Why are my weapons so bad? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852 kookicat A big part of my plot revolves around a weapon that was created to destroy planets. My bunch of characters are using them as a latch ditch effort to kill the aliens that have taken over the earth. (They're in ships in orbit.) I don't usually write sci-fi, so I'm not sure what to make the weapons. My MC is very reluctant to use them, even with the aliens killing humans, so I'd like them to be something really awful to justify that. (I have a feeling that sounds awful! ;) ) They can be anything, apart from nukes. I've already established that nukes are infective against the aliens and I'd rather not change that at chapter 11. :) Thank you. :) Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:54:28 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_473392 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_473392 Legion_Zero Lensman used Antiplanets towed through space which was neat in the amusing "hey how can we keep getting bigger weapons" Chain reacting chemical weapons are cool (ergo a weapon that has an inert component when added to the aliens natural atmosphere it reacts creating a chain reaction that creates a fireball/smog/any (un)desirable effect) Some kind of particle that shreds chemical structures but is reflected by the aliens natural "ozone" Or go star killer, and have a weapon that creates a blackhole at the centre of a star. Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:20:36 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_474092 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_474092 DeathOfScythes strictly soft-SF, but the least pleasent one I've thought of is one that when set up, causes the bond between atoms to fail, causing everything to disintegrate. The nastiness comes from the fact that the effect starts out slow and gradually increases, and that it effects all matter equally randomly. Some people die when enough of them is gone that they get internal bleeding or can't process oxygen, some die when parts of their brain literally rot from the inside, some die when enough molecules in a safety system fails near them. Some die painlessly, some die screaming, but the end result is universal: Dust to pure elemental dust. Something like a nanomachine Grey goo scenario but universal instead of spreading. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:25:23 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_476697 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_476697 penwiper Does it have to be a technologically based weapon? What about some kind of virus or almost-instant plague that destroys everything in its wake, leaving earth unusable for an astoundingly large number of years in its wake? Then it could wreck the same kind of havoc as the aftereffects of a nuclear strike but without having to necessarily having to use as much scientific mumbo-jumbo. You could spend pages describing what it has done to other planets, maybe even have one of your main characters visit one of those dead planets in a space suit with his/her class of graduating students as a lesson in ethics, hence why he/she is so reluctant to use the weapon--as those memories still give your character nightmares. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:55:02 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477471 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477471 ClassyWriter Modified Tesla Balls. 'Nough said. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:09:46 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477919 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_477919 philperetti Nukes are effective, but "only" against cities, not entire worlds. Classic Star Trek had a planet eating machine. Star Wars had the Death Star. Heinlein wrote a story where a planet was sent into another dimension.....without its sun. Or you could just destroy the sun itself. If you just want to kill the population and leave the planet intact there are all kinds of chemical, biological or radiological weapons of mass destruction you could use. However, the method probably doesn't matter as much as the motive. "Give me liberty or give me death" is a nice slogan, but what makes life under alien rule so bad that it's worth commiting global suicide? Whatever it is, make it gruesome and make it personal. Rent "Schindler's List" if you haven't all ready seen it. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:16:58 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_478126 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_478126 Legion_Zero nano swarms that break apart the atomic bonds of things and turn organic matter to a shimmering silvery gloop for no good raisen(sic) re "Give me liberty or give me death" I don't think hummanity as a whole would ever choose death, as a species we're survivors bar a handful of fringe and religious sorts most people want to live and will do anything to do so, we're just hard coded that way. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:23:42 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_478350 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_478350 philperetti "I don't think hummanity as a whole would ever choose death, as a species we're survivors bar a handful of fringe and religious sorts most people want to live and will do anything to do so, we're just hard coded that way." I think we're on the same page there. For humans to even concider using a doomsday weapon on their own world the alternative would have to be much, much worse. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:44:54 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_479109 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_479109 kookicat Thanks for all of the ideas. :) The weapons are going to be used against the alien ships, not the Earth. They were just designed to be used against a planet. :) The aliens came as friends, then started wiping out cities, so the few survivors are trying to get rid of them. They'll be using one bomb then telling the aliens to go or they'll use the others. I also have a pretty nasty idea of how to get the bombs on the ships in the first place. I do like the idea of things just disintegrating into dust. That would be pretty damn horrific to see. It's soft sci-fi/space opera, so I think I can get away with them. Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:13:05 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_488116 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_488116 pastmeetspresent In a last-ditch effort, you might want to consider something that I used in a previous(failed) idea called "tactile radioactive displacement". what you want to do is place ten to twenty average to large-sized spaceships(depending on the size of the planet) around the planet in geostationary orbit. Each ship simultaneously fires a beam of harmless radioactive energy into the core of the planet, which agitates the core of the planet so much that the planet's mantle can't contain it and it explodes. It's kind of like putting a marshmallow in the microwave. The entire process, from ship placement to planet detonation, is about fifty to sixty seconds. Even with very primitive defense shields, your ships should have no trouble handling any kind of bombardment from the doomed planet below. Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:28:12 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_992260 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_992260 Darkfeather21 Heres an idea. Taking it from Enders Game, theres a laser that will obliterate anything it touches, and send out a shockwave, which creates another shockwave when it hits another object. It's a giant chain reaction. Only issue is that it can't distinguish between freind and foe. Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:22:32 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_999261 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_999261 Crazy_Skillz Why not just make it simple. A planet killer would really only have to be a large enough projectile fired at an extremely high speed. Think of that asteroid everyone though was going to hit us a few years back. It had no warhead. The sheer impact force from orbit would be continent-shattering, and the heat of the impact would most likely fry the atmosphere. Of course, if you want to make it effective in Ship v. Ship Warfare, atmosphere bombs work. Essentially they cause a reaction that bonds the atmospheric oxygen with other elements. No pure oxygen=no breathing. Of course, making it simple again, just make a giant planet-sized airburst bomb. Fry the atmosphere. