Side arms / Phasers

seeing as the game is a simulation of a bridge.. Would phasers be allowed to be carried around on the bridge? Surely they'd be only taken out when needed on away missions or boarding..

That is a good point. I think I see it as part of a ship's Bridge, but not yet as part of Artemis. The security officer (Not in Artemis yet) I would think would often have a side arm on him. I remember Worf shooting things on the bridge quite often. I would also think under certain conditions of battle where they may be boarded (Not in Artemis yet) they would issue phasers to the bridge crew or at least have security officers (Not in Artemis yet)stationed on the bridge.

So Perhaps, based of of how the simulation runs currently, it is not a needed part of the ambiance just yet.

That said, any reason you don't want our own cool TSN style Artemis Phaser?

Phaser is kind of a Star Trek thing, there are plenty of sci-fi side-arms (or sci-arms) to chose from in all of science fiction,including energy guns, sonic stunners, plasma pistols, laser tazer bo-bazer banana-fanna-fo-fazer-me-mi-mo-mazers, to start with.

Agreed. I guess I was using the term Phaser generically. So I'll say Side Arm from now on because part of the discussion should be "What type of side arms does the TSN have?"

It would seem logical for the TSN to have beam-based sidearms, since the ship-mounted weapons are beam weapons. Unless, of course, the technology can't be scaled down.

I believe that the original Battlestar Galactia used "side arm" to distance itself from Star Trek phasers and Star Wars blasters.

I can see the need for some sort of hand weapon aboard TSN ships. It should be small but powerful. What would you like the weapon to look like?

Should it be shaped like a pistol? Some media science fiction has used weapons not shaped like pistols:

* Original Star Trek has a weapon shaped like a pack of cigartettes.

* Space: 1999 had a hand weapon that looked like a staple gun.

* Star Trek IV had a Klingon hand weapon that looked like a little jet ski.

* Next Generation had a weapon shaped like a dust buster.

Personally I would like a design that is small enough to be made at home on a modest-sized 3-D printer.

Personally I would like a design that is small enough to be made at home on a modest-sized 3-D printer

That is a good idea Mike. That way the 3D model can be online and everyone can print one off one way or the other. To help save with cost you may also consider incorporating some common household items that the 3D model parts can be attached to. That may be a little trickier because it seems like Artemis is a global game and not every item stays exactly the same over the years.

I always like the idea of non pistol looking weapons because it truly makes it seem sci-fi like. However, since we are looking at humans there are some things to consider. For over 300 years the general shape of a pistol has not changed, just the technology. Part of that is because with teh need for a barrel and trigger to fit in the human hand, that shape works well. It probably won't change dramatically over the next 300 years. Also, when you make it look pistol like, everyone understands what it is. When you make the weird little ones, people are not sure if it is a weapon or a scanner or what.

That said, there is a benefit to making a smaller one similar to the Star Trek hand phaser "crickets" so that it would be cheaper and easier to print.

Finally, talking about advancements that do change the shape of the pistol a bit, I really like the look of the Kriss gun.

The pictured example is a bit larger and more of a sub machine gun, but putting the barrel in line with the pistol grip for better accuracy seems to make some sense.

One thing that the side arm should have is some way to sight it in. Even with advancements in technology, I really think that a weapon will always need some physical or electronic adapted sight on it. Just pointing in the direction and hoping the special affects guy draws it in correctly should not be an option.

I think that a wrist-mounted weapon would be sensible, especially with an energy weapon. It becomes more of an extension of the person, it takes much less time to draw, and with sufficiently advanced technology it could be mentally activated. It would be much harder for an enemy to retrieve a weapon that's strapped to someone's arm. Something like the wrist gun from Cowboys and Aliens, but less complex, I think.

One thing that the side arm should have is some way to sight it in. Even with advancements in technology, I really think that a weapon will always need some physical or electronic adapted sight on it.

This is something that always annoyed me about Star Trek. They fire really destructive weapons willy-nilly without a way to be sure they aren't going to hit innocent bystanders, plasma conduits, whatever. Because it's a beam weapon unaffected by gravity or wind a laser "dot" sighting mechanism would be perfectly suited. Of course a threatening red dot doesn't fit with the Star Trek utopia.

I think that a wrist-mounted weapon would be sensible, especially with an energy weapon.

