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

On Wed, 3 Feb 1999 DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 99-02-03 13:28:30 EST, you write:
> 
> << well, kinda. in the film, they're italian renaissance, and there
are
>  little bits and bobs pinched from all over the shop anyway. still,
that's
>  sf. everyone should read at least one of the dune books, in the same
way
>  that they should read at least one shakespeare play - you may not
like it,
>  but this is one of the classics of your culture.
>  
>  Tom >>
>
> I wonder how you would set up the personal shield from the book in SG2
or DS2,
> just don't use laser cannons...

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