kinda like using your phone as an mp3 player : sure, it can do that, but that’s not really what it’s for. FTR, Deetoo is a heavily modded one - your fresh out the factory R2 unit doesn’t have a built-in zapper, oil spewer, lightsaber flinger, jetpack… [/quote] My point is why make them mobile at all, instead of just building them into spacecraft itself. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/114 "2017-02-02T19:06:28Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Since SHIELD was originally a UN organization, the helicarriers were a way around the problems with SHIELD headquarters being in one specific country and a stationary target. > . So would ships that sail around the ocean blue. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/115 "2017-02-02T19:06:37Z")
> [@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. Except mirrors still absorb some light and energy. Particularly as you start getting into the non-visible range of the spectrum. So a sufficiently powerful laser will still heat up and explode your mirrored vehicle. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/116 "2017-02-02T20:00:24Z")
Well, yes, but a sufficiently-powerful weapon (of any type) will always be able to penetrate any armor you can come up with (of any type). But if anything at all can defend against a laser, a mirror is going to be a pretty good bet. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/117 "2017-02-02T21:00:56Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Now I’m trying to remember the author who had mirror-finished armor as defense against laser pistols. Still Niven? > > . Lots of people have used the idea. IIRC, Arthur C. Clarke does in his novel **Earthlight**. Harlan Ellison has it built into the armor on a car in the short story _along the Scenic Route_ Still, unless your mirror is incorporeal (like a plasma, or something) or re-forms (like the liquid mirror I wrote about above), if you get dirt on it, you’ll get local heating, with potentially disastrous consequences. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/118 "2017-02-02T21:02:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So would ships that sail around the ocean blue. How ordinary. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/119 "2017-02-02T21:11:41Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > . . . Those flying aircraft carriers of Shield. . . . They certainly crash an awful lot! I’m not sure I can count how many have crashed, but it’s around ten or fifteen now. (But they sure are way, way cool! Steve Rogers got his ten dollars’ worth!) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573/120 "2017-02-02T21:35:57Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > They certainly crash an awful lot! I’m not sure I can count how many have crashed, but it’s around ten or fifteen now. Credit where credit is due, for million ton behemoths of steel with absolutely no aerodynamic properties, they do tend to crash very, very slowly, leaving lots of time for dramatic confrontations and last minute escapes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-weapons-with-bad-design-flaws/778573.md?page=7)