are there high tech melee weapons in any book?

[cbrunish]

Oh another point, most of the weapons that were mentioned were very similar to weapons in Gamma World. The problem is that Gamma World was a science fantasy game, not a science fiction game.

Now I'm not cutting up on Gamma World. I loved that game and spent many years playing the game. But alot of the weapons seemed far fetched.

Traveller tries to stay with what is believable.

 

[-Daniel-]

Now I'm not cutting up on Gamma World. I loved that game and spent many years playing the game. But alot of the weapons seemed far fetched.

Traveller tries to stay with what is believable.

This is the same for me. I do not mind playing a Light Saber wielding Jedi in a Star Wars RPG, but I would not want to play one in my Traveller setting. Not that I dislike the idea of a Power Sword or the Force, it is just a different type of game.

Daniel

 

[klingsor]

Thank goodness someone else said it first. That Traveller is moderately hard SF with maybe four known 'handwavium' bits [1] and 'magic' gadgets like light sabres fit about as well as clogs on a herring. If you want that sort of thing the Third Imperium is not the place to go and putting them in may cause problems for you.

Of course now that someone else has pointed it out some known Ancient technology is effectively 'magic' but this is just Clarke's third law in action.


Notes
1. Do ask ask me what they are (well Jump Drive is the screamingly obvious one) or where the list came from though the first edition of Fire, Fusion and Steel is a safe bet but mine is out of reach at the moment.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

For a Light Sabre/Energy Sword, I used Laser Carbine stats and damage with sword range modifiers. I gave the battery a limited number of combat rounds (20 I think) and allowed it to be recharged like a Laser Power Pack.

Higher tech versions could last longer and use Laser Rifle stats.

Depends on the game you want to play.

 

[Twi'lekk_Den-keeper]

When you board a ship there are several things that are almost always true: 1. You've already beat the shit out of the ship
2. Seeing as you've beat the shit out of the ship, the engines, sensors, and (most importantly) whatever is used as artificial gravity is not working well.
This last bit ensures no slug throwers are going to be present (thanks to the recoil). Also, seeing as the boarder needs to take control of the situation, it is very advantagious to creat a vaccuum when attacking (the boarding troops will definately be in vacc suits, some or most of the defenders might not be, and thus giving the zero gravity trainer boarders a hefty advantage. Vibro-blades that are able to open large gashes in vacc suits with little to no effort would be very useful. One might mention lasers at this point, but seeing as we're all being very technical now, lasers are easily made useless. Flexible reflector suits (like the vests that bike riders use) would make you invunerable to lasers. Contrary to the reflec armor stats in the rule book, the fact is lasers dont harm any reflectable matierial at all, and a reflective suit would be easy to make, flexible, and could cover your eyes (reflective on one side, see-through on the other).

 

[CosmicGamer]

...artificial gravity is not working well.
This last bit ensures no slug throwers are going to be present (thanks to the recoil).

Why?

 

[Twi'lekk_Den-keeper]

In zero gravity, the recoil provided by a slug thrower would throw you backwards, and, blocking magnetic boots or something to catch onto, would continue throwing you back untill you hit a wall. Which, by the way, would still hurt quite a bit even without gravity.

 

[CosmicGamer]

In zero gravity, the recoil provided by a slug thrower would throw you backwards, and, blocking magnetic boots or something to catch onto, would continue throwing you back untill you hit a wall. Which, by the way, would still hurt quite a bit even without gravity.

I agree with this but would like to point out that some slug guns don't have a lot of recoil because of their size and others have some built in recoil suppression.

...artificial gravity is not working well.
This last bit ensures no slug throwers are going to be present (thanks to the recoil).

This statement was a little black and white though. Slug throwers are viable, as you say now, when using magnetic boots or even if just bracing yourself.

Personally if all I have is a slug rifle I would use it. Who cares if you get tossed into a bulkhead when you are fighting for your life or your ship. I believe the bruising you might get should be no more than when you don't have the weapon properly placed against your shoulder.

If you hit your target they will be effected just as much [guys flying backwards when shot just like in the movies]. In fact, if you get lucky you can take out a whole group of boarders like a bowling ball knocking down the pins... maybe?

 

[zozotroll]

Gravity doesnt cancel recoil, mass does. All grav does is help you stay in contact with the ground. And if you are in any armor, you are not going to get smacked by the recoil at all.

And besides, even something like a LMG that will provide continuing thrust, you can recover from what ever spin is imparted. Most coridors are pretty narrow, so you are going to smack into something soon, and can reorient your self. As for the guy you just poured all that ammo into....

 

[zozotroll]

In fact, any imparted movement you get, your target is going to get as well. So, the yahoo with the chainsaw gets to spin around just like me, only he has this nasty hole in him as well.

Massive recoil, and masssive target movement is a hollywoodism. Real targets can move a lot, but that is caused by involentary muscle reactions to the bullet going through the body. Sure it wioll move you a bit, but that should be part of basic space marksmanship, how to set up for the shot. Just like we train to take up a stable fireing position now.

 

[zozotroll]

Jumped into my reloading manuels for a bit of hard data.

My 12 gauge will throw a 1 OZ slug at about 1`200 feet per second. It will throw my 3200 Oz butt backwards at .375 FPS. 1 MPH is 1.47 FPS, so I am going backwards at about 1/3rd of a mile an hour.

That is a problem if I am suspended in mid air in a gym. In a corrriddor, I probably pick up more velocity by swinging my chainsaw sword. Unless you give slugthrowers much more damage than is in the books, they will be just fine in a boarding action.