Given the technology, how useful would a lightsaber really be?
watch the movies and find out
>>30414253
Can you use it to stop a bullet? No? Then it just became an expensive machete
>>30414253
Without the whole jedi powers thing, useless.
>>30414253
no more liable than you would be for any other weapon I guess.
>>30414253
it's missing a rear sight
>>30414253
>viable
anyway a combo of these 2
>>30414277
>>30414279
>>30414253
You'd need to go full Shadowrun and have "Deltaware" grade cyber arms and brain implants for super reflexes
I dunno how liable you would be, what do you intend on doing with it?
I think talking to a lawyer might be a better idea.
To save OPs shitty thread how about man portable microwave guns?
>>30414253
It would probably be more useful in an industrial setting than a combat setting.
Impossible to make an uncontained beam of plasma.
>>30414334
there is a therory that Jedi and Sith control the length of the beam passivly with their force powers
problem with this is you see non-force sensitive people wielding sabers every now and then and the saber doesnt shoot out into infinity.........
>>30414253
In ccw hostile environments like CA/NJ/NY/etc has it seems like a decent intimidation tool that could still kill your enemy if the encounter was close enough but it would have to get around retractable baton laws I know CA has and those other states probably have.
But since there's no way to make one that I've heard of and using plasma would require huge equipment and melt everyone in reach of the beam I guess it doesn't really matter
>>30414346
I have literally never heard that as an excuse in a my EU stuff or dumb science show trying to explain them as toys. You're dumb.
The idea is they have some kind of magnetic or pulse field holding in the plasma relative to powered magnets and polarized crystals and lenses, to some extent. Would it work? Dunno, doubt it. But as said, it would work better like an industrial tool than a weapon if you didn't have Jedi force powers, foresight, and reflexes. ESPECIALLY in a world without energy weapons. Good luck catching bullets, which subsequently melt and shower you with molten lead.
>>30414253
As a weapon, not much more useful than a sword. As a tool, possibly very useful. I would want it to be a little smaller, but having a weightless blade that can cut anything (except Darth Vader arm) would be rad.
>>30414253
it'd be an instant death up close to basically any target.
However, considering they make a fuckload of noise, they're not very stealthy so I'm not sure how useful they'd be on the battlefield. Maybe demolition crews and engineers would have them to take out armor, weld things together, etc.
>>30414398
like I said it was a theory i heard. I didnt say "well in the EU in this book on this page in this chapter it says" untighten your rectum a bit
>>30414398
Assuming "fuck physics" I think a cylindrical singularity would look quite a bit like the sabre.
>>30414253
Somebody actually worked out the math one time, basically something that puts out enough heat to melt through steel like that would instantly char everyone in the room to a crisp the second you turned it on.
if i had one, id be a lumberjack immediately.
Not useful at all as a weapon.
Even with jedi powers, they're not going to deflect a shot gun round.
But they'd be a really helpful tool for cutting fences and doors and shit open with a short blade
>>30414253
Its a laser that can cut through anything. That shit would be extremely viable. Dude pulls a gun on you and you extend a beam of plasma out a dildo; you don't think that fool is gonna be in awe giving you ample time to slice his weapon in half AND both legs? Sure you can't block bullets but who needs to when you can just tunnel under 500 feet of concrete and show every dead viacong how its really done. Shit dude you could jump at a tank with the thing held out in front and just phase through killing everyone inside . Get outta here with that negative shit. A light saber would be amazing to have in any situation. Bear? Fuck outta here. Plane crash? Fuck an emergency exit, make your own and jam that shit into a cliff as you slide down it
>>30414253
>Be sith
>Go into bank
>Unzip lightsaber
>Security guard whips out his Taurus curve and fires a shot
>Put lightsaber in front of the bullet
>Get hit in the face with superheated metal
>Inb4 anyone assumes this isn't canon
Seriously, bullets beat lightsabers.
>>30414646
Don't plasma arc welders get up there in temperature?
>>30414277
>Can you use it to stop a bullet? No?
Someone with Force reflexes (who are the only people who should be using a lightsaber in the first place) can easily deflect blaster bolts, which aren't much bigger or slower than bullets. Obviously, the reflection is due to an interaction between the blade and the bolt (both of which are plasma, which a bullet isn't), so instead of reflecting they'll just vaporize the bullet. The best way to prevent someone from blocking your shot with a lightsaber is to use a weapon with a cone area of effect (like a blaster set to stun, or a shotgun).
>>30414334
Who says it's "uncontained"? Presumably it's contained within an electromagnetic field generated by the hilt.
>>30414398
It wouldn't be molten lead, it would be a gas/plasma. And likely most of it would be diverted by the blade so it wouldn't hit you directly.
