Justify the use of crossbows in a sci fi setting
I don't need too, it's my setting.
What I say goes, if people use crossbows, they use crossbows.
>>44839304
Why?
no, you justify why her knees are bending the wrong fucking way
it hurts to just look at it
>>44839339
Digitigrade prosthetics, most likely.
>>44839304
They fire thermonuclear quarrels and are used by suicide bombers just before they get to the security perimeter.
Quietly delivering high-yield or otherwise heavy or complex payloads that are too large to fire out of a firearm/magnetic weapon. Also, if lasers/magnetic weapons are standard, good for avoiding detection.
Also, for sport. You think people won't still hunt or shoot for fun in the future?
>>44839304
Railguns. There is no sting, it's two magnets used to accelerate the bolt to hypersonic velocities.
>>44839304
used as a light platform to launch micro-rockets, or possibly to insert small attack drones into enemy positions during combat
>>44839304
Ultra-lightweight, highly durable materials in a silent weapon that can carry a powerful punch. It can be made entirely with non-metallic materials so it can slip past metal detectors. Not only can it be used to kill somebody but also carry any kind of equipment that can fit into a bolt without having to alter the weapon at all; grappling hooks, cameras, microphones, explosives, etc.
>>44839304
Primitive weapons circumvent high tech detection/disabling devices. They're quiet, too. Could be just the right weapon to neutralize security when infiltrating certain perimeters
>>44839304
They make way less noise than a gun, so they're good for stealth.
They can be poisoned or have assorted devices (such as flares, small explosives or a tracking device) attached, offering utility bullets don't have.
It's not going to be a frontline combat weapon by any means, but it has a potential niche.
Fuck you justice, you use bow nao!
Used as a workaround for personal shields, as they only deflect faster projectiles.
It's a weapon that leaves no signature on the projectile. Also, stealth.
>>44839304
I'm not doing your homework for you.
>>44839304
Guns are illegal, crossbows aren't.
>>44839304
>not subtlely referring to a wookie bow caster
>>44839304
Easy to make in colony conditions without access to industrial mag-tech or proper propellant explosives. Easy to print using home manufacturing equipment when contemporary weapon designs are filtered out by hard-to-crack security software. It's a criminal mainstay.
>>44839304
Infiltration and delivering specialised ammo.
Its smaller than a rocket launcher but can take explosives and such if theyre made into an appropriate quarrel, swapping ammo is fast, its far quieter than 90% of guns and even suppressed weapons make noise up close, they have use in pinning enemies if you want to take them alive.
You get the idea.
>>44839358
Isn't the plus-side of digitigrade that you get a fantastic ass?
Modular, gadget based ammunition! Remote cameras, infiltration drones, electroshock stun sentries, zero point gravity tethers, shield projectors. I mean yeah, guns can do that too, but I think crossbows would make them more fun.
>>44839331
>I don't need too, it's my setting.
>What I say goes
What a shitty way to worldbuild.
>>44839331
It isn't. She's standing on her toes
While it may not seem reasonable to have a crossbow in a sci-fi setting, you have to remember that the arrows can be made with tougher/stronger materials to help penetrate more advanced armor suits. Plus as others have mentioned, great stealth weapons, and the ability to modulate the ammunition.
>>44839746
I'm sorry you live in a Commie prison-state. :(
>>44840138
He said sci fi setting, so maybe in the future they've gotta infiltrate commieland to bring them freedom
>>44839304
No propellant. Just gather your supermaterials and assemble one, then shoot with serviceable kinetic energy, no explodey required.
>>44839304
Better range than the other silent option
>>44840947
I can't into firearms. What am I looking at?
