It has been a while, but I’m pretty sure the bladed weapons are needed because the shields specifically block objects with high kinetic energy. I also recall one of the houses on arakis getting bombed, but only after they were able to turn off the protective barrier. I might be mixing up Sci fi books, though.
You’re not - it’s pretty explicitly the point. The technological arms race has gotten so advanced that everyone has devolved into fighting with knives.
And even then, the training focuses on slow, deliberate moves, as even a fast knife can be deflected.
The shields don’t just protect against kinetic weapons, they also tend to cause energy weapons to blow up in a thermonuclear explosions iirc
Sounds like a drone dropping an energy weapon on a shield users head would do the trick then.
iirc computing is pretty gimped in Dune as well because of previous issues with AI, humanity limited development on that front and focused on developing human capabilities instead, which is where spice came into play…it like super charged your cognition in order to navigating ships through space or something like that. Someone familiar with books please correct that I’m sure it’s not perfect.
That’s right. There was a war called the Butlerian Jihad in which humanity wiped out anything close to AI. Since then it has been high-treason-level illegal to “make a machine in the image of the human mind”.
That’s why they have “Mentats”.
Also, the book was written in the 1960’s. At the time, you still communicated with a computer using a teletype because nobody had thought to put words on a screen yet. You can also see this in the original Star Trek - they never show a screen with text on it.
Anyone who does that is getting immediately dog piled by the rest of the houses.
There are cultural implications. For the same reason that thermonuclear warheads are stockpiled but not used these days, they avoid using lazguns because you simultaneously blow up more than you would need and turn everyone against you. There are laws in the empire that prevent a military power from intentionally triggering one of these reactions for obvious reasons.
Specifically it causes the explosion at both ends, so firing a laser at something you aren’t 100% absolutely positively sure is unshielded is suicidal.
Isn’t the thermonuclear bomb a Foundation thing, not a Dune thing?
Is it both? I can see why op said he may be mixing them up lol.
Usually whenever I ask myself “is it X or Dune?” I default to Dune, since it is just that old and has inspired so many things in sci fi.
Yes it is because of shields. Laser fire on shields makes a nuclear explosion and I think most fast projectiles are reflected.
Also don’t personal shields attract the worm?
Yes, correct
Sucks for him - I literally can’t stop jerking myself over the movie. It was soo gooood. Oh. Time to clean up again.
Put your sand worm back where it lives.
you talking about the movie or Zendaya?
Or Timotheeeee Chalameee?
Making sardukar groans the whole time
Now ask why fighters in Star Wars bank and turn like WW2 fighter planes flying in atmosphere…
Hint: Narrative
convenanceconvenience .Laze guns interact with the sheilds causing basically the destructive power of Tsar Bomba+, but knives/swords (when used properly, as Gurney Halleck taught Paul to do) pierce the sheilds. Read the book nerd.
The movie had its problems and I’ve never read the books but even I know the answer is because the shields don’t stop slow moving objects otherwise you wouldn’t be able to pick up a cup. It’s even explained in the film, admittedly very briefly.
But then again that’s also how personal shields work in Stargate
Have they considered that poison gas also moves slowly?
And napalm?
They sure as hell don’t mind war crimes.
That’s a plot point in the series, yes
They even had a little rhyme/phrase to help them remember to stab their opponents slowly.
Also a laser hitting a shield causes a massive explosion, which could be at the shield or laser gun. Bullets get stopped and a laser would likely kill either user if many kilometers away, or both of closer.
No could be, it’s at the shield and source.