I agree, and it could also leave at least a few fingers on the gun hands free. But that brings up what, in my opinion, must be this weapon's most important characteristic: IT MUST LOOK COOL! Logically a wrist mounted weapon would be unobtrusive and subtle, like a fat, lethal wristwatch.

But would that be cool? Maybe. Someone would need to design it really well.

Something like the wrist gun from Cowboys and Aliens, but less complex, I think.

I think the wrist gun has a lot of practicality, but Artemis isn't about practicality. It's about swaggering space heroes saving the galaxy and looking bad-ass while doing it. Personally, I want a hand weapon of modest size but bad-ass appearance.

What does everyone else think?

Agree. Awesome small hand weapon. If I was working security of course I would want a variable load recoiless automatic shotgun. But I am not working security. Handgun is perfect.

A bit of rambling below:

I like the wrist-gun idea. Being on the wrist, the soldier is immediately ready for action, in the event the ship is boarded. It will need some kind of "safety" to prevent accidentally blasting your own station, or your neighbor. Firepower has to be controlled--you don't want to rip a hole in the side of the ship if you miss your target. In a battle scenario, it must have lethal force, so this would be the default setting, though MP type soldiers might have theirs set to a non-lethal force. Bad-ass appearance is important, but when not in use, it must leave the hand and completely free so that the soldier can perform his normal duties. Clothing cannot obstruct the weapon, or else the soldier risks frying his arm at the first firing.

If a projectile-type weapon (like a handgun, as in Battlestar Galactica) would need a means of simple reloading. It would need to use a magazine--perhaps a 9 or 10 round 9mm cal. The soldier would be required to carry replacement magazines on their person--checking with what the modern army or navy does now would be a good model.

If an energy weapon, then you need to deal with recharging. Nothing like phasers that last forever (like machine-guns that fire thousands of rounds without reloading). I kind of like the power that the wrist weapon from Earth: Final Conflict had--but again, you don't want to rip holes in your hull by mistake.

Being far future, it should have sophisticated targeting capabilities, perhaps even detecting targets on the other side of bulkheads (how hard would that be to do, anyhow?) If you've been boarded, you want to take every advantage you can to eliminate the enemy. And really, the ONLY reason any soldier on a ship would carry a weapon would be to be prepared for facing the enemy in close combat. If there is no possibility of being boarded, they why carry around something that will do nothing but get in the way of your duties?

Yeah, a bit of rambling--maybe there are some ideas to pull from in there.

have any of you read spinward fringe. The book isn't the greatest thing ever (its good but not a clasic) however it does have a lot of ideas or concepts on space flight battles etc. In the book one of the people has a wrist weapon. It has several settings including a stun and a blaster. It also acts as a materializer and a command...can't remember technical term. Basically a little computer with info and stuff etc. Thats the type of design i would take if I was developing an on board weapon. Versatile with everything and officer would need.

Ok, so here is a rough (very squared off, handle would have to be smoothed out, etc) sketch idea for a small pistol type beam weapon just to get some discussion going.


Enlarged Picture of the Pistol
It is slightly smaller than a Walther P22 (Top left and top right pic shown roughly to scale with each other.) The beam emitter is on the bottom and it does look rather basic and barrel like to begin with. That can of course change to a slot or a strange cone type thing with lots more detail. The battery pack is a cylinder that slides in and twists to lock. If the power level is dropping you can remove it and clip in a new battery pack. There are knobs on the side to adjust beam power and the sites. There is a camera up front where normally the barrel would be. This feeds back to the sights which have a small simple screen for energy level and a projector that would, on command from a slight trigger touch or other button press, project an image from the camera into your eye with all the proper readout info over the image for range, target info, current beam type, exact energy level left, etc. If that seems too far fetched then it could read out to a separate eye piece worn by the wielder of the weapon.

It is simple, a bit utilitarian, but effective and convenient. A finished model would have room for a lot more detail yet.

So, what do you like and what don't you like. Hopefully other people will also submit some picture ideas for their side arm of choice.

On a side note, if the end idea is to go with a Projectile weapon instead of a beam weapon I really think the best idea would be to go with a Flechette style ammo.

A sharp needle like projectile especially in groups has enough force to cut through flesh and kill a being, but not enough to penetrate a ship hull like a bullet might.

Seems like a good idea to not have weapons on a ship that could possibly penetrate a hull area.