Stolen from Spacebattles: No Gunpowder

[SAMAS]

Yeah, once again, I saw this question pop up on Spacebattles, and I wondered how those of y'all who don't already post there would think about the situation:

What if, by act of God, Q, R.O.B., or whatever, gunpowder was never discovered/invented? either because the compound would no longer work that way for whatever reason, or nobody ever seemed to think about it?

How would the world, and warfare, be changed by that?

[NecronLord]

What about derivative stuff? Or are there no explosives full-stop?

[Molyneux]

Yeah, once again, I saw this question pop up on Spacebattles, and I wondered how those of y'all who don't already post there would think about the situation:

What if, by act of God, Q, R.O.B., or whatever, gunpowder was never discovered/invented? either because the compound would no longer work that way for whatever reason, or nobody ever seemed to think about it?

How would the world, and warfare, be changed by that?

Crossbows would most likely become the biggest thing in warfare; we'd shortly see the development of repeating crossbows, pocket crossbows, and the like (especially with improving technology for their manufacture.

The longbow might not lose all of its common usage, but it most likely would be largely replaced by the crossbow.


With crossbows as the most powerful weapon on the battlefield, armor would first a)get thicker and stronger, and then b) become marginalized, as the armor-piercing ability of crossbows overtook the armor's ability to stop crossbow bolts while still allowing the wearer to move.



Oh yeah, and the phrase "hoist by your own petard" would never enter into common usage, as the weapon which is referred to would never be used.

[Lord Zentei]

Without gunpowder, other explosives could potentially be used, though it would take longer to develop them, obviously. This, however seems a bit of a violation of the OP.

No gunpowder or similar explosive substances would mean a continuation of medieval warfare, but potentailly with some modern transportation, though logically no explosives at all means that vehicles are not permitted, since internal combustion engines require explosions to work. We could possibly have steam cannons and steam tanks plus blimps and airships... something Leonardo da Vinci-esque steampunk fantasy style.

[Guardsman Bass]

Sea warfare would be vastly different. Unless you developed advanced projectile weaponry in a different way (say, through the use of air pressure to launch the projectiles instead of gunpowder), sea warfare would be very much like it was in ancient times, with ships ramming, and men attempting to take or sink a ship by fighting with its marines in close combat once the ships have been grappled together. That would make for some very interesting results if we got steam and steel-hulled craft. Taking a steel ship without any explosives would be like sieging a mobile castle. Ramming submarines would certainly become very useful.

On land combat, swords would probably still be in serious use, along with spears in order to protect the crossbowmen and longbowmen.

[Lord of the Abyss]

As science advanced chemical weapons and incendiaries would become much more useful; without explosives they would be the best tools for large scale destruction. Something like a trebuchet or some sort of steam catapult armed with chemical/napalm shells might be very effective against people without gunpowder firearms.

Compressed air guns firing neurotoxin tipped steel darts could become common. Flamethrowers might be more effective than they are in the real world.

[SAMAS]

What about derivative stuff? Or are there no explosives full-stop?

Just no gunpowder(and refinements/decendants thereof). Other explosives that were developed independently are still okay.

[Elheru Aran]

In that case, I see nitrocellouse (sp?) becoming the standard replacement for gunpowder when it's invented... true, it's ungodly powerful and so would be used mainly with large-bore rifles/shotguns, but it's the closest practical thing to gunpowder. Other chemical explosives are a wee bit too powerful, except possibly Cordite.

Talking out my ass here, of course, so feel free to correct me...

[Lord Zentei]

What about derivative stuff? Or are there no explosives full-stop?

Just no gunpowder(and refinements/decendants thereof). Other explosives that were developed independently are still okay.

Just use a different explosive instead. Little or no change overall.

It would take a tad longer to invent and develop, but that's all.

[Maku]

What about the use of highly compressed gas for projectile weapons as in the Amtrak War book series?

[Lord of the Abyss]

What about the use of highly compressed gas for projectile weapons as in the Amtrak War book series?

In real life, it didn't work out so well.

Because of the slow muzzle velocity, high gun tube elevation was required unless fired at very short range. The projectile itself had a tendency to be deflected by the wind, limiting the accurate range of the gun. It was not reliable at ranges over 900 yards, which was somewhat limiting. The gun was reported to jam easily, and required several hours work after a few shots before it could be fired again.

[Alyeska]

Guns finaly get created when smokeless powder is created. Modern firearms do not shoot gunpowder, but smokeless powder (it involves nitro) and its MUCH more powerful.

[Steven Snyder]

As far as I know...

Gunpowder and it's modern descendants don't normally detonate like high-explosives do, they conflagarate (burn). So a replacement for gunpowder could be found, as long as it burns and doesn't detonate.