Examples of mass-drivers or railguns in Manga

[Ossian]

Hi Folks,

I just finished R. Heinlein's "The man who sold the moon" and I was impressed by the electromagnetic catapult launch pad (sort of a rai-gun or coil gun or space gun). The year was 1949, after all!

If I am not mistaken, Heinlein gave us SciFi lovers the Mobile Suite / powered exeskeletons / my ship is my home stories which we all love so much. From Gundam to Captain Harlock all the way to Star Blazers, Patlabor and Warhammer 40K, we all owe him something.

Now I wonder: can you point me to examples of electromagnetic catapults used in MANGA? Say, to launch ships, or elements, or components, or stages or robot-parts or whatever else?

Cheers

Ossian :smallcool:

[Grinner]

I remember seeing Zoids: Chaotic Century a fairly long time ago, and I think there was an electromagnetic launcher doohickey used to move the Zoids into combat. If there was ever a manga version, it would be in there.

[Deepbluediver]

You want to be careful for claiming who was the originator of certain ideas in fiction, because in many cases A leads to B leads to C leads to D, even though A and D look nothing alike.


The only manga I know of is (appropriately enough) A Certain Scientific Railgun. But that's more shoujo-fantasy than science-fiction.

Does it have to be limited to manga?

At least one of the Gundam anime series used a magnetic rail-system to launch spaceships. It's a plot-point in one episode where some one blows it up because the thing is damn HUGE, and obviously tough to replace.

There's also an episode of Justice League (DCAU) where the villian of week uses one as a weapon to launch meteorites from orbit.

[tensai_oni]

Do you ask only for manga, or manga and anime?

Railguns are used so often in various Gundam shows, it's harder to point out which ones do NOT have one. They're not as oft-used as beam weaponry but still pretty common.

In Knight of Sidonia, the titular colony/generation ship is armed with one. It is a very powerful weapon, but it can be used only sporadically as it causes incredible damage to its interior civilian infrastructure.

[Ossian]

Well, actually all fiction would be perfectly fine, as long as it is used to launch items (not quite the rail gun as a weapon).

On Heinlein, I agree, you can always trace it back to someone else, it is just that I have a personal affection for his works.

Thanks for the examples anyway! Any others?

[Eldan]

Weren't EVA units shot out of the ground on rails?

[Radar]

I'm not sure, if it fits the category of fiction, but there was a slightly obscure 4X game called Stars! (yes, it had a "!" in the name), where you could actually hurl bulk ammuonts of minerals across the stars, which was simplier then having a ship go from one planet to another. Abviously the receiving planet had to have a proper equipment to catch the package and if it didn't... well, as they say anything accelerated to interesting speeds becomes a weapon.

I'm also not sure, if the interstellar travel system from Mass Effect is not something similar as well. I'm quite certain, that the ships were slingshoted in order to obtain proper speeds.

It's one thing to have a projectile weapon and call it a mass driver, it's something completly different to use it commercially.

[pendell]

The 1998 RTS Dark Reign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Reign:_The_Future_of_War) made the rail gun the signature weapon of the Freedom Guard, as plasma weapons were the signature weapon of the Imperium. The Imperium used masses of hovercraft armor, which made high penetration / high velocity like rail guns ideal for fighting them.

Likewise , the spacecraft of Homeworld and Homeworld 2 rely heavily on mass drivers.

The Last Starfighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter) (1984) gave the enemy flagship a mass driver for planetary bombardment.

Kinetic weapons also make an appearance in FootFall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footfall), though they are not hurled by a magnetic accelerator.


The initial alien foray is wiped out by a combined strike by the entire nuclear arsenals of the US and USSR on their bases in Kansas. The aliens retaliate by going out to the asteroid belt, grabbing a rock, and dropping it in the Indian ocean. After at least a billion human deaths, they land once more in South Africa and make a second attempt at world conquest.


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Anima]

If you are fine with Anime, Starship Operators has at least one enemy ship with a mass driver as it's main weapon.
(Most main weapons are particle accelerators, so in a way also mass drivers.)