>>44839304
1. Silent
2. Light
3. Can have many types of bolts
4. Harder to pin-point you after you do a assasination
5. Easy to smuggle past someone
6. Shooting a fucker with a crossbow is more fun that doing it with a gun
7. Chewie did it and looked awesome
8. Deus vult
>>44841084
Okay so the problem with firearms is they are loud, really goddamn loud. Suppressors help, but they are still really goddamn loud. The majority of the noise comes from the gas escaping from the cartridge, that picture is of captive piston ammunition. What happens is that the piston seals the casing preventing the gas from escaping. Essentially making the actual firing of the weapon silent, the soviets/russians took the concept more seriously than others. The problem with captive pistons is that they can't be too powerful or the piston would break out of the casing, and so they have to use high mass projectiles to be lethal at any range. The 7.62x42mm round in that picture, used in the PSS and the OTs-38, has a maximum range of anywhere between 25 to 50 meters (For comparison .45 ACP's effective range is ~92 meters).
>>44839304
Blabla space habitat, etc.
>>44841342
Thanks!
>>44841342
>>44841415
Oh, another question. I always hear people saying silencers "don't work like they do in video games." Is that just about how much they reduce the noise level by or are there other differences as well?
>>44841522
not the gun anon, but unless you have the right ammo next to nothing
>>44839304
poorfag faction?
>>44839339
Those are her ankles
>>44840138
Such a tragedy not to have inbred rednecks firing off shotguns to help them cum in their sister.
>>44841522
Well, the main reason silencers/suppressors are used is to hide muzzle flash, to get the quiet(er) part of the deal you would need subsonic ammunition, which has a shorter effective range and with the exception of 9x39mm is weaker than usual ammunition.
Also this is the PSS firing captive piston ammunition, the sounds that are being made are from the cycling of the action, the noise the PSS makes while cycling is theorized to be the reason the OTs-38 was created.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlcaoA4CDZY
>>44839402
At the tech level in OP's pic, surely a railgun firing a bolt would be about 47 times better.
>>44839304
Nanomachines
>>44839907
agreed
Something I believe no one has mentioned yet is the possibility to stop persons carrying explosives without risk of causing detonation
>>44841680
Also here is a video comparing the PB (9x18mm) to the PSS, the audio quality isn't that great but the suppressed PB has a more defined echo than the PSS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K842AAaiHhg
>>44841743
That would likely be more of a sniper weapon, where this is more intended as a sneaking weapon. Also, again, it could be made of materials that would be far harder to detect or place as a weapon this way, making it convenient for transporting.
>>44841779
While I'm absolutely cool with this, I would think the crossbow gun would need to be longer so your hand isn't in the way of the string
>>44841743
Surely but I imagine the twang of a high tech bow string would still be significantly quieter then then a lance of metal being ejected by two high powered magnets.
That and you probably don't need a complex power supply for the crossbow either aside from maybe a micro motor to auto-draw the string back into position.
>>44841680
>>44841878
Thanks!
>>44839304
Flammable atmosphere.
>>44842005
You're welcome.
>>44841884
Dude, a crossbow isn't easy to transport. A traditional silenced firearm is going to be better for almost every situation.
>>44841982
So use a fucking regular silenced weapon.
Seriously, just admit that you like crossbows and want to use them. It's ok. I like crossbows too.
>>44841861
From my understanding you can throw C4 into a fire without it blowing up, so I don't think this is a major concern
>>44842021
>>44842041
Crossbows are significantly quieter than silenced weapons.
>>44842041
>look at me talk about things I know nothing about
ok
>>44842056
Some explosives associated with terrorist acts aren't as stable.
>>44842122
Tell me about how easy a crossbow is to transport over say, an AK.
>>44842041
>silenced weapon
>silent
If you use something like a PSS, you get shit range. If you use a supressor, the gun's still loud.
>>44842168
Are you trying to imply that a crossbow has better range than that?
>>44842149
I carry a hunting crossbow around and it's no more difficult than an AK or AR.
>>44842149
>Breaks down into small individual components
>Generally made of plastic
>Individual pieces don't set the authorities haywire at airports
to name a few.
I'd still have an issue transporting the ammo though, since that's still dangerous. But sniffer dogs aren't trained to smell bolts, vs gunpowder so there's that I guess.
>>44842149
I think he (>>44841884) means transporting as in: sneaking it in luggage onto airplanes, past guards through metal detectors, across national borders etc.
> it could be made of materials that would be far harder to detect or place as a weapon this way, making it convenient for transporting.