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:06:03 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1024512 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1024512 kookicat Thanks everyone. The weapons are going to be used by the people on the planet against the ships though. Not the other way around. :) Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:27:34 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1025345 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1025345 Katana_Master I have a weapon in my sci-fi setting, a bomb, that forces all matter within its 'blast' radius into subspace (my handwave explanation for FTL travel) for a split-second. When that matter emerges, it's been forced into an area that's physically too small to hold it. Use it on a fleet, and it's been crushed into a tennis ball. Use it on a planet, and its been crushed to an unrecognizable lump the size of my house. Thing is, all the original matter and energy is still there, so you've got all the collective energy of a fleet or planet in a lump of matter where the atoms have been so scrunched together that they overlap. I'm not entirely sure what would happen next, but I suspect that there will be an explosion. A very, very violent explosion. Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:41:59 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1039399 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1039399 Dragonchilde Quite simple, really: What scares you? I mean, what wakes you up screaming at night? Whatever that is... the weapon does it. Psychological weapons are, to me, far more effective than just physically destroying someone. It's bad enough to hurt someone, but bones heal, cuts knit, legs can be replaced or regrown. Break someone's brain? You're attacking what they <em>are</em>. The worst thing in the world I can imagine is forgetting everything I love. Waking up one morning, and discovering my children are strangers. The horror of it is that they don't forget... it doesn't bother me, because I don't remember. In this situation, your aliens are left effectively unharmed... their ships intact (thus potentially ripe for harvesting by humanity) but they're roaming around in the middle of it like a bunch of babies. Confused, helpless, and completely unaware of what anything around them does, or who the people they're around are. Or what that red button marked "emergency airlock release" means. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:37:45 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1044400 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1044400 Traci-jo Oooo, that's creepy. Terrifying. And a totally perfect weapon. Awesome! Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:50:42 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1071147 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1071147 Generalist "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" was the Heinlein juvenile that mentioned the punishment of sending a planet to another dimension without its sun. It didn't happen in the story though. I definitely have to agree with defining the motive. It would be tricky to justify 'destroying the village to protect the village.' I could see it being done if the aliens have some sort of device that will reach back in time and change history. If you eliminate humans before they go into space and expand to other star systems, you may make life easier for your race to take over the planets that humans claimed. But if you destroy the planet now, completely disrupting the structure, the aliens can't go back in time because of the physics of time travel. In the above instance, a black hole generator or a small planet would be needed to destroy the planet. Mere nukes, chemicals, viruses or the like just affect the skin. Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:37:44 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1074053 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1074053 Dav1d How about a twist on that? The weapon, takes the "mind" and rips it out of this universe, creating a disembodied existence in another dimension that we lack the ability to truly understand? Everything remains untouched, but the bodies slowly begin to die, without the intellect to control the body. At the very best you have these bodies that are like infants that you must dispose of. Hence the reluctance to use the weapon, who wants the clean up after babies and shove them out the airlock? Or you can reverse it if you wish and attempt to return them to their bodies, but they've been changed by their time in another dimension. Some can not be returned, some will wind up in the wrong bodies.... Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:51:57 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1076506 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1076506 throughasplendour How are the aliens immune to nukes? Nukes are just really really big bombs. If they're immune to nukes, they're immune to any explosion, to heat... so lasers wouldn't work either. My suggestion, in general terms: something with undesirable side effects. The cost doesn't have to come from "oh no, we're going to be inflicting this on sentient beings to save the earth". It could come from (for example) "oh no, we're going to be sacrificing the souls of children to power this weapon to save the earth". Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:22:51 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090346 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090346 Notkieran Shoji Kawamori's Macross Frontier had a race of aliens that adapted to whatever weapons you used after several generations-- you killed one wave, but they were in communication with their hive mind, so the next generation would spawn improved defences against your weapons. At one point they grow a defence against nukes-- an ablative armour that vaporises and flakes off, absorbing the energy of the nukes into the latent heat of vaporisation. The humans progress to their next weapon: an experimental bomb called the Dimension Ripper or Dimension Eater that tears spacetime apart, sucks in everything in the radius of effect, and then seals the pocket. It's quite impressive to watch, really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gX7S8rUfnA&amp;feature=related Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:45:22 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092457 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092457 bronwynnre The weapon that destroys the mind is a great(?) idea, if your going for horrific, which you seem to be. To take it one step farther, what if the alien ships are colony ships? So not only are the aliens who are trying to take over the world there, so are their wives and kids who have no input on the matter... Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:51:29 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1111958 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1111958 Crazy_Skillz The thing about all these Psychological weapons is you don't know if your enemy has the same idea of scared as you. Their brains might not even be wired in the same way. However, and explosion kills everything. My second suggestion comes from the Halo novels. They use a NOVA bomb, which is essentially several hydrogen-powered nukes put together in such a fashion that the detonation of one triggers the next one down the line to have double the power. In the book by the time it had finished it had destroyed an entire fleet, stripped the atmosphere off the planet, and nearly caused the sun to go Supernova... Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:59:47 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1113505 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1113505 The_Halla A black hole generator. The omnivorous gravity is bad enough, but it's the accumulation of superheated plasma and the powerful x-ray emissions that will really make life unpleasant. Plus, it's mathematically predicted that whatever goes into a black hole is physically "lost"--you're not only destroying the enemy, but removing their very matter from existence, which would be rather spiritually devastating, if you think about it. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:37:04 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1128438 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/science-fiction/threads/24852?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1128438