On Bayonets and Shields

[Norfindel]

We continue to use bayonets, even when it would be safe to say they're obsolete. Anyways, they're good for the psychological effect. People really hates to use them, but the other guys also hate to be suddently attacked by a mob of crazy SOBs that run with them in the middle of the bullets, and it's disconcerting as hell.

obviously a power suit punch to the face hurts more that bayonets any day but it'd be nice to have them for example give marines a melee attack like roaches and hydras but the shield, i have never had a game w/o shielding my marines

And a bayonet propelled by two powered arms can pierce thru more stuff than a bayonet propelled by naked arms, and surely do much more damage than a power suit punch could do.

[Nicol Bolas]

We continue to use bayonets, even when it would be safe to say they're obsolete.

I wouldn't say that they're obsolete; merely a niche instrument. They're very useful for any kind of house-to-house engagements, where your weapon must function in potentially melee-style engagements.

[PhanttoM]

The only time I can see a melee weapon like a combat knife / bayonette becoming entirely "obsolete", is the day when energy weapons can recharge on the fly. (ie. never run out of ammo / energy reserve)

[Norfindel]

Obsolete =/= useless. They're obsolete, because there are way better weapons, so they don't get very much use, to say the least.
For example: the PC XT is obsolete. You can still connect it, and boot dos 3.3, but it's not common anymore.
I wonder how useful is a bayonette against a powered armor that can stop 8mm spikes running at hyper-velocities anyways. Unless it's vibro-tech, monomolecular, or something strange like that.

[Blasterion]

Obsolete =/= useless. They're obsolete, because there are way better weapons, so they don't get very much use, to say the least.
For example: the PC XT is obsolete. You can still connect it, and boot dos 3.3, but it's not common anymore.
I wonder how useful is a bayonette against a powered armor that can stop 8mm spikes running at hyper-velocities anyways. Unless it's vibro-tech, monomolecular, or something strange like that.

sounds too expensive to equip a marine considering their life span

[Norfindel]

sounds too expensive to equip a marine considering their life span

If you mean the 10 seconds or so mentioned in the page, disregard that, as giving them powered armor would be a huge waste of resources already.

Anyways, if that kind of tech were available, i think it would be mentioned.

[Nicol Bolas]

If you mean the 10 seconds or so mentioned in the page, disregard that, as giving them powered armor would be a huge waste of resources already.

You have a good point about the "expense" of a bayonette vs. the armor. However, I'm pretty sure that whatever circumstances give a Marine in power armor a 10 second life expectancy would frag an unarmored person almost instantly.

I've always been somewhat iffy about these "life expectancy" numbers anyway. They're supposed to echo back to Vietnam or something, but they don't actually make sense in the context of StarCraft. Until the Zerg and Protoss showed up, I imagine Marines were pretty top-of-the-line for dealing with any "soft" targets. Were there major uprisings in the days of the Confederacy? Outside of Korhal, of course. Were there some major Marine deployments somewhere? And what were they fighting that they were dying in such numbers?

[unentschieden]

The only time I can see a melee weapon like a combat knife / bayonette becoming entirely "obsolete", is the day when energy weapons can recharge on the fly. (ie. never run out of ammo / energy reserve)

Bayonets really don´t become usefull or obsolete based on ammo. Ammo is a problem of logistics not weapon choice.
It´s about the combat scenario. Bayonets are usefull if the soldier has to defend himself in close quarters with his rifle in his hands. The Rifle is bad for melee combat because it´s so long and unwieldy at that range.

It makes sense to provide Marines with Bayonets in the Starcraft universe because they can expect to encounter Zerglings and Zealots.

[PhanttoM]

Obsolete =/= useless. They're obsolete, because there are way better weapons, so they don't get very much use, to say the least.
For example: the PC XT is obsolete. You can still connect it, and boot dos 3.3, but it's not common anymore.
I wonder how useful is a bayonette against a powered armor that can stop 8mm spikes running at hyper-velocities anyways. Unless it's vibro-tech, monomolecular, or something strange like that.

Bayonets really don´t become usefull or obsolete based on ammo. Ammo is a problem of logistics not weapon choice.
It´s about the combat scenario. Bayonets are usefull if the soldier has to defend himself in close quarters with his rifle in his hands. The Rifle is bad for melee combat because it´s so long and unwieldy at that range.

It makes sense to provide Marines with Bayonets in the Starcraft universe because they can expect to encounter Zerglings and Zealots.

Bayonettes have always been backup weapons, so of course there are weapons that are better.
One might argue that a pistol is a better backup and yes it is! But even that one will run out of ammo eventually.
And excuse me for saying the obvious, but a combat scenario will change drastically when you run out ammo.

BTW as far as we've seen and read, a marine's armor rarely stops those 8mm spikes. (All I keep reading in the novels are: "full of holes".) The only time they don't penetrate seems to be when they hit at wide angles.

As for cost of producing mono molecular bayonette being too much (or any such "simple" hardware....relatively speaking) - Well I'm certainly never gonna buy that now that blizzard shows the Terrans have the production capability to rebuild and cover entire planets.

[phazonjunkie]

I've always been somewhat iffy about these "life expectancy" numbers anyway. They're supposed to echo back to Vietnam or something, but they don't actually make sense in the context of StarCraft. Until the Zerg and Protoss showed up, I imagine Marines were pretty top-of-the-line for dealing with any "soft" targets. Were there major uprisings in the days of the Confederacy? Outside of Korhal, of course. Were there some major Marine deployments somewhere? And what were they fighting that they were dying in such numbers?

You haven't read 'Heaven's Devils' yet have you?