this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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In the Dune universe, why not use laser weapons as bombs? (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by sudo42@lemmy.world to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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In the Dune universe, when a laser weapons hits a shield, both are destroyed in a nuclear explosion reaction.

So instead of building nuclear weapons, wouldn’t it be easier to tie a timer and a “parachute” to a laser gun and drop it from orbit onto your enemy’s city?

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[–] ricdeh@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

As far as I know it is random in the sense that the shield-lasgun interaction can either annihilate the target, the laser operator or just culminate in a giant nuclear-like explosion. Therefore you don't know whether your move will have the intended effect or whether it obliterates only yourself while the enemy is fine. I think this is mentioned early on in the first book.