Cao Cao wrote:Whoever wrote that has never played Front Mission.
I need a 'I got suckered by Wikipedia, shame on me' board image to post at times like this. I really should know better.
Cao Cao wrote:The only Tonfa weapon I recall is in Front Mission 1. It's not rocket powered, though IIRC the mechs used rocket boosters on their legs to get into melee range and out.
A cursory search reveals that 'Baton weapons' are present in all the Front Mission games to date, but the 'rocket powered' idea seems to be a single Wikipedia contribution that has been copied all over the place. If you have experience of these games please do delete it.
Starglider wrote:Those do look like an accident waiting to happen, as well as missing half the point of tonfa (as I understand them), in that they don't work as forearm guards/for parrying because lightsaber hilts don't stop lightsaber blades.
Part of the use of tonfa involves holding them by the 'shaft' and striking with the handles to grab an opponent's neck, etc. Can't do that here. Besides, pressing that thing against your forearm anyway will cause you to lose said limb.
I've honestly no idea how these are expected to work. Tonfa are blunt weapons, the only edge they have is at the end of the short part forward of the handle. And, as you say, any strike that the user blocks with the the emitter portion will go straight through it.
Spearfish wrote:Tonfa are blunt weapons, the only edge they have is at the end of the short part forward of the handle.
In reality, yes. In fiction there seem to be hordes of 'bladed-tonfa' using characters - Talim from Soul Calibur is a prototypical example but scads of manga and games seem to have them. I'm not an expert in this, but it seems to me that gluing blades onto them precludes many of the uses for tonfa and renders them a silly and impractical weapon compared to a normal sword.
It wouldn't entirely compromise the tong fa's usability to add a blade. But it'd be stupidly dangerous and limit some of its uses.
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Lord Relvenous wrote:So what's the point? where's the advantage? Just becasue it doesn't totally destroy the usefullness of the tongfa doesn't mean it's a good thing.
I'm sorry. We're talking about people who wear monastic robes into battle. You were saying something about practicality?
Let alone dark-siders, the only ones I've seen with these 'light tonfa' who are, as a rule, even more irrational.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
I just think it's repellant how they have to add laser blades to everything.
Light bows. Light tonfas. Light scythes. Light fingernails (maybe).
There's a line that when crossed, means such lack of imagination has turned decent sci-fi fantasy into a cheap cartoon and.. oh yeah.. the EU already passed that a long time ago.
"I do not understand why everything in this script must inevitably explode."~Teal'c
PainRack wrote:You forgot, that mini-lightsaber is made of "mass" whereas the other, green lightsaber is made of "energy".
mini-lightsaber is made of "mass"
mini-lightsaber is made of "mass"
What??
Yup. The Lightwhip has components made up of energy as well as mass, thus causing Luke to be defeated because apparently, his lightsabre technique can only fight either against an energy weapon or a mass weapon. Therefore, he came up with dual blades, made up of different types so as to beat her....
And yes, I know how dumb that sounds.
Let him land on any Lyran world to taste firsthand the wrath of peace loving people thwarted by the myopic greed of a few miserly old farts- Katrina Steiner
CaptHawkeye wrote:As for the uber armor, it's possible that the supply was lost throughout the thousands of years between the Mandolorian wars and CW. Or that advances in lightsaver technology made it impractical. Unless Vader's armor was a kind of Mandolorian armor.
Stop right there, you'll give Karen Traviss ideas.
Starglider wrote:Incidentally I now have to give Squaresoft the award for the most retarded melee weapon ever invented:
In the Front Mission series of games, mechs can be equipped with a rocket powered tonfa to add power to punches.
Sounds like it would go well with the most awesome ranged weapon ever invented:
Am I the only one who thinks that a light-chainsaw would be so retarded that it wraps around the end of the scale and becomes awesome?
Winny wrote:Am I the only one who thinks that a light-chainsaw would be so retarded that it wraps around the end of the scale and becomes awesome?
Personally, I don't think so. It's still retarded, IMHO, though it does give me a bit of a giggle-fit.
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Any views expressed herein are my own unless otherwise noted, and very likely wrong.
I shave with Occam's Razor.
PainRack wrote:Yup. The Lightwhip has components made up of energy as well as mass, thus causing Luke to be defeated because apparently, his lightsabre technique can only fight either against an energy weapon or a mass weapon. Therefore, he came up with dual blades, made up of different types so as to beat her....
And yes, I know how dumb that sounds.
Winston Blake wrote:Am I the only one who thinks that a light-chainsaw would be so retarded that it wraps around the end of the scale and becomes awesome?
IIRC there was a "light chainsaw" in PSO. One of the rarer and most desired weapons, apparently. It became involved in quite a few hacking incidents.
Goes to show that fanboys automatically equate lazer blades on anything with awesome. No matter how ridiculous it is.
"I do not understand why everything in this script must inevitably explode."~Teal'c
Sarevok wrote:The Star Wars D6 RPG Jedi handbook is a rich source of amusing and stupid ideas. I will post some of them.
<snip quotes>
Uh, yeah, that's all fan-made. The only questionable 'saber-variants we've had in SW are lightwhips (both of the Lumiya cat o' nine tails style and standard flexi-'saber style), those police baton things (which are from concept art), and the two 'sabers connected by a fibercord-- which, based on its only appearance (as X-Box downloadable content), falls under game mechanics anyway.
Because the Sith Lanvarok only has an effective range of at max 50m, deals 3d4 Bludgeoning Damage, Crits only on 20's, is an exotic weapon (so you take a -4 to attack unless you get Exotic Weapon Prof), costs 4k credits, and takes a full-round action to reload; you're better off with a Heavy Blaster which does 3d6 energy and Jedi get Weapon Proficiency Blasters at first level so you save an extra feat by just using a Heavy Blaster.
