SuAside said:
Grimhound (while other technology) we already have naval railsguns...
it's far from being as unlikely as you think.
Railguns are quite different devices than coilguns, from what I know.
Railgun = Compound. Set projectile between rails, create electrical field, rails tax projectile to propel. Electric ballista.
Coilgun = Simplistic. Set projectile in tube, pump in energy to magnetize coils, throw objects. Magnetic spear-thrower.
Or that's how I understand it, anyway. Coilguns have a higher energy requirement if you want to propel something, as you're purely using that energy to launch the projectile.
Railgun to Coilgun is like a Slingshot to a Sling in their methods. To match the slingshot, which can be effective with only the force required to draw tension, the sling requires energy directed in large quantities and a lot of expertise to manage.
In utilizing the magnetic field to run a compound device that applies a greater level of physics, the railgun is the superior weapon. The coilgun would require vast, vast amounts of energy to match what the railgun can do in terms of projectile force, because you have to manipulate an electromagnetic field to produce enough energy that the general idea of the field would probably rip the fillings out of a person's mouth long before it could propel a slug to a velocity grand enough to where it could manage any adequate penetration or even forceful contact against a target.
AKA: Look for someone to make a coilgun to launch a can of beer to them directly from their fridge while they're sitting on the couch cramming Doritos down their maw long before you'll see them in any credible form as a military weapon.
It's like rigging a mill to a water wheel VS rigging a mill to a chain of slaves in stocks and chains pulling a labor wheel thing. Water wheel is cheaper, easier, and only requires upkeep on servicable parts.
NOTE: Then again, in the Fallout universe, they developed Micro 'Fusion' Cells. Fusion as we all know is something which currently is under intensive research by several agencies, but has so far turned out to be very difficult to manage. More-so, if in the Fallout universe the fusion they use is 'cold fusion'*, then that's a completely different ballpark. If you could find a method of doing cold fusion, yes, you could easily make a coilgun launch a depleted uranium slug so fast it could hit the man in the moon in the eye for critical damage as you misfire from the depths of the Mariana Trench.
NOTE 2: Honestly, it's interesting that the weapons of war change so little over time. The technological advents of electricity and chemical energy didn't kill the crossbow or the catapult, it just made people dream up new version of them.
*Being portable in nature and not giving any intention of needing to be cooled, I'd say it's a confirmed 'yes' on the question as to whether or not it's cold fusion.
