TheDividedGod retweetet
The Hotlzman Shield in Dune is one of the perfect examples of adding a tiny thing to a setting to get a vibe you want out of it.
In Dune's case:
- Holtzman Shields stop fast moving objects.
- Lasguns (particle beam guns in Dune) can cause a nuclear explosion if they hit a shield, so they're not commonly used.
- Melee is the dominant form of combat, trying to strike slow to penetrate the shields.
- Projectile weapons exist but they're designed around boring through or disrupting shields, but a skilled combatant can deflect the slow moving projectiles.
- Heavy artillery can still kill shielded humans through sheer transfer of force or heat, which the shield can't block.
- Anti-vehicle weapons are built around these principles because the vehicle might be shielded.
Dune codified the idea of high tech sci-fi where you still have melee and the idea of "oh here's this piece of technobabble that let's me have what I want in my sci-fi setting." Gundam's Minovsky Particle and Mass Effect's Element Zero owe the Holtzman Shield their existence.
Zack Stentz@MuseZack
A hugely underrated aspect of the Dune universe's appeal is how Frank Herbert built a world where people zip around the galaxy in spaceships but then fight each other with swords and knives. It makes everything 50 percent cooler than a world of ray guns and robots.
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