(I have the Darkside Sourcebook right next to me at all times :lol)
General Schatten wrote:Because the Sith Lanvarok only has an effective range of at max 50m, deals 3d4 Bludgeoning Damage, Crits only on 20's, is an exotic weapon (so you take a -4 to attack unless you get Exotic Weapon Prof), costs 4k credits, and takes a full-round action to reload; you're better off with a Heavy Blaster which does 3d6 energy and Jedi get Weapon Proficiency Blasters at first level so you save an extra feat by just using a Heavy Blaster.
(I have the Darkside Sourcebook right next to me at all times :lol)
I know you're joking, but seriously, how does that make light bows any better?
I mean, if you're really that desperate to put something on your stump, why not just opt for a chainsaw instead and carry around something like a shotgun for range?
Shadowtraveler wrote:I know you're joking, but seriously, how does that make light bows any better?
Like I said, the question was, Why not use a Sith Lanvarok, I suggested a Heavy Blaster Pistol instead, and In-Universe it has better ergonomics anyhow, though one of the favored tactics for Sith was to use Telekinesis to help guide the Lanvaroks projectiles up to 50 meters. I didn't say anything about Lightbows, genius.
Starglider wrote:A cursory search reveals that 'Baton weapons' are present in all the Front Mission games to date, but the 'rocket powered' idea seems to be a single Wikipedia contribution that has been copied all over the place. If you have experience of these games please do delete it.
It's probably a reference to what appear to be the jet-assisted pilebunkers used for melee combat. But those are used to actually pierce a wanzer's armor and kill the pilot inside, not blunt-like beat the shit out of them.
I believe it was established in 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye' that Luke's Saber (anakin's original saber) had a variable-length blade, and one of the functions was a 15-centimeter blade suitible for picking locks and cutting delicate things.
You know, why would anyone make light-tonfas when you could easily do 'light kamas' and actually stay somewhat true to the function of the weapon?
Second question; Has a 'light axe' ever been seen anywhere in the SW EU?
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
Shadowtraveler wrote:I know you're joking, but seriously, how does that make light bows any better?
Like I said, the question was, Why not use a Sith Lanvarok, I suggested a Heavy Blaster Pistol instead, and In-Universe it has better ergonomics anyhow, though one of the favored tactics for Sith was to use Telekinesis to help guide the Lanvaroks projectiles up to 50 meters. I didn't say anything about Lightbows, genius.
No need to get snippy. But still, if you're into non-blaster weaponry, why not use something that at least tries to make sense?
Shadowtraveler wrote:No need to get snippy. But still, if you're into non-blaster weaponry, why not use something that at least tries to make sense?
You mean like a Verpine Shattergun, a pistol based on railguns which would paste anyone inside anything weaker than Katarn-class Commando Armour, which itself is resistant against light blaster artillery?
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
Shadowtraveler wrote:No need to get snippy. But still, if you're into non-blaster weaponry, why not use something that at least tries to make sense?
You mean like a Verpine Shattergun, a pistol based on railguns which would paste anyone inside anything weaker than Katarn-class Commando Armour, which itself is resistant against light blaster artillery?
Sorry but as they've been written and abused, they don't make sense. Its a subsonic pellet gun with a kilometer+ range and kills via hydrostatic shock (and puts a big hole in Katarn armor, whereas standard clonetrooper armor was supposd to be immune to projectile weapons, nevermind stormie armor.)
Verpine Shatterguns were a novelty item when WEG made them up in "Galladiniums fantastic technology (where they had a 1.5 km range), but got made into subsonic/transonic pellet guns when WOTC rolled around (but could have been excused, kind of...) Alot of the absurdity around shatterguns got magnified by Traviss though (she reinforced the "subsonic pellet gun" image, but also incorporated some added absurdities. like the "hydrostatic shock" bit from a subsonic bb gun.)
Sarevok wrote:The Star Wars D6 RPG Jedi handbook is a rich source of amusing and stupid ideas. I will post some of them.
<snip quotes>
Uh, yeah, that's all fan-made. The only questionable 'saber-variants we've had in SW are lightwhips (both of the Lumiya cat o' nine tails style and standard flexi-'saber style), those police baton things (which are from concept art), and the two 'sabers connected by a fibercord-- which, based on its only appearance (as X-Box downloadable content), falls under game mechanics anyway.
As I recall, on eof the Darth Maul comics (where he slaughters some Dark Sun criminals for Sidious) had some twi'lek chick wielding something like a "light-tonfa" (The name was "Sinya" from wookieeedia here So I suppose technically that's official.
Edit: as far as offense/defense goes in terms of practicality that seems to depend on the saber - I imagine you could incorporate some sort of shielding element into wrist guards or the weapon itself to project the forearms.
The Tapani used "light-foils" which IIRC had some metal bits to them (I don't remember the whole "Lords fo the Expanse" bit at the moment nor do I feel like digging any of it up either.)
Last edited by Connor MacLeod on 2007-05-23 03:16am, edited 1 time in total.
PainRack wrote:You forgot, that mini-lightsaber is made of "mass" whereas the other, green lightsaber is made of "energy".
mini-lightsaber is made of "mass"
mini-lightsaber is made of "mass"
What??
Depends on what you consider "mass" to comprise. Lightwips are a goofy idea in most respects (although the inconsistent FX in ANH have lead to some theories about lightsabers having metal rods in them, so you could argue a canon basis for that I suppose.) The idea of "particle/plasma" based lightsabers (Which due to inconsistent authorship extends back some time into the EU the same way it does fro blasters) can technically be considered a "mass" weapon.
