06-13-2019, 05:48 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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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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06-13-2019, 06:24 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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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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06-13-2019, 07:19 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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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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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
06-13-2019, 02:35 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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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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06-13-2019, 02:59 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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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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06-13-2019, 10:28 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cowtown, Canada
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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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06-13-2019, 10:40 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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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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06-14-2019, 12:14 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]
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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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06-14-2019, 12:26 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]
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06-14-2019, 01:59 AM | #10 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: The Effectiveness of Dazzler Carbines [Ultratech]
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