Swords in space

[parmasson]

Does your universe have a place for blade combat in space?
I am sure it was covered before but I can't find it.

We just restarted playing CT and blade combat is important. IMTU if a character discharges a firearm of sufficient power and misses their target then I roll to see if it hits something interesting.*

The result has been a few wonderful sword fights in zero gravity that have been a great deal of fun.


*On a roll of 8+ it hits
1. Water pipe (under pressure of course)
2. Electrical wiring (causing sparks and perhaps a fire)
3. Hydrogen pipe
4. Atmosphere pipe (read compressed oxygen)
5. Sewage pipe
6. Mysterious explosion (starships are dangerous places)

 

[mike wightman]

Space axes, the marine cutlass, the corsair falchion, darrian sabre, zhodani gladius...

wouldn't be without them IMTU

 

[veltyen]

Hmmmm. No one wants to take a knife into a gunfight.

Reasons for blades IMTU

1. A serving or retired member of the imperial services in full dress uniform can generally carry any dress blade regardless of cultural mores(ie Law Level) in places where a gun would be anathema.

2. Dueling. Any bladed dueling culture that has developed requires blades. Not common IMTU but also not unknown.

3. No reloading. I allow high tech armor piercing blades. While obscenely expensive, unlike AP bullets it is re-useable. A monofilament vibroblade can be a useful tool against someone in combat armor.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by parmasson:
Does your universe have a place for blade combat in space?

Yep. Second on the aforementioned boarding axes (ala Doc Smith) et al.

Here's a thread you might find interesting, Coda Duello (link). I believe the gamers in question have revised the document since then but I don't know if it was posted to CotI or elsewhere.

You might also want to check out Gurps Traveller: Nobles (link) and see what if it has anything to say on dueling. Granted dueling isn't the only reason for blade combat in the OTU but it's a significant one.

The main reason? They look cool, are used in up-close fighting (i.e. they're personal as opposed to say an indiscriminate ortillery blast), and each pc can have their own unique one. I paraphrased that from Gurps: Mecha's "Why Mecha?" section but I think the same reasoning still works for swords in Traveller*.

- caffeine/sugar and earlier long nap finally wearing off Casey (off to get some sleep)

* and mecha within certain bounds for that matter but there's already enough threads on that on CotI

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Avast! You lads are forgettin' Pirates! Arr... nothin' spells "Boarding Party" all proper then a good, stout Cutlass in yer off hand. Have at you!

Even at high tech levels it makes sense and can just plain be handy to have some sort of blade on you. If anything for the practicality of it and for poking things with...

 

[Pickles]

Combat Armour is not nearly as common IMTU, and Battledress is virtually unheard of. A good blade by your side (or attached to the front of your ACR) suddenly becomes much more viable. And less likely to result in explosive decompression.

 

[veltyen]

Good point. Not enough bayonets.

 

[parmasson]

Great Cleon's ghost I totally forgot about bayonets!
Hmmm . . .How about the boarding chainsaw, powered by a fuel cell or a very small fusion reactor. It would be the perfect weapon against SPACE ZOMBIES. Space zombies can be a real problem.

Thanks for the Coda Duello, cool update, will use.
The way we play it, anybody can carry a sword in civil dress, but it places you in the gentleman wannabe category so you have to be prepared to duel.

 

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by veltyen:
Good point.

Watch out for the pun police branch of Sol-Sec...

 

[veltyen]

It might be just me, but personally I like bayonets. The long spear has been part of human conflict for close to 4000 years now. Seems a shame to just discard it.

Admittedly the image I see is a short SMG weapon with a couple of front spikes for boarding actions, rather then a longarm with a spear type bayonet, but it is quite similar.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Bayonets would be terribly useful onboard a ship, as the movements to use them are typically in a constricted arc in front of the body. Swords typically require some side-to-side motion - restricting their usefulness in narrow ship corridors.

Of course, spears are best when you have to keep very nasty things with sharp teeth a long way back from your tender spots.

 

[parmasson]

Now, now . . . no need for sharp words.

Ba-dum-dum

 

[mike wightman]

{groan}worst. one. yet.{/groan}

Wish I'd posted it

 

[mike wightman]

Should razor sharp dagger/bayonet blades made from superdense metal be considered armour piercing weapons (in T4/T20 based combat)?

Up to now I have done so...

 

[vegascat]

If this keeps up, Pun-ishment will be applied

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Should razor sharp dagger/bayonet blades made from superdense metal be considered armour piercing weapons (in T4/T20 based combat)?

Up to now I have done so...

It comes down to force, and for melee that's pretty much a human limit. A sword no matter it's material composition is only as good as the power behind the swing and the fineness of the edge. A thrusting weapon is the same but is a point rather than an edge and so is better at penetrating.

So no I don't think considering special metals to be armor piercing or cutting realistic but it would allow them to retain their point or edge sharpness when striking anything with less hardness.

The only time I'd allow a melee weapon a special bonus would be when the wielder is exceptionally strong, like, oh I don't know, a Marine swinging his cutlass while in BattleDress

 

[vegascat]

How sharp would a blade have to be and what would it have to be made of to penetrate a vacc suit? These suits are designed to resist micrometeorites (hopefully), so a swung edged weapon would have little chance against it. THe point of a sword/rapier would be able to deliver a much more effective attack against a vacc suit.

 

[vegascat]

Of course if you really want to make it interesting for them, put them in a cargo bay loaded with fragile flammables, then equip them with FGMP-15s against pirates carrying rapiers.
sit back and let the fun begin.

 

[vegascat]

quote:
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Originally posted by far-trader :
So no I don't think considering special metals to be armor piercing or cutting realistic but it would allow them to retain their point or edge sharpness when striking anything with less hardness.
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A blade or point striking an armor surface of harder material than the edge will have a nasty tendance to fold over barely scratching the finish of the armor, leaving the attacking troop holding a useless hunk of hand filler. AT this time the proper action of the attacking troop will be to either plead mercy, or run away.

 

[Jame]

You could always go into "edit post" and delete one of them, vegascat...

What about such things as vibroblades? Something that has a motor which makes the blade vibrate quite a bit. They had this in the second Han Solo book by Brian Daley, and the RPG too. I'd say it's about TL 13-14...