Re: Laser snipers

At 3:09 PM -0400 9/17/01, Chris DeBoe wrote:
>SG says snipers sometimes carry laser weapons.  However, I recall a
>discussion in which it was said the x-ray lasers so beloved of my
Traveller
>characters would hardly be silent/invisible--more like a lightning
bolt.
>Don't know whether that was accurate, though.

Doesn't have to be visible light. It could be Infrared. X-ray lasers 
I think would be silent however...

>So, questions for you educated blokes:
>a. would/could a military laser weapon be invisible/inaudible?  Or
would it
>be useless to snipers due to signature?  (assumes a standard Earth
>atmosphere with no unusual components)

It should be nearly inaudible. Visible to the right sensors though.

>b. in a zero gee environment, would lasers have *no* recoil?  This
doesn't
>seem logical because we've talked about a lasers as a ship drive, so
there
>has to be some recoil....but how much?  Either as compared to a rifle,
or in
>SI units.

Why not? Laser drives lase a specific material exciting it to a 
higher state and expending mass to a degree I think....

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