It would probably be about as easy to physically carry as a firearm.
>>44842184
>look at this ignorant pleb
Modern hunting crossbows can kill big game out to 240 feet or so, could probably kill a person considerably farther.
Also, I've heard that crossbows have much better armor penetration at short ranges, although it seems doubtful. But if anyone else has heard it or has evidence to corroborate, that would be another potential niche.
>>44839304
They're useful in places where the air is filled with combustible gasses I guess.
>>44839304
Does your mother know you're shitposting?
>>44842041
I do like Crossbows and even in a futuristic setting I would still have them available in the same way a knife or a sword would be because the invention of a gun didn't suddenly make stabbing or poking less effective.
That and considering this is a fairly advanced setting by the looks of it you could have arrow heads and systems that allow you to be more versitile with a crossbow such as having a special arrow head that embeds itself inside of, say, a combat droid and overrides it's normal functions causing it to zerk out on it's own handlers or something of the sort
In anycase, a crossbow can still be used without any sort of complex technology or powersources that other futuristic weapons may require and that can be an advantage by itself, especially if you can lug around a crossbow that shot 2 or 3 times the draw weight a normal human wouldn't be able to handle but you can with your cybered up body.
>>44842056
Explosives are generally made to be safe as possible to store and carry, and only go off in specific circumstances (some mix of heat, pressure, electric charge, chemicals etc.)
>>44842127
If it does not go off from a crossbow, chances are a bullet is fine too.
>>44842184
Current hunting crossbows have a 30-60 yard reliable range, mostly due to accuracy issues (gotta hit the right bits). Future crossbow is probably a whole lot better.
>>44842232
Could just be futuristic plastics etc.? So the bolt fits into something else as a part of it, or inside it.
>>44841779
This pic is all over the place but I fucking love it.
>>44839304
If they had some kinda space auto-crossbow it might be useful in breaching operations, since you wouldn't want to pop the hull.
You can also fire it in zero-atmosphere.
USE AMMO TO POKE HOLES IN THEIR SUITS.
>>44842232
The bowstave isn't plastic.
>>44842233
we have fucking plastic firearms NOW
>>44842257
wow 240 feet thats really cute you sure showed me anon
Are you people seriously trying to imply that in a futuristic setting weapons researchers and manufacturer's were just like "oh well the gun is fucking finished better see what we can do with this crossbow thing I guess".
Just stop.
>>44842191
Yes its the same as a similar sized weapon some one up thread was saying it was easier.
>>44842347
From what I've heard, modern powder has all the oxygen it needs to combust in the stuff itself, so having no atmosphere isn't a problem for firing it. Rather, cooling the weapon becomes the problem.
>Crossbow bolts suddenly stop being harmful because better technology exists
There could be plenty of justification depending on the setting. The aforementioned relative quiet-ness of a crossbow or delivering chemical payloads. Shit maybe this setting's shields only react to energy or objects traveling over a certain speed; crossbows hit that nice sweet spot where they pass right through.
Maybe they're the tech path a certain alien race took: Everyone else went lasers and gauss, but these aliens REALLY REALLY liked their high torgue bows
Maybe the most common crossbows are still almost entirely mechanical in nature and still operate just fine after being shocked with an EMP, plus they give off zero energy signature.
Maybe technology ebbed and flowed for a bit, a war happened and tech was lost. When someone found the weird backwater crossbow factory entirely intact they became one of the more viable methods of murdering one's fellow man
>>44839304
robotic units fighting for the main antagonist base part of their targeting protocols on equipment used to detect firearm and laser/energy etc weapon fire. Able to pinpoint the exact positioning of a small firearm through the use of advanced acoustic organs.
sport
the delivery of specialized rounds without giving off an electronic signal
futuristic crossbow made from from strings of space whale baleen can actually propel projectiles with more speed than conventional ranged weaponry/ space magic
Are crossbow bolts reusable?
Say ammunition is running out/has run out/can't be reproduced because stuff is going down or something.
>>44842383
Considering that we've just about hit the plateau of what traditional chemically propelled bullets can do, yes.
Suits emit a frequency that detonates gunpowder mid-flight so bullets are useless against them?
