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Weapons in a low tech space game

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larienna
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I am having thoughts on a low tech space game with a style like Space odysey 2001/2010 and was wondering what kind of weaponry could be available at that technology level.

- Fighters are very unlikely to exist due to the limited mobility.
- Boarding shuttles could be ok.
- Mines could work.
- Cannons will probably be mass drivers as beam weapons are alro unlikely to exist.
- Missiles could be OK.

It's also unlikely to have space vs planet weapons. Should have a landing then have ground battles.

My girl friend suggested Battle Star Galactica as another source of low tech ideas.

X3M
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Look at the past? And what is possible in a vacuum?

This might sound strange.
But how about you look at what pirates did for combat.
And make a sci-fi variant on that.

Cannons to sink a ship (deprave of air, bye crew without a spacesuit!)
Guns for when you boarded a ship.
Hooks to pull ships together.

Then you can be creative with the technology that we have today. Just to further increase the options.

A rocket can be stopped by mini rockets.
And those mini rockets might be stopped by lasers.
An arms race on rockets is what you have as biggest weaponry.

The ship is a super weapon?
Only here you see the mass driver cannon. You need a lot of energy to generate with current technology.

Plasma weaponry?
Something that carriers a plasma cutter. No matter what you choose, robot or rocket. It has to attach itself to the enemy ship. And the cutting is done with... study on plasma cutters.

Explosives?
I can picture little robots walking on the surface of these ships. And explode on weak spots.

Maybe you can get some idea's from O-game. But also Starcraft, but no doubt you thought about that already.
Maybe Dune is also an option. While sci-fi, the realism is very good. No FTL for all I know. And no space battle's either. Just a drop on a planet and fight from there.

let-off studios
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There are some video games that come to mind when you talk about "low tech, space age" worlds. Here are a couple of my favourites.

- RimWorld: Kind of a Wild West/Mad Max vibe focusing on New World colonization. There are some hand-held beam rifles, but most of the exotic energy weapons are found on robotic adversaries. Everyone else is much more capable of machining their own weapons, including gas-driven weapons like miniguns, chain shotguns, and M-16 styled assault rifles.

- Fallout: If you're not familiar, the game takes place in the eastern USA quite some time after a nuclear warhead hits the capitol area. The player emerges from an underground bunker and has to make their way in the wasteland. There are a lot of leftover energy weapons depending on where in the post-apocalyptic landscape one searches, and there are enclaves of advanced technology that keep science alive. If you can imagine "space age + dark age," this is a solid mix, and in terms of story the center holds (at least well enough).

X3M
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That reminds me. Is X-COM of

That reminds me. Is X-COM of any use here?

FrankM
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MOO2

let-off studios wrote:
There are some video games that come to mind when you talk about "low tech, space age" worlds. Here are a couple of my favourites.

I just find it amazing that the real world has just about finished researching the first step on each tech in Master of Orion II.

larienna
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Quote:No FTL for all I know.

Quote:
No FTL for all I know. And no space battle's either. Just a drop on a planet and fight from there.

That is one option where ships are just transports. I could be more convenient to not have to fight space battles. Or ship combat could be only done with boarding.

Quote:
That reminds me. Is X-COM of any use here?

Not sure, the Alien tech is much more advanced.

Quote:
I just find it amazing that the real world has just about finished researching the first step on each tech in Master of Orion II.

8 Done, 200 to go.

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