Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: 2005004219 on October 12, 2009, 11:32:01 PM
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why didn't the animorphs or their allies use dracon beams? It is useful for stunning. And why didn't the controllers use dracon beams more often on the animorphs in fighting.
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a dracon beams primary function is to cause pain. seems to go against the other topic you made for the animorphs to use them. and most human controllers did use them, as did taxxons, hork bajir didnt really have much use for them.
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And when in their battle morphs the Animorphs didn't really have hands capable of using them...
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Except for Marco, but he'd probably crush it. It would look kind of obvious if a bunch of kids just charged into the Yeerk pool, blasting Controllers.
Although, they could go all MGS on the Yeerks, hiding in the shadows and vaporizing them while remaining unseen. That would be pretty cool, but not very Animorph-ish.
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Well, the same question could be used of guns, I guess... The Animorphs as a whole were pretty gunshy, and that clearly carried over to Dracon Beams... and any kind of shooting "weapon" in general... Except for their morphs natural abilities (for whatever reason).
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KA Applegate said in an interview that she didn't like guns.
Would it be possible to make a dracon beam from a captured item? the way the afghans make kalashnikovs by modelling them on the ones they have captured from the russians.
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Why bother? They had constant opportunities to take Dracon beams, and if they had wanted to, they could even have orchestrated a mission solely to do that - take Yeerk technology and weaponry... In fact, they probably should have done that toward the end, when it became apparent that the army would have to be involved... They could have built up a small stockpile of weapons, possibly even a bug fighter or two, to be used eventually in an all-out war... (that would have tremendously helped the soldiers attacking the Pool ship from the ground in the last battle...)
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I am talking about later human efforts to create their own beam weapons. not just on a state sanctioned mass produced factory level but say an afghan villager, comes across a yeerk dracon beam, would he be able to reproduce it in his workshop?
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I don't really see how an Afghan villager would be able to reproduce a complicated, advanced piece of alien technology, unless he used pieces of the captured weapon itself... in which case, why not just use the weapon?
I can see how a powerful government program might be able to develop an independent beam weapon by studying a Dracon beam, but that might take months, or even years...
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The Afghan villager does not want to rely on future Russian/Yeerk invasions, and therefore creates his own kalashnikov/dracon beam by dissassembling the original, figuring out how it was made and then making more for himself and others to use in conflicts.
Buy a man a fish or teach him to go fishing? Who wants to be relient on the chance of finding a create full of kalashnikovs/dracon beams when you could learn to make your own (which you would then be able to modify to your own requirements as well).
Implicit in this idea is having access to the original weapon, studying it, dissassembling it and making more yourself. or to rephrase in more obvious terms
1. find or capture one original kalashnikov/dracon beam
2. take back to workshop, study, practise with, dissassemble.
3. re assemble etc until you understand how it works.
4. make your own
5. make even more
6. modify to suit your own circumstances.
7. produce even more of the modified version.
8. widespread de-centralised distribution of dracon beams leads to even more deaths/choas in Africa,Middle East etc.
Notably the yeerks themselves basically did this with the Andalite shredder and ongachic weaponry thus creating the dracon beam.
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I completely understand the process you just outlined...
However, it is still my opinion that there is like, no way a random Afghan villager (or even one with the wherewithal to reverse engineer a Kalashnikov) could do the same with a Dracon Beam... It would just be too advanced and complicated...
I could be totally wrong, but I think it would take someone like that years to develop an independent weapon system based on the Dracon Beam...
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It's extremely likely that Dracon Beams use materials or energy sources that are too advanced for humans, let alone random villagers, to replicate. For example, humans haven't even heard of Ramonite before, which seems fairly extensively used in Yeerk technology.
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Yeah, Afghans can reproduce AKs because they are made by humans with human resources. Dracon Beams are alien tech using alien resouces.
Like the battery for a Dracon Beam. What is the power source? How much evergy is needed for it? We most likely don't have that kind of energy capability.
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Good point... Also, even if they could make a knockoff, how would anyone without government backing be able to produce more?
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i say they should give the dracon beams to the parents at the hork bajir valley, at least for some means of defense.
marco with dracon beams would be fun, too.
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Lol... Marco with Dracon beams... sounds funny... ;D
Yeah, the Hork Bajir could have used all that weaponry, and that would have definitely helped them on their raids to free more of their kind...
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I suspect it would be modified to incorporate human resources (such as having iron rather than unobtanium)
I suppose in comparison to yeerks, an experienced electronic engineer would be an afghan villager.
Without government backing it is possible to achieve quite a lot, in fact as the disaster that is communism demonstrates, excessively government involvement actually stifles productivity.
I am suggesting the possibility, and after all if illiterate afghan villagers can reverse engineer a Kalashnikov, why not an electrical engineer reverse engineering a dracon beam....
Remember that humans were only a hundred years behind the yeerks technologically (in this series) as they discovered Z space towards the end. So it can't be that advanced.