I dunno. But I can dig it.
>>44842592
>Tech path
That's just rule of cool. Nothing else. Which is fine, mind you. Because it's pretty cool.
>muh non-digital
wow just like most firearms today
>mad max/different flavour of post-apoc/wild west
Setting and rule of cool.
>>44842838
So obviously the next step forward from this plateau is essentially 4 steps backwards. OK.
Seriously just make up some bullshit as to why a better firearm isn't being used. Bingo fucking bango, crossbows are fine.
Just
STOP
Trying to justify their use over superior tech. I remember having this exact argument in fucking grade school.
>>44842383
Eh. Yeah, I like crossbows, but there is more than just that to my responses. Besides, even now crossbows, alongside firearms, get improved constantly.
>>44842943
Why do you care? Honestly asking, you seem a bit miffed about it.
>>44842943
STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE
>>44842943
You really don't like crossbows, do you.
Crossbows must have done something wrong to you.
Show me on the dolly where the crossbow touched you as a child.
>>44843113
Because you people don't take in anything you're reading, you're just circlejerking about crossbows refusing to take in any advice at all.
>>44843147
I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I like crossbows.
I just don't like how you stupid faggots justify their use over clearly superior tech aside from rule of cool. Because there is no other reason.
>>44843189
Not a crossbow, but some stupid little cunt of a cousin fired a bow straight up(Fun game apparently, I like it better when I know I'm playing first though.) and the arrow actually ended up striking me in the collarbone on the way down.
>>44842943
>OP: Let's contrive some sci-fi settings in which crossbows are used, either niche or widespread.
>Anon: Here's a setting I contrived!
>Assburger: This setting is so contrived! You guys are all idiots! This is just a setting! What fucking dumbasses!
>>44839304
Energy weapons are never developed Have to use archaic weapons inside vacuum and pressurized space ships? I am not clear if you can fire traditional firearms in space.
>>44843369
My argument in the post makes it pretty clear that I'm fine with a setting that suits the use of crossbows, whether that be through lack of tech or advantages of such a weapon.
<street sign captcha
Just when I thought I couldn't get more butt blistered.
They have bombs on them. You shoot big tough aliens with them so the bolt explodes inside them.
>>44843289
Let's straighten out Watsonian versus Doylist reasons
.
Rule of Cool is the reason why we're trying to justify using crossbows. Crossbows are cool. That is the Doylist reason why we would put crossbows in our setting. We're all pretty much on the same page that crossbows are cool as fuck. There's nothing more to be said there.
You're complaining about people coming up with Watsonian justifications as if you think we don't know the Doylist reason we're talking about this.
>>44843417
Most if not all modern weapons are self-oxidizing, so they carry the oxygen they need to combust with them. The biggest problem with shooting in space would be preventing the gun from overheating.
Justify melee-focused warriors in a sci-fi setting.
>>44843599
They are just that good.
>>44839304
It has to do with the way shields work.
It's certainly possible to build a shield that deflects all incoming material; however, doing so is completely useless for infantry purposes, as the instant you turn it on it will attempt to deflect the planet you're standing on, and either simply burn out instantly or send the wearer pinwheeling wildly into the atmosphere and/or the ceiling. So, infantry shields are designed to deflect only high-energy incoming projectiles, such as bullets. Therefore, lower-energy attacks, like fists and thrown rocks, will pass through the shield unmolested. Crossbow bolts are actually on the upper end of this 'sweet spot', and are thus occasionally deflected, but it's safer than closing to fisticuffs range with a man in powered armor. Military crossbows generally use miniaturized HEAT charges to defeat such armor, but some other variants, such as sensor-blinding micro-EMP warheads, exist.
>>44843599
Dune.
>>44843289
Actually combining some parts of all of the oh so horrible excuses.
Better range than piston cap, no problem of overheating in non-atmo environs, actually pretty silent, beats rail due to lower power cost and less cioldiwn time, easily made in low metal worlds, and fuck it, ease of munition switching.
>>44842901
>gunpowder
>mid-flight
You have no idea how guns work, do you?
