Bishop Steiner, on 28 January 2015 - 09:36 PM, said:
Wow. You're gonna start this, aren't you? Lets go then.
1.) Yeah, electricity is comprised of charged particles. Want a Nobel Prize for that shocking (badum-tss) discovery? F**k, that was a really bad pun... Anyway, you know how lightning works right? You read your little link? It's electrostatic discharge. It's not aimed or directed in any way at any particular target. It's electrical conduction between two oppositely charged regions of material.
2.) It's not a particle beam weapon, it's a directed energy weapon operating off of a LIPC creating a conductive channel through which electricity can be discharged. I didn't even have to open the friggin article to know that right off the bat. It's something I'd been toying with in my head for a while, as a method of creating a functional tesla cannon. Looks like the Army beat me to it though, so there goes that.
3.) For the record, the PPC is a linear accelerator. Which, as it happens, is great for firing electrons with high kinetic energy. Which, as it happens, makes it a great weapon at a high enough energy. Which, as it happens, doesn't require a laser beam to guide it. Which, as it happens, the PPC doesn't even have in its description. Which, as it happens, IS BECAUSE LIPC TESLA CANNONS ARE NOT PARTICLE WEAPONS.
Do you know how that little DARPA project does damage? Heat. Intense, incredible, surface-of-the-sun-shaming heat. It doesn't do damage through direct kinetic particle bombardment like ACTUAL PARTICLE WEAPONS.
Here, lets take a look at the fluff:
Particle Projector Cannon
First off, "PPCs fire a concentrated stream of protons or ions at a target, causing damage through both thermal and kinetic energy". That's exactly what a linear accelerator does, because it can accelerate protons, ions, electrons, etc.
Secondly, "Ion beam", not "electrical arc". I hope I don't need to explain why exactly a coherent ion beam isn't a lightning bolt.
EDIT: Oh, s**t, didn't even see that last part. You're trying to argue that the PPC is a lightning gun based on... Well, obviously not the definition of a particle weapon, but whatever. It's based in physics either way, and yet you're trying to say physics doesn't matter? *sniffs the air* I smell a smell... a smelly smell... It smells like... HYPOCRISY.
EDIT 2: Wow, I'm pretty tired and that was on helluva rant. Let me boil it down for you so you don't have to read through if you don't want to:
PPC's are directed particle beam weapons as described by their fluff. In no way does a "lightning gun" fit the description of directed particle beam weapon. "Lightning" weapons operate on causing a plasma arc with the target, which causes it to most often times explode. It's equally as awesome as a particle beam weapon, but it isn't a particle beam weapon by definition, sorry.
Edited by Alek Ituin, 28 January 2015 - 10:31 PM.
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