VSF weapons for space and other hostile environments

[Bullshott]

So in a VSF world where space travel is possible, what weapons would men be armed with in space or places with thin/toxic atmosphere?

For my VSF world, I've sorted out the suits men will wear, but would welcome suggestions for appropriate weapons (both suggestions for types of weapons and how to model/convert them).

Initial ideas:

Personal weapons:

Air rifles - using a reservoir of compressed air to fire a solid slug at very high velocity

Electro-rifles- using electricity to propel a charged slug (as per the GASLIGHT ACW supplement)

Electric lances - something to give a sparky edge in close combat


Support weapons:

Lightning guns - as per the Eureka impervious suits

'Ether weapons' - large man-portable ray guns of various sorts - like the ones in Black Pyramid's Tea Wars range

[twrchtrwyth]

Bronze Age Miniatures loose weapons.

[Ray Rivers]

Indeed... it depends a lot on your damage model.

If any tear in the spacesuit will cause major damage, then a whole array of weapons and defenses comes into play.

I could see the use of any hand held throwing weapon (which would have a far greater effective range) such as grenades, darts, knives, axes and bolt guns.

Defenses could see the use of applied pieces of iron to the chest, arms and thighs and even hand held shields could be used like those of the Romans or Greeks (for saves).

Depends on how you want to play it.

 

[Conquistador]

Two Words:  Harpoon Rifles - (spring/rubber band powered of course.)

Gracias,

Glenn

[Bullshott]

Since I'll be using deep sea divers as the basis of my space suits, I'd like to avoid harpoon guns as being too nautical. I'd rather arm my figures with something a bit more 'pulpy', even if it is just a conversion of the basic figures.

These are the figures I'm using for my suits:

For the French:


For the British:

[fastolfrus]

My first thought was spear guns or harpoons, but also things like crossbows might be a possible, especially for the French. If you are looking at grenades, some sort of wide-barrelled launcher might be another option. Blunderbuss style.
How about a double-barrelled blunderbuss, just for complete overkill?
Or for a British feel, how about a Nock gun or a duckfoot pistol?

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

I think crossbows or compressed air rifles.

Any other propellant or blackpowder requires oxygen to work.



Cheers

Fuzzy

[OSHIROmodels]

I would third (or fourth) the shout for harpoon guns.

Also, I think you've got your aether troopers the wrong way round... The first set should be British and the second one French 

What you also have to think of is why the need for aether troopers in the first place. Boarding actions, defending asteroid mines etc.

cheers

James

[Steve F]

... crossbows might be a possible, especially for the French.

And the Brits with longbows (necessitating lots of yew tree plantations on every planet) and PIATs?

[tnjrp]

Contary to popular belief, a traditional powder-propellant gun can fire in vacuum.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2282/would-a-gun-work-in-space

However in space (real space, not on airless moons etc.), due to lack of gravity, anything that has recoil when fired will be problematic to say the least. You'll need something to compensate for it. That's where your rayguns aether oscillators etc. will come in handy.

Inside spinning O'Neill Cylinders* and the like, you can likely work with standard firearms without much of a problem that should be modelled in the rules. Might be fun to have the magic pulp guns not work in atmo or when in "strong" gravity, or maybe not - depending on how much differently armed minis you'd like to build.

---

*) named after their famous invertor, the aetherophysicist Geraghty O'Neill of Brockagh, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

[Dewbakuk]

Flechette guns to shred suits

[Bullshott]

And the Brits with longbows (necessitating lots of yew tree plantations on every planet) and PIATs?

Not so strange as you might think - the last recorded kill with an English longbow was in 1940 when a British officer ('Mad Jack' Churchill took out the leader of a German patrol)

I like the idea of PIATs (maybe as a grenade launcher in the absence of shaped charge warheads) but the recoil would be a problem on low gravity, even if the fire adopted the proper braced firing position.

[Bullshott]

I would third (or fourth) the shout for harpoon guns.

The only reason divers use harpoon guns is that they were designed for spear fishing. In a space environment there is no need to use a weapon needing large reloads like harpoons, when all you need to kill your opponent is a much smaller bullet/projectile (which would fly a lot better without a harpoon shaft hanging behind it.

Also, I think you've got your aether troopers the wrong way round... The first set should be British and the second one French 

But the Fench invented the diving helmet as we know it, so I wanted them to keep that. The Brits get a more radical design, complete with personal electric lamps.

What you also have to think of is why the need for aether troopers in the first place. Boarding actions, defending asteroid mines etc.

Boarding disabled spaceships, exploring strange ruins above the (low) breathable atmosphere on Mars or on the Moon, hunting trips on worlds with hazardous atmospheres ... and generally 'boldly going' 

[Conquistador]

It's all in the background story and yours seems to be developed/developing well.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Bullshott]

Also, I think you've got your aether troopers the wrong way round... The first set should be British and the second one French 

After experimenting with red paint variations to see how a figure would look, I have come to the conclusion tha the esteemed Mr Bibbly is correct - conventional 'diver' helmets for the British and 20,000 Leagues inspored helmets for the French.

My first unit of British plus some characters are now complete (just need to do the final varnish coat). Photos very soon in a new thread.

To round off the original theme for this thread:

Standard troop weapons will initially be:

• Electric carbines - short ranged, but with either a better chance to hit than normal guns or a 'shotgun' template - not sure which
• Air rifles - using compressed air to fire a solid slug at high velocity (better armour penetration than standard rifles)

Specialist weaapons (initially in the hands of a couple of 'bigger' game hunters) will include:

• AEther weapons in various formats - VSF ray guns with shorter range than conventional weapons, but lethal when they hit
• Cannister gun - a heavy shotgun with a built-in compressed air reservour - better range and hitting power than a normal shotgun

More as I think of them