>>44843599
You can't. There are no situations where you can use a melee weapon in a sci-fi setting. There are no sci-fi settings that justify using melee weapons. You'd only do it because it's cool. Anyone that says anything other than rule of cool is a deaf idiot.
>>44842712
Normally, unless they strike something hard or at the wrong angle.
Then you don't have the time to make thousands of bolts either.
>>44842901
Gunpowder combusts before the shot leaves the gun.
>>44840138
I'm sorry you live in a state where only four days out of three hundred and sixty five go by without a police officer shooting someone and the ease of access to firearms ensures that mass shootings transpire on a weekly basis.
>>44843599
Any tool in the hands of someone with intent is a weapon. Everyone on a space ship would likely have some tool training and some on hand, which in case of an ambush means they'd have something to ultimately defend themselves with. That said, some people likely would prefer it when all's said and done.
>>44843835
>There are no sci-fi settings that justify using melee weapons.
Sure there are. They just might not justify it well or realistically.
>>44843513
>They have bombs in them, you shoot big tough aliens with them so the bullet explodes in them.
FTFY.
>>44843835
https://youtu.be/FcVavD3hM-c?t=244
Because cyborgs are faster than bullets.
>>44839304
Materials Science has advanced far enough to where it can replicate forces previously only possible with Chemistry. Carbon nano-wires under tension silently (due to near perfect energy transfer to kinetic force and being mounted on friction-less linear slides) fires a bolt covered with MEMS micro-channel stabilizers that can adjust course to seek out a target.
>>44843835
>>44843599
Melee weapons never run out of ammo, are good for close quarter combat, and could easily be the sort of thing that doubles as tools. A wrench, for example, can be used as bludgeon or for it's intended purpose.
>>44843835
You can't deflect lasers with other lasers anon.
>>44843835
>guns in use since the 1500s
>knives still around and still fucking deadly
>taking out suicides, leading cause of violent death and injury.
Seriously, melee is great for silence and stealth if you can get up close. No shot, no residue.
You might need something that fires projectiles at a lower velocity than a gun does. For instance, if the projectile is an EMP device too delicate to shoot from a gun, or if there exists some sort of forcefield that only stops things moving extremely fast (i.e. Kevlar).
In addition, the payload doesn't have to be specifically manufactured for the crossbow the way bullets do for guns. Using the EMP example, you could just tie the device to a regular crossbow bolt.
>>44843835
>CQC on a ship
>range is useless because of twisting corridors
>if you miss with a gun, you depressurize your section
>silent so you can take out one guy without immediately alerting his buds and letting them know where you are
>>44844391
>inb4 silenced gun BS again.
>>44844242
Blood residue.or Semen.
>>44842901
There is no gunpowder in a bullet already fired. Gunpowder is the ecxelerant for the actual metal bullet.
>>44844458
On you is easily taken care of. I was referring to gunpowder.
>>44844159
Seriously, this. How has it taken over 100 comments for someone to suggest technobabbling your way around the problem?
>>44844458
>and semen
Fixed that for you
I think everyone knows that in a man-made atmosphere with a low oxygen recycling (like spaceships) there's no way one can use a normal firearm, likewise smoke a cigarette. Energy weapons are good but need energy (obviously), with probably combact-specifics battery not selled in every general store. So crossbows are really good weapons, even in sci-fi universes for all the above mentioned points
>>44839907
It's literally the only way to worldbuild.
>>44841197
>Deus Vult
This is all you really need to say.
>>44839593
You, I like you, fellow Fremen.
>>44845328
Don't need oxygen for normal firearms. The gunpowder contains its own oxidizer. It always has. If you rely on atmospheric oxygen, the combustion takes too long, and doesn't actually explode the way you need it to. There's just not enough oxygen mixed in there, especially in a tightly-packed powder.
I let space Amish like people have them
>>44845385
No, most people actually care about verisimilitude and end up making worlds that make sense instead of plot holes already being built into the framework of the world before the story starts. If you're putting something strange into your setting then you better have a justification for it.
