this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
8 points (100.0% liked)

Worldbuilding

1909 readers
26 users here now

Rules of !Worldbuilding:

See here for a longer, more explanatory version.

Related Communities

For conlang (constructed languages) discussion check out !conlangs@mander.xyz Feel free to discuss the your conlangs in our community, as well!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
infinitecartographer@lemmy.world
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world
Zonetrooper@lemmy.world
Imotali@lemmy.world
8
What interesting sci-fi weaponry exists in your settings? (lemmy.radio)
submitted 2 weeks ago by early_riser@lemmy.radio to c/worldbuilding@lemmy.world
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Yinrih don't use nukes, as they never bothered to weaponize them before discovering how to yeet things at significant fractions of the speed of light.

I've mentioned retribution fields before, which are force fields that absorb the kinetic energy of projectiles and then fire that energy back at the attacker. They were invented to counter...

...Quasiluminal munitions (Commonthroat gkg rDFrlmqrLPq or more often known by the military slang term gkrdfg, a clipped and reduced form of the above) are projectiles that travel at relativistic speeds and whose destructive power comes solely from their kinetic energy rather than a incendiary or nuclear payload.

Force projectors are used at shorter ranges. As the name implies they project force at a distance. As weapons you mostly see them on paw gauntlets as part of powered armor. By thrusting the palm forward a force extends outward beyond the reach of the attacker's foreleg, sort of a long-distance punch. They have scalong issues though. they convert surrounding oxygen to ozone, and can't be operated in atmosphere beyond a certain size for reasons I have yet to figure out.

Since yinrih are quadrupeds they can't practically use human guns. Modern soldiers use back mounted drone capsules that hover nearby and fire at enemies, similar to the Option power-up from Gradius. Older firearms are saddle-mounted and sit on the back and have a tail-actuated trigger.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I am working on a 'realistic' sci/fi mech setting. Mechs are mostly used for uban combat and still need infantry support so they use those goofy spring shoes that have probably killed a few people by now to stay a head and clear any anti mech weapons by parkouring around the city. The legs retract when they need to go inside a building.

Besides that though most of my weapons are pretty standard as I tend to focus on production history and why certain designs show up in certain parts of the solar system.

Like I have one mech that is sort of the AK or MIG of the setting. It was built to be cheap and so simple that you can train someone to use it (well enough) in six months where other mechs take three years of training. Its also built with the intention of having easily replicable parts so its easy to take a part and smuggle. It was built near the end of the Lunar-Earth war to quickly replace Lunar colonies heavy loses. It didn't save them, but at the end of the war they had more mechs then any other solar nation combined which have been sold off to rebel groups all around the solar system. So in the end the Lunar colonies fucked everyone over including themselves.

Another mech was designed by belter colonies who needed a standardized but easily customizable design to meet all the varied challenges they face in terms of industry. Theyn also though it was a good idea to use the same chassis for their weapons and so there are hundreds of 'rogue' colonies springing up they are so easy to get ahold of and modify to the point that they don't even need to be used just for urban combat.

[โ€“] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I have slow, blocky mechs which are similarly used for urban or very uneven environments. They tend to be slow and used as either indirect fire support or a heavy weapon hardpoint rather than frantically running around do cool mech combat.

My cheat is that in-universe there is a mech fighting league that is basically just WWE wrestling. Expensive mechs that can be more humanoid and have crazy paintjobs. Just like WWE the fights are staged and full of intricate nonsense storylines. The mechs fire low powered but visually impressive weapons at each other and pyrotechnic panels on the hit mechs explode spectacularly.

I have this league in my back pocket if I ever want some crazy mech combat I can just take one of these mechs and put it in a circumstance where it fights for real.

load more comments (1 replies)