Edge weapons replace guns. Impossible?

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kaosu04

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Apr 26, 2005
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We live in a very technologically advanced society these days. Cruise missiles replace catapults and ballistas. Guns replace edged and blunt weapons of all types. Our ancestor's answer to armor was lances, pikes, and heavy blunted weapons. Today our answer to armor is a stronger bullet. So what it would take for guns to be rendered useless and force us to fall back to a time when more skill was needed to win the day on the battlefield?
 
kaosu04 said:
We live in a very technologically advanced society these days. Cruise missiles replace catapults and ballistas. Guns replace edged and blunt weapons of all types. Our ancestor's answer to armor was lances, pikes, and heavy blunted weapons. Today our answer to armor is a stronger bullet. So what it would take for guns to be rendered useless and force us to fall back to a time when more skill was needed to win the day on the battlefield?
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laserguns? cutting impliments that use light radiation?a super steel sword that can cut kelver like soft butter?

haha i really dun't noe i'll just wait till it comes this way...
 
Biological and meteorological warfare (I think we're talking of mass destruction weapons already).
 
We will never go back to the "days before the gun".
And that's a good thing IMO.

In the days before firearms were available "might makes right" was the rule everyone lived by.

But with the gun, even an elderly parapalegic can defend themself.
Guns truely are the great equalizer.

Allen.
 
If there's nobody to manufacture bullets eventually guns will become pretty rare. Same goes for cars. If there's nobody to work the refineries we'll all be riding bikes or horses. Not too likely but possible.

Frank
 
I have figured since theres probably no way we could invent armor that could defect bullets and not a sword, perhaps we will come up with a technology that renders the long range of a gun useless. Perhaps a very effiicient kind of camo that works well from afar. In which case you pull out a balisong or a katana and go to town :) I understand that guns make it a lot easier for people to defend themselves, but it also makes it a lot easier to commit crimes and murder. It takes a little skill to fight with a knife or sword. A gun you just point and pull. But what appeals to me most about the old days is the skill it took to wage a war. A general commanding his armies those days was a warlord. A master of his craft. I dont believe its quite the same now.
 
What happened to the days when the king or general led the charge? I'd like to see G.W. be the first to set foot on Iraqi soil. The one time I had to "charge" in Iraq, The LT was in the rear :D
 
lightsabre + the force = savage pwnage
tanks? screw tanks, i'll just cut them into pieces with this here lightsabre
planes? these are not the targets you're looking for

seriously speaking though, knives replacing guns means people have to get up close and personal which translates to HORRENDOUS losses on both sides
there's also the psychological factor of getting in close to your enemy when you can just snipe him from a mile away
 
Knives have sooo much psychological "power". The Iraqis weren't really afraid of our M4's, but the second I pulled out my CFOII, they knew I meant bussiness. About range... the closest I ever shot anyone was 3 meters. Same as knife, Id say.
 
Most officers arent really soldiers anymore. (no offense to any who may post on this forum) They are pilots and desk clerks. I'd much rather prefer and expect my First Sergeant leading us into battle.
 
If a real bad SHTF scenario came about propelling us into the dark ages, then I can see where more reliance is placed on edged weapons, but we have the tools now, theres no going back. We could still make everything necessary, and there are lots of gunsmiths out there who could make them to the specs now. A magazine I read, Backwoodsman, sometimes publishes a "make your own flintlock" article, hell, lots of people could make one. Wouldn't be that good, but would be enough.
 
kaosu04 said:
But what appeals to me most about the old days is the skill it took to wage a war. A general commanding his armies those days was a warlord. A master of his craft. I dont believe its quite the same now.
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Yeah, the old days are appealing? Not quite. I would much rather have to fight on todays battle field than in any bygone age.

Middle Ages: Charge at one another, hack away. Diseases rampant, no pain killers for the wounded.

early firearms are invented: now March slowly in lines toward the enemy, dropping like flies. Diseases rampant, No anesthesia,

WWI: Crappy trench warfare with suicidal charges, diseases, poison gas, primitive hospitals and massive infections for wounds.

WWI was really the birthplace of many technologies that control todays battlefields, such as Tanks, airplanes, Machine Guns

I am not sure where I am going with this, but Overall I think there has been a trend toward more precision with less waste of troops' lives. Also, even in the last few decades, Medical technology (as well as armor) has improved drastically. Thus increasing the soldier's chance of survival.

edit: I think it still requires skill to fight, just a different set of skills.
 
The only thing that will bring us back to swords is the end of the world scenario, like 28 days later or something that lasts long enough for ammo to run out. I do think that the opposite will happen, that guns of today will become as useless as a matchlock. Maybe we'll have heat seaking bullets or bullets that can sense heartbeats or breath.
 
Eventually, the only possible man-made cause for global warming which has not been addressed will be gun smoke and yet the globe will still be warming (we are, afterall, on the tail end of an ice age) and so the Kyoto MMDCCLII treaty will finally eliminate this last remainining possible cause of global warming and we'll be back to knives... but only knives which are made without exploting the environment.
 
acolonelofcorn said:
Yeah, the old days are appealing? Not quite. I would much rather have to fight on todays battle field than in any bygone age. Diseases rampant, no pain killers for the wounded..
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Forget disease and pain killers. If you got shot in an appendage, it was coming off! If you got an infection from a bullet wound, you were dead, from a long, long infection. Imagine lasting for days, probably weeks in such severe pain, your body begins to shut down. :barf: :barf:
 
SM Sterling took this idea and ran with it in "Dies the fire" if anyone wants to read it. Was pretty good, but I might wait for it to come out in paperback.
Mike
 
I first thought of space ships, where projectile weapons and the holes they'd make would be a huge hazard. (Bang! hissssssss Gag!)
Also, imagine finally getting a clear shot at Ming the Merciless, only to find that the recoil impulse had driven you backwards into a priceless science experiment or piece of navigational gear.
(disclaimer: I'm not a physicist, so maybe that's unpossible or something)

Until we get to the stage where phasers and light-sabers are real, I think that steel will still be useful.
 
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