Devastating Sci-Fi Weapon Needed

[NbDawn]

There is a planet creating a device that will help their planet in some way. However, the designing and building of this device, still being worked on by scientists, could be converted and used as a weapon. Therefore, it is being kept secret. However, the bad guys find out about it. They have the ships and the soldiers to take it, but not the scientific knowledge needed to finish it. Their plan is to attack the planet, take the device, kidnap the scientists with it, and then finish it with the weapon capabilities. I intend for this device to be big enough to fit in a large room, but also able to be dismantled into smaller transportable pieces.

When I first came up with the story idea, this device was a laser. But I was told that a laser is too simplistic. I'm not a physicist or engineer, or any other type of scientist. So I need some ideas on what kind of device this is and resources on how it would work, both as a a destructive device and as a helpful device capable of altering some aspect of an entire planet.

 

[Ihe]

Some sort of gravity-modifying gizmos? They would help with transportation, material endurance, space-faring, etc. It could also be used to create a black hole and wipe out an entire planet/solar system.

For this grand idea, a humongous energy source to run the gizmo will be needed IMO, so do factor this into your calculations.

 

[WaylanderToo]

anti-matter?

 

[NbDawn]

Some sort of gravity-modifying gizmos? They would help with transportation, material endurance, space-faring, etc. It could also be used to create a black hole and wipe out an entire planet/solar system.

For this grand idea, a humongous energy source to run the gizmo will be needed IMO, so do factor this into your calculations.

That's a good idea to consider. Thanks! I think I recall reading about potential huge energy sources in the "The Physics of Star Trek" book.

 

[NbDawn]

anti-matter?

Great idea for a huge energy source.

 

[WaylanderToo]

miniature black-holes?

 

[WaylanderToo]

mini-suns?

 

[RX-79G]

Unrestricted self propagating nanotech: The universal solvent.

Harmonic solar flare maker.

The Neutron Dance:

 

[WaylanderToo]

Unrestricted self propagating nanotech: The universal solvent.

Hmmm someone is a fan of the replicators on SG

 

[RX-79G]

Hmmm someone is a fan of the replicators on SG

What's SG?

I'm a fan of actual nanotech since I read Drexler's book about it in the '80s.

 

[Danny McG]

The Mouse That Roared

 

[reiver33]

Why not come at this sideways - an orgone accumulator?

 

[ErikB]

Ozone replenishment device. Creating high amounts of ozone in mass quantities could improve a polluted world where gases have destroyed ozone, but an ozone replenishment device could have evil forces trying to reverse the affect knowing that if it could be reversed it would instantly strip a planet of its ozone layer and then direct UV radiation would kill all terrestrial plant life in two weeks or less. It would also radiate the inhabitants killing them en mass. This would make a tempting weapon to blackmail a world into surrendering resources.

Just an idea. Cheers!

 

[Gonk the Insane]

Ozone replenishment device.

That was my first thought, too.
If the planet's in trouble, so to speak, there are a few similar environmental ideas that could easily be hi-jacked/subverted into weapons:

• Terraforming device (i.e. to renew wastelands etc - might work if there's been a global war or similar)
• Atmosphere converter thingy - if , for example, there are low levels of oxygen (a largely deforested world, say), something to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen could easily be tinkered with
• some kind of machine(s) to fix pollution in the seas
• machine to reduce polar ice cap melting, thereby preventing sea levels from rising (could be reversed, I guess)

an orgone accumulator?

Huh. I'd always thought Hawkwind had made up that for a song title, but there is a wiki page on orgones now. I did not see that coming in the pre-internet days

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

Orbital mass driver of some sort.
My idea is that the mass driver shunts small asteroids to the planet below (drops them in a lake or uses an antigravity system) to be mined on the surface (saves cost on space equipment and shipping).

A mass driver is essentially a cannon. It shoots things. Heavy things. A lot of heavy things. A long way.
A mass driver in orbit becomes a kill sat with barely any adjustment. There was a sci fi book about this...the moon is a harsh mistress? Kill em all saga? I can't remember the name.

Anyway, you could have the terrorists dismantle and hide the antigrav system or the speed booster. Neither part needs to be very big.

 

[Brian G Turner]

So I need some ideas on what kind of device this is and resources on how it would work, both as a a destructive device and as a helpful device capable of altering some aspect of an entire planet.

I think you're thinking of something like the Death Star from Star Wars. But I'm put more in mind of the Genesis device from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, which was intended to terraform a barren planet, with the caveat that if used on an inhabited one it would destroy existing life there.

Either way, you're very much in the realm of fantasy here, so attempting to put a scientific glass over it might come across as a fudge.

2c.

 

[WaylanderToo]

What's SG?

I'm a fan of actual nanotech since I read Drexler's book about it in the '80s.

SG = Star Gate (TV series)

 

[RX-79G]

SG = Star Gate (TV series)

Yeah, Star Gate writers did not come up with that idea. Not by several decades.

 

[paranoid marvin]

My first thought was a terraforming device, a la Wrath of Khan.

An alternative could be a satellite that can destroy asteroids on a collision course, but could be turned inwards on a planet. Or maybe a weather machine which can control weather, but also create acid rain to kill animals/plants or melt icecaps to flood a planet etc.

Or perhaps a device that can harness the sun and channel that energy to power turbines etc, but alternatively could channelled to use as a burning column of fire (like a magnifying glass)

 

[Scarfy]

For THE BATTLE FOR THE SOLAR SYSTEM, the allied forces had a plan to make use of a weapon called a Tachyon Star Bomb (TSB). The idea was that they would target a number of stars in the enemy's home space, and fire a bomb into the heart that would trigger a core collapse, causing them to go supernova.

In addition to this, the energy from the collapsing star would be wrapped into tachyon parcels, and dispersed 100s of light years in all directions. The parcels would break down during transit, effectively turning the star into a massive cluster bomb. The enemy forces would be wiped out by the combined radiation and energy release.

I was purposely vague on the tech details as, A) the allies never had a chance to pull it off, and B) it's a space opera, not hard science