>>44846014
Besides, the issue with guns in space isn't getting them to fire due to a lack of atmosphere, it is getting them to not overheat due to a lack of atmosphere.
>>44839402
And why are crossbows better than magnetic weapons in that context? The only reason that a magnetic weapon isn't as silent is because usually you'd tune it up to the point the projectile is supersonic. But you don't actually have to do that.
>>44846333
If you can adjust the tension to go subsonic with a crossbow without having to use an external powersource why waste the energy to do so? I think this would make sense especially if you were forced into a situation where you can't easily recharge your weapons and the arrows are reusable.
>>44846277
Suck dick. It's my setting not yours.
>>44846333
I'd imagine railguns are pretty tightly tuned to the projectile, and dependent on solid metal mass.. You're pretty much only shooting ball bearings. As opposed to green-arrow-esque techno-utility quarrels.
>>44839304
It's not really a crossbow, it's the exhaust fins for the rail gun. You cock them back against the rails, fire a few times, then they snap forward to cool off. The silent fire mode is a situational option, using the spring actuators to pop the fins forward to propel the bolt.
>>44846434
>If you can adjust the tension to go subsonic with a crossbow without having to use an external powersource why waste the energy to do so?
Because the resulting weapon is much smaller and of a more efficient shape. Why have two big bow arms on the end of your gun if you don't have to?
>>44846472
There's no reason you couldn't fire whatever you want out of one, as long as a part of it was magnetic.
>>44846434
>Suck dick. It's my setting not yours.
Yeah. Only yours, because nobody else likes it.
>>44841648
>>44843951
>>44840138
People really have a bizarre idea of what it's like living across the pond in either direction.
>>44839304
People still hunt with crossbows today. They're quiet and broadheads will fuck your shit up.
It's a viable weapon for illing someone, just not the optimal-loadout firefights-erry-day kind of weapon.
>>44846549
>Why have two big bow arms on the end of your gun if you don't have to?
see pic, I'm sure you could accomplish a lot more with future materials perhaps but who the hells knows since this isn't a specific setting.
>>44846576
Well....Okay.
>>44846614
So, stealth weapon or a stylistic choice for someone's custom Sci-Fi weapon?
>>44844019
>not leaving bullet as bolt
It's like you didn't even try
>>44846628
Every "future materials" argument goes the same for a more space efficient weapon.
Fact is that the size of a crossbow is a huge disadvantage, and when you have many different ways to create a space efficient weapon instead, it's hard to see why you'd need a bow.
The only reason to use a bow type weapon in a sci-fi setting, as far as I see it, is if you're stuck out in the wilderness without supplies, ammo, weapons, etc.
Even the charge thing for a rail- or gauss-gun isn't easy to see, because such weapons would likely have the electric charge built into the ammo cartridges.
>>44839304
I was afraid to annoy the wookies.
Never argue with space yetis with lasers, my only personal principle.
>>44846678
Would they? That's the problem with open ended questions like these because that's information we don't have and have to assume which is up in the air based on people's personal preference.
Maybe in whatever setting you create the powersupply is compact and the gun is no bigger then what you see being used now adays. Maybe laser/rail/gauss weapons are actually bulky and need to be hooked up to a back pack or vehicle mounted or, at the very least, require you to have some kind of strength augmentation to use.
So at the very least we can agree a low tech weapon that doesn't require high tech parts to work is generally good in a survival situation. Being made of some unobtanium just helps that along as well although doesn't help in the department of recreating it from scratch (hence re-usablility of the arrows being key).
Also, we've never specified if this is actually for military combat use. You don't see infantry men running around knifing dudes left and right or using Crossbows but a special forces team might find a use for it in a limited capacity where it meets their needs or maybe you just have a rag-tag group of dudes in a BYOG situation and one of them brought his high tech crossbow because he had nothing else.
>>44839304
Gunpowder is outlawed. Ironically not because the potential to be used in firearms or any such safety regulations, but because detonating it in even the smallest amount is unacceptable pollution of the environment. Same goes for gasoline and couple other substances. Armed forces are back to javelins, slingshots, bows and crossbows.
