Why 500 year old gun designs? by 45super

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Why 500 year old gun designs?

POSTED BY: 45SUPER
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 12:41
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Tuesday, August 29, 2017 3:11 PM

Why do you see people running around the verse with 19th, and 20th century guns? Simple. While mass production is more efficient, a lot of people get their firearms from individual gun shops on border and rim planets. These gunshops don't keep a large stock of weapons, they use a microfac to make guns one at a time. A microfac (short for micro factory) is
an advanced form of today's CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machininig tools. As long as it has the computer plans and instructions for the design, it can create any machine needed from just the raw materials. For some reason, firearm technology has not advanced much since the days of Earth-that-was. There are some good new designs, such
as Mal's Frontier Model B, but if you're having the pistol made from scratch anyway, wouldyou pay the royalty fee for a recent design, or would you rather use a royalty free program that you can get for free because it was brought to the 'Verse on one of the Arks? The Alliance makes sure all microfacs, minifacs, and facs have Digital Rights Management built in. That's why so many guns are recognisably from around the 20th century.

Okay, so why so many single action revolvers? I think I can answer that too. When a new world is terraformed, there is a full, working ecology set up. Any functioning ecology has to have apex predators. On inhabited planets the apex predator is human.
The terraformers have to include tigers, or wolves, or mountain lions, or some such carnivore to fill this role until people start colonizing the new planet. When the Alliance Colony and Settlement Authority sends out a new group of settlers, it arms them so they can defend themselves against the local apex predators and eventually replace
them. Do they send them with Glocks? No, of course not. They could not afford to send enough ammunition to last until the colony is sufficiently advanced to be able to trade for more. Instead, they send them out with single action black powder revolvers. They include a replacable cylinder that will take normal brass cased ammunition, and enough ammunition to last a few months. Single action revolvers are dirt-simple and any
blacksmith will be able to keep them running. By the time the normal ammunition runs out, the settlers should be able to make their own black powder, and cast their own lead balls. This will keep them going until they are productive enough to have something to trade. Eventually they will have enough money saved up to send one of the children back to the Core to buy a microfac, and get training on how to use it. At that point the settlement is on it's way to being a thriving colony. Of course, who's going to want to change to a Glock now, since they were brought up on single action revolvers? The wolves/cougars/tigers/bears are getting pretty scarce by now, and generally a revolver is plenty for any two legged predators that might show up.

In the Serenity game that I run, I even have a reason that the guns don't sound the same as they do today. They use an advanced propellant I refer to as two-stage powder.On ignition, it works like any other propellant, but after a certain number of milliseconds (tailored to the typical length of barrel for that cartridge) it undergoes a second chemical change that cools the gasses. The pressure drops drastically, decreasing the noise as well as cooling the firearm. Automatic and semi-automatic weapons are much less prone to overheating when using this ammunition. That's why
it has become the standard across the 'Verse.

One other thing that bothered me, why was natural food scarce in the 'Verse whenthere were so many planets where farming was possible? I think I've finally figured that one out too. I saw a reference in The Firefly and Serenity Database online that mentioned that Londinium imported 60 percent of it's food. Suddenly the battle ofSerenity Valley on the "breadbasket" planet of Hera makes a lot more sense. But why would protein paste from Blue Sun be cheaper? After all, doesn't it use the same crops to produce?
That would just add cost, not make it cheaper.

Actually no. It does not come from the same crops. Blue Sun (and a few other smaller producers) have set up complexes that float in the upper atmosphere of the five gas giant planets in the 'Verse (Heaven, Zeus, Djinn's Bane, Fury, and Dragon's Egg). These installations run pipes down to layers in the atmosphere that are rich in formaldehyde, and in ammonia. With these two main ingredients you have everything you need to synthesize proteins and carbohydrates. With a little more processing, carbohydrates can be merged into fats. A byproduct of all of this is pure hydrogen,
so Blue Sun can fuel up the megafreighters that come to haul the product away to market. This high protein product feeds the poor, while the "real food" goes to those that can pay the higher price. This also explains the compressed blocks of vitamin supplements the crew of the Serenity went after in the pilot episode. No doubt the military is a big user of the protein packs, and would need those suppliments to add into keep the ship crews healthy.

Kevin Flanagan 8-29-2017
45super@45super.net

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017 3:22 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

What does Jayne think on this?

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017 5:28 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Probably because guns were outlawed for several hundred years, and the tech is just now coming back ?

Just a guess.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:20 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Probably because guns were outlawed for several hundred years, and the tech is just now coming back ?

Just a guess.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

More likely lack of war.
With hundreds of moons to terraform and colonize, not much constriction of land, compression of population, so less need/opportunity for large organized warfare.
Warfare is where and when firearms make their mark, are proven in battle, advancements are refined.

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Wednesday, August 30, 2017 12:41 PM

45SUPER

"More likely lack of war.
With hundreds of moons to terraform and colonize, not much constriction of land, compression of population, so less need/opportunity for large organized warfare.
Warfare is where and when firearms make their mark, are proven in battle, advancements are refined."

Makes sense to me.

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