Is a Lightsaber a Practical Weapon?

[Tomster595]

Well If I were a Jedi, I would wield a gun. My reflexes are just as fast as any other Jedi, so they'd have a hard time blocking my shots

 

[ParadoxBG]

Yeah, it's really a Force tool. LIKE QUI-GON JINN!

I kid.

Still, it'd be fun to have one

 

[FoolKiller]

Would you think a lightsaber is a practical weapon? I think if I was in the Star Wars universe, I would personally use a rocket launcher or some other kind of heavy weapon since in a combat situation, I would probably have the range advantage.

If i am a Jedi/Sith with the ability to use the light saber I would probably have Jedi mind powers and not be worried about your measly rockets. I prefer force lightning in this universe though.

 

[mooncalf]

That depends really. Do I also have the force? If not, then possibly. If yes, then hell yes.

Hell yes indeed! Han Solo certainly would prefer a blaster since he doesn't have the luxury of flipping storage crates at foes with his mind.

Essentially I'd think it's an extremely practical weapon for a force-user. A Jedi might like to run around with a rocket launcher, but imagine the problems of spare rockets, concealing it in your clothing, fending off close range attackers... Okay I've thought about that for long enough already. *runs away*

 

[Caligulove]

I think it would only make sense with something like the force- kind of makes anything practical to use if youre familiar with it.

Otherwise, yea... the whole bringing a sword (even a laser sword) to a all the crazy shit in Star Wars... seems crazy

 

[bloob]

Considering the jedi's main role isn't supposed to be out in the middle of large battles then it is a practical weapon, useful in confined spaces with their skills but not too threatening when they are negotiating.

however in our world no not very practical except as someone mentioned above as a support weapon maybe for a silent kill or entry

 

[Assassin Xaero]

A lightsaber in real life would not have a stopping point.

Actually, if they made one like the beam katana in No More Heroes, it could work.

Spoiler: Picture

OT: Doubt it. I would rather have a sword, or something that shot out something, like a gun or crossbow. Wait, I do have all three of those. ^_^

 

[Malcheior Sveth]

Lightsaber use hinges on force boosted reflexes/abilities. Also, outside of the starwars universe, kinetic slugs (bullets) would just be heated to a superhot liquid metal when they passed through/near a lightsaber's blade.

I get the feeling they would actually sublime near-instantaneously into a gas, and then be superheated into a plasma and absorbed by the blade. Doesn't solve the reflexes problem though.

 

[THAC0]

the Jedi are not an army and they don't act or fight like one (at least not in the movies). They are guards and diplomats who go on very specific missions that would not always allow them to walk around with heavy weapons and guns.

Who would you rather have a diplomatic debate with, the guy with the rocket or the nice man in the robes?

also, keep in mind how many times the Jedi get in fights on spacecraft or inside buildings, these are small scale areas where the increased range of blasters isn't really that much of an advantage.

Lightsabers are good at what they do, but they are not the last word in weaponry, even in the SW Universe.

 

[Canid117]

If it doesn't exist it isn't a practical weapon

but I'll humor you. Another reason it isn't practical is displayed beautifully here

aaaaaand I cant find the video on youtube...

Basically if you drop it the damn thing will just keep falling...

 

[Captain Blackout]

With any weapon, practicality is based at least in part upon the abilities of the user. That said, in the hands of one who can use it well, a lightsaber is an extremely practical weapon. Go take a few years of kendo, master the art, then imagine if you had a plasma torch (which is what a lightsaber essentially is, you idiots who maintain lightsaber's blade should extend forever are retarded). It's basically a sword where every surface is a blade and physics is your *****.

 

[bubba145]

now no we use metal based rounds and so hot plasma would equal very hot metal coursing through our flesh. when we move to plasma rounds then amybe but would still be hard to use.

 

[Enzeru92]

HELL NO it'll easily cut you as fast as it cuts other people even if your a master at it

 

[Lord of Maggots]

Its terribly unpractical. But mannnnn would it be fun to use!!! ... untill you castrate your self...

 

[Cap'n Haddock]

Would you think a lightsaber is a practical weapon? I think if I was in the Star Wars universe, I would personally use a rocket launcher or some other kind of heavy weapon since in a combat situation, I would probably have the range advantage.

