Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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Notes -
sci fi lasers and particle beams are boring if they don't create a more exotic experience than slugthrowers, and if they create a more exotic experience, that means they exploit different niches and so don't replace slugthrowers. Also, the AR15 is a reasonable guess at what a slugthrower will look like 300 years from now, odd as it may be to consider. The reasons are complicated and interesting, but the upshot is that there's a feedback loop running popularity > market share > stacking iterative improvements > excellence for purpose > popularity, such that the AR15 pattern is steadily outcompeting and driving to extinction all other designs, and it doesn't look like this will change so long as we're using chemical slugthrowers.
I will say, if I were doing far-future slugthrowers, I'd at least go electrothermal and try to drive design variation that way.
If the more exotic experience involves vastly outperforming slugthrowers, they can still displace ‘em.
Pick one or more and roll with it.
I think you could make a good setup by expanding on the classic “kinetic barriers.” Have your psychics passively repel bullets and shrapnel but not lasers.
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