>>44846773
>Violators are nuked
Latent Psychics using charging the crossbows with telekinetic energy in order to fire a sharp projectile at impossible speeds without noise.
>>44842567
IIRC most modern firearms could be fired in a vacuum, but the firing process would destroy several key components. You'd get two or three shots off, maybe, and then the gun is trash.
>>44846333
Prerequisite need of power sources, really. One needs you to ensure constant power supply. The other, you can be the power supply.
>>44843835
Dune.
>>44844019
>They have bombs in them, you shoot big tough aliens with them so the bolt explodes in them.
FTFY.
It's called a boltgun for a reason.
Ranged weapon of choice for the everyman spacefarer. Guns would be more common on larger ships and space stations, where you can afford the plating or shields or what have you, but firing guns on smaller ships is risky business.
Plus, you might have to do external repairs or maybe get rid of vacuum-born wildlife, so you want a weapon that is light, non-metal (because of cold-welding, possibly static buildup too, dunno), doesn't need a battery or overheat like railguns. It's simple to maintain and repair, especially as there's no damage from combustion.
The ammo isn't combustible like firearms, you have your utility bolts like a grappling hook if your tether broke or you run out of RCS fuel. Assuming that higher quality amour and weapons would be expensive, possibly even banned, this would be "good enough" to stop low-tier pirates and petty thieves. 3D printing more ammo would be cheap and easy because it's a single material, no chemical components.
You COULD have a power source, electric or pneumatic, which still leaves the crossbow operational after you're out of power.
>>44847238
I'm thinking pistol crossbow mostly as a sidearm for the average space-trucker
>>44846766
>Would they? That's the problem with open ended questions like these because that's information we don't have and have to assume which is up in the air based on people's personal preference.
No, see, that's where we disagree. It's not personal preference, it's common sense.
You even have a real world equivalent in firearms centuries ago. They used to bring gunpowder separately, but that has an enormous amount of issues.
The same issues would go for giving magnetic guns separate power supplies.
There's just no point, logistically and in the way the arms end up performing in combat. That has nothing to do with personal preference.
>>44846277
Dude, only pedants who are better off reading non-fiction and autists, get assblasted over this shit.
>>44847238
Aaaand my next firefly space cowboy will have a military grade space plastic/nanocomposite crossbow!
In the future, humans are still squishy. But 3d printers and automated design-assist programs are super common.
So while dedicated military forces may need to min-max every joule of their lasers and missiles; for casual fighters just out to whack some other casuals - be they gangs, home defense, martial artists, militias, you name it - any given weapon from a 3d printer will fuck someone up so there's no point being perfectly optimal, because everything is good-enough. Using a weird weapon may even give the advantage of surprise.
Hence, wireless lethal tasers, self-loading crossbows with heat-seeking arrows, custom warhammers, rule of cool it. For amateurs, surprise is 90% of the battle and creativity is the rest.
>>44847518
>>44847238
I was thinking Firefly writing that. That one episode with Vera, they all just stand in the airlock with their crossbows firing squad style instead of the one shot. Less story tension but a legit better idea in-universe
>>44847501
I'm not even nearly assblasted, anon, but this is a thread specifically for the justification of inefficient appearing sci-fi devices.
I came here because I'm interested.
>>44847612
I meant in general anon. It's like SoS/HEMAfags getting assblasted over held binds.
>>44846803
This made me laugh
>>44847857
Well why link to my post if you're not talking about me? That's annoying.
>>44847919
Because your statement was actually false, verisimilitude is pretty damn subjective. Personally almost all the silent, no power, no overheating reasons given don't break it for me, however pedants and autists anything but hyperrealism is going to cause them to have a prolapse of their rectal cavity. Hence why they have no friends.
>>44848069
This is sci-fi, anon, I think it's a given there isn't any hyper realism here.
>verisimilitude is pretty damn subjective.
It's not, it's just extrapolated realism. How much of it you want in a setting is subjective, but it in itself isn't.
>>44841522
Basically a silencer is a tube with a chamber at the front for gas expansion followed by a series of baffles. It captures the propellant gases from a fired cartridge, eliminating or reducing the exploding propellant part of a gunshot's sound.
