19 replies to this topic

[Maxwell Armada]

I was watching one of the many discovery channels i get over satellite last night, and i saw some -very- interesting weapons that are almost finished with development.

The section on EMP bombs was interesting, though with the proper shielding these could be rendered ineffective, so im not suggesting them.

The "Pain Beam" is the coolest invention I saw on the site. They say it could be ready for military use by as soon as 2008!. Its a nonlethal, microwave projected at a human/living being. Its exact operation is classified, but it actually heats up the water molecules in your outer layer of skin causing extreme pain, but no permanent damage. They say it feels as if your covered in a wall of fire, although one you cannot see. Obviously, only effective if the aliens actually have a water/liquid content and are vulnerable to heat/incendiary.

Then of course there is sonic weapons. The one documented on the show was a stationary device that looked strangely like a searchlight. The outer membrane of the weapon was only milimeters thin, allowing you to project a very direct and intense "Sound Bullets" as the guy liked to call it. No more permanent damage than what you get at a rock concert. Gives you a sense of vertigo, and earplugs or ear protection is useless as it vibrates the entire skull and therefore your brain, not just your eardrum.

These could make interesting additions if anyone is interested.

[mikker]

The ideas are exelent, but there is one small problem, and that is gameplay. If you get long disatance stun devices (or something else that would result in the target being rendered umobilized), there would be no reason to research the stun bomb.

Unless you give the pain gun to the aliens (would be nice for THEM to have, IMO), i don't think it would work out.

[Maxwell Armada]

The thing is that the "Pain Beam" looks like, and is a big as a radar dish. It can be mounted on a Hum-vee or any other military hardware, probably best used on a HWP. An idea that just popped into my head would be an aircraft mounted version. Used to incapacitate the pilots/crew of a ufo and to bring the UFO down with little or no damage (Besides just slamming into the ground).

Would be better than just shooting it down and wasting resources like elerium and the powercore you wanted to snag from an undamaged ufo.

An alien or two might be killed in the crash itself, but a LOT less likely than if you actually blew a hole in the shop and caused it to land that way.

[Shinzon]

interesting idea... i think it would be more usefull for the aliens then us... we whant to stop them as fast as possible with any means nesesary... stunning an alien works but will those be effective against aleins? the terror disk should be effected by any of those...

but still would be a nice change from coming up close to an alien and using a taser...

[sir_schwick]

From what I have seen, the effectiveness of this technology has not been well proven. In principle these things work, but there are lots of questions of weight-power ratios and such.

I would say that microwave guns would make sense for both sides, but more to screw up microwave sensors than humans/aliens. The microwave beams would only be useful up close, not in aerial combat or through a spacecraft. We have to assume AA has EM shielding properties, or else it would be useless in most space travel.

Stun bombs for humans would be good. A good balance to that would be if aliens tried actively to keep you from gaining equipment. Methods might include throwing grenades or BB on downed men(leave no man behind.....intact) or dragging their dead/stunned arse out of there.

Edited by sir_schwick, 03 March 2005 - 06:11 PM.

[sir_schwick]

So maybe like in Apocalypse, you could add 'stun formulas' once you do autopsies. Each autopsy adds to the species stun bombs affect.

[sir_schwick]

It could be as simple as a 'stun gas' inside a modified smoke grenade. You need autopsy results to formulate gas and those gases would need to be researched. Small Launchers would be an attractive alternative if you manage to get one without the aliens blwoing it up.

[Astyanax]

Having autopsy results/stun formulas isn't a bad idea, sir_schwick; it'd be sort of like the toxigun in Apoc.

I also heard of a few nonlethal weapon ideas (I think it was on TV a long time ago):

1) a glue/web gun- it shoots a sticky substance that is designed to render its target immobile. Perhaps it would be less effective against physically strong targets. Alternatively, it could be fired on the ground, making units passing through it suffer temporary movement penalties (increased AP cost?)

2) quick-setting foam. Don't let the word "foam" fool you; the foam enhances the area it can cover, and since it hardens quickly, it could be surprisingly effective. This was also supposed to encase a human target and render it immobile, but it had issues with suffocation. Against Aliens though? Perhaps it causes short-term immobilization? Instead, maybe make it so soldiers can create temporary barriers? It would take a lot of APs and would be very weak (a single shot destroys them), but it could afford some protection when there isn't any cover to hide behind.

Edited by Astyanax, 14 April 2005 - 01:09 PM.

[dipstick]

I would think the foam would be a little hard to implement, but the idea of a stun gun on an aircraft sounds good - that would work well - to balance it though, the chances of it working must be slim - and also, what happens if the UFO crashlands on a city? then you are in trouble - we would have to assume an alien would pilot a critically damaged ship to a relatively safe crashlanding site.

[EmoteControl]

Perhaps the stun rod or stun bomb is effective upon the alien types encountered at the beginning of the game, but after the middle of the game new species appear against which man-portable devices are ineffective. We could also rule that alien commanders, because of their great importance to the alien cause, have received special therapies which render them immune to the stun rad and stun bomb. So X-corps builds a HWP equipped with heavy-duty stun beams which do have an effect.

[Blehm 98]

Most people don't get the stun launcher until at least the second month or so, which can be very late in the game on higher difficulties though
I don't think that an alien, no matter how well trained, could take a huge cloud of whatever stun bombs have inside them

[EmoteControl]

Most people don't get the stun launcher until at least the second month or so, which can be very late in the game on higher difficulties though
I don't think that an alien, no matter how well trained, could take a huge cloud of whatever stun bombs have inside them

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was thinking more in terms of being vaccinated against the stun devices rather than being trained against them. And a Muton, say, clearly has different biochemistry than, say, a Sectoid, so it's not implausible that X-Corps would have to design a new stun device to work on them.

[GARAK]

Actually the US Military has already deployed microwave weapons in Iraq. They have these trucks with microwave emmitters on them. They create a wall of microwave energy between the trucks that no one can go through because it is to painful. They deployed them about a year ago, but I don't know how much they use them. Since you can shoot through the field, wouldn't some just break the emmitters?

[Blehm 98]

They'd probably be heavily armored, but i don't see what would stop the aliens from nuking it
The mutons have a lot more health, so they would naturally be harder to stun

[EmoteControl]

They'd probably be heavily armored, but i don't see what would stop the aliens from nuking it
The mutons have a lot more health, so they would naturally be harder to stun

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Stop the aliens from nuking what?

[Blehm 98]

Since you can shoot through the field, wouldn't some just break the emmitters? 

i said it would be heavily armored, the device, but the aliens could always nuke it... perhaps it could act like ECM if it is a small alien weapon that drives blaster bombs and rockets crazy if the alien reacts, but not always

[sir_schwick]

Actually that would be a good system for inside bases. They could easily be installed into the rock and even have radiation(electromagnetic or otherwise) shielding. Would not be suprised if aliens used a similair system in their bases.

As for stun weapons, I like the idea of toxin types you have to research based on autopsy and live capture results.