[BWR]

*pedant*
Any time they use guns, slings, bows, gyrojets, rocket launchers, etc. to launch a piece of matter, they are using mass drivers
*/pedant*

[Ossian]

*pedant*
Any time they use guns, slings, bows, gyrojets, rocket launchers, etc. to launch a piece of matter, they are using mass drivers
*/pedant*

Hahahaha, ok, well played. You have a point there :smallwink:

So, to narrow it down

1) Anime would be great, but all fiction on TV/Cinema really qualifies
2) Not used as a weapon, just to launch items (body parts of giant robots, rocket stages, you name it)
3) Accelerates such parts on a rail line with coils, the momentum is generated by the electromagnetic field.

Ossian

[Radar]

I have one, that fits all points except for 1: in Freefall (http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00877.htm) shuttles are launched from a magnetic rail to save up on fuel and give the starting speed required for scramjet engines.

[tomandtish]

Since we've opened it up somewhat:

The Battletech Universe (gaming system) has Gauss Rifles for mechs.

Babylon 5 (TV series) had the Centauri use Mass Drivers on the Narn homeworld.

Although never specified as such, the main guns on Battlestar Galactica (Reimagined TV series) certainly LOOKED like Rail guns in their operation.

"The Stainless Steel Rat" series (novels) by Harry Harrison had an army that used gauss type rifles.

"Old Man's War" (novel) by John Scalzi. The CDF uses Rail guns as well as other weapons.

"The Last StarFighter" (movie) had the villain use a mass weapon to destroy the starfighter base

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (movie). The navy is using a Rail gun (to good effect).

[Nerd-o-rama]

Weren't EVA units shot out of the ground on rails?

Those were more literally a high-speed rail system, as opposed to an electrically-powered electromagnetic projectile launcher (Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun)). However, I believe the guys from GaoGaiGar started launching their robots through a railgun-style system when they moved to a space station.

Also the Gundam series you're looking for with railguns as orbital launchers is I think Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny. Everyone else has reasonably common orbital boosters, space elevators, makes getting to space a plot point in other ways, or is G Gundam.

[Ossian]

Cool! Ok, on the same note, I can't shrug the feeling that there was also a base (not just the Shooter) launching pieces of the Steel Jeeg.
Similar to that, but again I can't recall the instance, might have been the new Tekkaman Blade series.

[Souju]

When I think of Railguns in fiction, I think of Misaka Mikoto from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun/A Certain Scientific Railgun. It's her codename AND signature attack, after all.

[Mercenary Pen]

I believe Zone of the Enders: Dolores, I used magnetic acceleartion systems to facilitate interstellar travel

Metal Armour Dragonar used a lunar mass driver as their main planetary bombardment weapon.

Beyond that, I can't think of any examples that haven't already been mentioned...

[Hawriel]

I have no examples from manga or anime.

William Keith JR. (pen name Ian Douglas) Galactic Marines series. had a magnetic rail system used for launching cargo containers into orbit from Mars. It's a nine book series I cant remember which book this was used in.

Mass Effect game series uses mass acceleration for both weapons and vehicle propulsion.

Both Mass Effect and Galactic Marines use mass accelerators as weapons. Usually some thing the size of a grain of sand being fired at 1/10 the speed of light.

Battletech has the gauss rifle.

[Bezzerker]

A video game called Xenogears also used a rail-launch system to launch the Gears, at least from the Yggdrasil.

Gear Launch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF6jOcknFPA)

[hamishspence]

In the 40K video game Fire Warrior, the Tau protagonist, Kais, uses a small railgun. And the Tau are often called anime-esque.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I have no examples from manga or anime.

William Keith JR. (pen name Ian Douglas) Galactic Marines series. had a magnetic rail system used for launching cargo containers into orbit from Mars. It's a nine book series I cant remember which book this was used in.

Mass Effect game series uses mass acceleration for both weapons and vehicle propulsion.

Both Mass Effect and Galactic Marines use mass accelerators as weapons. Usually some thing the size of a grain of sand being fired at 1/10 the speed of light.

Battletech has the gauss rifle.

I though ME vehicles all ran off of mass effect fields (or wheels + screwball mass effect fields in the case of the Mako). ME guns also use the same principle for their weapons, as you stated, which isn't exactly a railgun or coilgun, but is the same basic principle of "small projectile moving at ludicrous speeds".

[Raimun]

I know that Metal Gear Solid is not one of those... japanese mangas... :smallcool:

... but railguns feature pretty prominently.

