High-Tech Knight: Best Equipment for Elite Warriors

[GTOM]

I wonder about a scenario, where AI development suffered a major drawback, and there is a civil war in an underground city.
So close range combat will be an option. What could be the best equipment for an elite warrior?

I thought about the following : nuclear battery for powered armor, armor made of carbon nanotubes and silicate cells, the later can regenerate the armor by consuming dust. Rockets can be ignited for fast thrust, fuel can be generated from air and possibly dead bodies.
Jammers on tentacles, if a missile try to track jamming signal, it only destroys a tentacle. Small shotguns arranged like spikes of a cactus.

I read that while theoretically, a carbon nanotube blade with the width of single molecule can cut through metal (especially with superhuman strength), but metallic bonds can reattach themselves. So alone, it might not good against robotic enemies. But what if the blade could drive a strong current to the electronics under the armor, and that would cause the robot to collapse or explode?

 

[anorlunda]

I would rather have a pet honey badger. Nobody would mess with me.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Why not have your knights have impenetrable force fields? If you say "that's silly, they don't exist" I would say "unlike self-regenerating armor?"

 

[GTOM]

Why not have your knights have impenetrable force fields? If you say "that's silly, they don't exist" I would say "unlike self-regenerating armor?"

Yeah unlike that since self healing concrete is already exist.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/self-healing-concrete

By the way force fields arent stupid neither, if i could somehow explain them. The closest idea is ionize the incoming missile with lasers than redirect it with magnetic field. But that is rather for ships than a personal armor.

 

[256bits]

I read that while theoretically, a carbon nanotube blade with the width of single molecule can cut through metal (especially with superhuman strength

I've never liked the single molecule width blade. It has always seemed to fantasy fantastic.
If it cuts through anything, how does one store it in a sheath so it doesn't cut you own leg off while walking.
Maybe that is just me.

 

[GTOM]

I've never liked the single molecule width blade. It has always seemed to fantasy fantastic.
If it cuts through anything, how does one store it in a sheath so it doesn't cut you own leg off while walking.
Maybe that is just me.

It definitally don't just cut through armor reinforced with nanotubes. Also i think it don't cut through strong alloy simply with own weight.

 

[Rive]

underground city.

Which kind? The tunnel-maze type, or the one when a surface-kind of city is built in a humongous cave?

 

[GTOM]

Which kind? The tunnel-maze type, or the one when a surface-kind of city is built in a humongous cave?

The elite part is a bit like to the later. Otherwise tunnel maze.
As far as i know the lava tubes on the Moon can be really big due to low gravity. But that scene isn't on Moon, and they don't waste space on Moon neither.

 

[Rive]

The elite part is a bit like to the later. Otherwise tunnel maze.

Then I would rather try some weaponized mining equipment // weaponized mine accidents than some gundam/knight/mecha variation.

 

[GTOM]

Then I would rather try some weaponized mining equipment // weaponized mine accidents than some gundam/knight/mecha variation.
View attachment 290082

The big vehicle is instakill for the knights railgun lance. Cant manuever at all. It can be good against common soldiers in a wide tunnel.

 

[Rive]

In a (artificial) tunnel maze the tunnel dimensions are closely corresponds with relevant machinery what dug it up. No need to maneuver at all: once you send in one (two, at most) machine of the right size with mobile shields up front (and more than one of those railguns behind the shields) the tunnel is blocked, and then on it's a death trap for anything lighter and mobile.

And once those railguns starts to aim for the top of the tunnel, you won't have to bother with the burial either.

I would say that in any tunnel warfare nothing would survive long without continuously covering the top of the tunnel against incoming fire. (And without continuously looking for mines on every side of the tunnel. Actually the biggest weapon and danger would be the tunnel itself.)

 

[GTOM]

In a (artificial) tunnel maze the tunnel dimensions are closely corresponds with relevant machinery what dug it up. No need to maneuver at all: once you send in one (two, at most) machine of the right size with mobile shields up front (and more than one of those railguns behind the shields) the tunnel is blocked, and then on it's a death trap for anything lighter and mobile.

And once those railguns starts to aim for the top of the tunnel, you won't have to bother with the burial either.

I would say that in any tunnel warfare nothing would survive long without continuously covering the top of the tunnel against incoming fire. (And without continuously looking for mines on every side of the tunnel. Actually the biggest weapon and danger would be the tunnel itself.)

If they collapse things on a large scale, they destroy their own city. By the way the one in the nanotube-silicate armor can dig himself out too. Extreme weight needed to crush him. Much of the tunnels overlap so there are lots of empty spaces above many tunnels.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

I thought about the following : nuclear battery for powered armor, armor made of carbon nanotubes and silicate cells, the later can regenerate the armor by consuming dust. Rockets can be ignited for fast thrust, fuel can be generated from air and possibly dead bodies.
Jammers on tentacles, if a missile try to track jamming signal, it only destroys a tentacle. Small shotguns arranged like spikes of a cactus.

There is a lot of really high-tech equipment in this kit, with materials manufacturing that is unlikely without access to sophisticated computing resources. That doesn't have to be AI, but it seems unlikely to have been lying around prior to a civil war for the survivors to scavenge, so I'm struggling with your scenario, @GTOM.

Why is the city underground? Why does loss of AI trigger a civil war? What causes the need for hand-to-hand combat in a civil war? Who are these knights anyway? It's a skill few of us have, so where did theirs come from?

If they collapse things on a large scale, they destroy their own city.

If we know anything from history, it's that humans are not rational, so it's highly likely some zealots are plotting to do exactly this

The ongoing cost to equip and support these knights would be ruinous, so are you writing about a few who keep the peace, or a short, brutal civil war where legions of them come out to play?

 

[GTOM]

There is a lot of really high-tech equipment in this kit, with materials manufacturing that is unlikely without access to sophisticated computing resources. That doesn't have to be AI, but it seems unlikely to have been lying around prior to a civil war for the survivors to scavenge, so I'm struggling with your scenario, @GTOM.

Why is the city underground? Why does loss of AI trigger a civil war? What causes the need for hand-to-hand combat in a civil war? Who are these knights anyway? It's a skill few of us have, so where did theirs come from?If we know anything from history, it's that humans are not rational, so it's highly likely some zealots are plotting to do exactly this

The ongoing cost to equip and support these knights would be ruinous, so are you writing about a few who keep the peace, or a short, brutal civil war where legions of them come out to play?

i don't want to reveal the whole plot, but you can imagine it a bit like Dune.
The city is underground since it is under the polar ice cap of Mercury. Due to fear of an AI rebellion (which happened on Earth) the leaders of the colony destroyed advanced robots, without their services, the place became a kingdom like North Korea. A century later, common people and a wise prince had enough of that. Knights are a small elite force that was meant to protect the royal family. Meelee can happen in closed spaces, when automatic fire is useless against armored targets. The elite have nowhere to go if they destroy the city, they would be locked up for crimes against humanity on other planets. While many rebels are fanatics but they don't want to destroy the city neither, and also have limited amount of explosives.

 

[Melbourne Guy]

Thanks, @GTOM, that sounds like an interesting scenario with a lot of scope for constrained mayhem, and the questions that occurred to me are easily addressed. Good luck with the writing, how are into the book are you?

 

[GTOM]

Thanks, @GTOM, that sounds like an interesting scenario with a lot of scope for constrained mayhem, and the questions that occurred to me are easily addressed. Good luck with the writing, how are into the book are you?

I am reviewing the plot and characters to avoid inconsistent development.