>>30414646
That's true of a lot of sci-fi tech though. Presumably advanced civilizations have developed a method to shunt waste heat into another dimension. Alternatively, I've heard that the power of the blade adjusts automatically in response to resistance, so it produces little power while just waving it around in the air, but the power increases when you use it to cut something, and most of the heat goes into whatever you're cutting.
>>30414253
i mean the scale of slaughter you could accomplish against a large group of unarmed people in a short time would be horrific. like assault lightsabers banned globally within 1 hour of liberals hearing about it.
other than that it'd be the ultimate breaching tool and backup melee weapon assuming it'd function like in the movies. and seeing as it never runs out of power it's an infinite heat source and the best man portable cutting tool you can get your hands on.
>>30415378
>they're animals
>AND I SLAUGHTERED THEM LIKE ANIMALS
>>30414984
You mean slugthrowers. Slugthrowers (guns) are often used to defeat an unknowing jedi in the starwars expanded universe. A jedi can stop a slug.. but usually only if they know its coming
depends how small you could make them. It's better than a sword but they're usually much larger than a knife. If you could make it knife-sized for carry it'd a good backup weapon. It could also be used for bayonets.
yoda had a pretty small lightsaber. I'd CC it
Small unit with the ability to disable or damage scores of tanks? Or even used underwater to breach aircraft carrier hulls?
>>30414346
The theory is wrong.
Lightsabres have an actual knob that adjusts blade length, and some like Vader's and Dooku's have a dual-phase setting, allowing to change between two predetermined lengths at the press of a button.
Lightsabres are entirely mechanical, with special physics that make it difficult but not impossible to wield without the Force.
Like Han in ESB, you can use them as tools easily.
You'd have trouble fighting with them, and they'd be more like spears/pikes than swords for non-Force users.
>>30415180
Sure they do. They also only produce an arc the size of the end of your little finger. That arc can sunburn exposed skin out to several feet away in seconds and can blind you temporarily from across the room. Now, imagine that arc isn't the size of the tip of your little finger. Imagine that it's big around as your thumb and as long as your arm.
The moment you turn the thing on, you're going to have front row seats to a small lighting bolt. There go your eardrums. Then your hand and arm catch on fire. You won't see that because you were probably blinded before you could stop thumbing the on switch. Then, the thing overheats and either its power supply blows (you thought exploding vaporizer batteries were funny) or it just fucking outright melts.
tl;dr verson: Light sabers would be bad weapons.
very, id sell my mother for one >:P
>>30417126
What about used as bombs?
>>30414253
Incredibly.
Okay, sure you have the military/monastic applications, and assuming they're relatively affordable, the private market use. They can vaporize bullets, carve through tanks, eliminate armor and hell if a grenade landed next to you, you could just swipe it with the lightsaber and it's done.
Then think of the non-combat applications.
Medically?
Instantly-cauterizing amputations
Cauterizing wounds
With the technology, I'm sure a multitude of surgeries would become available and cheap. (Just super thin blade, really).
Non-medical?
Welding would become something anyone could do with a gentle stroke of a lightsaber.
Water purification with the swing of a blade
etc etc
Honestly though, the thought of any military on Earth fielding lightsabers terrifies me. That is something we'd need real-life Jedi for, people who are dedicated to keeping peace and not politically aligned.
>>30417126
>tl;dr verson: Light sabers would be bad weapons.
They're be pretty good suicide bombs though.
>>30414646
Yes but Lightsabers have space magic crystals, and the beam only emits heat when it's in contact with something. They're bright of course, that part would need to be worked on. Sound I'm sure could be controlled, if we ever found crystals capable of producing a blade.
>>30417148
>>30417159
Oh, fucking yes. A light saber being turned on would effectively be a tiny little lightning bolt.
But if you could make the blade a basketball sized sphere instead of a linear beam, you would essentially have yourself a small nuclear weapon sans radioactivity. Think about it. Beam comes on, instantly heats a foot-wide sphere to plasma, all the air around it instantly expands.... it's a mini nuke.
>>30417202
Why not make a clusterbomb faggot of dual-edged lightsabers?
>>30417229
Wait, I think I mean dual-bladed lightsabers. The one with it coming out of both ends.
>>30417229
If they're going to be vaporized anyway why not just make them heat themselves up without the blade part at all. That's how nuclear bombs work.
We Fatman now.
>>30417294
Doesn't the effect happen because of the blade part?
>>30415335
I think the mythbusters did something on dodging blaster bolts and figured out they only traveled at 130 mph (still too fast for them to dodge). Also, I can't remember where, but I read that some bounty hunters preferred "slugthrowers" when hunting jedi because even if they tried to deflect it with lightsabers, the molten metal would still hit them.
