Top Ten Sci-Fi Firearms

[@Spacedock]

Get "Designing the Perfect Space Fighter - A Spacedock Reference Book" here! www.patreon.com/posts/77243474/

[@Myomer104]

Is there any other method of acquiring the book?

[@thatkinginyellow5653]

Worth the buy if anyone is interested in designing some spacecraft concepts. Thoroughly enjoyed the purchase.

[@hoojiwana]

@@thatkinginyellow5653 I'm glad you enjoyed it! - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@ArmoredAlgebra]

You guys should look at Destiny for some sci-fi stuff on your lists. Destiny exotic weapons could probably have completely filled this list, and, as a gunsmith, I find very interesting as concepts.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

I can’t believe you talked about warframe and didn’t mention the gunblades

[@JustTheJames]

I feel like the needler from Halo deserved to be on this list, becasue it's incredibly unique as well as being iconic. I would have also given an honerable mention to Tracer's pulse pistols from Overwatch, just becasue they reload by rewinding time which is awesome.

[@RorikH]

Oh yeah, the Needlers are the bomb. Also, I feel like it was weird to put a crossbow on the list. Laser guns are already stretching the bounds of firearm, but a crossbow just really doesn't count.

[@Miles614]

I was waiting desperately for the needler

[@yetanother9127]

I've actually been replaying Halo CE Anniversary recently, and it reminded me just how cool the Needler is. The reload especially is very meaty and satisfying.

[@judgedrekk2981]

glorious pink death!!!! most fun weapon to use, always sucks to die to it lolz

[@zenebean]

And of course you could dual wield those monsters, which was insane but so much fun And Tracer's guns are really cool, the idea of only needing to make some super special rounds once and then just "reusing" them is very cool

[@RichBensen]

I quite liked the Widow anti-material rifle from ME2, both for it's deadly headshots and the description that includes the sentence "the Widow Anti-Material Rifle is primarily used by sniper teams in assault missions against armored vehicles or Krogan".

[@shaomari1]

Geth plasma SMG sounds crazy as it spins up, Salarian scorpion pistol mini sticky bombs, Bee plasmid from Bioshock. Not the top weapons but cool nonetheless.

[@DrakonPhD]

One of mine is the humble M36 Lasgun from 40k. Its a perfect example of how insane the 40k universe is, because in modern times the Lasgun would be the ideal service rifle (accurate and reliable, simple to build and maintain, decent weight, and most of all it has rechargeable magazines you can reload just by plugging it into an APC/IFV, putting it into a fire, plugging it into a solar panel, etc. Plus it would be a match or penetrate most modern body armor. But because its 40k its one of the weakest weapons around.

[@chrisbingley]

When you read the lore for the lasgun, it sounds ridiculously OP. Then you look at it's stat line and realise that you're not in Kansas anymore Toto.

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

And, of course, there's the old Guardsman joke about it: What d'you call a Lasgun with a laser pointer? Twin linked. 😁

[@reliantncc1864]

My copy of "The Imperial Infantrymans' Uplifting Primer" informs me that my lasgun is more than capable of taking any conceivable enemy down in at most a few shots. Really, the only thing that can defeat a lasgun-wielding Guardsman is his own Commissar, if he should fail to maintain said lasgun properly.

[@literalsarcasm1830]

"He who mocks the power of the lazgun has never had to walk through a field of 20,000 of them."

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

@@reliantncc1864 Ha! Well said, soldier! *shoots the next trooper instead*

[@Bearmauls]

Glad you included a few shots of the PPG from Babylon 5 at the end there. I love that they aren't necessarily better than the slug-throwers that the Earth Alliance can produce, but they're specifically issued to the space forces so there's less worry about punching holes in pressure hulls.

[@alexhail9971]

Call them guns

[@reliantncc1864]

Plus they're amazingly compact. They're absolutely perfect for their role because they'd never get in your way as you go about your job, but they still are there when you need them. I can still hear that "charge-up" noise when they're turned on.

[@Dogbertious]

100% agree about the PPG; comes in a variety of sizes, sounds cool as hell when it fires, and makes sense to issue to people near pressure hulls.

[@Bearmauls]

@@reliantncc1864 Yeah, the PPG charge-up noise will always mean 'awesomeness' to me

[@knghtbrd]

PPG is definitely on my list, but wouldn't be at the top. Love how the books (specifically Psy Corps #3) made the PPG very suboptimal in the rain, and the fact that this would catch Mars-born Garibaldi off-guard. Earthforce went all-PPG because it never expected to need to use them on Earth. I just like the detail there.

[@dereinzigwahreRichi]

I forgot to mention that gun from Altered Carbon (tv series) with the darts that could return into the gun and kill everything in their path again on their way back. That was hyper-violent but so cool.

[@judet2992]

So a full auto guardians of the galaxy Mohawk arrow guy? Sick.

[@dereinzigwahreRichi]

@@judet2992 kind of, but with less control. The gun shoots straight, the darts stick somewhere, then the darts return on a direct path to the gun. No change in direction mid flight.

[@NerothLoD]

One that springs to mind is the FCA-26 Rail Driver from Red Faction. To me, this gun was simply mind blowing when I first tried it out. Shooting enemies through walls with the thermal sight was absolutely wild. It was incredibly satisfying to line up several goons and take them all out with a single slug. Insanely satisfying and unfair. Loved it.

