Upon further consideration, my favorite weapon from Starship Troopers is not the Marauder, but rather, the Thirty Second Bomb.
So called because, when you threw it through a window, it would audibly announce, in the pre-set language of your choice:
“I am a thirty second bomb! I am a thirty second bomb! Evacuate the premises immediately! Twenty nine! Twenty eight! Twenty Seven…”
Designed to be thrown into crowded confined areas such as bunkers or occupied buildings. Has about the effect you expect it to on a bunch of surprised frightened people who know that you do not deploy weapons which lie to them.
To elaborate that on that last setting–it was apparently intended as an orbital bombardment weapon, as firing it at something on the planet you’re currently occupying is quite dangerous. It’s a pistol designed to destroy cities from space.
It’s also the weapon I came in here to mention. shakes fist at Chronos
Fine, then–I’ll go for another oldie: the Krang (from Alan Dean Foster’s The Tar-Aiym Krang). It’s a musical instrument that can generate and control naked singularities, and it maintains insta-frag zones in the atmosphere that can destroy any ship that tries to enter it. Mind you, that’s when it’s being “played” by a complete novice.
Yah, Niven has a knack for creating scary-ass weapons, doesn’t he? Honestly, though - the tasp is scarier than both of those things combined. The Soft Weapon and the Treatymaker will impress a kzinti. A tasp will frighten him.
(A tasp, for those who’ve never read the “Ringworld” books, is a small device, normally handheld, which induces extreme pleasure in the “victim.” Not frightening? Well, what happens if someone has a tasp who wants to use it to turn you into their slave? Conditioning can be a b*tch …)
Weapons like that don’t impress me. It just sounds like the author’s trying to compensate for something, rather than making something cool. Something like a Bolo super-heavy tank is cool, a pistol of comparable firepower just makes me roll my eyes.
I nominate the Shokk Attack Gun - a heavy weapon that works by teleporting its ammunition - typically small goblin-like creatures - at the enemy. The target gets telefragged, or has to deal with a large number of snotlings, terrified by their sudden trip through hell, which are now tearing apart the sensitive insides of their tank.
I’m not all that good at the Sci-Fi, but I’d like to mention Rhulad Sengar’s sword, from the Malazan fantasy series.
No real powers or effects, but every time the wielder dies, he is returned to life a while later, having experienced all the trauma and loss of actual death, meaning he is driven mad. Also, the weapon is cursed, so he can’t drop it. Nice.
I personally prefer Wonder Woman’s golden lasso to Thor’s hammer. Storm generator, high impact reusable missile, and interdimensional portal creator are all impressive qualities for a weapon. But the lasso can instantly subdue or turn your enemies in your favour (one cast caused Ares, God of War to stand down on his plans for planetary destruction), plus makes a slightly dangerous whip.
My first two choices already mentioned, Reason and the BFG9000.
I’m not sure it would work for just anyone, I think you have to be it/her yourself, the White Violin from the Umbrella Academy. Seems pretty effective.
Hard to choose just one; so I’ll list a few by class.
**BIG weapon : **The Ringworld meteor defense laser. A system that manipulates a star into producing a flare - then uses it as a gas laser.
Fantasy weapon : The Speaking Gun. A gun crafted out of flesh and blood, evil and aware. It has the ability to speak the Word of God’s creation backwards ( “In the Beginning was the Word” ), and can therefore uncreate anything short of God himself.
Pistol : The alien guns in the B-movie I Come In Peace ( YouTube link; seen in action at about 6:15 into the clip ).
**Exotic : ** The “TISSer”, aka the TIme-Space Separator from War of Omission. It consists of a small box with three antenna; the antenna are adjusted to define one edge of a cube, a button is pressed and everything in that zone is erased. Not simply from existence, but even from people’s memories.
Sword : Morgaine’s Changeling. There’s just something about what amounts to a black hole on a stick, with the secrets of a forbidden technology written upon it.
Humorous : The Pen That Is Mightier Than The Sword, which extends a line from it’s tip that cuts right through swords, among other things.
Y’know, Phasers would often seem to be the ideal weapon. With setting ranging from the adaptable, “moral” choice of merely stunning the opponent, to outright vaporization. (According to the technical manuals, a standard hand phaser can vaporize 650 cubic meters of rock per shot)
Alas, most treatments of phasers tend to ignore the “interesting” options (wide-field; stunning…from a ship’s phaser banks in orbit; drilling through obstacles to improve transporter coverage, etc). In combat, a phaser rifle seems to be used like a glorified M1 Garand. Just with better ammo, and worse range.
Anyway…
•I’ve been on an orbital weapons kick, lately, so the SOL 740 satellite from Akira is a current favorite.
•Marvel’s “War Machine” armor, in a modern version. (Imagine the armor from the recent movie, only specifically configured for heavy combat. :eek: )
•The Genesis Device. According to some interpretations, it might actually be possible to use this thing as intended. Failing that…hey, still a kickass planet-killer, even if you can’t use it for prejudicial terraforming.
Roland of Gilead’s revolvers were darned cool, though King was inconsistent in his description of how they work. I tended to think of them as being Colt SAA’s with sandalwood grips and most of the finish worn off the metal. I sometimes think of them when I fire my Ruger Blackhawk.
Severian’s sword Terminus Est from Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series was way, way, way cool. Wolfe also had some nifty weapons in his Long Sun series. Needlers were some of the coolest handguns ever, and he gave a plausible explanation for how one works. The Azoth, which wasn’t entirely unlike a light saber, was also something it would be entertaining as hell to own.
Well, shameful cracka beat me to the Lazy Gun (which would be my first choice) so I’ll go for AKKA from Jack Williamson’s Legion of Space stories. AKKA is an (apparently psychic) weapon that simply causes matter to disappear. (Not explode or turn to energy, it just… goes away.)
I believe the weapon was called a Tasp. I’m amused by the idea: A stun gun that works on the principle of causing incredible, undeniable, literally stunning ammounts of pleasure. I believe they were a Niven creation.
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