Reply With QuoteIf that's the case, then how would a gun barrel fit in there? Even a pistol is longer then a grenade.
No, as I understand it duneverse shields are almost skin-tight.Originally Posted by Aragorn
Common misconception. Most modern military equipment, contrary to popular belief, is already hardened against EMP, by the time we have energy shields EMP would be about as useful as a medieval knight going into battle naked using his manhood as a mace.
If that's the case, then how would a gun barrel fit in there? Even a pistol is longer then a grenade.
That's sort of my point, you're not going to be able to get a gun beneath the shield in any way that can be lethal. Ergo, swords and blades remain viable. (Or if you're willing to die in a thermonuclear explosion, lasers.)
But the Duneverse is barely concealed "Feudalism in Space".
Hmmmm, imteresting.
OurComputers would easily be miniaturized.
Man portable rockets are silly. Just use an aerial drone.
The US militarry already has car-portable microwave projectors for use on unarmored combatants. Though, these only cause pain by stimulating receptors on the skin, it's not difficult to picture more powerful lasers like this in the future.
Same argument as above extends to x-rays.
Our knowledge of chemistry would most definitely advance in the future. That, or just use rocket-propelled, high-yield warheads.
Same argument as above extends to more explosives.
The problem is that, realistically, conventional forces would ideally unman their forces altogether, and rely primarily for robots to do most of the fighting for them. DARPA is already working on stable, walking robots, and aerial drones are already prolific in the US military's strategies. Why would you even need humans on the battlefield? These methods would't risk injurying them, because they wouldn't be anywhere near them during deployment.
With Dune shields, they're an overlay of energy that encapsulates the body. The reason you can't put a gun into the field and fire is because the barrel is passing through the shield; the bullet has to travel through the barrel, and ergo the barrier, to hit the person. The bullet would be stopped mid-barrel. So there's no way around the shield other than using a blade.
That's under the assumption that the shield is "thick" enough to be passed through. It probably overlays so close to the skin or clothing that you essentially can't be on the "inside" of it without being inside the person's body, so chances are throwing a grenade at them wouldn't do much other than deafen or blind them. Hence the use of swords, daggers, etc.
There is no real explanation for the nuclear phenomena in Dune. I assume it has to do with the more or less unexplained technology of the shield interacting with the laser; maybe both are so high energy in nature that they induce fusion/fission or.. who knows. For whatever reason (and one could probably be found), they don't play nice together.
That being said, if you suspend your disbelief or assume that there is some manner of technology behind the shields that makes them popular as deterrents against traditional ranged warfare, there really isn't a "fatal flaw" as you described.
Also, a warrior culture does not necessarily have to be the way you described. Look at the Romans. We generally don't typify them as a warrior culture, but they had a strong military tradition in their army and they were still able to piece together the most advance military organization of their time; one that pretty much every western military has more or less been based on in some manner or another. A warrior culture does not have to be prosaic or backwards; they can be pretty forward thinking if they have a dash of "military pride" to counter-balance the focus on an individual's prowess.
At the end of the day, you don't necessarily have to explain why close combat is a feature, or is THE primary facet of interplanetary groundwarfare. We, as the creators of our own fictional universe, can simply make it so and give whatever reasons we choose, however arbitrary. Maybe technology simply advanced in that manner without the advent of gunpowder weapons. Maybe there was a global ban on weapons above a certain technology grade. Maybe it all got destroyed and people still have space ships but no longer have the proper military technology for sophisticated weaponry. Who knows?
Only the author.
Isn't that a good deal of risk to make everything entirely unmanned? A single virus could decimate your entire battle force, and the cost of manufacturing the components necessary to make a unmanned robot as competent as a human being would be expensive, not to mention it would take more resources to run(electricity, fuel etc...). And if you're piloting robots remotely, you run the risk of advanced technology jamming your signal, or parts going wrong and the whole thing being compromised. Honestly, I don't see a reasoning by unmanning all your forces. The United States has used single mission drones where the risk for things going wrong is minimal.
To use it to replace troops is a something entirely different.
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