There is a reason no one besides a jedi uses a lightsaber as a primary weapon. You wouldn't be able to touch a jedi unless you caught them by surprise, and thats pretty damn hard. Sure the prequel movies show jedi getting blasted in sneak attacks but then again
THE PREQUEL MOVIES RUINED STAR WARS.

Think about trying to kill Neo; he's got superhuman reflexes, strength and speed, can dodge and stop bullets with a thought. Now he can be killed if he's ambushed, but that would have to be a damn good ambush. Got it?

Now give Neo a lightsaber and give him a 6th sense that lets him instantly know if anyone even THINKS about him the wrong way. You can try and shoot him with a rocket, but he knows that rocket is coming and WILL turn that rocket right around and send it flying back into your face. Try and shoot him with bullets, he can choose to just dodge them, he can push them back at you, or he can incinerate them with his lightsaber, lightsabers are not light, but a mystical esoteric technology that has light, is hot enough to slice through anything except Star Wars mineral Cortosis (which is exorbitantly expensive and almost impossible to find). They are solid objects, so some snarky comment above that it would turn into a superheated spray of metal is irrelevant; a bullet would also be superheated so much that it would become gas, not liquid. A lightsaber is THAT hot.

Arguments for why the Jedi were killed so hard at Geonosis
1) Those Jedi had stagnated during millennia of peace and weren't ready for combat except on a smaller scale
2) Droids were fighting them so they had to rely on just reflexes and incoming senses of danger instead of reading their enemies minds
3) George Lucas ruined Star Wars with the prequels.

A Jedi is pretty much invulnerable to attack from conventional means in reality and in star wars. Only when you get into the unconventional does it get tricky; I'd say Nukes and Death Stars do the trick, but at that point you really want that Jedi dead, and have expended a fuckton of resources to kill a single one. Also, prequel Jedi are nowhere near as powerful as KOTOR or New Republic Jedi who are honed for battle and ready to fight; those guys are ridiculous.

paraphrasing writer Michael Stackpole, "using a lightsaber without the force is more like wielding a light-cudgel", which is pretty damn useless.

To reiterate, to defeat a Jedi, you need a fuckton of resources. A Nuke or Deathstar would hopefully do the trick, maybe an airstrike. Mechanized forces are useless, if Empire Strikes Back serves the memory, Droids have limited effectiveness (Krath War Droids worked wonders on Ancient Jedi, and so did TF battledroids for a bit), but what I would want to fight a Jedi would be a Star Wars Disrupter; it vaporizes anything it hits instantly on the molecular level. However you only get about 10 shots before the powercell melts. If you want to suicide, a baridium core thermal detonator will do the trick, but that defeats the purpose of this "my gun will kill your jedi and let me live" thread.

 

[Arashi500]

A lightsaber in real life would not have a stopping point.

It would just continue on in whichever direction it's pointed at.

Therefore, it would be completely useless, unless you had to take out an entire army.

Actually I read in once of the books that the hilt/handle contains a component to focus it to go a certain length, after which point, the energy disperses harmlessly beyond that point.

 

[Necrofudge]

PHYSICS IS NOBODY'S *****! SHE IS A FINE UPSTANDING YOUNG LADY! HOW DARE YOU SA...

... Anyway the lightsaber is horribly impractical. Sure it can cut through every conceivable surface (more or less) but the fact that it requires lots of training to use it without beheading yourself makes it worthless to a society at large. It isn't practical if nobody can understand it.

 

[grimsprice]

Lightsabers can deflect blaster bolts and bullets as well as other lightsabers. So yes. On the issue of the rocket launcher, they can hit those back too, or at least they can in Star Wars Battlefront.

I fucking hated that. Although if you fight on the levels with bottomless pits, you can actually kill jedi's. I've done it lots of times.

 

[thom_cat_]

My lightsaber chainsaw attachment brings your lightsaber into the field of practicality.

 

[Death on Trapezoids]

W/ force powers, even just ones related to the use of the lightsaber, HELL YES!!!
It's like a sword, but without the need for brute physical strength, and the ability to cut through almost anything.
Also regarding randomsix's post, wouldn't the bullet be vaporized on contact? (I know it sounds geeky, but think about the temperatures involved)
Without the force powers, I would want a little 3-6 inch one. Great for home defense, harder to commit accidental suicide with, and INSTANTLY TOASTS BREAD!!!!