I've been wondering about various kinds of tranquilizer ammo available for nonlethal anti-personnel use in the Traveller Universe (not just OTU, but any ATU you want to discuss).
First off is the consideration of what different forms these tranq round might take; second is what TL these different forms might appear.
There are a few problems that need to be considered w almost all kinds of tranq ammo: (1) dosing so that your drug is sufficient for larger targets without killing smaller targets; (2) penetration of clothing and skin (it is usually accepted that they will not penetrate any real armor); (3) having a projectile that is accurate at practical ranges; (4) having a form that is stable to be carried as ammunition.
As for dosing, I would expect that to get figured out not too far beyond our own TL. There are already medicines for which higher doses are just metabolized w no effect. If a knockout drug can be discovered w that particular property, the issue would just be loading your ammo w enough of the drug to take down your largest intended target; any excess would not harm smaller targets. If you have a really big target shrugging off one hit, just shoot him a few more times; extra drug won't hurt him.
Injectors - Many folks I've seen mention tranqs seem to envision them all as little injection darts like we used to see Marlon and Jim use on Wild Kingdom. There are several drawbacks to these: dosing as described above, plus having something that is stable enough to be carried around for use. Most of the uses I've seen on wildlife shows have the dart being loaded w a measured dose of the drug just prior to firing, then loaded into a bolt action rifle. I'm not sure these would work so well loaded into the magazine of a snub pistol.
Taser slugs - These would stun with an electric jolt similar to a Taser, but instead of being wires connected to the firing unit, the projectile would have a very small battery (or capacitor?) of appropriate voltage to stun but not kill, and would release the zap when it hit the target. I don't know enough about either Tasers or electronics to really say much more about this type, but it seems to me it might take pretty high TL to get the battery/capacitor small enough.
Sponge slugs - These would be a semi-soft sponge-like projectile (perhaps wrapped in a harder shell for aerodynamics, that would shatter on impact). The sponge would hold the drug, plus some chemical w transdermal properties (like DMSO w/out the side-effects) to allow the drug to penetrate the skin. One obvious problem would be penetration of clothing, as you'd need to actually get the drug on the skin.
Crystal needles - These are tiny crystal slivers that penetrate the skin and then dissolve; the whole projectile is made up of a crystallized form of the tranq drug. Issues that I see are making the slivers stable enough to be accurate at combat range, making them large/hard/sharp enough to penetrate clothing without also making serious wounds on penetration of skin, and getting the tranq drug powerful enough that a small crystal sliver can deliver enough to knock someone out. (Larry Niven had these in some stories with a lot of tiny slivers in something like a shotgun shell, used at short range.)
I tend to think the injector types are the lowest TL (currently available), followed by the sponges (maybe available already, or soon?), followed by taser slugs, followed by crystal needles.
Any other ideas? Speculation on what TL various forms might be available?
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First off is the consideration of what different forms these tranq round might take; second is what TL these different forms might appear.
There are a few problems that need to be considered w almost all kinds of tranq ammo: (1) dosing so that your drug is sufficient for larger targets without killing smaller targets; (2) penetration of clothing and skin (it is usually accepted that they will not penetrate any real armor); (3) having a projectile that is accurate at practical ranges; (4) having a form that is stable to be carried as ammunition.
As for dosing, I would expect that to get figured out not too far beyond our own TL. There are already medicines for which higher doses are just metabolized w no effect. If a knockout drug can be discovered w that particular property, the issue would just be loading your ammo w enough of the drug to take down your largest intended target; any excess would not harm smaller targets. If you have a really big target shrugging off one hit, just shoot him a few more times; extra drug won't hurt him.
Injectors - Many folks I've seen mention tranqs seem to envision them all as little injection darts like we used to see Marlon and Jim use on Wild Kingdom. There are several drawbacks to these: dosing as described above, plus having something that is stable enough to be carried around for use. Most of the uses I've seen on wildlife shows have the dart being loaded w a measured dose of the drug just prior to firing, then loaded into a bolt action rifle. I'm not sure these would work so well loaded into the magazine of a snub pistol.
Taser slugs - These would stun with an electric jolt similar to a Taser, but instead of being wires connected to the firing unit, the projectile would have a very small battery (or capacitor?) of appropriate voltage to stun but not kill, and would release the zap when it hit the target. I don't know enough about either Tasers or electronics to really say much more about this type, but it seems to me it might take pretty high TL to get the battery/capacitor small enough.
Sponge slugs - These would be a semi-soft sponge-like projectile (perhaps wrapped in a harder shell for aerodynamics, that would shatter on impact). The sponge would hold the drug, plus some chemical w transdermal properties (like DMSO w/out the side-effects) to allow the drug to penetrate the skin. One obvious problem would be penetration of clothing, as you'd need to actually get the drug on the skin.
Crystal needles - These are tiny crystal slivers that penetrate the skin and then dissolve; the whole projectile is made up of a crystallized form of the tranq drug. Issues that I see are making the slivers stable enough to be accurate at combat range, making them large/hard/sharp enough to penetrate clothing without also making serious wounds on penetration of skin, and getting the tranq drug powerful enough that a small crystal sliver can deliver enough to knock someone out. (Larry Niven had these in some stories with a lot of tiny slivers in something like a shotgun shell, used at short range.)
I tend to think the injector types are the lowest TL (currently available), followed by the sponges (maybe available already, or soon?), followed by taser slugs, followed by crystal needles.
Any other ideas? Speculation on what TL various forms might be available?
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