My neato Scifi Melee Weapons

About my setting: Set in the year 2650ish, we've colonized most of the solar system with artificial habitats. As a result, no guns in the habitats because bullets and space don't mix well. No FTL, no aliens. My world is a mix between Halo, Mass Effect, The Expanse, Warhammer 40k, Dune, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress with strong Lunarpunk/ Solarpunk vibes.

Introduction

The first Kinetic Pulse weapons were actually forged in 2391 during one of the first and most violent Lunestian Mourning Wars. These first weapons were actually repurposed mining equipment, whose key technology is a metamaterial known as Taranisite, named after the Celtic god of thunder. Taranisite has many interesting properties and applications, but its primary quality is the ability the ability to convert massive amounts of electrical energy into a kinetic impulse.

How it works

Thunerite is a metamaterial that possesses the following qualities:

• Extremely strong,hard,and lightweight approaching the qualities similar to other metamaterials such as graphene or supercondensed metal alloys.
• Foldable- Thunerite is able to 4d printed (3d printed into a flat surface/ 2d object, and then uses an origami like process to unfold itself into a 3d structure).
• Flexible- When combined with smart memory metal alloy Thunerite makes an excellent addition for the application and becomes extremely flexible. Placing into flexible sheets for clothing or soft armour is prohibitively difficult.
• Extremely high metal pointing and great thermal properties.
• Super conductive
• Piezoelectric- can convert mechanical energy into mechanical energy and vice versa.
• Extreme elastic- this is one of its most definitive features.The amount of elastic or kinetic energy Thunerite can absorb or put out is tremendous.

These qualities allow for Thunerite to be combined with supercondensed metal alloys (metals that have had their molecular structure partially collapsed in a massive gravity field to make it stronger) to form incredibly effective tools, or weapons. Thunerite is used to create a flexible mesh or sheets which are composed of trillions of thunerite nanosprings.

These sheets are then bonded into the structure of the tool or weapon. An electric impulse is sent down the object, which is used to rapidly compress the nanosprings, thus converting the electric impulse into a mechanical/ kinetic pulse. This can be precise and controlled, or rapid and explosive depending on the application. The max output for a handheld device is about 1k joules.

Applications within Weapons

Despite their reputation, Kinetic impulse weapons do not grant the users super powers, the weapon super powers, or have the ability to turn a glancing blow into a limb severing blow (most of the time). However, adding an extra 400-1000 joules of energy to your strike, whether it be a warm hammer, spear, or blade, is going to help a lot.

Kinetic impact weapons, like all melee weapons can be divided into hacking/ slashing weapons (for simplicity sake swords will be placed in this camp, but they also qualify as piercing/ stabbing weapons,) blunt impact weapons, piercing/stabbing weapons, cutting/slashing/ hacking weapons and ranged weapons. The applications and effectiveness ranges for the type of weapon.

Ranged

The expense and size constraints make it ill suited for projectile based weapons in all but the most impractical of formats. The technology has yet to be successfully shrunk to a format smaller than a 60mm projectile, at a cost of nearly the equivalent cost of 400 billion USD. Additionally, the extra energy that could be added was negligible. Blunt Impact

These weapons are considered by many the most practical application of Kinetic Pulse Weapons. The head of the weapon will often be made with the Thunerite alloy head to increase the weapon's already tremendous blunt impact. Spiked weapons, with a well placed hit, can punch through all but the toughest of armors. Even if the armor is not defeated, the percussive force would be more than enough to disable your assailant.

Piercing and Stabbing Weapons

Weapons such as spears, bayonets, etc. benefit the least from Kinetic Pulse tech. Because of the mechanics of the attack and the physics involved with the transfer of energy is not as efficient as cuts, slashes, hacking, or percussive attacks. The kinetic pulse does indeed assist with the effectiveness of a thrust, oftentimes enabling a thrust to penetrate armor that it normally wouldn’t be able to penetrate, but this is only for light to medium-light armor. The percussive impact is less effective than other weapon types. However, should a kinetic impulse be triggered inside soft tissue, the results are devastating.

Hacking / Slashing/ Cutting Weapons

Primarily the domain of swords and axes, these weapons both benefit in similar manners to each other. Both weapons receive a tremendous boost to their percussive capability. The percussive force additionally increases the cutting power of a slicing or cutting attack, depending on the type of cut. This works best for more powerful hacking cuts that deliver more impact, as opposed to more slice-centric cuts such as a draw cut. The hacking based blade will act almost like a wedge being struck with a sledge hammer. For draw cuts, because there is not as a solid of contact/ as much pressure on the target, the effect is less dramatic. On unarmoured opponents/ against soft tissues a draw cut assisted with a kinetic impulse can be messy.

For an axe, all of its natural features in this regard are merely enhanced. Its percussive capabilities enhanced similar to a warhammer or mace, and its cutting blade able to deliver even more devastating blows. An axe blade is capable of defeating up to even up to flexible or semi-rigid light-heavy armor with a solid enough hit.

Kinetic impulses change the very nature of swords. Similar to the ancient Terran counterparts, Kinetic Impact Swords are some of the most valued weapons in the Sol System and most expensive. A Pulse Sword’s cutting capabilities are similarly enhanced like an axe. Similar to a spear or bayonet, a well placed thrust or stabbing attack blows through lighter armor , or the weak parts in rigid armor. Additionally, the sword now gains a tremendous increase in its percussive capabilities, placing it somewhere between a regular war hammer or axe and their Kinetic Impulse enhanced versions (closer to the former rather than the latter).

Limits and Weaknesses

Despite what some people would say, Kinetic Impulse weapons have their weaknesses. Kinetic impact weapons are limited by both “capacity”, cool down time, complexity in construction, and require special training.

Cost and Construction Kinetic impact weapons required extremely expensive materials, and an equally expensive, complicated, and time consuming process called nanite-forging. The very nature of these weapons require them to be constructed by nanobots. The construction of a single weapon can take several months and cost several millions of dollars.

Capacity and Cooldown Time

Kinetic Impulse weapons are incredibly power hungry. As a result of their form factor, most can only be equipped with a power supply or charge-cell that allows between 5-10 “pulses'' depending on the weapons settings. While the weapon can swap out power packs, it's not recommended one does so in the middle of engaging an adversary.

Additionally, because of the massive amount of power that is needed to be released so quickly, miniaturized super-capacitors are needed to create the pulse. As a result, the weapon has an effective “charge” rate, which can range from 15-30 seconds. Additionally, the process of generating a kinetic pulse is extremely heat intensive, so the user must also worry about keeping the weapon system from overheating. It should be noted that overheating refers simply to the electronic systems involved, not the actual melting point of the sword.

Special Training

Kinetic Pulse weapons require a solid connection with enough contract/ pressure on the target to effectively deliver their energy efficiently. Screwing up edge alignment, connecting with the wrong part of the blade or bludgeon, or triggering the impulse before the weapon has made solid contact with the target can mean the difference between an extra 1000 Joules behind your attack and maybe just 10 Joules. Merely touching your target or glancing it with your weapons contact point will not be enough usually to benefit the user.

Combined with their limited capacity and recharge time, this unique handling characteristic makes the application of their special features tricky. Special training is required. Getting the timing down on triggering a kinetic impulse can be difficult; many fighters will use purpose built AI to assist them in applying the kinetic impulse traits of the weapon.