Poll: Sniper Rifle Satellite

[Ancientgamer]

What exactly's the question?

It's certainly possible In 3DS max, but don't expect it to be easy.

Cool concept though.

 

[Neonbob]

Who's to say that we can't aim it at the aliens?

Hrm. That is a good point. But it'd still be aimed at us most of the time...and a floating platform of death which is in constant communication with the controller at all times? Seems like an opportunity for outside interference.
Again, cool, but lots of issues with it.
I prefer the good old nukes.

 

[Cocal]

You sir would be braking the laws of war.

 

[Zahri]

Hmm. An orbital sniper rifle. Awesome? Yes. Practical? Not in the slightest. Personally, I'm a fan of Project Thor, where they wanted to put a tungsten telephone poll into orbit, and drop it on anyone who pisses us off. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment#Project_Thor]

Hmm, I'll try to find the tutorial video I used to learn 3ds max. It's really hard to just jump in without knowing what you're doing. If I find it, I'll PM it to you.

-edit-
nvm, google found it for me in like 3 seconds
http://www.moddb.com/tutorials/beretta-9000-video-tutorial

This guy is awesome. His videos are PERFECT for absolute beginners. He goes step-by-step on how to model something relatively complex (a handgun). Open up your copy of 3DS, and follow along, and you should learn enough to do what you're thinking.

Thank you very much =D i still need to install it... yay for staples :3 nayways, yar -hug-

Whenever i hear the name "Thor" i immediately think of a naughty tf2 bat skin <.< look it up if yee is brave =D

Who's to say that we can't aim it at the aliens?

Hrm. That is a good point. But it'd still be aimed at us most of the time...and a floating platform of death which is in constant communication with the controller at all times? Seems like an opportunity for outside interference.
Again, cool, but lots of issues with it.
I prefer the good old nukes.

This thing could fire nukes too =D

You sir would be braking the laws of war.

What?

 

[Crimsane]

To quote John Boehner: "Hell no!" (Or in the autotuned version: "Hell no, hell no, hell noooOoOoOoo!")

 

[darthzew]

It's a nice concept, yes, but the bullet would burn up in reentry long before it could hit the target. But if you're willing to suspend your disbelief...

 

[Kollega]

Sniper sattelite? Yes please. Only problem with it would be that bullets are too small and won't make it to the surface. So it will have to launch anvils. Or telephone poles. Or battleships.

 

[Unreliable]

Sniper sattelite? Yes please. Only problem with it would be that bullets are too small and won't make it to the surface. So it will have to launch anvils. Or telephone poles. Or battleships.

Good point.
Not to mention you'd have to adjust for coriolis effect (and maybe even relativity due to the Earth's gravitational pull slowng down time). It would be bloody hard to be accurate. I mean you would need a supercomputer and a team of physicists working round the clock whenever you wanted to fire a shot. Plus theres always the possibility that the orbit of the sattellite has degraded, throwing everything off.

You would probably just want to use nukes, because they wont care if you miss by a few kilometers.

 

[Zahri]

It's a nice concept, yes, but the bullet would burn up in reentry long before it could hit the target. But if you're willing to suspend your disbelief...

What if the bullet could withstand the heat of re-entry? =o

Sniper sattelite? Yes please. Only problem with it would be that bullets are too small and won't make it to the surface. So it will have to launch anvils. Or telephone poles. Or battleships.

I was thinking something about the size of an anvil yes. or a small puppy.

 

[thedailylunatic]

They're already making it. They just use huge ?depleted uranium? rods. Instead of acting as a sniper rifle, though, it just causes a massive explosion comparable to that of a tactical nuke minus the radiation. I think that a small enough round to act as a sniper rifle bullet would just burn up too fast to be practical.

