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Phasma Felis
I had an idea for a "combat whip", made of thin but strong and flexible cable instead of leather, that could be retracted into a hand-sized grip like a monofilament whip. On discussing it with a friend, he felt that a whip's action depends on the weight and other properties of the leather, and wouldn't work with thin cable, even with a weight on the end. Never having used a whip, I really wouldn't know. Ideas?
Game2BHappy
Maybe it doesn't damage, but you might still be able to use it to ensnare the victim (p.276,SR3).
Sphynx
Actually, it would work. Look at the weapons that use the Whip Category (In Canon Companion). They include Flails and Nunchaku.

Sphynx
Kagetenshi
And a set of nunchaku made out of rattan can be seriously effing light. They get their damaging potential entirely from their ability to move really really quickly.
There are also heavier, mass-based nunchaku, but I'm less of a fan of them.

~J
Tanka
You can crack a whip without a weight at the end, the weight just helps out. A lot.

And if you do manage to crack said whip without said weight, it'll still hurt. A lot.
nezumi
In the end, it pretty much comes down to the same questions that apply to bullets. You need mass, speed and how the material will actually interact with what its coming into contact with. If you have the strength to wield it, a heavier whip going at the same speed is more deadly, as is a faster whip with the same weight. So yes, a weighted cable will work fine, just make sure the cable is something you wouldn't want to hit your skin with any amount of force. The only real limiting factor is the total force has to make enough centrifugal force to overcome gravity and the stiffness of the cord.
Mongoose
A weignt on the end of a whip makes it HARDER to crak. If you want a whip that can crack, you make it very flexable and tapering in thicknes along its lenght. The when you put a "wave" motion into it, the momentum through the cross-section of the whip remains the same as the wave travles from the handle to the end. Becuase its getting lighter towards the end, the end portion ends mu moving much faster than you moved the handle section.

Could this be done with a metal cable? Maybe- the tapering wouldn't be TO hard (serious PIA, but doable). Would the cabel be flexable enough? Maybe, if it was braided or some such.
Is there any point in bothering? NAh, you don't need to make a cracking whip to have a dmaging flexi-weapon. A simple chain (or cable) with a weight on the end is a clasic ninja weapon. Go see "Kill Bill" for an example of a how one might be used, then scale it back down to the real world...
TimeKeeper
Saw the Rundown didn't you? wink.gif

For those that didn't, one of the bad guys had a nice whip like the one Felis is describing. Actually, he had two, but he only used one. Then at the end of the movie, then he pulled out this handle that looked like the whip handle and popped out the cable. Whips Akimbo.

I was impressed by the guy's skill alone. But they probably added the whips using CGI.
CoalHeart
Watch Underworld.

One of the vamps in the sewer fight with the w-wolves was using a -pair of silver edged razorbladed metal short whips- looked seriously cool, untill he f-ed up and well... hehe
Lilt
AFAIK Mongoose is right about the tapering thickness condensing the kinetic energy. As you swing the whip; the wave of energy passes down the length of the whip until the end is moving at supersonic speeds (hence the crack which is actually a sonic boom).

A whip probably could be condensed into a hand-holster using SR tech. I don't know how but then-again in SR they have monofilaments.
Phasma Felis
QUOTE
Saw the Rundown didn't you?


Hm. Actually, no, though it sounds cool. I was just thinking that whips are cool, in that Indy Jones way, but the Conceal on them isn't so great, and that SR technology ought to be able to improve on that.

I was also thinking about the possibility of adding a small, sharp spike or blade on the end of the whip, to give it some more serious wounding potential and perhaps allow it to penetrate armor a little better (resisted by Impact instead of double Impact, like a regular bullwhip.) Would this make any sense, or would it be redundant?
nezumi
It's in no way redundant. But it might be less effective than you'd like. When it comes to using a whip on people, you'll be trying to aim 1 inch at them out of 12 feet. Odds are, you'll only actually hit them with it occaisionally. However, if you had sharp things along the whole cable that would work (maybe teeny blades of silicon which would leave a strip of thousands of tiny wounds). Get the best from both whips and flails, lotsa fun!
Talia Invierno
With any practice, it wouldn't be occasionally - once you catch the knack, it's much easier to aim than might be suspected. It would be very different, however, to use a nearly weightless length with minimum counterweight as opposed to something like a true bullwhip, which does have a relevant weight factor.

Curious factoid for today: you can "crack" a piece of string in exactly the same manner as a whip. (I've done it.)
Game2BHappy
QUOTE (Phasma Felis)
I had an idea for a "combat whip", made of thin but strong and flexible cable instead of leather ... Ideas?

I just saw a show two days ago on the construction of the "Death Railroad" (Bridge over the River Kwai) and on the "other" bridge where 1200 of the 1600 POWs died, how the the guards would use wire whips made of "measuring wire" and would often beat people to death with them.
Dashifen
I made an akimbo whips character once. Gave the character whips b/r and armor b/r then had the character make whips that had metal barbs on the ends as a weight and the GM gave me a STR(M) whip rather than STR(L) like the canon ones. Last, make you're own secure long coat style armor and attach the whips to it in a stylish pattern. Make it so that the whips don't look like they can detach and you can get those things into a lot of different places that you shouldn't wink.gif
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