Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The Persistence of Old Technology

Let's assume we have a star spanning setting - a typical SF setting with space ships, wild electronic gear, armored marines, etc. What would be the most typical hand-held distance weapon? Laser? Electric shock? Tiny spin stabilized rockets? If you ask me, it's a slug thrower. Why? Easy to use, simple to make and maintain, self-contained, cheap, and deadly. But... but.. it's old-fashioned! So what! Good technology doesn't go away just because it's old technology.

What's a good model for transportation on an earth-type colony world? Anti-gravity buses? Sleek bullet trains? How about a prop-driven flying boat or amphibian? No need for infrastructure as it can land in any body of water, simple repairable tech, could be produced by the colony instead of imported, good range, and adequate load-bearing whether passengers or cargo. Colonies don't have established infrastructure like tracks and airports. They don't have extensive high tech manufacturing. Exotic materials may be scarce until their economy matures.

Instead of looking for flashy and sleek, let's look at sustainable, easily maintained, simple tech. Sometimes older technology is good enough, and sometimes it may be preferable in a different situation.

-clash

8 comments:

  1. Amen!

    I always laugh when people say, “It’s the future! Where are the video phones we were promised?” Ask them to think about it, and they’ll realize that—more often than not—video would be an inconvenience rather than an improvement. (When it is worthwhile, we do have Skype/iChat/etc.)

    Also, consider a 19th century soldier getting ahold of a modern assault rifle. It might be just a slug-thrower like the weapon he knows, but it is still pretty flashy technology to him. How are these “low-tech” technologies going to evolve in the future?

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  2. Unless the game is going in some High Science Fantasy direction (McCarthy's book Collapsium comes to mind) this is how I prefer to project technology - it's pragmatic science and engineering. Robust, low-input solutions have long lifespans.

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  3. Glad you guys agree!

    @Robert

    That rifle might use caseless ammo, with an electronic trigger, seven different sensors reading out to a HUD interface, but it's still a rifle!

    @Ragnorakk

    Yep! That colony world is only going to bring in and make what it can keep repaired and working. Cheap, dependable, easily fixed, and multi-use.

    -clash

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  4. In the 19c, even rifling was just moving from high-tech to everyday-tech though.

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  5. True! Initially Union soldiers were issued muskets in the civil war. We've come a long way in the art of killing. :D

    -clash

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  6. Funny enough, I had in "emergency" kits found in escape pods an air rifle that was hand pumped--similar to the ones IIRC used by the some Swiss groups during WW2, because they could be made simply, ammo was easy to get (designed to use anything close to a pellet or BB.) It has no manufacturing needed to stay reliable.

    At the same time I love energy weapons. Even if slug throwers are more practical. One thing to think on though is it might be that defense outstrips slugthrowers at some point.

    Also, I've always felt that slug weapons are too dangerous aboard starships. Think of this: A physical slug thrower that is powerful may puncture a hole in the ships workings. If it can't do that, then it can ricochet. Directed energy weapons often require very precise events to ricochet. So something becomes more sensible for spaceship use. Especially of they are recoil free.

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  7. Hi Tim!

    I'm not saying slug-throwers are better than energy weapons! I'm saying they are better in some circumstances,and it's not like they'll disappear. :D

    As for shipboard use, I would imagine slug-throwers would use frangible bullets, which shatter on hitting anything hard, but have no problem penetrating flesh. You'd still have recoil, but you wouldn't be punching holes in ships! I would prefer my ship-borne troops using energy weapons, or frangible rocket (gyrojet) guns, though.

    -clash

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  8. Of course clash--but then you run into "I make armor of starship internal hull material!" Yet I find it amusing the way few (old school )SF writer's think of this stuff.

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