>>30417380
Guess I didn't read down far enough to see that >>30416685 already said that.
>>30417380
I think you're remembering the Verpine shatter gun, it shot anything you could put in it with magic magnets. It fucked up anyone (jedi included) and was hollywood level quiet.
>>30414408
>except Darth Vader arm
Calling BS, lightsabers can totally cut off Darth Vader's arm.
>>30417465
He's referring to a scene in empire where Luke slashes through a metal railing and hits his shoulder. Sparks fly off and he goes ARRRRGH and grabs it. I'm sure some extended universe fag could give an explanation, but its like, just a movie.
>>30418675
No extended universe really needed, it was a glancing blow. Something similar happened between Obi-Wan and Dooku. Dooku cut him twice really shallow, on his shoulder and leg, just deep enough to incapacitate him.
>>30415335
>Someone with Force reflexes (who are the only people who should be using a lightsaber in the first place)
Incorrect. Force sensitivity is by no means a prerequisite for wielding a Lightsaber effectively.
>blaster bolts, which aren't much bigger or slower than bullets
Except they are bigger and slower.
>>30417154
Assuming lightsabers work on the priciple of a tight superheated-plasma arc doubling over to create a physical 'sword' blade capable of reflecting other plasma expulsions and objects telekennetically launched at it as 'thrown' speed, as well as slice slowly through a metal door, it is most likely that a lead bullet, travelling at anything between 800-3000fps, would pass through the blade so fast it would barely be lukewarm before it killed the unarmoured Jedi behind.
Force or no-Force, a lightsaber would suck against solid metal high-velocity bullets, even if the Jedi was fast enough to predict where the bullet would hit them. At the very best they'd cut the bullet in half and just be hit by fragments instead.
>>30415335
>Someone with Force reflexes
You're no longer asking how useful lightsabers are.
You're asking how effective your fictional magical superhumans are.
>>>/tg/
>>30419460
>Incorrect. Force sensitivity is by no means a prerequisite for wielding a Lightsaber effectively.
Depends on what you mean by "wield effectively". Sure, any random person can swing a lightsaber around, cut with it, etc. But actually using it in combat against someone who can fight back is very difficult without Force reflexes (or if you have superhuman physical abilities for some other reason).
>>30419590
The point is that it's Force reflexes, not the nature of the lightsaber itself, that determine the ability to block/deflect projectiles. Give a Jedi and ordinary metal sword, and they'd be able to move it into the path of a projectile the size and speed of a blaster bolt. What would happen when the projectile struck the blade would be up to the respective natures of the blade and projectile, but the ability to react quickly enough comes from being Force sensitive.
>>30414253
Could see it as like an honor guard thing or ceremonial martial arts toy, but the rifle would still be the mainstay of infantry combat
>>30418675
>>30419075
Yeah, glancing blows, Luke wasn't exactly fighting back too well at that point after getting battered around, falling down tubing, getting nailed with a bunch of heavy boxes and weather vanes and shit, and then getting tossed like at least two stories out of a fucking huge window. How fucked up he gets in the Empire fight is really underrated, somehow, like it's obvious but everyone focuses on the hand. He was a trooper right up until then.
Alternatively, the best explanation otherwise is that it is clear Vader had upper body and shoulder armor in every iteration we've ever seen. Was it more for mounting or decoration? Who knows. Was it mostly put there for aesthetics? Probably. It's still, and I'm spitballing but I can almost entirely remember something, probably described at some point in the old EU as a Cortosis armor, which would make perfect sense. Especially considering that'd be brilliant duelist armor for lightsaber battles and he did hunt a fair amount of Jedi down between III and IV. Plus, if you take into account the Clone Wars most of the Jedi wore a similar pattern of shoulder/neck armor, so there's that.
>>30414253
Fantastic tool for just about everything but actual combat unless you're extremely skilled with swords or a jedi. You'd probably fuck yourself up otherwise if you tried to do anything fancy at all with the typical lightsaber.
Blade length and thickness are usually notably adjustable and there's probably not a thing on earth it can't "cut" through or otherwise melt making it the ultimate key and a fantastic tool for in the field fortifications. You need that door unlocked? VWAAP fuck ALL the deadbolts. You need logs for barriers or other fortifications? One swing and that tree is coming down. Want to fuck up the roadway? Stick it in and hold it for a while. Shit in your way? Not for long! Sneak up on some motherfuckers in a tank and forget your AT shit? No problem!
In the worst case that you do need to use it as a weapon you can simply use pansy swings and simple thrusts that keep it in front of you the whole time. You don't exactly have a reason to wind up on the swing considering you're not fighting someone else with a lightsaber or otherwise resistant melee weapon. Could also just keep the blade short at a typical knife length making it much more manageable I suppose.
