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T.E.D.
T.E.D.
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Arms-Race Blind Spots

I read one SF series where it turned out chemically-propelled firearms, while suboptimal, were not as bad as one might think.

The predominant weaponry civilizations used was energy-based, but there were also lots of counter-measures which space-faring militaries had developed over the centuries to deal with them. Those counter-measures were not built to stop old-fashioned physical projectiles, because they never faced those anymore. That meant that, while an army with high-velocity firearms wasn't as effective against modern soldier gear as one with modern energy weapons, they weren't as ineffective as say an army with 2 generations out-of-date energy weapons would be (which is what would be available to backwater rebels otherwise).

I think this is somewhat analogous to how billion \$ ships, tanks, and aircraft have recently seemed to have been rendered obsolete by $100cheap drones.

Arms-Race Blind Spots

I read one SF series where it turned out chemically-propelled firearms, while suboptimal, were not as bad as one might think.

The predominant weaponry civilizations used was energy-based, but there were also lots of counter-measures which space-faring militaries had developed over the centuries to deal with them. Those counter-measures were not built to stop old-fashioned physical projectiles, because they never faced those anymore. That meant that, while an army with high-velocity firearms wasn't as effective against modern soldier gear as one with modern energy weapons, they weren't as ineffective as say an army with 2 generations out-of-date energy weapons would be (which is what would be available to backwater rebels otherwise).

I think this is somewhat analogous to how billion \$ ships, tanks, and aircraft have recently seemed to have been rendered obsolete by $100 drones.

Arms-Race Blind Spots

I read one SF series where it turned out chemically-propelled firearms, while suboptimal, were not as bad as one might think.

The predominant weaponry civilizations used was energy-based, but there were also lots of counter-measures which space-faring militaries had developed over the centuries to deal with them. Those counter-measures were not built to stop old-fashioned physical projectiles, because they never faced those anymore. That meant that, while an army with high-velocity firearms wasn't as effective against modern soldier gear as one with modern energy weapons, they weren't as ineffective as say an army with 2 generations out-of-date energy weapons would be (which is what would be available to backwater rebels otherwise).

I think this is somewhat analogous to how billion \$ ships, tanks, and aircraft have recently seemed to have been rendered obsolete by cheap drones.

Source Link
T.E.D.
T.E.D.
  • 3.4k
  • 14
  • 18

Arms-Race Blind Spots

I read one SF series where it turned out chemically-propelled firearms, while suboptimal, were not as bad as one might think.

The predominant weaponry civilizations used was energy-based, but there were also lots of counter-measures which space-faring militaries had developed over the centuries to deal with them. Those counter-measures were not built to stop old-fashioned physical projectiles, because they never faced those anymore. That meant that, while an army with high-velocity firearms wasn't as effective against modern soldier gear as one with modern energy weapons, they weren't as ineffective as say an army with 2 generations out-of-date energy weapons would be (which is what would be available to backwater rebels otherwise).

I think this is somewhat analogous to how billion \$ ships, tanks, and aircraft have recently seemed to have been rendered obsolete by $100 drones.