Stunner Weapons

[Battlehymn Republic]

I'm trying to come up with a list of several different futuristic non-lethal weapons, since I want several different types. They're all supposed to be projectile based, to the extend that the "fire" something. So no melee weapons. Here's what I've got so far:

A super-taser

Sonic shock guns (like in Minority Report or Firefly)

Tranquilizers

I've got a few questions:

1. What other possible types are there?

2. How could a blaster from Star Wars or any other already established sci-fi series weapon shock and incapacitate someone instead of killing them? I really don't understand how blasters can do that.

3. Can a taser shoot someone in a vacuum, assuming it can do some sort of damage to a spacesuit? Or would there be a need for a medium present?

[Lord of the Abyss]

Goo guns, or "tanglers" that fire sticky nets/string.

Stasis field projectors. If time is stopped, you're definitely incapacitated.

Nanite based weapons, where they either seek out and clamp the voluntary nerves ( like a controllable drug ), or build an immovable shell over the target.

[Eleas]

I'm trying to come up with a list of several different futuristic non-lethal weapons, since I want several different types. They're all supposed to be projectile based, to the extend that the "fire" something. So no melee weapons. Here's what I've got so far:

A super-taser

Sonic shock guns (like in Minority Report or Firefly)

Tranquilizers

I've got a few questions:

1. What other possible types are there?

All of these types follow your very ambiguous criteria (if sonic weapons "fire something", then by that definition so can any of these).

* Neural disruption, in which the nervous system is interfered on a deeper level than a mere electric assault on the body. For example, if you could somehow dampen electric current, you could make a person black out or kill her by knocking out the nervous system, inducing pleasure or pain, et cetera.

* Capture weapons -- adhesives that stick to the body and immobilize you, wire or net that traps you, gravitic manipulation that sticks you to the ground using your own mass, et cetera. The common denominator is that they work by preventing bodily motion.

* Maiming weapons. A classic example would be the wide-angle flash laser that blinds an entire battlefield by coagulating unprotected eyes, for example.

2. How could a blaster from Star Wars or any other already established sci-fi series weapon shock and incapacitate someone instead of killing them? I really don't understand how blasters can do that.

Either it's a separate mechanism, or it could be that a stun bolt is simply the result when you fire the containment jacket (which holds the blaster bolt together) without any blaster energy in it. It would stand to reason that the containment field itself would carry some energy and perhaps an electric charge.

3. Can a taser shoot someone in a vacuum, assuming it can do some sort of damage to a spacesuit? Or would there be a need for a medium present?

That very much depends on the nature of the taser.

[Shortie]

AFAIK normal tasers work by shooting two metal darts into you, then shoving a massive electrical shock into you via the wires connecting them to the gun.

A purposely designed space suit could presumably defend against that, but how costly (in functionality and £) that design would have to be I don't know. I could certainly see a civilian space suit getting fried.

It does have a fairly short range though, since the darts have to drag those wires (no air resistance, or presumably gravity will help of course).

And since we're talking vacuum, do remember that sonic weapons do need a conductive medium. I know you didn't say vacuum only weapons, but we all remember Starship Troopers.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Could a hypothetical "lightning gun", that is a taser that can just shoot electricty do that in a vacuum?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Could a hypothetical "lightning gun", that is a taser that can just shoot electricty do that in a vacuum?

Only if you had it powerful enough to penetrate the suit, in other words, you'd have an electron beam that'd fry a human rather than stun them.

[darthdavid]

Could a hypothetical "lightning gun", that is a taser that can just shoot electricty do that in a vacuum?

Only if you had it powerful enough to penetrate the suit, in other words, you'd have an electron beam that'd fry a human rather than stun them.

But don't most of those rely on ionizing the air along the path that you want the bolt to take? How would you ionize vaccuum?

[Battlehymn Republic]

See, that was the problem I had.

I'm thinking of just handwaving it, but it would be interesting trying to come up with a "solution." Maybe the taser is fitted with compressed air which releases in a stream, and then the electrical bolt travels through that?

[NecronLord]

3. Can a taser shoot someone in a vacuum, assuming it can do some sort of damage to a spacesuit? Or would there be a need for a medium present?

Bullets! Tazer bullets!