[@TheGreatGonzales777]

I love the Hemlok from Titanfall a lot. Very Pulse Rifle inspired, love the Star Burst attachment.

[@g.f.martianshipyards9328]

The rifle that Galactic Federation Marines in the Metroid Prime series use is one of my favourites. It makes so much sense for people in power armor, combining all the upsides of inbuilt and handheld weapons while eliminating the downsides of both. It's a real wonder that no other group of power-armored marines in sci-fi uses a gun design like that.

[@igncom1]

I was NOT expecting the timesplitters reference! For me I do love the humble TNG Phaser. Short, sweet, do many different things tool and weapon!

[@kirkkerman]

Is it a practical design? No. Is it cool and iconic? Absolutely yes!

[@shinyagumon7015]

The phaser is a brilliant piece of worldbuilding; it's a multitool first and a weapon a very distant second. The perfect analogy for Starfleet and the Federation as a whole. It's also fitting how the TNG-style phasers get replaced by the more weapon-like phaser rifles as the Borg and the Dominion enter the scene.

[@yetanother9127]

@@shinyagumon7015 That's part of why I really like the itty-bitty Type 1 phaser. Such a multitude of uses, in a package the size of a garage door opener.

[@05Matz]

@@shinyagumon7015 Yeah, I mentioned the other day to someone who hadn't seen TOS but commented about the early TNG phasers being impractical while watching that show, that as part of the show's... sort of 'less-military' rebrand between the two series, they redesigned the uniforms and equipment to make it clear what the Federation was about: that this is a society so peaceful but also confident in its ability to improvise under pressure to overcome obstacles by understanding them, that their military consists of people who are scientists and diplomats first and soldiers a distant second (even bringing their families with them on fancy ships like the Enterprise) rather than a dedicated full-time military, and the rather un-threatening weapons packed full of utility features were a great prop design / worldbuilding element to help sell that idea. It's almost as much a "poke it with a stick" implement for scientific exploration or a pocketknife for MacGuyvering solutions to problems as it is a weapon.

[@alexandercain8904]

The Farsight XR 20 from Perfect Dark was amazing! Sniper rifle that shoots through walls with a built in x-ray scope. And that reload mechanic was like nothing I've seen before or since!

[@Alpharius93]

You've done so many of my favourites! For my own list I'd definitely have to include more than one 40k gun though: boltguns, sonic blasters, shuriken catapults, fusion blasters and gauss flayers would defo be in!

[@nickkurzy2246]

personally I love the uniqueness of AdMech weaponry. Arc weapons to fry your enemies with lightning, rifles that fire servitor shot made to hone in on targets, gigantic Anti-material Arquebus firing ultra-dense munitions, and my personal favorite: Radium weapons that actively irradiate the battlefield, the enemy, and the troops using them. oh AdMech, never change.

[@Jawmax]

Well since you mentioned Deep Rock Galactic I guess I should mention my love for the Drak Plasma Carbine and the Lok 1 Smart Rifle. Rock and Stone!

[@SinbadNaiver]

My top favourite? The Mk.2 Custom Lancer from Gears of war 4. It has everything a lancer needs. The wooden stock for the most comfortable recoil compensation and vintage stock design, the flashlight attachement to it makes it really convenient, the long barrel for firepower, and last but not least...the most iconic part of the lancer assault rifle: the chainsaw bayonet to rip your enemy TO SHREDS! (Which makes it OH so satisfying to use! :D)

[@mad_prophet]

My favourite sci-fi guns: * 'Eightball' rocket launcher from Unreal Tournament series. It's incredibly multi-purposed due to many modes of firing. It also has very recognizable design. * Typhoon from Crysis 3. This is an almost unique representation of the Metal Storm concept in video games. Which is very fun do use. * L-69 Zhuo smart shotgun from Cyberpunk 2077, because it's literally a hand-held MLRS. * Dredd's Lawgiver pistol you mentioned.

[@admiralcasperr]

The PPG and the PPG Rifle are brilliant in their simplicity. It reinforces the power scale of batteries and reactors for B5 and is a great solution to punching holes in Hull = bad. Yet we still see how it can melt through a door. It just makes so much sense in the narrative so I'm surprised it wasn't included. Actually, there's more to the greatness of that weapon, but I don't want an essay here.

[@vorlon010]

you flagged it in the end, but the PPG (Phased Plasma Gun, IIRC) from Babylon 5 is a pretty well thought out design. As described it's actually weaker than many slug throwers, but it's designed *not* to punch through the hull of a spacefaring vessel, so you can't accidentally kill all of your allies with rapid unplanned explosive decompression. Also, since you mentioned Destiny in passing, it has some wonderful weapons throughout, even if they are frequently subject to 'space magic BS design' - not that I can't technobabble my way aroudn *all* of it, but it's frustrating to have to sometimes. Saying that, I could imagine something like Gjallerhorn being worth a mention - simoultaneously a memorial to the battle of the Twilight Gap, and one of the most powerful weapons in the game

[@iapetusmccool]

Talking of custom loadouts: What i liked doing in Mass Effect 1 was to get a sniper rifle (a varient that was optimised for high damage at the expense of heat and rate of fire). Load it with explosive ammo. That means it will probably overheat every time you shoot it. Which means there is no disadvantage to then adding every +damage mod it can take. So now its basicly a rocket launcher.

