Magitek

Why would you use melee weapons in a magitek setting?

Magitek swords.

/thread

Magitek shields and armor

Only for utilitarian reasons; A sledge hammer for a construction man, a crowbar for a dude at the docks, etc. Otherwise you go with whatever the weapon of the time is.

magitek shield generators.
The slow balde penetrates the shield

Have you not read dune?

because it is cool

To dispose of lesser threats such as inanimate obstacles, animals, or peasants.

user gets it, gotta look stylish as fuck while overthrowing the generic_evil_empire^TM or it doesnt count in the eyes of the bards and other recounters of heroic tales. Also youre not gonna get a harem any other way.

>ancient weapons that have unique powers that cannot be recreated with magitek/regular tech
>the effects of infusing magic into weapons only really benefits melee weapons to a large degree and ranged weapons to a noticeably lesser degree
>scarce material is used to create magitek weapons, melee weapons get more use out of a given amount of this rare material compared to the one-use nature of a ranged weapon (this also makes bows less wasteful than a gun)
>all magitek weapons were produced by an ancient civilization obsessed with melee combat for some unknown reason and they failed to leave notes for the newer civs to produce their own
>guns are are a brand new invention and are only just now hitting the scene
>magical bullshit makes ranged weapons shit in most situations
>heroes and villians have access to magical abilities that allows them to overcome ranged weapons with just a melee weapon (the final fantasy route)
>bullshit bullshit that no bullshit ever questions because no bullshit cares most of the bullshit time (just do it, no one cares)
>so on and so on

My mecha setting uses melee and weapons because direct physical attacks from shielded mechs bypass their enemy's force shields. Whereas missile attacks, collisions with unshielded obstacles, energy weapons etc all have to penetrate shields to do damage. And shields aren't available for guided missiles.

So physical attacks and grappling are calculated risks that can end a fight quickly, and the melee combatants still benefit from their shields vs everything else.

Because aside from keeping power within the control of those who deserve to utilize it, it is far more cost effective to arm your foreign conscripts with traditional arms and armor, while you only equip your native-born soldiers with gunblades, high quality armor, and permissions to utilize advanced technology.

How do you think the Garlean Empire took command of an entire continent? Gunblades cost much more than a traditional gladius.

Ranged weapons are rare due to being harder to create or keep running?

Or we used up in previous wars.

Does your setting have all of the following
>A way to very, very quickly and relatively safely reduce the distance between you and your target.
>A way to have physical stats and/or skills that turn you into a meat blender when engaged in melee.
>A way to minimize damage dealt by ranged opponents while you are currently engaged in melee.

If your setting has these, then congrats! It's one in which melee combat is a valid tactic that will be used by sane and competent individuals.

Destroying a magitek automaton takes either explosives or heavy blunt weapons.
So unless you have access to the equivalent of a rocket launcher, a hammer (possibly enhanced) is your best friend.

Ranged weapons are for low level soldiers since they don't transfer as much of the power of the wielder or level you up as fast.

Swords and other melee weapons are for high level field commanders or adventurers who can cut tanks and mechs in half and take dozens or ever hundreds of lightning bolts and bullets.

(Me)
also armor is empowered by the wearer so they can be so durable.

Why would you use melee weapons 40.000 years in the future?

It's easier, cheaper and more useful to enchant one sword than enchant one hundred bullets.

That may be the best answer— enchanted ammunition is largely infeasible, so magitek blades can do things that magitek guns can’t. You don’t even have to tie this into a standard “magic doesn’t scale” sort of thing; it could be that bullets are too small, that magitek involves some complex parts, that it’s too fragile to withstand the acceleration a bullet is subject to— any number of reasons.

The thing is, if you only need one bullet to kill one enemy mech, it's still cheaper to enchant twenty bullets per mech and kill 10 mechs than it is to enchant one sword.

Its why ATGMs mounted on APCs are a cost-effective and effective way of killing enemy tanks. An ATGM round is a lot more expensive than a tank shell, but an APC is a lot cheaper than a tank and you can field a lot more of them.

If there were armour strong enough to block near any ranged weapon and if the blade was sharp enough(some kind of energy field) to cut through said armour

So, melee for infantry and bullets for mechs/other heavy stuff?

>if you only need one bullet to kill one enemy mech
That's a hell of a big assumption that you seem to have created just to bolster your position.

I think that was regulartech, only the Spice and some of the weird crap in the last two books was supposed to be pseudomagic, the rest is just sufficiently advanced.
That said, the lasgun/shield/blade trio is the perfect answer to how to use swords in sci-fi. The forever war did a similar thing I think, with kinetic energy dampening fields.

Depends on the magic system. Let's say you had a magic system which is based on certain written characters. All you would have to do is produce a suitable mold, create the bullets with the written characters you want and soak them in some mana to prime the charge.