Lore: How do mobs use solar/arc/void weapons and shields?

[JARK]

I never put much thought into it since D1Y1, but I'm wondering how Bungie narratively justifies the use of these elements by the enemies of the Coalition - whether those enemies serve the Witness or not.

Does it really make sense for a Hive Wizard to have Solar shields or a Vex Hydra to blast you with Void energy?

Thanks

[Mez Koo]

Game mechanics.

[JARK]

Originally posted by Mez Koo:

Game mechanics.

I appreciate the intended humour.

Actually now I see that you were being serious too, just extremely succinct. Lol

[Jagdtiger]

Around the start of D1, it was very much game mechanic code for fire, electricity, and magic/void/entropy/vacuum, depending on who you believe. Now they're justifying arc as some sort of natural phenomenon, mentioning that golden age technology used it as a power source, and it clearly has some electrical function while being distinct from electricity itself. Void is now known to be in some way related to or created by nezarec, it's very much his power. Solar... is still just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bomb i guess. Soooo, definitely game mechanics moment

[EckyThump]

Guardians create the energy magically, ie 'paracausally', breaking the laws of physics. A Cabal Incendior may deal solar damage, but it's not wielding the power of the Light like a guardian, it's just a release of energy from a spray of combusting fuel.

I doubt any of the enemies think 'fire = solar = light = bad'. If it's being done naturally, it's fine, and energy-based weapons are a heck of a lot easier to make than darkness-based weaponry, apparantly.

I'm not saying this explains everything, just in general.

[GatoMancer]

There's some small ore bits on the different energy types that Osiris makes on Neptune, the small containers of each energy you can interact with during the Campaign and can listen to his brief bit on them.

Essentially Each energy type (Arc, Solar, Void) exist as a natural force in the universe but with the Light the Guardians can focus, channel, and manipulate them. So for other races to find ways to use tech to channel these forces isn't out of reason. Especially on the Eliksni side since they were once blessed by the Traveler and had knowledge from that.

Far as Darkness weapons are concerned, it's more a physical object or manipulation of the physical and less as an energy. this is why the Stasis/Strand weapons are in the Kinetic slot. You're shooting physical projectiles and not channeled beams of energy. Forming the object to shoot was the trick since no one had knowledge of the Darkness forces until Beyond Light.

Strand Specifically, since Neptune is fully saturated with the stuff it's not out of reason they learned to harness it in their weapons and tech.

[JARK]

Thanks for the replies; saved me a lot of time trying to suss this out myself lol.

But yeah I was kinda figuring along the lines that we can use these elements at will, instinctively and almost unlimitedly, but everybody else has to run through hoops and use it limitedly like ammunition.

Makes much more sense now, tyvm

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Mez Koo:

Game mechanics.

Yeah, that.

It's a game. It needs structures, strengths, weaknesses.

It's fine to think about the lore behind it if you want, but gameplay is the underlying driving force.

[JARK]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Originally posted by Mez Koo:

Game mechanics.

Yeah, that.

It's a game. It needs structures, strengths, weaknesses.

It's fine to think about the lore behind it if you want, but gameplay is the underlying driving force.

I understand that better than most, but you'll notice that my question was not how Bungie justifies these mechanics in general, or even asking how they use mechanics to justify potential quirks - the implication behind my post was whether they even attempted to justify the narrative elements (or lack thereof), and if so, how did they do so narratively? That was why I thought the first reply was being facetious or humorous.

These lore questions are important for many reasons, but I begin to ask them now bc I've found the "official" explanations for certain things like Void light to be rather weak, as if the creators themselves realized they couldn't try too hard or the game's thematics and immersion would come across as amateurish. (Void does not make any sense at all, thematically or not, Nezarec or not, but maybe that's bc I come from a physics background and put little stock into "artistic license" sometimes).

[Mez Koo]

There is no lore justification most of the time, there are typical sci-fi energy shields sure but the element of them is purely for game mechanics except for a few specific examples.

Different races use some elements such as Fallen and Vex using electricity and hive and cabal using fire but they're not channeling the elements like guardians just like how the vex could be hitting us with lasers that appear to be solar damage or with energy blasts that seem to be void damage but its just that, a damage type for us to fight. It would be like saying storm troopers are using solar with their blasters.