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First, the humans discovered how to communicate one way messages through Z-space, not travel through it.
Second, a hundred years is larger than the gap between telephones and Thermonuclear bombs. The gap in technology is just far too large.
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I suspect it would be modified to incorporate human resources (such as having iron rather than unobtanium)
I suppose in comparison to yeerks, an experienced electronic engineer would be an afghan villager.
Without government backing it is possible to achieve quite a lot, in fact as the disaster that is communism demonstrates, excessively government involvement actually stifles productivity.
I am suggesting the possibility, and after all if illiterate afghan villagers can reverse engineer a Kalashnikov, why not an electrical engineer reverse engineering a dracon beam....
Remember that humans were only a hundred years behind the yeerks technologically (in this series) as they discovered Z space towards the end. So it can't be that advanced.
I'm saying - Totally... If an electrical engineer got his hands on a Dracon beam, and had the wherewithal to obtain quite a few necessary items, and a probably a lot of help, he might be able to create a human version of the weapon within a couple years... Years...
This does not really help the Animorphs, or anyone else fighting against the Yeerks, seeing as how the invasion was supposed to be successfully over long before the end of the books, and it ended up being over too soon for that anyway...
Therefore, it would make much more sense for the Animorphs to capture and hoard Dracon beams, than to spend valuable time and energy and resources trying to create a long term weapon that in all probability will be inferior in quality to the Dracon beam...
Not to mention the fact that they probably won't need this Dracon knock-off after the war is over anyway... It would end up being used by police forces as a sort of more advanced tazer...
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Well if instead of a wonderful dux exmachina ending in which the animorphs save the day, that the humans would've fought the yeerks over say a 20-40 year period (beginning with guerrilla warfare involving the capture and hording of dracon beams and as humans copied and appropriated alien technology more conventional warfare)
but in such a scenario creating your own beam weapons would be preferable than relying on captured enemy supplies (which can be booby trapped or designed for Hork Bajir physiology etc).
Also in the scenario they did have (in which the animorphs won in a wonderful 10 hours of dux exmachinaishness) the post-yeerk Earth would've been altered by the addittion of yeerk dracon beams in much the same way that guns altered the political landscape of post contact Polynesia, Africa and America (basically the Polynesians in particular used to trade guns off westerners to use in tribal conflicts and I am pretty sure the same happened in Africa and the Americas) and in that time it would be possible to retro-engineer dracon beams especially as dracon beams flooded the weapons market...
Jared Diamond Guns Germs and Steel (a book i have not read but would like to)
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I think you may have misunderstood... The invasion wasn't going to last longer than 3-4 years...
Guerrilla tactics or not, the Yeerks would have successfully completed the enslavement of earth within about 4... Once they became powerful enough they would have revealed themselves and demanded surrender... Earth governments (under Yeerk control) would agree, and isolated pockets of resistance would be systematically wiped out from orbit by the yeerk fleet... The very ecosystem and atmosphere would have been drastically altered, and the only safe place for humans would have been in the Yeerk compounds helping to build ships and such to fight the Andalites...
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With 'slow infestation' warfare, Yeerk Victory would've been total within 4 years.
But I think with Esplins method, human victory would've been possible atleast at the stage of invasion that they were at in book 53: I mean California does not a total victory make. I am sure Earth's existing guerrilla insurgencies/terrorist could've taken over the job and would tactically be much more experienced than the yeerks. Had Slow Infestation gone for another year, then the humans wouldn't have a hope.
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Again, this all is off topic and a moot point because Humans cannot recreate alien tech made with alien resources.
Afghans reproducing AKs is a horrible comparison. These dracons are not merely moving metal parts where they can make molds and reproduce it.
These are aliens that have advanced past nuclear energy, when we aren't anywhere near refining that tech. The power needed to create the beam, then the tech needed to concentrate that beam is not anywhere close to anything we have.
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Okay first off Ax could surely replicate a dracon beam. So they could have made more.
The only reason they did not is because the author is very anti-gun and anti-war. During one of the interviews with this site she got really touchy when Rachel's death came up, because she wanted someone to die in the war so she could get her message across.
Also the target audience at the time were tweens, young teenagers, and elementry school kids so even if she wanted to schoolastic would have edited that out.
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W/e this is an argument that's going nowhere.
I'm out.
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It's all about KA's anti gun opinion. Yes it would make sense in universe, but the "God" of that universe says guns are evil.
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*musical notes*
Oh, Dracon Beams, Dracon Beams,
We all love those Dracon Beams,
Wish I had one now, today,
So I could make my own someway,
So I will steal one from some Yeerks,
Cuz I don't like those slimy jerks,
And I will reverse engineer
My own in maybe thirty year
But that's a bit too long, I think,
So I will steal one in a wink,
And I could use it right away,
And not have to wait another day!
*end of the Dracon Beam Jingle*
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It's all about KA's anti gun opinion. Yes it would make sense in universe, but the "God" of that universe says guns are evil.