[@charlieailsworth4060]

Think my favorite has got to be the Laptop Gun from Perfect Dark. Had that very satisfying fold out mechanic and you could also set it up as a sentry gun. Just very cool and useful all around

[@sentionno.4553]

I feel the Bolter and its many variants from the Warhammer 40k franchise and its many games deserves a mention for being iconic and unique in the way that, like the Chemrail it uses a classic propelant to get the Bolt going before, unlike the Chemrail, a solid fuel rocket engine continues accelerating it.

[@hughsmith7504]

Always had a sort spot for the AM blaster from Disruptor. The idea of grunts using an anti-matter shotgun has always been funny to me.

[@badhippo]

Nah.... the AM Cyclone wins, hands down.

[@badhippo]

The "AM Cyclone" from the classic PS1 game, "Disruptor" - Big, bold, anti-matter pulse bomb machine cannon: it sounds terrifying, and annihilates everything in it's path.

[@zortesh]

the Zat'nik'tel from stargate for sure one of my fav sifi weapons.

[@simonhede4381]

It's pretty niche, but i love the Nemesis Prototype from SYNTHETIK. It's basically just a standard high-caliber sniper, with insane ricochet and damage. Firing the thing sounds like every thunder god slamming the car door in furious unison, and with it bouncing like 8 times you're fairly liable to hit yourself with it, enemies turn into 10 meter long oil smears and the damage ramps with each penetration. It's somehow perfectly cliche and standard, yet made wildly unique by it's execution and feel of use. Plus it makes peak use of the game's 3-step reload mechanic to make it's bolt feel vicerally satisfying. Honourable mention goes to the 420 Sniper Dragon from the same game. If CoD memes were a gun, it would be this. It's a sub par sniper which does massive bonus damage and thus becomes quite good, *if* you do a 360 spin before firing. It's silly, yes, but surprisingly satisfying as the boosted damage is good and it feels nice to actually land that hit with the spin and audio-visual feedback of the gun priming up.

[@freakwntwatchr]

The Particle Magnum from Stargate Atlantis. Ronin's gun can stun, kill and incinerate. It's made to look like a massive revolver and it's wielded by Jason Momoa

[@MiriOhki]

Think my favorites are Babylon 5's Phased Plasma Guns (small, powerful but no risk of overpenetration, great for environments like space stations), Battletech's Gauss SMG (imagine the P-90 as a rail gun) and M41-A, because it's such a classic.

[@Mand.alor-the-Rebel]

One of my favorite SciFi guns is the Varon-T disruptor from Star Trek.

[@Dominik_Dollinger]

I always liked the railguns from the movie Eraser, despite them being ridiculous.

[@BelRigh]

Gonna Go a Little Obscure, but I have a serious love affair with the Pistol/sidearm from Robotech "Invid" arc... Pistol to rifle conversion, Variable yield "projectiles" beam and bolt capability.. Sure it could use a IRL/videogame redesign, but the simplistic look of it is just.... Nifty

[@seanwhitman8353]

An underrated choice is the humble phaser from Star Trek. It's so versatile that you can do just about anything with it. Need to cut through a door? Phaser has you covered. Need to heat up a surface for warmth? Phaser's got this Need to catch a fleeing baddie for questioning? Trust the Stun setting Want something cut down to size? A phaser can do that in a pinch The sheer utility of a phaser makes it the ultimate ray gun of the Federation and it fits so well with their ideals. And it also works as an enemy disintegrating ray pistol just as nicely.

[@TheWanderer1000000]

The Noisy Cricket. Because of how funny it is.

[@13shadowwolf]

Favorite gun: Heavy Boltor, because nothing says OP firepower than a full auto, RPG launcher with multiple ammo types. Any weapon in a high tech universe, needs to think about how they keep their weapons functioning; when the enemy has high tech to shut them down. An electromagnetic accelerator is really cool, and it becomes a club if an EMP shuts down the weapon. Laser and energy weapons always kinda bugged me, any universe that has the tech to build such weapons, also has the tech to immediately shut those weapons down. Plasma rifles become very dangerous for the user if an EMP shuts down the plasma containment part of a plasma rifle. Chemically driven, kinetic weapons that kill the enemy... don't need to be made more leathal, they already are "effective enough" to get the job done. The rifle that uses a chem-charge, plus electromagnetic accelerator sounds awesome, but according to the specs, that thing should be not only blasting completely through targets, but it would tear into everything behind it as well. That's a 50bmg at close range, those Hyper-Velocity projectiles go somewhere after tearing through a human body...that only takes a small, regular bullet to kill...that weapon would have massive collateral damage to deal with. For those of you that don't know, a 40mm grenade actually has less explosive material, and a smaller leathal area; than a regular hand grenade. Firing something like that are an armored robot, would be pointless, becuse the tiny fragments wouldn't have eough force to penetrate the armor. They test modern, class-4 body armor; with dummy bodies inside the armor, lying on the grenade. The blast is survivable, whereas unarmored it literally rips the body apart. Modern armor actually works really well against tiny fragments and shrapnel.

