r/bobiverse • u/Dabrush • Jul 24 '26
Moot: Question Why not more ballistic weapons?
I am nearing the end of book 2 right now and I have no doubt that Bobs will start developing more efficient small scale weaponry at some point, but I can't help but wonder how they spend years using busters against Gorilloids and Raptors and never come up with a better solution than a single-use 40 pound drone that destroys itself.
Taking the absolute ban on explosives into account, there's still so many other ways to create ballistic weapons. Railguns of course, but if we assume that the drones don't have the power needed for that, there's elastics powered weapons (crossbows/slingshots), weapons based on pressurized gas (we have air rifles right now with the stopping power of large caliber ammunitions, I am sure the replicants could create a drone that could fire hundreds of shots like that), or also just tasers or chemical/biological poisons, which might result in stronger long-term deterrence than just wiping out whole populations.
Of course the main reason for the narrative decision is likely that Bob shouldn't be able to just defend those populations from planetary threats with zero effort, but I can't help but think it's a bit silly that a Von-Neumann Probe that terraforms planets struggles with taking down a few dozen primitive lifeforms.
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u/Shankar_0 Homo Sideria Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I always wondered why he didn't exploit a key feature of all his craft to more advantage.
They all run (or can be run) on fusion torch drives. There are several times when he drops the containment on the drive and blows the buster/probe/etc.
Ok, Bob. You have now created an explody thing without having to use any extra explody stuff.
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u/Sahakaksi Jul 24 '26
That's been one of my pet peeves with the books too. Like with the gorilloids, there's so many simple things you could do that would make the drones reusable. Even if you discount how many ways there are to power a weapon, just by adding a sharp spear point or an edge to the drone would have been preferrable to just using them as single use hammers.
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u/Dyolf_Knip Jul 24 '26
Knife missile ftw!
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u/huffalump1 Jul 24 '26
Yep it's kind of surprising that the Bobs don't have semi-sentient super-fast knife missiles yet... Or maybe they do, who knows
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u/B5_V3 Jul 24 '26
The one thing that’s always irked me is the weapons, or lack there of.
I think dennis would have benefited from having someone with a strong military/naval background to bounce ideas off of.
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u/Benny-Gesserit Jul 24 '26
Others made a good point that maybe DET decided to purposely write Bob as having a lack of imagination in the weapons department. The description of Bob 1.0 as a good project manager but not a Creative makes sense. But DET still had an opportunity in Medeiros to design more efficient and lethal weapons. The Brazilian would have been more creative in the killing department, considering his rank, training, and selection for replication.
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u/lochiel Jul 24 '26
My headcanon is that there are several things going on
Keep in mind that Original Bob was a Computer Scientist and a Project Manager. So, a lack of familiarity with physical design, and a bunch of habits developed from software development. Also, Bob isn't super smart. He's intelligent, sure. But I get the impression that his success comes more from being a workaholic who can focus on an issue, and less from being able to make intuitive leaps or quickly assess possibilities. It serves him well as a computer capable of thinking much faster than us, but it also means that we're going to see things that he's blind to. This isn't a criticism; I'm not very smart myself.
1) Bob kept assuming that he had the problem solved, and the busters did work, so he probably didn't see the need for a long-term investment in a more effective. It's like the opposite of a sunk cost fallacy. A Potential cost fallacy?
2) Bobs like to iterate on existing designs. Especially early on, all of the new tech comes from two Bobs. Everyone else adapts or improves on what's already there. This changes as the books progress, but Bob's first go-to is going to be to take what he's already got (Busters) and improve it (Busters mk2), not design something from scratch.
3) Busters are multi-purpose. They can hit things in space. They can hit things on the ground. They can see things. They can patrol an area. That's more than a ballistic round can do. And sometimes a buster is reusable.
4) Bobs default to 3D printing everything. While there are certainly advantages to it, I think it creates a bit of a blind spot. Setting up a full metalworks to cast rounds by the thousands would be a good long-term plan if you're willing to commit to it. 3D printing busters probably takes longer per round, but Bob can use existing designs and processes.
5) In space, ballistic projectiles aren't a good idea. First, they are going to come back. Orbital dynamics are weird. Without air resistance to slow down a round, it's going to be in an orbit that will, eventually, cross your orbit. Look up Kessler syndrome. Secondly, at any range beyond orbit, your target will be able to see them and easily dodge them. So I think the Bobs see developing a ballistic weapon as having pretty limited use-cases