As a positive side effect of the propellant gases slamming forwards into the baffles and being captured, felt recoil gets reduced. The extra weight of the suppressor helps with that too.
Most cartridges loaded to normal specs throw a bullet faster than the speed of sound, producing a sonic boom. You still get a sonic boom when you shoot a cartridge like this through a suppressor - however you can still get away without wearing hearing protection (outside at least), so easier to communicate/hear stuff. Also, without flash/muzzle blast noise, it's harder to pinpoint a shooter's location by sound.
The way you get to video game level suppression is subsonic ammunition (no sonic boom) - they're loaded with heavier projectiles to make up for being loaded to subsonic velocity. The KE difference between sub- and super-sonic is smaller in pistol cartridges (lower velocity to begin with) but gets truly significant in rifle cartridges. They drop faster, travel slower and don't hit as hard.
>>44842383
Bow limbs aren't plastic, but then again they're not steel either - fibreglass and carbon fibre tend to be the go these days.
>>44839304
Harpoons
>>44839304
Rule of cool.
>>44842712
Point: compound crossbows and bows probably shouldn't be used to shoot wood - arrows/bolts shot through either are exposed to a lot more stress being shot compared to the traditional versions and any arrow or bolt with inconsistent shaft composition is more likely to straight up explode if you try it (which is why aluminium and carbon fibre are the standard).
You can reuse the ammunition, but at the same time you probably wouldn't be able to make more.
>>44847919
I think crossbows are a good survival kit-type weapon. The sort of "crash on alien world, have to craft ammo out of wood with your survival knife and kill shit with your crossbow" scenario.
>>44839304
the change from crossbows to energy guns was completely sudden, so they merely adapted their designs to newer technologies
they're currently the only "firearms" capable of being completely silent and firing actual projectiles rather than bolts of energy
>>44848646
Yes, I agree with that much, like I said in >>44846678
But it feels like a cop out or something.
>>44846472
Guns in mass effect were really neat in the first game.
Guns dont have ammo. The ammo is a block of dense metal shaved off by Nano robots as you shoot and you don't realistically need to worry about replacing it because the killing power comes from the speed
>>44846706
Man that cgi is really really bad in still frames.
>>44839332
you're too good for this place.
>>44839304
Firearms are b& for civilian usage
>>44847344
Yes but we don't have a real world equvialent of a man portable rail gun system, not yet anyways so when I said personal preference it's in regards to where and how technology advances within one's own setting.
>>44848897
Yes, but we have the real world equivalent of a weapon system that houses both the power and the projectile in the same package, because that overwhelmingly makes sense.
Sure, it's 'possible' that something else could turn up with technology, but if you think so, can you think of an example? Because I sure can't. Power supply is always the biggest factor for mobile devices. Just bringing a lot of power with the ammo is likely the only reals solution.
I remember some a cracked article about the Chinese police using them on suicide bombers because it wouldn't set off the bombs. Sounds believable enough.
>>44845385
I mean... If you're bad at worldbuilding, yeah... But no one who knows what they're doing would have that as the way they worldbuild.
Volume of the projectile. Everyone in the setting hates how barbaric it feels, but you can fit a lot more circuitry/nanomachines/whatever-other-tech-shenanigans in a 12 inch bolt than a 9mm slug. REALLY advanced tech requires a longbow purely for the extra volume of the arrow.
Or if you need to carry a super science rope/grappling hook system. A grappling bullet seems a bit... stupid.
>>44839304
Special circumstances. If a stray electromagnetic field or noise or spark would set something off, use a crossbow.
Or if you have to sneak it past security, as long as there's no metal or other easily detected components.
Or if you just felt like pinning a soft target to a wall with a foot-long quarrel, for the reactions.
>>44839339
two options
1: prosthetics
2: she is wearing robot boots that make her legs look digitigrade like shitscrible pic related.
Now, to OP:
I usually justify it by having weapons not be 'crossbows' in the traditional sense, but be some other futuristic weapon that looks like a crossbow for some other superscience or cultural reasons, like Chewbacca's crossbow thing.