[@hawkins1384]

My favorite is the M76 Revenant from Mass Effect. It looks cool as hell, and when playing as the Engineer, the game is easy even on the hard difficulties. Level up Incinerate, Overload, AP ammo, and just walk forward, while everything dies around you, shredded to pieces.

[@type_s_tyler7547]

Z-6 Rotary Canon? Solid choice for background music

[@Harrowed2TheMind]

'It's interesting because it's one of - if not the only - hybrid chemical electromagnetic weapons in popular culture.' Terran standard issue marine weapon of the Confederate and Dominion Marine Corps C-14 'Impaler' Gauss Rifle (Starcraft) would like to have a word with you.

[@SlavGod47]

Although we're talking about small arms and not heavy weapons, my absolute favorite is the Hydra from the Avatar movies. Because who doesn't love a triple barrel .50 Caliber machine gun that's capable of being mounted AND man-portable? Actually, ALL the guns from Avatar deserve a lot of recognition for being practical AND cool

[@shadowrunner2323]

I like the MIDA Mini-Tool from Destiny 2, I think that should have gotten a mention over the Recluse

[@RhelrahneTheIdiot]

One of my more favored Sci-Fi weapons is the Laetum from Warframe, a very capable semi automatic pistol which can charge forms into a vicious SMG of tearing its way through effectively any opposition. As for larger weapons my personal favorite in that game will always be the Fulmin, a monstrous shotgun-rifle hybrid with the ability to endlessly replenish its own ammo, the shotgun mode is also silenced meaning it is viable to use it for missions where stealth is crucial.

[@Daedalus-BC308]

The Noisy Cricket from MIB is amazing in a ridiculously stupid way.

[@poil8351]

i like sw-404 missile gun from crusader self propeld micro missiles pretty cool. also pretty cool are pl-1 plasma rifle and the uv-9 ultraviolet rifle the bk-16, lnr-81 and the super cool xp-5 microwave project.

[@cast5439]

My favorite SI-FI weapon is the Cobretti AR-70 Raptor automatic rifle. Form Command & Conquer renegade

[@darwinxavier3516]

Not a single weapon, but I adore the weapons system in Ratchet: Deadlocked. There are substantially fewer weapons in that game than Up Your Arsenal, but they made up for it by having all the weapons moddable by any of the extra damage types called omega mods. Though if I had to pick one it would be the reliable Dual Vipers with the shock mod which does chain lightning. Best way to farm currency in that game is the horde mode level and set up auto turrets and shield projectors both with the shock mod. It will literally be raining money.

[@jameshenderson4876]

M-96 Mattock. Indeed a fine choice. My "go to" gun in ME2 and 3.

[@captainzac24]

1) phasers I'm particularly fond of the jj verse ones for using such silly sound effects deadly seriously 2) the Dominator from Phsycho Pass because the weapon perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with the society and the shoes premis 3)The smart pistol from titianfall because it is just so satisfying 4) the Wunderwaffe DG2 from Nazi zombies for being the most steampunk gun to ever appear in a popular shooter

[@alexbibby9641]

Aside from the M41 pulse rifle and the smartgun, the Resistance: Fall of man series has some really cool sci fi guns in it. For example the entirely realistic m5a1 carbine the main human alt history soldiers use, as its basically an m14 ebr with a thumbhole stock and 40mm grenade launcher on it. From the same series the Auger, one of the invading alien guns, has a thermal scope capable of seeing through walls and fires absurd penetrate anything rounds with a deployable energy shield

[@Robert_Zietz]

I love the Titanfall 2 Smart Pistol, because its just so neat.

[@Kamenriderneo]

Here's my top 5 5- The assault rifle from Halo Combat Evolve 4- The pulse rifle from Aliens 3- Magnum from Halo Combat Evolve 2- Lawbringer MK II from Dredd 2012 1- Force Lance from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

[@negative6442]

Synthetik has a lot of really cool sci-fi weapons, like the Sniperdragon 420

[@1977Yakko]

The shotguns that Amos Burton uses in The Expanse are on my want list!!!!!

[@shardinhand1243]

fivorite sci fi fire arm has to go to the og series faser it could disintigrate a person or an entire stone wall in a second and it could be fired for hundreds if not thuasands of times on one charge. second favorite is the gears of war lancer series of rifles... i just love the viceral techno brbarian feel of combining a machinegun and a chainsaw, two epic awesome things!!!! also the retro bayonette lancer was fun as hell in gears of war 3. wish i had gotten to play online with it!

[@edtacey2257]

Hey Spacedock. I had an idea for a video you might consider. Top sci bridges/command centers.

[@johnsteiner3417]

You left off the M-98 Widow from Mass Effect 2 & 3. THE BEST weapon to use because it's one 'n done.

[@AikenFrost]

The Mattock! I love that rifle.

[@iansahleen1173]

Got to go with Graviton Lance and Bad Juju for mine

[@GaldirEonai]

My honorable mentions would have included the Panther Assault Cannon from Shadowrun, just because of how absolutely ludicrous it is. It's a (barely) man-portable semi-auto 20mm cannon firing ammunition that penetrates armor and then detonates inside the target (and if it fails to penetrate, it'll still make a pretty big mess on the surface). It's comically oversized, has the kind of recoil that hospitalizes any unprepared shooter in very short order and weighs about as much as the rest of a modern infantryman's kit combined. But since it's Shadowrun and there are a.) orks, trolls and multimillion-nuyen cyborgs to carry (and sometimes dual-wield) it and b.) actual goddamn _dragons_ to shoot at, its existence and deployment by pretty much every major military or security force is extremely justified.

[@DatAsuna]

The ME3 harrier is cool, but should have been included in the mattock entry, because it literally is a modified mattock in universe.

[@ben501st]

An awesome futuristic, sci-fi weapon from a non-sci-fi game is the magrail from Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. It could shoot through obstacles, something not common in that era of gaming, and always was a 1 hit kill. Unlike the golden gun, snipers, or explosive launchers, the magrail had a "spool up" time delaying the time between pressing the trigger and actually firing. It was a neat way to keep the gun from being overpowered. Plus you could duel wield two of them!

[@0neTwo3]

Always liked the absurdity of the ZF-1 from the Fifth Element movie.

[@Deepkeel]

Might not be man-portable, but I enjoy the Karasawa from Armored Core.

[@AOIU982]

Basically any weapon from Titanfall becuase they are so realistic looking with the heavy industrial militaristic design where the weapons all look human made but still futuristic and battleworn.

[@themangoloid5452]

Honestly, you put Mass Effect in but mentioned a basic DMR rather than the coolest set of guns being any of the Geth Armory weapons. Like the sounds alone from any of them are top tier especially 3s Geth Sniper

[@GummiAnd]

I don't remember its name, but the Mandalorian's rifle that disintegrates trandosians and jawas alike, is so cool and intimidating 😅

[@jefflake5897]

Perfect dark on the N64 had some pretty dope weapons. Plus you kinda got to play the lobby from the Matrix in that game. The bots on multiplayer were fun. That controller sucked though.

[@Zamun]

Thanks for the content.

[@epithet052]

I called my Rattlegut the Ruiner RSR, in honor of another autopistol from the game of the same name. I called my tombfinger the mk2 plasma boltgun. Does anyone else spend way too much time coming up with cool names for their kitguns?

[@razgriz25thinf]

For my money, its hard to beat the BR55. The visuals are gorgeous and believable, the sound is amazing, and its just a true workhorse. but im glad you mentioned the FR-37. Super underrated sci-fi gun. I also love the Item 62 Gauss Rifle from the STALKER series. Nothing quite like one-tapping Monolith exoskeletons from across the map with it.

[@smiglo112]

Mmm, the Gauss Rifle from STALKER is pure fun. I'm only wondering if the gun we see at the end of the first "gameplay" trailer of STALKER 2, as the character approaches the Duga radar is a new iteration/reimagined Gauss Rifle, because it looks fucking sick.

[@edtheduck6219]

Some of my favourite weapons from a Sci-Fi-ish setting were those from F.E.A.R. Not because they had super-duper qualities, but because they looked and sounded real. Just *one* well-aimed cunning shot from the least powerful pistol in the game would bring down most enemies, just as it would in reality. I do get a bit tired of having to pump 500 rounds into some monster, which has all its faculties left at 499 hits but explodes with the last one; more a war of attrition than anything else...

[@NerdWorldEmpire]

Really Dredd is 11 years old already! I’m old

[@titaned]

Transformers war for Cybertron and fall of Cybertron games, Cliffjumpers glass gas gun.

[@LoopyLucy95]

PKD Blaster, enough said.

[@Forke13]

Inam so missing the Mangler and Needler from Halo

[@dragonweyr44]

The Lawgiver from the Stallone film was better One of my favorite fictional firearms is the laser blaster pistol from the 1977 Battlestar Galactica series as well as the Cylon rifles Robocop's multigun from Robocop 3 was cool, it reminded me of the Fifth Element's ZF1

[@pbplayerjim]

40k bolter. Firing individual rocket propelled grenades that detonate on contact at a high rate of fire and wielded by genetically enhanced warriors

[@CyclopsRat]

No mention of the noisy cricket from MiB, the DL-44 from star wars, or the type-33 needler from halo?? For shame, hooji!

[@Del_S]

No Bolter? That's some heresy right there. Especially since some of your chosen ten aren't actually "firearms". But since you probably intend it more as like man-portable small arms rather than the actual pedantic definition of 'chemical kaboom make thing go zoom'... I'd still bin like five to seven of your picks and replace them with stuff from 40k, Halo, Unreal Tournament, Fallout, Star Wars, Star Trek and Doom. Bolter, MA5, Shock Rifle, AER9, DL-44, Hand Phaser, BFG9000 going in beside the M41A, Lawgiver, and FR-27.

[@tomburna254]

I get that it's a sci fi setting, but including a crossbow, which isn't really changed aside from being a hot bolt, to a list of sci-fi guns is a little weird.

[@gmitchellfamily]

8:13 FOR ROCK AND STONE!

[@AGleeBustHard69]

Dominator from Psychopass Needlers, Hydra, Magnum, AR, BR from Halo Sunshot from Destiny The Gunslash family of weapons from Phantasy Star Online 2 Ion Canon from Super Mecha Champions R-301, CAR SMG from Apex legends/Titanfall Plasma Rifle from Split gate are some of my favorites design wise some also gameplay wise and lore wise

[@anthemanatheme1638]

Covenant Plasma Rifle. Just the aesthetic is... Beautiful. Really gives it an alien look without being cliché.

[@TheSpearkan]

Normal, RGB, bitcrushed or triple-wielded?

[@blacktronpavel]

Should have been on the list or have an entire list for alien weapons.

[@joesphchin1181]

@@TheSpearkan The detexture rifle, obviously

[@deathrex007]

@@TheSpearkanTriple wielded is absolutely busted.

[@viron6734]

It looks nice but is very simplistic: an alien gun that shoots glowy stuff. I can see what it didn't make the list.

[@TheArklyte]

As Ian from Forgotten Weapons once put "the fiction part comes not with energy weapons, but with having cheap, sturdy and reliable drum mags in the future". Sci-fi guns don't have to be fantasy, they just have to be already existing modern tech made affordable. So good high capacity mags, electric priming, plastic cases and electrothermochemical ammo. And you have automatic gun that would laugh at most sci-fi. Or rather you get stright up "pulse" rifle from Aliens;)

[@jakeaurod]

Do you remember the title so I can search?

[@TheArklyte]

@@jakeaurod if I recall right, it was in a Q&A video. Which one, no idea.

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

that is by far the wisest dumb thing i have heard about fictional weapons ever.

[@sim.frischh9781]

Gun Jesus knows his stuff.

[@steemlenn8797]

Actually that is a good reason why the future uses energy weapons. Batteries are so much more reliable.

[@theishiopian68]

I love the phaser rifles from later DS9 and VOY, such a badass shape.

[@brentbartley6838]

Do you mean Voyager's hideous Compression Phaser Rifles? The TNG movie era phaser rifles are the best from Trek followed by the Into Darkness rifle and Enterprise M.A.C.O. rifles IMO.

[@darwinxavier3516]

@@brentbartley6838 I think they're both called compression rifles. I assume they mean the one that looks more like a standard future rifle from First Contact. Pity that Nerf's attempt at it was so damn ugly.

[@theishiopian68]

@@brentbartley6838 HELL no, I'm talking the type 3A phaser rifle. None of that super-soaker lookin shit.

[@anonarchist1936]

Unreal's Shock Rifle deserves at least a mention. Mostly for the sheer fun of firing a slow moving projectile, and then hitting it with the hit scan beam to trigger an explosion.

[@Xalendare15]

Also worth mentioning that (AFAIK) this franchise gave us the concept of the ionized-path Lightning Gun.

[@RickLeMon]

YES! The UT series has some wonderful weapons. The Flak cannon is arguably a shotgun, but it just feels different. But there is nothing more satisfying than a kill with the bio rifle.

[@MrWardonis]

Flak cannon is awesome, too, but the ripper from 99 has always been my favorite.

[@reliantncc1864]

Arguably less fun than telefragging in that game, but yes it's a rollicking good time.

[@optimus888amicus]

Yes

[@DrownedInExile]

Awesome list! Here's one obscure weapon from Deep Space 9. The episode had a murderer on the loose, killing his victims with an archaic sniper rifle. It wasn't clear how the killer was getting line of sight. Chief O'Brien figured out he was using a rifle with an advanced scanner and integrated micro-transporter beam. After firing, the bullet could be transported right through walls, and preserve lethal velocity for the target. Pretty cool!

[@chrisdavis2319]

It's built around a prototype Federation Starfleet TR-116 rifle (which itself is neat and unusual in the Star Trek 'verse, since it is an actual rifle, as in a weapon that fires a solid, chemically-propelled bullet through a rifled metal barrel, but using 24th-century tech and materials science, such as tritanium bullets). The micro-transporter enhanced version - after its debut as a tricked-out murder weapon - was eventually developed into the TR-116A and TR-116B, which are available in Star Trek Online. Surprisingly, while shields normally disrupt transporter tech, the TR-116A and B are good for shooting through personal energy shielding.

[@reliantncc1864]

Definitely one of the coolest concepts in weapon design, particularly since it's not actually that crazy. The technology in it already existed in the Star Trek universe. It comes off as what a genius gun designer like Browning might build if given Star Trek tech to work with.

[@CptJistuce]

That was a cool gun, especially how every part of it MADE SENSE in the universe(which is very rarely the case in Treknology one-offs). I seem to recall the episode around it being cool as hell too, but that might be dodgy teenager judgement.

[@blacktronpavel]

Shooting through walls, that's almost better than cheat codes.

[@iapetusmccool]

A neat idea, but Why not just transport the bullet directly into the target?

[@FlameBringer84]

Fun fact about the Chemrail. The handle also has a canister of coolant that is pumped into the gun when firing to keep the barrel from overheating.

[@Keemperor40K]

My personal favorite are the Tau Pulse Weapons from 40k. They fire a highly ionized pulse, by rapidly super heating a metallic element through a high energy convection field. Even by 40k standards its a brutal weapon, in an elegant package.

[@RXdash78]

And it coms with a free aimbot.

[@PetersonZF]

For the Greater Good!

[@filanfyretracker]

Sounds like something that would sneak out of warframe, only with less war crime additives. Or the Thanix from Mass Effect.

[@ApocGuy]

talking about W40K; anything made by' nids is win automatically. those fuckers can (and will) adapt to anything, given time. if not, sheer numbers (rippers are nasty) or subterfuge (lictors and genestealers) ;) . love space commies weapons and power armor though.

[@Keemperor40K]

@@filanfyretracker pretty much all weapons in 40K are considered war crime generators almost by existence. The Tau Pulse Rifle is like having a man portable 30mm cannon, that will atomize you and pulverize what's left into meat chunks that are ready to server well done if not outright carbonized. But even by 40K weapons this is tame and doesn't get into the depravity that are Dark Eldar weapons. Those are the real intentional, blatant and as painfully as possible war crime generators.

[@hamishsewell5990]

Excellent choices! A personal favourite of mine is the DC-17 Interchangeable Weapons System from Star Wars Republic Commando

[@1Dataluke]

Great suggestion from a great game

[@selachianseas999]

Cool gun (if nothing else, it gets around the whole "hammerspace" issue), but the assault rifle mode was a bit underwhelming. Fine for standard mooks, but it really made you dependent on concentrated squad fire to bring down tougher targets.

[@TheOriginalBlue62]

I loved the 'infinite ammo on cooldown' of the DC-15s that came with that package. Decent punch per shot, you could do a lot with it as long as you were careful

[@hamishsewell5990]

@@selachianseas999 that was part of the gameplay I think, the characters in RC aren’t Jedi with lightsabers so a super battle droid is going to require concentrated fire

[@cmedtheuniverseofcmed8775]

You beat me to it. The DC-17m is awesome and actually not as far-fetched of an idea as most people think.

[@MrAshleyR]

Mine has gotta be the TR-116 from DS9's season 7. A gun that uses micro-transporters to shoot through walls?! Insane. Not even an honourable mention here? Even more insane.

[@BluegrassGeek]

It's neat, but not practical unless you're going for assassinations, which is why the Federation dropped the program.

[@WillWilsonthesafetyguy]

One of my bridge officers in Star Trek Online never leaves the ship without their TR-116.

[@MrAshleyR]

@@WillWilsonthesafetyguy likewise! They’re honestly the best weapon in game when it comes to the Borg.

[@SuzanneYoungblood-lj3eb]

Awesome mention, love DS9!

[@LoneWolf343]

The micro-transporter was an attachment, and may or may not have a custom design by the assassin using it.

[@iwiffitthitotonacc4673]

My favorite is the Shock Rifle from Unreal Tournament - first firemode fires a hitscan laser, second firemode fires a slow projectile that is unaffected by gravity. Shooting the projectile with the laser, creates an extremely powerful explosion! It effectively forces players to not move recklessly and consider their options, as going around the wrong corner can mean instant death.

[@evanblack8642]

Raise you the Ripper or Bio Rifle

[@thegreatchimp]

I remember that one fondly. That game was ingenious for pushing alt fire modes into new territory.

[@hoojiwana]

The original combo weapon, a fine choice. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@jakeaurod]

I would hit people with that combo before they even came around the corner. Similarly, one of my favorite tactics was to bounce grenades off of walls around corners, or to bounce them off walls in front of me when being chased so that it caught my pursuer off-guard.

[@Taisto-Perkele]

IMO the Shock Rifle is pretty much a mandatory inclusion in lists like this. Power, precision, knockback, area denial, this thing does it all. Not to mention a *_very_* high skill ceiling and the extreme catharsis-factor when you finally git gud with it. PC Gamer named the Flak Cannon as "the greatest gun in PC gaming." While the Flak is definitely in the All Time Top 10 list, we all know who the REAL king of the arenas is...

[@Dreamfox-df6bg]

The Caster Gun from Outlaw Star. It uses literal magic shells. What it fires depends on the shell being used. It can stun, shoot electricity, energy beams up to shell #4, which fires a miniature black hole at the target, which also only affects the target. It might be just a single shot gun, but with ammo like that it ends the fight most of the time. However, the rarity of the shells also makes it a weapon of last resort.

[@furiouskaiser9914]

A while back in a DnD campaign, I ran a cowboy themed artillerist artificier that "used" caster shells as his spell slots for casting his spells. Getting his shells back during rests was just him reloading his own ammo and etching a glyph on the casing. Loved Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, and Trigun, the holy trinity of space western animes, as a kid growing up.

[@viperbuzzard01h84]

Man it's a hard choice, I love all the different weapons in sci-fi but some of my top favorites have to be the aliens M41A pulse rifle, the MA5B assault rifle from halo, lancer from gears of war, Morita assault rifle starship troopers, and the bolter Warhammer 40k.

[@Keemperor40K]

Only the Bolter and the Pulse Rifle are sci-fi weapons (mostly). The rest are reskinned real life weapons. They look cool, but the Morita, MA5 and Lancer (minus chainsaw bayonet) could exist today in a real life military.

[@owenlagger]

That’s what makes them cool: their plausibility in the real world

[@Keemperor40K]

@@owenlagger but then they are not sci-fi, just science. This doesn't take away from the coolness factor of the design, but it stops being fiction, as they have become real things.

[@pseudonymsam]

My vote goes to the Dominator from the anime Psycho-Pass. It is not just a cool weapon, but it also exemplifies how science fiction can explore futuristic moral quandaries. What happens to a society when a brain-scanning smartgun becomes the judge, jury, and executioner of the law, instead of the justice system that wields it?

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

What happens? It makes a really, really big and unpleasant splatter all over the place. Someone clearly saw what Kenshiro does in Dist of the North Star and said: That needs to be in a pistol.

[@pougetguillaume4632]

The dominator is judge dred's gun but it's not just cool and badass it's also thematically integral to the story. It's an embodiement of the entire plot and is a magic system of its own. Spectacular sci fi weapon from a conceptual standpoint and for everything else it's just judge dred's gun but anime do i need to say anymore?

[@CptJistuce]

Minority Report, but a gun? I like it.

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

@@CptJistuce Not quite. Minority Report is "Our precogs have told us you are going to commit a murder, so we're here to arrest you and hold you in a medical coma so that won't happen." Pretty damn dystopic. Psycho-Pass is "In a nation where everyone is under very nearly constant biometric surveillance, psychological and audio-visual, and if the AI in charge of the system decides your 'crime coefficient' crosses a legislated threshold, the Public Safety Division's elite cops and enslaved 'latent criminals' are sent to hunt them down and generally kill them very, very gruesomely." It's MUCH more dystopic.

[@malithaw]

Man psycopass was amazing

[@addisonchow9798]

The fact that bolters are not here is HERESY.

[@murphy7801]

Bolter isn't very sci-fi. We already have a pistol that does that from I think the 70s. We literally can make a bolter right now. Sci-Fi by definition is speculative in nature.

[@NicMage]

No bolter? This heresy cannot go unpunished!

[@TheArklyte]

Artillery isn't on this list;) On a more serious note, I wish people, who argue bolter would just look up modern artillery tech and not just stop at gyrojet. Then they would have understood how broken that thing is. Active-reactive systems, controlled airburst, ramjet rounds, beam riding and inertial guidance. All of that and more was minituariazed to 25mm, 20mm or even 12mm irl already. The sci-fi part comes from the ability to mass produce said ammo with less then 100k$ per round.

[@addisonchow9798]

@@murphy7801 to be honest I might forgive them if they put bolters in number 1 for top ten sci fi rocket launchers.

[@rommdan2716]

They try too hard

[@Krautvault]

The Penetrator Rifle from the FEAR series is worth mentioning. Nothing like nailing enemies to the wall in slow motion. Also the Flak Canon and Shock Rifle from the Unreal Tournament series.

[@CitroChannel]

Might not be my _absolute_ favorite, but I've always loved the sheer insane brutality of the Cerebral Bore from the Turok games. Not the most realistic or versatile gun, but the incredibly sadistic savagery of it definitely left an impression on me the first time I played Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. 😅

[@infernosgaming8942]

Pistols from Bladerunner. Not quite Sci-Fi but I love the clunky "kachunk" they make when they fire, like a realistic near-future coil gun firing a fat slug out of an old frame. Perfect for the setting.

[@Johnny_Socko]

Deckard's pistol was the first sci-fi firearm that I was truly enamored by. I grew up on Star Trek TOS, and while the Phasers were freaking cool, they were closer to magic than reality. But the Blade Runner pistol was familiar and futuristic at the same time. It was just so purpose-built -- a sidearm powerful enough to retire a Replicant. Iconic. My honorable mention would be the double-barreled laser pistols from The Black Hole, which received a tribute of sorts in Guardians of the Galaxy. (I think they also inspired some designs in Halo.)

[@Doc41295]

I'll always have a soft spot for Mal's pistol from Firefly and Han's DL44. I love Mal‘s gun because it's just a revolver with some stuff stuck onto the outside to make it look sci-fi and it fits the setting flawlessly, and Han's because, well, it's iconic for a reason. Everybody loves that one.

[@thatstarwarsnerd6641]

“Six men came to kill me one time. And the best of 'em carried this. It's a Callahan full-bore auto-lock. Customized trigger, double cartridge thorough gauge. It is my very favorite gun.[…]I call it Vera.”

[@reliantncc1864]

My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.

[@asdfjoe123]

Shiny.

[@mackenziebeeney3764]

I like the pocket phaser in TNG just because of how ridiculously OP it is. Able to vaporize a guy from a single blast. Idc if it can only for once, they just makes it on a tier of high powered sniper weapons for taking out individual enemies. Or assassinations.

[@W4kT3k]

A weapon i like is the Colonial sidearm "clamshell" from Battlestar Galactica. I like the look, it's a real weapon with some covering, unfortunately it was replaced after season one. Love the movie Elysium and all the weapons, District 9 have some great (alien tech) firearms as well.

[@voodoolilium]

I actually never used the Arc Pistol in ME3, but I LOVE the Talon. Lovely little pocket shotty. Always brings a smile to my face. And of course the M7 Lancer, such a good rifle.