Metal Gear Solid: A very important plot point is based on there being a railgun. In fact, you could say everything in the game hinges upon this new piece of technology.

Metal Gear REX can launch nuclear warheads to anywhere on the globe with its railgun. The best part is that since missile defense systems use the thermal exhausts to pinpoint the aggressor, you can launch stealth nukes that no one can defend against or even know where it was launched. That's how the story of the game goes, anyway.

Metal Gear Solid 2: a villain you fight at one point has (wo)man-portable railgun. It's brutal.

Metal Gear Solid 4: after defeating one of the bosses, you get her railgun and can use it to your heart's content. After finishing the game, you can use it in a new game. It's the most powerful weapon of the game, or perhaps of the entire series that a player can get. Oh...

And the original railgun makes a reappearence.

[Hawriel]

I though ME vehicles all ran off of mass effect fields (or wheels + screwball mass effect fields in the case of the Mako). ME guns also use the same principle for their weapons, as you stated, which isn't exactly a railgun or coilgun, but is the same basic principle of "small projectile moving at ludicrous speeds".

Yeah, your right about their star ship drives. I do not remember how it works really. If I remember right it's some sort of Warp drive, quantum physics trickery on mass. Or some thing.

[Magatsu Izanagi]

Not anime or manga, but still very Japanese: Ace Combat 5. The Osean Federation operates a mass driver for the purpose of launching SSTO craft. In mission 6, the player must defend the mass driver from enemy attack in order to ensure that the launch of an orbital weapon will be successful.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm not sure, if it fits the category of fiction, but there was a slightly obscure 4X game called Stars! (yes, it had a "!" in the name), where you could actually hurl bulk ammuonts of minerals across the stars, which was simplier then having a ship go from one planet to another. Abviously the receiving planet had to have a proper equipment to catch the package and if it didn't... well, as they say anything accelerated to interesting speeds becomes a weapon.

I'm also not sure, if the interstellar travel system from Mass Effect is not something similar as well. I'm quite certain, that the ships were slingshoted in order to obtain proper speeds.

It's one thing to have a projectile weapon and call it a mass driver, it's something completly different to use it commercially.

Wait, someone else remembers Stars!?:smallcool:

Man, that was a fun game.

[Radar]

Wait, someone else remembers Stars!?:smallcool:

Man, that was a fun game.
It sure was. I never got any good at race optimisation, but the sheer ammount of choices was amazing. I could spend loads of time simply designing races or ships.

I also remember those little mechanical details like the fact, that you could fly up to a mass driver packet and steal the minerals mid-flight, or stars obstructing view for regular scaners (if I remember correctly).

I think I'll have to dig out my copy.

[The Glyphstone]

I just remember being endlessly frustrated at the ultra-high-speed interdimensional traders, who were impossible to catch unless you lucked out and had a freighter loaded to go on a directly reciprocal course.

[Radar]

I just remember being endlessly frustrated at the ultra-high-speed interdimensional traders, who were impossible to catch unless you lucked out and had a freighter loaded to go on a directly reciprocal course.
Heh, I do remember pixel-perfect waypoint placement on maximum zoom - luck had nothing to do with it. :smalltongue:
Nevertheless, it was totaly worth it.

[Soliloquy]

The only manga I know of is (appropriately enough) A Certain Scientific Railgun. But that's more shoujo-fantasy than science-fiction.


When I think of Railguns in fiction, I think of Misaka Mikoto from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun/A Certain Scientific Railgun. It's her codename AND signature attack, after all.

I kind of hate to be the one to say this, but Misaka Mikoto from To Aru Majutsu No Index/A Certain Magical Index should also be mentioned.:smalltongue:

[Macros]

I kind of hate to be the one to say this, but Misaka Mikoto from To Aru Majutsu No Index/A Certain Magical Index should also be mentioned.:smalltongue:

Hmm... point. :smallsmile:

Also, I read that a really long time ago, but I think I remember Train from Black Cat having something akin to a railgun as his "special attack". Can't remember if he got this as a power-up mid-story of he was able to use it from the get go, though.

[Tanuki Tales]

It's specifically about the gun variation, but I'm surprised this (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagneticWeapons?from=Main.Railgun) wasn't linked yet.
Warning. TV Tropes link detected.