0

I am building a fictional world at the moment.

"Gladiators" are naked men who have to complete in a continuous olympics-style event. Following the first event, they must participate in a variety of athletic activities, like the rope climb, throwing the discus, running, the hurdles. The exact activities are not known beforehand. The people with the lowest scores at the end are killed, only the winner is safe for sure.

The first event the gladiators compete in is to stand in front of targets at a handgun firing range. There are non-gladiators shooting directly at the centres of the targets. The handguns can be seen by the gladiator, but are not the same for every event.

If the bullets fired hit the target (which are massive) the gladiator is killed.

So, the gladiators try to stop the bullets from hitting the targets by catching the bullets within their own bodies.

Obviously, they also don't want to be incapacitated from the damage caused by the bullet wound.

How can one best assure victory at this "sport", given a perfect knowledge of their own anatomy and how bullets and firearms work?

What strategy should be employed to catch the bullets? What's the most efficient way to stop these bullets?

How should one position themselves to stop the bullets, while minimising damage to themselves.

minseong
  • 2,056
  • 1
  • 15
  • 28
  • this is the third question that you have tried this exact question. I know you are having trouble getting it on topic but just asking new questions with the exact same question is not the way to do it. it's only going to annoy people. I suggest you try the Sandbox question in [meta]. if you run your question through there, people will be able to provide feedback on how to get it more on-topic. if you want a less formal discussion on the question you can always try [chat]. good luck :) – EveryBitHelps May 06 '18 at 18:46
  • 2
    Without knowing how powerful the firearm in question is there is NOTHING that can actually be done with this question. – Ash May 06 '18 at 19:16
  • @EveryBitHelps I thought this looked familiar! I even answered one of them with the very complaint Ash is making because the OP refuses to tell us what calibre the bullets are. The sandbox is the very best place to work this and other issues out. – JBH May 07 '18 at 01:32

1 Answers1

2

Game is Rigged

Bullets move to quickly to jump in front of, one can only really try to anticipate what the shooter is aiming at and try to get there before he fires. This means there has to be a high level of choreography involved, since a shooter can always re-aim and fire faster than a contestant can possibly react to it.

It Much like the trick of people catching an arrow. The arrow catcher is actually involved in a close agreement with the archer who will fire predictably at a certain velocity and range and at a specific target. It is not actually a feat of quick reaction skills so much as the two working together to ensure the arrow is in the same place at the same speed at the same time every time. Likewise, your gladiators are not REALLY anticipating the shots, their shooter is actually just shooting them, they simply move around to provide the illusion that they are anticipating the shots. Accidents and lapses in marksmanship occur, but by and large the contestants are simply mimicking the ability to jump in front of a bullet.

Next, the bullets are intentionally of a low caliber and a low velocity to ensure that the gladiator can actually do anything after being hit by one. They also must wear some sort of armor, not necessarily enough to totally stop the bullet mind you, but enough to prevent internal organs from being damaged. It would be a very short and unsatisfying blood sport for your sadistic viewer to watch if the guy just gets shot and keels over. The only parts of the body with enough mass to reliably catch a bullet contain critical organs, and you cant puncture those and still remain agile enough to appear as if you were jumping in front of bullets.

Knowing this wont even change viewership. Everybody knows that on WWE guys aren't really hitting each other in the skull with chairs and baseball bats. Doesn't change viewership. Plus your guys are still actually being shot at and actually being injured and executed for failure, its just rigged to make it actually survivable. The event is not fun to watch if the chances of winning are too low, at a certain point its no longer a sport and just an elaborate execution, believe it or not those become pretty boring pretty quickly when they are a regular event.

TCAT117
  • 21,087
  • 5
  • 66
  • 98
  • If they would use blackpowder weapons, the shot would not be instant , weapon would be unstable and hard to fire downward, the effectiveness would be on par and usage of fire-and-forget (literally, forget that it does exist for the rest of combat) weapon would make it more fair. – Swift May 08 '18 at 08:21
  • Even Black powder weapons send lead downrange at 700 to 900 feet per second. Far too fast for human reaction times to place you between the bullet and the target without the game essentially relying on blind probability. Plus the shooter can always win if he isn't complying with the contestant on at least some level. He will always be able to aim and fire at a target faster than the the gladiator can react unless he intentionally gives the gladiator time. – TCAT117 May 09 '18 at 13:13
  • speed maybe reaches that if its rifled weapon at least, smooth bores never reached those for lack of airtight connection between barrel and bullet. but black-powder weapon shot isn't instantaneous... and if that's not a flintlock system, you have about 0.5 to 2 seconds to react. Shooter lights the weapon, then tracks target while being unable to cancel the shot. Which is clearly visible, because of smoke and sparks. And reload time would be 18-20 seconds with fast-loader at best. Archaic flintlocks have same .5 seonds and shot is preced by visible hammer move and audible sound. – Swift May 09 '18 at 13:20
  • They achieved an airtight seal with grease and a bore-patch, but I do see what you are saying, if it's a flintlock the puff of smoke from the priming-pan would be a good indicator that firing is imminent. Problem is that if the gun is not rifled its accuracy is now low enough that odds of winning now no longer rely on skill but luck. – TCAT117 May 09 '18 at 14:08
  • yeah, that's how dueling in post-Napoleonic era was done. Also, gun-swords? They ineffective in real combat but as a surprise close quarter shot? – Swift May 09 '18 at 14:13
  • The problem with gun-swords is that they are crappy guns and crappy swords. The few that ever existed were more used status symbols than anything, kinda like how some of the "tactical" gear sold today is really just an expensive toy to show off with. Plus swords aren't really needed since the goal is to shoot the target and for the guy to jump in front of it, not actually fight back. – TCAT117 May 09 '18 at 14:46