Fantasy meets Sci-Fi world help

#1

I have an idea for a Sci-Fi world setting but one in which war/conflict is still resolved with hand to hand combat without guns/lasers/cannons etc. Space travel is possible but space battles are a case of boarding the enemy ship to engage in close quarters combat. I imagine that all weapons and armour although still “medieval” are now made from modern/futuristic materials. My main issue is how do I explain the absence of guns etc? Or do I not explain it :man_shrugging: Any other ideas are most welcome

#2

Regulations. Bureaucracy to get hands on weapons. Loss of weaponizable technology.

Also, check Dune out.

#3

Perhaps it is a matter of miniaturization. They have all sorts of laser cannons, missile launchers, or gauss weaponry mounted on ships (and perhaps super heavy vehicles). However maybe they use some retro-tech devices (like vacuum tubes or something) that are just too heavy to make any smaller. Sort of like an age of sails style game, but with laser cannons instead of black powder cannons. Lensmen might also be a good source material.

#4

Yeh I did think of Dune and the shield tech thing. I’m having a hard time getting my head around loss of tech or materials because it seems to me projectile weapons will always be made out of whatever is available (damn our human ingenuity)
I did think maybe an honour thing but you can’t expect a whole galaxy to follow the same code of honour and no one use projectiles to get the upper hand.

#5

Solar flare. Large EMP wipes out the planets Electrical grid. with technology absent, Ancient Mystic Powers Resurface for the first time in thousands of years.

  • Alchemy and Wizardry Replace Science and Technology
  • non-tech guns / bows and arrows / ballista /Catapults come back to power.
  • new age Metallurgy and old world smithing Technics become the new high of industry, Armor and Defensive Barriers and structures.
  • Live stock replaces vehicles.
  • Dynasties and Kingdoms Re-Emerge to replace Governments and rebuild

just some thoughts on your idea. feel free to use or discard. @MythBlade

after write all of this , i just realized it is the plot to Visionaries. lol ha

#6

Maybe a mixture of miniaturization of weapons and highly advanced shields would work? So they only have very large powerful weapons but the advanced shields make them in most cases useless so the only way to engage is close quarters combat. Also I suppose if “old fashioned” weapons have not been used for so long most people would have no comprehension of how they worked or how to make them. Gunpowder would be so primitive as to be completely overlooked?

I have visions of light weight armoured futuristic looking knights with high tech swords, spears etc doing battle. Some magic users mixed in. Space chariots swooping overhead.

Sorry this has mostly been me thinking out loud but thanks for your help :laughing:

#7

Think one that could work is if shields are solely for high-speed incoming dangers. Like a bullet will be stopped, but an axe swing won’t. Stuff like that. Maybe a low-powered arrow could break the norm.

#8

so a slimmed down version of War Hammer 4000k?

#9

Yeh Visionaries but more tech (space travel etc)

I basically had the idea while watching the battles in Infinity War. They are high tech but have lots of hand to hand combat.

#10

oh i thought you wanted low tech Medieval. non power

#11

Yes also 40K is sort of there but take out the projectiles

#12

The technology is old, relic tech left over from before the electric storm. People don’t know how it works, they just know how to use it. Post-storm, people resorted to traditional weaponry - swords, crossbows, etc. Small tech - such as guns - didn’t survive. But the large stuff, photon drives on starships did due to the lifespan of a photon reactor. Or Something along those lines.

#13

Ignore my previous post, I thought you were wanting archaic weapons. But, along the angle you mention above, perhaps it’s just a matter of ol’ knightly chivalry. Guns exist but they knights wouldn’t even think of using them.

Or, perhaps the energy swords, via touch, steal life force from the opponent. That force is actually used to power the other person’s armor and weaponry. To power your gear, you gotta get in there and kill.

#14

I mean, technology isn’t a set path that all civilizations must follow, the idea of a spacefaring civilization that doesn’t use guns could just be how they developed, alternatively, maybe they just lack a certain rescource that makes projectile warfare work well? Take away the gunpowder and take away the gun? Just a thought, and the idea of extremely powerful shielding technology makes just as much sense to me.

#15

If you got time to read…take a look at DeathStalker series
Something along the lines of that happened. They did have lasers, but the recharge time on them made them more like single shot guns from the musketeer days. But when they thought gun, they only thought of energy guns and not kinetic ammunition.
I forget if they had shields and such, but they tended to use swords for whatever reason (I think maybe energy swords…but it was read a long time ago, sorry). And such they primary thoughts for weapons were energy gun or swords.

#16

You could always make projectiles not available due to Religious beliefs. EX: Shooting the enemy is seen as a cowards way under the religion of X and keeps you from being able to reach nirvana. Or just its frowned upon. I mean there was a legitimate time where taking out the enemies horse from under him was considered cowardly in real life. Just an Idea