Which is why we as fanfiction writers need to free ourself of the authors opinion and discuss what would be possible.
Remember numerous humans were controllers so they may understand yeerk technology.
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I agree that fanfic writers shouldn't be restricted by the Author's opinion. If it makes sense within the universe, then it's fine. Like Ax using basic Shredder training to use dracon beams in battle.
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Remember numerous humans were controllers so they may understand yeerk technology.
They may understand it, but without alien resources, they can't reproduce it.
Besides, how many grunt forces understand how the complex nature of their engines and weapons work?
Most of them were "born" in orbit, and shoved on the battle field right away. I find it unlikely that every ex-controller is going to be an astrophysicist after they're freed. Most of the humans were paniced and remember, the Yeerks could close off Yeerk memories from hosts, so even if the human wanted, they couldn't learn all of their secrets.
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But they do use Dracon beams. Marco and Eva attach one to a cottage in the Valley of the Hork Bajir near the end. Well, actually its a Dracon Cannon, but still it counts.
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But they don't use them often. That's the issue in the off topic point.
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They use them when they're in a morph that can use them, and there are extras laying around like in #49.
They don't actively go looking for or collecting Dracon Beams, but that's a minor issue, imho.
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Yeerk scientist, Human scientist host? I don't understand why hosts cried and yelled all the time, I mean an intellligent person should start trying to find out about yeerk technology and intelligence as soon they stopped "OMG alienz haz taken over my body" panic and actually started to observe learn and develop a stiff upper lip, but then i guess the yeerks sort of recruited people who were pathetic to begin with (ie the sort of person who joins cults in real life)... How alien are the resources? could an innovative imaginative person learn to substitute? etc. When people are under pressure they think better.
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really? I thought people think better when they were calm and relaxed, not panicking...
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Good lord, you're not seeing the operative word here are you?
RESOURCES. Not resources of the mind, but physical resources. The raw materials are made from alien planets. Using minerals not available here. We don't know how to create the parts that creates the beam.
And again, the power source. that sort of power in a handheld device? It's way beyond us. We can barely control the atom, the Andalites have moved beyond the nuclear power for centuries. We don't have the capabilities.
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It's not gettin through, Parker... ::)
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Apparently.
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Speakin' a yodellin...
Anyone like my Dracon beam song??? :P
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Without a tone, I can't really get a feel for it.
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Oh... :( That's sad... :'(
I kinda made up my own in my head, so, yeah... can't really type that out...
But you could try singing it to the Spiderman theme song... And after every verse, just insert "Oh no! Here come the Dracon Beams!!!"
And, this totally belongs in another thread... Perhaps... This one (http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,4005.0.html)?
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Well if the resources (metals power sources) are from another planet would the technology have ever been possible? seriously would the poor little humans be stuck forever on earth because boo hoo we don't have any unobtanium as unobtanium/ramonite is only only on the yeerk/taxxon/whatever home world?
The answer is no: an innovative mind can adapt to the physical circumstances and find local equivalents: it is like you're cooking a recipe from another country and it asks for an obscure ingredient that isn't available in yours: so you do a little research and substitute with something local, it wouldn't be the same, but it would be innovative and original and originality and innovation are what distinguishes humans from Yeerk parasites. and sure you or I might not be able to so but you're acting like all humans are equal: we're not, we have equal rights but some of us are smarter then others and such geniuses might well (especially after the controller experience) be able to copy yeerk technology. and whilst nuclear power might not power a dome ship, i am certain it could power a dracon beam, perhaps a battery (as in a resource that doesn't sterilise the user) could as well...
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Okay, this is turning into an athiest and a priest debating about God.
I'm done, I'm out.
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The Afghan villager does not want to rely on future Russian/Yeerk invasions, and therefore creates his own kalashnikov/dracon beam by dissassembling the original, figuring out how it was made and then making more for himself and others to use in conflicts.
Buy a man a fish or teach him to go fishing? Who wants to be relient on the chance of finding a create full of kalashnikovs/dracon beams when you could learn to make your own (which you would then be able to modify to your own requirements as well).
Implicit in this idea is having access to the original weapon, studying it, dissassembling it and making more yourself. or to rephrase in more obvious terms
1. find or capture one original kalashnikov/dracon beam
2. take back to workshop, study, practise with, dissassemble.
3. re assemble etc until you understand how it works.
4. make your own
5. make even more
6. modify to suit your own circumstances.
7. produce even more of the modified version.
8. widespread de-centralised distribution of dracon beams leads to even more deaths/choas in Africa,Middle East etc.
Notably the yeerks themselves basically did this with the Andalite shredder and ongachic weaponry thus creating the dracon beam.
Now we would have ISIS cutting off people's heads with Dracon beams, and Hamas vaporizing Israel troops and carving out terror tunnels with Dracon beams!
However, I defy a simple Afghan villager to reverse engineer an alien energy weapon!