If they suck in the real world, chances are they'll suck in fiction. Just because it's the future doesn't explain the question of 'why didn't they use something so much more practical?' Space based kinetic weapons suffer from unique disadvantages that can't really be compensated for.
He said fiction, not future. 
Magic sucks in reality, but it's great in fiction. So does an apocalypse. Or FTL travel.
I'm aware what he said
But a flawed system like that would destroy my suspension of disbelief. It would be like if an entire army was equipped with nothing but gold plated Lugers.
Magic is magic. It's fine as long as it's
internally consistent, as it's already something impossible, but something like RfG are based on something real.
That said, how about orbital beam weapons?
Orbital beam weapons are probably more useful than RfG, but they suffer their own problems - mainly energy production and cooling - as well as the traditional problems of maintaining things in space.
As an interesting note, the Nazis designed a giant space weapon - a huge 9km
2 reflector that would focus sunlight on targets. They called it the
Sun Gun.
Not that it would be really useful, tactically, but how practical would it be to put a warhead in a RfG? If you're nuking a planet from orbit and want maximum fallout/nuke mass ratio, would the penetration be useful? And one advantage of orbital kinetic weapons is the sheer speed. They come in hotter than an ICBM and most missile defense systems wouldn't be able to do much.
Typically, the lower to the ground the detonation, the more fallout you'll get, as dirt is sucked up into the fireball.
The theoretical nuclear rod would probably act much like a
nuclear bunker buster[/url. as a consequence you'd probably get a decent amount. If you just want fallout, though, it'd probably make sense to use a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_bomb]salted bomb.RfG come in quickly, but a plasma sheath that forms also means they can't be adjusted in aim once they're underway. As a consequence if you can knock them off path even slightly, they'll miss. It wouldn't be easy, no, to intercept them once they're fired, but that assumes they'd get the chance; the first action in war between hostile nation states capable of missile defence systems and orbital weaponry would be to destroy the enemies satellites. RfG can't be hidden.
On the FTL space ships/weapons. Would it even be a thing to have dog fights at near light speed
no
For similar reasons, I also want to keep the faceplate, although less of a focus and removable so that it isn't a problem on desert missions or light diving or wingsuiting etc. It'd be more or less so that you have more of a chance of an open-casket funeral than to stop a .50 cal bullet. It'd primarily be there to stop shrapnel from frags and burns from HE getting on the face and to prevent that flying sheet metal from decapitating you. Also if it cracks from something in battle you can remove it for the visability.
Wont a faceplate sticking out from the armor get in the way of your helmet?
Or if there is no helmet to speak of... Well then ouch, that open casket funeral better have some barf bags
Ballistic visors rated up to 3A (pistol calibres: .357, .44) do exist. They weigh a huge amount and are ~3cm thick.
Example. They attach to the helmet. Weight seems to be 8lb, ~3.6kg, so more weight than a medieval great helm. As with most things that are very heavy and uncomfortable, and not all that effective, soldiers probably wouldn't want to wear them, for similar reasons ballistic masks aren't standard issue.
I don't understand how a faceplate coming from the armour would function in any sort of useful capacity. You'd have to detach it to drink or look down. It'd provide no protection from the side, behind, or up, so if you were looking in that direction your face would be exposed. I'm having difficult picturing how it would look, to be honest, but what I'm thinking looks pretty silly.
A knife has a lot more utility than a ice axe. In combat, you could also attach the knife to your rifle as a bayonet. Ice axes are tools for a very specific circumstance, but every survival kit that is worth it's salt contains a knife.
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Topic: Theoretical weapons (Burn all the things!) and other ideas (Read 102578 times)