The Utility Of A Scifi Blaster Pistol...

[Spacescifi]

Scenario: We have a scifi Q-laser blaster. It fires an exotic laser beam which has extremely high repulsive force.

Sounds like a loud crack since lasers obviously break the sound barrier but this one is far more interactive with mass.

Because of the smaller size of the power supply, the discharge of it's energy occurs faster than larger power supplies that spaceships use.

30 seconds of continous zapping will drain your power completely, so pulse firing is recommended.

How powerful is a single zap? Same power as a grenade blowing up on something at point blank range. Cannot be throttled down.

Note of caution: If your gun is somehow blown up it will detonate your remaining energy supply in the gun.

Question about utility: How and when would such a gun be used? I do not see it being standard issue because it is dangerous. Maybe only special tactical forces would use it or specially trained military but that's it. I don't see them used in random fire fights where you care about collateral damage.

 

If you don't care about collateral damage and leaving craters then this is the perfect weapon though.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Spacescifi

[magnemoe]

Sounds dangerous, all have probably been killed using grenade launchers in video games. In real life modern rifle grenades does not become active until they travel some distance. Same is true for RPG, artillery shells and most other stuff.  I say it would be used as grenade launchers today. Could also be very effective on an flying drone or sentry gun. 
 

[Nuke]

don't see any reason not to use slug throwers. you have to use frangible ammo on a space craft, but you will have a hard time getting any stopping power out of a pistol sized direct energy weapon. people have built q-switched pulse laser pistols before, and they barely get through balloons and sheet metal. industrial lasers are a bit more scary but are tethered to a rather bulky piece of equipment with a fiber bundle (the primary laser is in the "gun" part, and the huge box is just the array of diode lasers that pump the yag crystal. those are pretty scary and would probibly vaporize flesh quite readily. heat management probibly limits how much you can miniaturize that box, but im sure you could get it down to a backpack sized apparatus carried by a heavy weapons space marine. but now your whole squad will need to wear laser goggles, and there will be hell to pay if you blind any civvies. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

29 minutes ago, Nuke said:

don't see any reason not to use slug throwers. you have to use frangible ammo on a space craft, but you will have a hard time getting any stopping power out of a pistol sized direct energy weapon. people have built q-switched pulse laser pistols before, and they barely get through balloons and sheet metal. industrial lasers are a bit more scary but are tethered to a rather bulky piece of equipment with a fiber bundle (the primary laser is in the "gun" part, and the huge box is just the array of diode lasers that pump the yag crystal. those are pretty scary and would probibly vaporize flesh quite readily. heat management probibly limits how much you can miniaturize that box, but im sure you could get it down to a backpack sized apparatus carried by a heavy weapons space marine. but now your whole squad will need to wear laser goggles, and there will be hell to pay if you blind any civvies. 

My scifi q-laser is not visible from the sides, since most of it's energy is exotic and extreme repulsive force. Only if you look straight at a beam can you see it but you would literally be blown up anyway if not at a far enough distance for the beam to spread out and weaken.

It's a messy way to go as it desposits virtually all it's energy as repulsive force.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Spacescifi

[Nuke]

well in space lasers do not show up at all from the side, they need a medium on which to refract, but looking at the point of impact for even a fraction of a second is enough to blind you. and yes, that applies to non visible wavelengths.