Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor
Firearms[...]
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I just remembered something I saw a 19th-century Italian book detailing rules and etiquette for dueling that I think is relevant to this discussion. (I wish I could remember the source, it was something a friend in my HEMA club brought to class on day).
It listed three appropriate dueling weapons and, interestingly it listed them in order of lethality. From least to most lethal:
1. Smallsword
2. Saber
3. Pistol
The manual specified that the choice of weapon lethality
must be appropriate to the severity of the insult.
A similar thing seems like it would work rather well in a SF setting. If it's a minor insult, you can settle it in the ring with some shock gloves. If it's a major insult, then you can face each other with blades (or, if you're in the glactic navy, they have a quaint tradition of EVA dueling in the vacuum of space with a vibroknife just powerful enough to puncture a spacesuit)--either way extremely dangerous, but probably not deadly with a med-bot on hand. Only in the most extreme cases, where the insult is truly unforgivable, is a duel with plasma pistols (specially modified to fire only a single shot) at 50 yards appropriate.