 

[j0z]

An interesting idea, you must post your renderings!
I have tried Maya PLE, and 3DS Max 7 (I think), but I prefer Blender( www.blender.org ) It is free, lots of support, and once you get over its fairly steep learning curve, it allows you to create stuff very fast.
Sorry about the shameless plug, but I believe in supporting free software.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Even if you take into account all that not melting during re-entry stuff, you still have to account for bullet lag. A LOT of bullet lag. The satellite really high up, you have to calculate how much the bullet slows down due to air resistance, and you probably have to figure out how far it'd veer off course at that range. Plus some divine deity help you if the target is moving. Good luck hitting a walking target, let alone one that's running. (Oh, and hope they keep moving at a consistent speed after you fired the round.) If your luck is rotten, then they'll probably stop moving to catch a breath and start up again in a bit. Rather impractical, is it not? (then there's what happens when all the governments find a sniping satellite in the sky. Oooooh boy)

 

[TMAN10112]

I think that you may have already been 1-up'ed on this idea.

Besides, Wouldn't the rounds break up and melt upon entry into earths atmophere?

 

[Epitome]

THe idea sounds mechanically flawed and very reminiscent of command and conquers ion cannon, still if you were determined a precison laser would be best if you could get one strong enought to maintain strength over the disatnce, but leaves you kinda pointless for buildings etc, maybe a magrail but i dont know how space would affect the mechnaics... and firing soldid diamonds from space doest sound very cost effective Maybe in teh future some form of energy weapon but thats sci atm... hmm and real time targeting incorporating wind speed, reentry, if somebodys that important to eliminate uswe a cruise missle?

 

[Unreliable]

Also, and most importantly:
Is this for a video game or real life?

If for a video game, then neato, go nuts, I'm sure its not any more ridiculous than a lot of guns in gaming.

In real life you have now weaponized space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaponization_of_space
This is not a good thing for the human race (I dont care if it IS on your side, the response to a weapon like this is to build up overwhelming nuclear missiles in retaliation to assure M.A.D. - because there is no way to fight back against a weapon like that except total destruction of the planet... this is quite literally madness)

 

[crazy-j]

its a very sweet idea but i think it would have to use missiles.

why?

because you can redirect them in flight, they are bigger os theyhave less chance of burning up in the atmosphere and they explode so you dont have to have an exact hit to kill the target

 

[Xyphon]

...... Wouldn't the bullet melt when it re-enters the atmosphere?

 

[SnowCold]

a satellite that snipes... sounds both impractical and just ridiculous. i hate to shit all over your great-idea party like the master asshole i am, but if you want to put a .50 cal round in someone's head, much less a satellite-sniper-rifle-sized round, just go do it yourself. also, my physics nerd side kicks in here and wonders about bullet speed to reach the target in a set amount of time, burning up on atmospheric entry, etc.

in short, a potentially good idea, but flawed. at least, in my opinion.

I think he means thaat it just a normal laser shooting satellite, only very accurate.

 

[SilentHunter7]

A few tips for your renders: when you start, you're going to have to decide how the satellite fires it's projectiles. There's rail-guns, coil-guns, cannons, and rocket-propelled. Deciding on which one will help in making the render look plausible.

Any good virtual railgun needs the iconic + and - rails in lieu of a gun barrel.
A coilgun will sometimes look a lot better if the coils wrapping around the barrel are exposed.
If you're using rockets, a simple rocket pod will suffice.

Also, look up pictures of satellites, to give you an idea of what various pieces of eye-candy to add.

Of course, you can also make up your own firing mechanism. Like a giant robot arm that hurls anvils.

Also, bonus points if you can make an animation where some kind of mechanical arm loads rounds into the breech.

 

[Zahri]

A few tips for your renders: when you start, you're going to have to decide how the satellite fires it's projectiles. There's rail-guns, coil-guns, cannons, and rocket-propelled. Deciding on which one will help in making the render look plausible.

Any good virtual railgun needs the iconic + and - rails in lieu of a gun barrel.
A coilgun will sometimes look a lot better if the coils wrapping around the barrel are exposed.
If you're using rockets, a simple rocket pod will suffice.

Of course, you can also make up your own firing mechanism. Like a giant robot arm that hurls anvils.

Also, bonus points if you can make an animation where some kind of mechanical arm loads rounds into the breech.

xD k, i was gonna go for the bolt action rifle feel with the thing but sure xD anyways, i'll delve into it all tommorow as it is rather late and i can't concentrate :3