Colonial Mariens Vs. Stormtroopers

[Kamakazie Sith]

The word "railgun" is not magic. You could make a railgun with less kick than a .22LR if you wanted to.

Indeed. However, creating a railgun with less kick than a .22LR would defeat the purpose behind creating a railgun. My point is simply that this railgun is more powerful than the pulse rifles by a considerable margin. Will it be enough to penetrate ST armor? I don't know and even if it can the ST have so many more advantages it won't really matter.

[Connor MacLeod]

The word "railgun" is not magic. You could make a railgun with less kick than a .22LR if you wanted to.

Indeed. However, creating a railgun with less kick than a .22LR would defeat the purpose behind creating a railgun.

Oh, and would you care to tell me the source you derived this conclusion from? There are VERY good reasons to minimize recoil - that being that it allows you to keep your gun stable (which can help with accuracy and refire.)

My point is simply that this railgun is more powerful than the pulse rifles by a considerable margin.

What does this have to do with the limits imposed by the ability of a human to handle the gun?

[Connor MacLeod]

Seriously though, I unfortunately do not have the movie on hand in order to observe the scene, nor do I have the expertise to figure out what the scene actually tells us about the KE of the projectile, and how it compares to a real minigun.

]

It ain't that difficult, so stop pretending it is.

In retrospect, assuming a possible decrease in bullet mass or velocity would be more reasonable than immediately assuming an unknown mechanism that decreases or eliminates recoil. But I'm just crazy that way.

What you proposed is blatantly ridiculous. The marines would need some sort of magical forcefield either providing a push on the marine to counter the recoil (and what is it pushing against if it is doing so) or "anchoring" them in place. Gee, I didnt know Colonial Marines had gravitic drives!

[Thirdfain]

Gee, I didnt know Colonial Marines had gravitic drives!

They've got artificial gravity, so let's not rule that out!

[Soulman]

The word "railgun" is not magic. You could make a railgun with less kick than a .22LR if you wanted to.

Indeed. However, creating a railgun with less kick than a .22LR would defeat the purpose behind creating a railgun. My point is simply that this railgun is more powerful than the pulse rifles by a considerable margin. Will it be enough to penetrate ST armor? I don't know and even if it can the ST have so many more advantages it won't really matter.

A railgun might be more reliable and lighter if the technology is good enough. Additionally you could adjust it's power on the fly so you could use use fairly low velocity rounds for assaults and such where you can't effectivly brace yourself but use high velocity rounds when you have the weapon rested on the ground on a bipod. A weapon that can be used as either a high powered sniper rifle or assualt rifle by simply flicking a switch would be valuable.

Just because railguns are almost always very powerful in sci-fi doesn't mean they have to be in reality (well the fairly close future anyway).

[Connor MacLeod]

Gee, I didnt know Colonial Marines had gravitic drives!

They've got artificial gravity, so let's not rule that out!

So we automatically assume they have man-sized compact tractor beam/repulsorlift technologies, as well?

[Kamakazie Sith]

Oh, and would you care to tell me the source you derived this conclusion from? There are VERY good reasons to minimize recoil - that being that it allows you to keep your gun stable (which can help with accuracy and refire.)

That's not what I meant, and I apologize for the confusion. If you create a weapon that has less kick than a .22LR then won't the projectile have less force? I believe that would be the case, and such an endevor seems illogical to me.

I simply don't see the logic behind using that technology just to make a more accurate BB gun.

What does this have to do with the limits imposed by the ability of a human to handle the gun?

We'll have to look through some novels to see if there is any other information that can be used. There really isn't enough information to give us an idea of this weapons strength. We know it is more powerful than a pulse rifle but how much more powerful is the question that needs to be answered.