>>30414334
It is contained, though.
>>30416685
>You mean slugthrowers.
Which is the Star Wars term for a weapon that fires metal projectiles. We here in the real world call small metal projectiles bullets.
Hairsplitting faggot.
>>30417154
>dial lightsaber down to 6"
>get loaf of bread
>slice bread
>instant toast
>thanks, Trillian
>receive Form 1 tax stamp
>take 24" shotgun
>use lightsaber
>receive SBS
>repair muzzle...
>work for demolition company
>use lightsaber on brick & metal
>chop debris into manageable size
>productivity goes up 10x
>everyone else wants to borrow it
>walk down street
>cop sees metal tube in holster on belt
>he stops and ask to see what it is
>suppress urge to scream AM I BEING DETAINED
>calmly say it's a lightsaber
>cop gives a strange room
>walk away OCing legendary weapon
>>30420270
>But actually using it in combat against someone who can fight back is very difficult without Force reflexes
Yeah, no. Not really. The force literally has nothing to do with Lightsaber combat apart from additional mobility, I.E. moving around on foot.
>>30421285
The jedi does have a much better sense of his saber through the force, but it's not required to use one. Raw skill can still whoop space magic in this department.
I still don't understand why lightsaber blades collide.
Lightsaber blades can't pass through each other, because of the containment fields keeping them in the shape of blades--alright. But why is it that when two lightsaber blades meet, they come into a bind?
Real swords bind, because their blades are made of physical matter and can transmit force to the hilt. But lightsaber hilts don't hold the blade by a tang; they emit one. There's no way for force to transmit down the blade and into the hilt.
What it seems to me should be happening when two lightsabers are swung at each other is that the containment fields would interact in whichever way they might (see pic related) for a brief moment only, while the motion of the hilt continues unimpeded and both parties are left with terrible wounds and an immense sense of regret for not choosing to bring a gun instead.
>>30414253
Only useful for force users or people with "cybernetic" enhancements like grievous
>>30414253
>>30414279
I would say far from useless. In a fight with a gun, yeah, of course any melee weapon will do jack shit. But considering it's a hot ass lazer that can cut through fucking anything. I'd also reckon it can start fires.
So pretty much the most useful melee weapon ever.
>>30421482
>There's no way for force to transmit down the blade and into the hilt.
Qui-gon tried cutting through a bridge blast door in the beginning of Ep 1. Somehow the containment field acts like a solid surface moving only as fast as the saber can melt the metal. It looked like he was pushing a stick through honey.
>>30414311
Underrated post
it would have all kinds of industrial uses, replacing plasma torches, lasers, waterjets, and saws in all sorts of medium-low precision work.
Plus it'd make a bitchin' replacement for a chainsaw, in climates where that wouldn't just instantly start a forest fire.
>>30414253
It would be awesome, but the only limit is range. So we could make it fire longer and in pulses.
Oh wait.
>>30414253
not even close to useful
>>30414334
Meant kept a certain length, but not bordered by matter along the blade i.e. an EM radiating cage.
First off it's not a saber. A saber has one edge and it is curved. Secondly having no weight other than the hilt would be a bloody nightmare to coordinate.
>>30421285
>>30421438
It's very difficult to wield a lightsaber without the Force, the blade is weightless but has lots of momentum, which makes it hard to get the feel for like you can with a normal blade.
>>30421482
Magnets, bitch, I don't have to explain shit
Excellent for utility. Need to heat water? Need to get through a barrier? Need a light source? Have to craft something? Can't be assed to cook? Need to cauterize a wound? It'll do that.
Shit as a weapon.
>>30422976
>A saber has one edge and it is curved.
Not always.
Learn your shit Anon.
>>30418675
Cortosis woven armor. The beam of a lightsaber can't penetrate it, and taking it a step further the beam will bounce off like two power magnets opposing each other. Because it's so rare it gets woven into armor like strands of carbon fiber. It's also heavy as fuck.
Vader wore it because he was always fighting jedi with lightsabers. Kylo Ren wore it because "muh grandad". That's how Vader endured the shoulder blow in ESB, and how Kylo Ren survived Chewbacca's blaster and the shoulder blow he took in TFA.
In all likelihood Ren's armor is made from the cortosis harvested from Vader's armor, which also explains why he has Vader's helmet.
But it's all a moot point. That armor doesn't do shit against bullets. Neither do lightsabers. The lightsaber will be two things.
>mall ninja must have
>sc/out/ all purpose knife, light, fire starter, portable heater, water boiler, etc because of the heat - which really makes them useful as fuck to take innawoods.
