Looks like there are a few things the translator can’t come with a good analogy.
Dr. Moosen McMoose, Chief Spymooster of the Moosad
Literally and figuratively heartless.
Totematika
Blow up with what?
Or space cannon are still fine?
TB
There’s always the traditional Strib “Squish Them Under a Spaceship” maneuver.
Coyoty
Guns being illegal doesn’t stop people from having them. But I think the law doesn’t apply to dark planets where enforcing it would reveal the existence of the GOB.
Pete Rogan
Zero.
Speaking of contradictions, I expected mass violence to be suggested by now, never mind the prohibitions on guns. Violence is too universal to be done away with. If it wasn’t, then cats wouldn’t have developed the binocular eyesight, sharper fangs, and retractable claws that make them more lethal in close combat than dogs.
Violence is simply going to come up, whether you want it to or not, and dealing with it is going to be, now, a bigger thing than prior. Prohibition of guns or no, it simply now takes center stage. It has to.
Frankie D.
Go back to using swords. Everyone’s a bad mofo until they have to get within swinging range…
tlhonmey
So the thing that makes “gun” type weapons different from previous generations like swords and bows and whatnot is that the energy being thrown around is provided by the weapon rather than by the user. This largely levels the biological playing field and replaces it with a technological one.
In your hypothetical reversion to swords, the guy who’s 6’6″ and 245lbs of muscle gets to be a “bad mofo” pretty much all the time as long as he has a modicum of practice. He can out-reach and out-speed a good 60% of the population to the point where the odds of him losing to someone in that group who isn’t a life-long master of the blade are pretty small. And that’s before you factor in that he’s strong enough to wear much better armor.
And the 5’1″ grandmother with a walker… She’s basically no threat to anyone, no matter how hard she tries.
Swords do level the field a bit. They make speed and dexterity more important than just raw power. But in any sword fight between opponents of roughly equal skill, the winner will be the one who is a better wrestler. And that brings you right back to raw strength being a massive advantage.
In this setting, lack of “guns” really doesn’t mean much of anything. There are SO MANY options for self-powered weapons… Edible robotic mice programmed to run up the trousers of designated targets and bite them on the unmentionables for example… Dozens of which can be trivially manufactured at the local food-synth…
Eric
Just started reading a few weeks ago and finally caught up, love everything you’ve done and it’s been a very fun read! Thank you for the creation of and work you’ve put into it all!!
I paid for an argument, not a contradiction!
No you didn’t!
Looks like there are a few things the translator can’t come with a good analogy.
Literally and figuratively heartless.
Blow up with what?
Or space cannon are still fine?
There’s always the traditional Strib “Squish Them Under a Spaceship” maneuver.
Guns being illegal doesn’t stop people from having them. But I think the law doesn’t apply to dark planets where enforcing it would reveal the existence of the GOB.
Zero.
Speaking of contradictions, I expected mass violence to be suggested by now, never mind the prohibitions on guns. Violence is too universal to be done away with. If it wasn’t, then cats wouldn’t have developed the binocular eyesight, sharper fangs, and retractable claws that make them more lethal in close combat than dogs.
Violence is simply going to come up, whether you want it to or not, and dealing with it is going to be, now, a bigger thing than prior. Prohibition of guns or no, it simply now takes center stage. It has to.
Go back to using swords. Everyone’s a bad mofo until they have to get within swinging range…
So the thing that makes “gun” type weapons different from previous generations like swords and bows and whatnot is that the energy being thrown around is provided by the weapon rather than by the user. This largely levels the biological playing field and replaces it with a technological one.
In your hypothetical reversion to swords, the guy who’s 6’6″ and 245lbs of muscle gets to be a “bad mofo” pretty much all the time as long as he has a modicum of practice. He can out-reach and out-speed a good 60% of the population to the point where the odds of him losing to someone in that group who isn’t a life-long master of the blade are pretty small. And that’s before you factor in that he’s strong enough to wear much better armor.
And the 5’1″ grandmother with a walker… She’s basically no threat to anyone, no matter how hard she tries.
Swords do level the field a bit. They make speed and dexterity more important than just raw power. But in any sword fight between opponents of roughly equal skill, the winner will be the one who is a better wrestler. And that brings you right back to raw strength being a massive advantage.
In this setting, lack of “guns” really doesn’t mean much of anything. There are SO MANY options for self-powered weapons… Edible robotic mice programmed to run up the trousers of designated targets and bite them on the unmentionables for example… Dozens of which can be trivially manufactured at the local food-synth…
Just started reading a few weeks ago and finally caught up, love everything you’ve done and it’s been a very fun read! Thank you for the creation of and work you’ve put into it all!!