Nova knives seem fairly long (8" blade ish? maybe) 8" is enough to reach the spine from the front. Reduce that number by 1 or 2 from the armour, that's still 6" into the body, easily to cause severe damage to any organ.


The current 'shotgun' and 'assault rifle' (hopefully renamed to plasma rifle soon) are both plasma weapons. Both take lead 'charges' (lead attached to a special fuse which converts the solid to a plasma) and fire plasma bolts.

The shotgun doesn't really make all that much sense considering it's loading animation vs the 'pellets fired' (would make more sense if it fired a cone of plasma instead).

The plasma rifle take the lead plasma, compresses it into a bolt in a cyclotron, then fires it at tremendous velocity via electromagnetic rails (similar to a railgun). The bolt is held together in a magnetic 'bottle', a field that keeps the plasma together for a very very short time, which is why plasma weapons have very short ranges. When the bolt impacts an object, the magnetic field collapses at the contact point and the plasma is vented through.

Gunpowder weapons are still very effective in the future, especially since the materials used have evolved drastically. More powerful propellants and lighter weight materials, better recoil dampening, very advanced projectile design and composition, etc. Plus they have the advantage of being mechanical, therefore immune to electronic interference, and reliable / easy to maintain.


And why wouldn't tanks use tracks? Tracks are great.