Deathstalker Universe - Technology

Technology

Despite the futuristic setting, some technology is rather unusual and even anachronistic. Disruptors, a type of energy weapon, are the primary armament of most military forces (including on starships and battlewagons). They are extremely powerful, causing both impact and thermal damage to a target and capable of beam adjustment to engulf a large target area, but have the disadvantage of a lengthy recharge period after each shot (of up to several minutes). To cover the interim, most fighting between characters takes place at short range, using swords and other melee weapons. Some reviewers have speculated that the disruptor is a plot device to allow Green to indulge in lurid descriptions of bloody hand-to-hand combat.

Projectile weapons are all but forgotten, although they are introduced partway through the series as part of the discovery, by the protagonists, of a long-lost arsenal. It is implied that they were deliberately phased out to deny ordinary people a cheap and effective means of resistance to oppression; disruptors are expensive and are illegal to most citizens of the empire.

Energy shields are also in use, as an effective counter to the disruptor. Again they are expensive, found almost exclusively in the hands of the wealthy or of imperial armed forces, and suffer from the same need for recharge as the disruptor. Most military vehicles, including spaceships, are shielded, and both area and planetary shields are described in the text.