The towering bugs that the Mobile Infantry first encounters during their initial ground invasion of Klendathu are so-called "Plasma Bugs". Starship Troopers: The Bugs combine this with their Hive Caste System.In the Predator series, the Predators are armed with shoulder mounted plasma casters with distinctive triplicate laser sights.So is Crimson Typhoon, with an updated version of Gipsy's, at the cost of charging time. Pacific Rim: Gipsy Danger is armed with a Plasma Caster.Kin (2018): The gun Elijah finds fires some kind of plasma discharge or similar that can blow up fairly large object in one blast, plus vaporize a human.Given that said ships are called city-destroyers, you can guess how destructive they are. Independence Day: While it's never definitively stated what they are, the Wave-Motion Guns that the aliens' city-destroyer ships use function very similarly to these, using a laser to guide a comparatively slow-moving pulse of energy to its target after taking about ten seconds to charge up.The "man-portable" M78 Phased-Plasma Infantry Gun or PIG is a bulky, heavy weapon to carry but for a lone Colonial Marine, nothing snuffs out tanks like the PIG. Plasma is the most powerful of the 3 and is unique in not being restricted to a vehicle turret. In the Alien Expanded Universe (starting with a mention the novelization/Special Edition of Aliens and elaborated in the Colonial Marines background manual), We Will Use Lasers in the Future is starting to appear with humanity using electron lasers, particle-beam and plasma weaponry for vehicles.When the science fiction setting demands the function of the weapon to be explained, however, it's nearly universally mentioned to be a high-powered relative of Magnetic Weapons instead, the implications being that the projectile's launch energy and/or air friction is sufficient to turn most of it into plasma. It doesn't merely look cool it delivers enormous heat and electricity into the target, wreaking havoc on electrical systems (including organic ones, like the human body), outright melting what it hits, and setting everything near it on fire.Ī Sub-Trope of Ray Gun and Energy Weapon. That being said, one of the major reasons why a civilization displaying practical ranged plasma weapons is so intimidating is because, if practically delivered, plasma has a devastating effect on target. Occassionally sets targets on fire or melts them.Said blob is a Painfully Slow Projectile compared to beam based energy weapons.Usually fires green or blue blobs, although colors may vary.Massive damage, frequently an Armor-Piercing Attack as well, making it primarily useful as Anti-Armor.Drawbacks such as lengthy charging time, low battery capacity/high power drain, short range, or a tendency toward Overheating.Bulk, almost always a BFG if not a vehicular weapon.Being considered the next step up the Tech Tree from Slow Lasers.Those impracticalities may be why most fictional plasma weapons, almost always heavy guns or cannons, are at most Cool, but Inefficient. Needless to say, practical ranged plasma weapons are an indication of a highly advanced civilization. Even with atmosphere, the fact that gases are much denser than plasma means that plasma won't penetrate very far through air - think of shooting compressed air underwater. which is very advanced technology in its own right (and subject to that very same technology being used to disrupt the magnetic bottle of the weapon). Even without atmosphere, it spreads out and becomes useless more than a fraction of an inch from the source, making it useful as a cutting tool but not a (ranged) weapon unless you can practically project a magnetic bottle to contain the plasma until it hits the target. Unfortunately, in real life, plasma's properties make it more than a bit impractical. Naturally some people have thought of weaponizing it. states of matter, a step up from gas where the electrons become so energized that they break free of their orbits. Plasma is one of the four traditional note If you're interested, non-traditional ones include stuff like Glass, Liquid Crystal, Degenerate matter and several other more exotic forms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |