We all have our bread and butter methods to fighting what or whomever... but sometimes there may be impractical means of attacking that you just like to use just because.

Armored Core: Has the Mortar Launcher. It is essentially a missile launcher, however... but its missiles go straight up, then fire. Unfortunately if you are in any place with a ceiling the weapon is useless. Still, it is rather strong and fit makes for a good weapon to use behind cover.

In the case of impractical weapons that I know their application is inferior (and sometimes outright stupid) that actually has caught my interest and obsession for, but stopped considering it seriously, are man-portable railguns... Yes, it's as stupid if you know how such a weapon would never be feasible at a man-portable level, but something about the charm of an overpowered firearm to take out robots and mutated monstrosities just feels awesome.

BTW, I state this as a sci-fi general thing really.

The Lancer from Gears of War.

Chainsaw in a machine gun....genius if it wasn't so impractical in RL.

Hilariously, bayonets are on the verge of becoming obsolete for this topic's reason similarly (because nobody uses them since you can always stay 70 feet away and shoot all day without direct confrontation at this day of age, let alone the future... Ironic, isn't it?

The main reason why me prefers sword and magic fantasy themes over shoot-out Sci-Fi themes most of the time... Hard-earned skill actually plays a major part of it really instead of relying primarily in having more brute force, fancier equipment and more dakka all the time. D=

Besides the usual gun blades rigamarole and why that's stupid awesome with the emphasis on stupid, I've had it as my email for a while, my favorite stupid idea was belt secured grappling hooks
because I always wanted to swing on one even if I always knew there was no way in hell I could manage one, even if they could exist. And by the way only belt mounted ones are actually impractical by modern standards, since they're actually in military use these days so...go figure.

I've looked into a loophole in this topic and take my example back now since the topic lacked definition and emphasis on limitations...

What is my true favorite impractical weapon? Simply swords in general. I put it under impractical by modern day standards for obvious reasons, but the sword has appealed to me a lot to the point I tack it in places where they shouldn't be (Anna, I'm looking at you). The greater emphasis on style, techniques, skill, dedication and grace that easily exceeds firearms themselves at the same level (even if we include gunkata and gun fu)... Since firearms require minimal training in comparison anyway.

Of course, when we speak of real life, it's vastly more logical and better in general to have a firearm by your side than any sword. However, fiction being the awesome real life will never be, some settings CAN make swords practical and even fricken badass if it is applied and utilized well enough in certain settings to make them just as useful as guns... If not more for certain other settings that emphasize on it more on skill and improbible powers and feats.

BTW, before you say, I've actually grew on sci-fi, but that's my past self.

Most shootout stuff I've seen are more about either using skill, luck, ones wits, or simply channeling the spirit of Rambo and, likewise, make other enemies look like they graduated from Storm Trooper Academy of Aiming.

Granted, guns are rather noob friendly, so, yeah.


Speaking of which, the Non-infinite Mine Thrower from Resident Evil 3. The gun shoots out explosive darts, potentially damaging eenemies with both the dart impact and explosion. However it is impractical in game for several reasons. One is that there are few ammo pick ups for it, and unlike other ammo you cannot make rounds for it. Two, although it has decent strength, it is hard to use. Not because the darts will miss fast targets....no, chances are you will hit them, and they will still come. This makes getting hit with the explosion very likely since in RE3 you rarely get to fight in wide open areas. It doesn't help that you can't have more than 6 in a room set

2 things... I say non infinite because the infinite Mine Thrower fires differently. It becomes a Homing, piercing, semi rocket launcher.

Another is that the mine thrower in RE4 works the same way in RE3... but far better. In fact if you want an easy time with the final boss use the mine thrower. It becomes even more cheap if you get the special homing upgrade.

I remember once seeing a taser gun that was a gun that actually shot out a taser on a spring that would retract back into said gun after the buzz-buzz-electro-hurtin' was done.

That's kind of the point with guns. They're meant to require less skill because that's how humans advance... Make a weapon more easier to use and access, minimalizing the need for training while optimizing effectiveness.

... They're only real true weakness is ammunition, and that is debatable since some people never seem to run out of ammo in RPs.

Is that what we're talking about? Because I can't keep up with you guys in those kinds of discussions.

Not really. Ampchu was just replying to a specific thimg I said.

Mech-swords, from games like those wielded by Flay from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis & Edge from Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis.