Re: Arabic Empire in space was: Re: NSL, Not Nazis.

In a message dated 99-02-04 07:07:02 EST, you write:

<< or any sort of kinetic weapon - the shields stop any sort of
fast-moving
 object, such as rounds from massdrivers, hkps, or any other sort of gun
in
 ds2. i'm not sure how DFFGs would be affected. basically, the screen in
 dune kills all ranged combat - it's a plot device to justify soldiers
as
 hand-to-hand fighters.
 
 however, one thing that did occur to me was this. the book describes
the
 interaction of screen and laser: if a laser beam cuts a screen, there
is a
 good chance both laser generator and screen generator will be
destroyed.
 the trick is to use disposable lasers.
 
 excimer lasers, which use a chemical reaction to produce the beam,
already
 exist. all you'd have to do is make a one-shot version, and when you
 wanted to fire it, blast it away from you (like firing a missile) and
have
 it fire. bang - target and disposable laser obliterated. it wouldn't be
 that expensive, as you'd be mass-producing them, and they would only be
 built to fire once.
 
 alternatively, shoot the laser round from a gun, and have it produce
the
 beam just before it hits the screen. thus, the explosive effect at both
 ends is concentrated in the region of the target.
 
 why had no-one thought of this in the books? i suppose frank herbert
just
 wasn't a hard sf kind of guy.
 
 the other thing is that big screens are unstable, so you couldn't
protect
 tanks. another justification for having armies of blade-armed infantry.
 
 Tom >>
The book is not about fighting, there are very few tanks in the book (if
any)
The worms realy like the Screen Generators, what would there stats be?
-Stephen