Re: Crowbars

>  >On this note, I was thinking of a way to have an alien race invade
earth ala
>  >Harry Turtledove's World at War series.  But I want this group of
aliens to
>  >have FTL, so they would have a decided edge in the tech area. 
Anyway, the
>  >only way I could think of to keep the aliens form just dropping some
>  >asteroids on the planet, or using a biological weapon, was to give
them some
>  >type of moral imperative against using such tactics.
>  >Anybody got any other ideas.

	If you don't mind something off the wall, Harry Turtledove
	wrote another pair of stories: "The Road Not Taken" and
	"Herbig-Haro".

	You see, you are making the assumption that a species that
	has FTL automatically has a tech edge.	This might not be so.

	In those stories, there is a simple experiment that can
	be done that leads to a scientific discovery that yields
	both FTL flight and antigravity.

	A *very* simple experiment.

	Most starfairing races think the ultimate in weapontry
	is the flintlock rifle.  There are some races with bronze
	starships because they don't know how to smelt iron.

	The trouble with this experiment is that it sends
	a developing science down a blind alley.  The scientists
	never discover useful things like electricty.

	So one day an invading starship lands on Earth, and
	deploys their fearsome array of musket armed warriors.
	They open fire to terrorize us into submission.
	
	The army battalion that was dispatched to surround
	the starship responds with M-16's, recoiless rifles,
	and grenades.

	They capture the ship.

	Now humans have FTL flight.  But unlike all the other
	starfairing races, we have computers, lasers, and nuclear
	weapons...