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Old 06-13-2019, 05:48 AM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

I was just wondering if anyone had used dazzler carbines much in their games (or played in games where they were used much)? The ability to use a cone attack to temporarily blind people seems to make it a particularly useful less than lethal weapon, especially given its long range and minimum power consumption. Of course, it is of marginal use against armored targets, as they usually have Protected Vision, but it otherwise seems quite useful. What do you think?
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Old 06-13-2019, 06:24 AM   #2
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

I played a retired scout turned spy in a GURPS Traveler game that used an under barrel laser that had the Dazzler option.
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Old 06-13-2019, 07:19 AM   #3
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

I don't think my players have ever even considered them. They'd be quite useful vs low-tech foes, but against their contemporaries they'd be nearly worthless due to shades and visors with anti-laser coatings.
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Old 06-13-2019, 02:35 PM   #4
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

In my superhero game the friendly space robot carries non-lethal and less-lethal weaponry almost exclusively, including laser dazzlers. They've worked great against most folks that don't wear eyewear, less so against folks with polarized visors. But that's also using them against early-TL8 opponents.
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Old 06-13-2019, 02:59 PM   #5
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

The real world problem is that 'bright enough to dazzle but not bright enough to cause permanent eye damage, for targets at unknown range' is hard to achieve.
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Old 06-13-2019, 10:28 PM   #6
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

The range really matters: a beam that dazzles at long range will have to be powerful enough that up close it inflicts serious eye damage. Something that *just* dazzles up close will be equivalent to a strong flashlight at a distance.
I do keep careful track of laser wavelength in games though. IR lasers are likely to be protected against as it is relatively easy to make optics that block IR but allow the visible to pass so the user can see. Green lasers, however, are harder to defend against as the optics must block green light which is a major portion of the visible spectrum. Somebody wearing green-blocking eye protection might actually have a quirk-level colorblindness effect while wearing them.
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Old 06-13-2019, 10:40 PM   #7
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

One thing to remember is that polarized sunglasses only give Protected Vision, not immunity, so you would be rolling against HT rather than HT-5. If you had a squad ten cops using them for crowd control, even armored troops would have trouble. After blinding people, they would be fairly easy for the cops to arrest, as most of them are not going anywhere when they cannot see anything.
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Old 06-14-2019, 12:14 AM   #8
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kale View Post
I do keep careful track of laser wavelength in games though. IR lasers are likely to be protected against as it is relatively easy to make optics that block IR but allow the visible to pass so the user can see. Green lasers, however, are harder to defend against as the optics must block green light which is a major portion of the visible spectrum. Somebody wearing green-blocking eye protection might actually have a quirk-level colorblindness effect while wearing them.
Given that the ways to make a an effective laser in a given spectrum are limited, and lasers don't have spread frequencies at all, it shouldn't be too hard to work out what exact frequencies you need to block, and leave the rest of the spectrum open. The trick is blocking those frequencies only. If the lasers are polarised and you know the direction, that gives another way to block them (completely).

Another huge risk factor with these sorts of weapons is scatter and reflection getting your guys hit with their own weapons, and if they can dazzle at range a short-range reflection is going to be fairly dangerous.

I see them, even weapons that supposedly merely dazzle (unless they only do so for a very short distance), as terror weapons more than 'less-than-lethal' or 'crowd control' weapons. One intended for blinding are definitely terror weapons, and also ones that you'd be very foolish to use on your own population, even if it's revolting - you end up with a whole lot of blind or at least visually impaired people that will be greatly lowered productivity and increased living costs. Not good for you economy.
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Old 06-14-2019, 12:26 AM   #9
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

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Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
Given that the ways to make a an effective laser in a given spectrum are limited, and lasers don't have spread frequencies at all, it shouldn't be too hard to work out what exact frequencies you need to block, and leave the rest of the spectrum open. The trick is blocking those frequencies only. If the lasers are polarised and you know the direction, that gives another way to block them (completely).
That's the modern solution, but variable frequency isn't that hard to manage if you aren't trying to use a chemical laser.
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Old 06-14-2019, 01:59 AM   #10
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Default Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
One thing to remember is that polarized sunglasses only give Protected Vision, not immunity, so you would be rolling against HT rather than HT-5. If you had a squad ten cops using them for crowd control, even armored troops would have trouble. After blinding people, they would be fairly easy for the cops to arrest, as most of them are not going anywhere when they cannot see anything.
On the bright side, Protected Vision still caps the maximum duration to 2 seconds and 'adapts' to the stimulus (B78). So while useful, dazzlers only open a short window of opportunity.
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