Justify melee combat in a high tech setting.

[Bailywolf]

Even if the weapons paradigm in Dune didn’t make a lot of sense when you thought about it too hard, it really fixed the “Sci-Fi with Knives” motif in many a geeks mind- mine too, of course. Star Wars did likewise (tough, it also had guns for the non-Jedi suckers out there). Riddick used knives because he was frickin’ Riddick.

So here’s the thing- justify a high tech sci-fi setting in which hand-to-hand and close weapons combat is the predominate form of personal combat… swordfights in starship hallways. That kind of thing.

I can think of four simple vectors for this kind of thing….

Unobtanium Armor or Force Fields- personal defenses can defeat ranged attacks, and only specially designed (or specially wielded) close weapons can beat the defense.

Social Constraint- ranged weapons are banned for some social rather than technological reason… this can be strictly colorful (or a way to maintain social order), or practical (so as to keep people from shooting holes in the space station’s delicate outer skin).

Funky Powerz- magic (or the Force of psi-powers) lets warriors easily defeat ranged foes. My personal entry here is a dune/star wars inspired game in which Oddsmithing (probability manipulation powers) lets a warrior distort the ballistic path of a ranged attack… or walk through the rain and never be hit by a drop. He can also hex complex systems (such as most technology) into uselessness or catastrophic failure. Combine with centuries of selective breeding and mad kung-fu…

Genre Convention… Don’t Question It!- basically, it’s swords and daggers because it’s just cooler that way.

Anyhow.

Any others? Any good examples from film, fiction, or comic?


-B

[StephenO]

Originally Posted by Bailywolf

Genre Convention… Don’t Question It!- basically, it’s swords and daggers because it’s just cooler that way.

Bingo. See: Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe.

[AikiGhost]

More non psychic funky powers - Equilibrium "Gun Kata" style bullet avoidence.

[Drosselmeyer]

These both assume that energy weapons are not available, but projectile-based ones are.

Wacky suggestion: What if the laws of physics are modified in such a way, that comparatively small masses when travelling at bullet-like velocities (as opposed to larger masses, or travelling at lower speeds) somehow disappear or slow down?

A more reasonable suggestion: Specifically in spaceship hallways there is too high a danger of ricocheting (if the walls are equipped with shields to prevent accidental punctures) or the inverse, puncturing walls and causing explosive decompression as a small puncture enlarges due to the stream of escaping air.

[Ratix]

Originally Posted by Bailywolf

Unobtanium Armor or Force Fields- personal defenses can defeat ranged attacks, and only specially designed (or specially wielded) close weapons can beat the defense.

That was the one that came to me when you mentioned this. Personal force fields are kinetic energy based; meaning the higher velocity a projectile approaches, the more force the field exerts, while low-velocity objects pass harmlessly through (otherwise the user couldn't manipulate anything around him). To compensate, melee weapons, and possibly low velocity projectiles like arrows have been reintroduced as the choice weapons for person to person combat.

[Tarleon]

Originally Posted by Bailywolf

or practical (so as to keep people from shooting holes in the space station’s delicate outer skin)

You stole my favourite one. Babylon 5 fan too I assume?

Probably a bizzare one for a sci-fi setting, but perhaps limitation of materials? Metal is in a galaxy wide shortage (especially lead perhaps?), so a sword is a much more practical use of the material than bullets? Ships could be made of composite materials which for some reason are no good for bullets (perhaps they are brittle and tend to fracture and disperse force on impact?).

That's just me shooting from the hip though. However, it would make for a compelling universe. Where the excessively rich might own a pistol, even though he knows every shot costs him over a thousand credits or some such.

[Drosselmeyer]

Originally Posted by Tarleon

Metal is in a galaxy wide shortage (especially lead perhaps?), so a sword is a much more practical use of the material than bullets?

What if all the available lead got transmuted into gold?

[Burgonet]

Well, a prison planet scenario would guarantee the prevalence of melee weapons (all improvised) and unarmed combat.

Sort of a Prison Break or Oz with all manner of inmates.

I know it might seem an easy "short cut" but you could really have fun with such a scenario.

[Bailywolf]

I had this crazy far-future pseudo monarchy thing in mind... the constraints are all social ones.

"Firearms? Oh dear, how shockingly vulgar."

But melee weapons are massively super-tech.

Enter... Smart-Swords.

Swords made from smart-matter and filled with nano-scale rod logic computers and AI. "Magic talking sword?" No problem.

The sword is the soul of the Samurai... it is also his best friend, personal secretary, and it remembers all his phone numbers and his Mom's birthday.

-B

[four willows]

Here's a funky-powerz one:

There is a telepathic kung fu that is popular among BADASS MOFOS. They're highly perceptive, to the point that they can dodge projectiles by knowing where the gun is before the trigger's pulled. But the greatest strength of their kung fu is in projection, and it's very difficult to do this. In a combat situation, telepathic attack through the air is nigh-impossible.

But metal carries it, like electrical current. So they carry swords. Long, fast ones, the longest that will fit in the hallways. The purpose of the cut is not to injure, but only to make contact, to carry a mental attack from body to body. When they kill, the body is barely scratched, but blood wells from its mouth and eyes and its face is frozen in a look of terror.