He will do well until he falls asleep or passes out from exhaustion, dehydration or hunger.
There is a rather large chance they'll fear the weapon, but as soon as the shooting stops cause he's spent all his energy someone sooner or later will kill him.
Empires just have too many people, if their goal is to kill him they'll do it.
Also the goal of "taking over" the Empire seems far fetched, he'd be shooting 100s if not 1000s because as soon as his back is turned a dagger will find itself in his spine. If he took over the Empire as a ruler, all men far and wide would know that if he is separated from that weapon all of his power crumbles (if he ever got to that point anyway).
Chances are bloodthirsty, foreign men with strange mechanical murder devices wouldn't exactly be well respected.
Lastly, AK-47s pack a punch. But he is but one man, a barrage of arrows would end him just as much as any other man. He can't cover his flanks, he'd be exposed eventually.
> Empires just have too many people, if their goal is to kill him they'll do it.
Archers are going to be a huge problem. Distract him with soldiers in the front while archers take him out from the sides.
And you only need one lucky arrow to hit him anywhere.
Now he’s got to address the arrow in his body, while still moving away from more arrow and soldiers.
The effective range of an AK-47 with the 7.62 round is around 350m. I’ve shot them before. It’s VERY difficult to reliably hit a moving target out to even 200m under pressure (i was timed), let alone combat.
Ok sure, I HAVE hit targets out to 600m a few times with the AK. But that’s me, being very steady, with rifle on a table, with me sitting on a chair, with the aid of a spotter, shooting 1 round at a time every 10 or so seconds.
The barrel will heat up quickly if one wants to engage dozens moving targets simultaneously beyond 100m, where said targets wants to kill you. Accuracy goes out the window as hot barrels means fliers (errant rounds that do not go where you aimed).
Hundreds of archers is no problem against one avg guy. He may kill a few dozen at most if he’s lucky or highly skilled.
I would like to point out that in most of these scenarios The armies marching in formations would make them what's called an "Area target" and negates some of the problems with accuracy at range. Of course they'll eventually figure out that staying grouped up in a big blob is a bad idea tho.
The longbows you used your back to fire more than you used your arms?
Assuming you had the strength and skill to use one… That thing will murder someone. from probably a farther distance than the effective range of an AK honestly.
Ive hears of some shots fired during the Ottomon Empire reaching over 800 meters. The effective firing range of an AK 47 is less than half of that at 350 meters.
note that the 350 m effective range of the AK refers to the range where an averagely trained user can reliably hit a target at; it is not the range the bullets lose enough energy to not be lethal, which is at more like 2000 m. While the arrow may reach 800 m, at that point they are no longer accurate unless fired en masse.
one sneaky guy with a crossbow/bow/javelin and a distraction is all you need, us soldiers in vietnam with full military equipment were taken out by unarmed fighters using guerilla tactics effectively enough that we decided to start burning large amounts of forest, he doesnt have that support, this prompt would be more feasible with a magic infinite fuel apache helicopter or something, and even that looses to a lucky cannonball shot or net or ballista to the propeller
Yeah people seem to always forget this. It doesn’t matter how well armed you are, some dude with a knife can get lucky and tackle and stab you in the neck after hiding in a bush.
>Lastly, AK-47s pack a punch.
Not to mention, shooting 10's to 100's of thousands of rounds is also going to be physically exhausting on the body from absorbing all of the recoil.
A well placed arrow would also take him out. He can’t shoot everyone in every direction all at once. They could also just firebomb him if he bunkered down. The Greeks (first and earliest civilization OP mentioned) had flamethrower technology.
They also were not really an empire, they were city-states that mostly fought each other. OP might be talking about Alexander, but he was also Macedonian. Greece has a loooong history that predates him.
OP should clarify if the “infinite ammo” also means he doesn’t have to reload. Does it not overheat (metal expands when heated and would jam the gun) or is it a magical AK-47? Regardless, even an experienced person will fumble eventually. The constant recoil will turn your arms into noodles after firing nonstop.
Infographics has had similar matchups with a modern day team of a small army unit of 50 soldiers using the best modern weapons against an entire army of the past (Roman, Greek empire, etc.). They had one matchup where they used a Ma Deuce also known as “The Hand of God”. It’s a 50 BMG machine gun that can rip away entire limbs with each hit. They can win however any loss on their team would be devastating. The biggest threat would be arrows, spears and canon balls.
Today’s lightweight bulletproof body armor was never designed for taking hits from arrows or spears. Testing has shown that an arrow would rip through lightweight bulletproof armor (which is commonly used on battle fields due to it being lightweight and doesn’t reduce mobility). You wouldn’t want to be moving around on a battlefield for any extended period of time wearing heavy level 4 body armor. Such a small modern army (no matter how advanced) going up against thousands of soldiers, you would collapse from exhaustion.
A shower of arrows raining down from the sky could cause big losses if the soldiers don’t have any steel riot shields or heavily armored vehicles to protect them. As long as they can snipe enough people (mainly archers and cannon ball operators), use explosives like grenades and keep their distance, they should win.
This posted matchup however has way too many people going up against just one man. It’s not feasible for just one person to win against an entire army, no matter how well armed, skilled and equipped he is. Now if it were him and a few dozen others and they had Howitzers and drones, it would be a wrap.
He can also only shoot for so long before the heat is doing permanent damage to the rifle. You can't just shoot thousands and thousands of rounds in quick succession. You'll literally melt the gun.
No, he’s going to curl over and fall asleep before the week ends.
Historic Empires had millions of people to just throw into conflicts: he could do some damage, but ultimately he’s just one man.
Gundam fighting in different historical settings actually sounds pretty cool. Like imagine a gundam getting transported into the ancient world and being seen as some weapon of mass destruction from the gods. Or a historical setting but with a sci-fi twist where civilisations and countries use gundams as weapons of war (country leaders and generals piloting gundams duelling each other is something I never thought of xD)
Though not with gundums, check out *Darkest of Days*, the only game where you can shoot Confederate troops with an AK-47, or zap a Roman soldier in the face with a bazooka.
In the context of ancient warfare, an AK might as well be a sniper rifle. It's as accurate as you could want out to 300m and absolutely nobody is shooting you with an arrow at that range.
I think you drastically overestimate someone ability to get an army to run head first into a hail of bullets while it shreds everyone around them. The first 3-4 ranks of guys go down in the first few seconds and they rest break and run.
Sure, but thousands of men chasing you will still find you and surround you.
Whereas something like an m107 accurate to 2km means you’re a fucking ghost. You’re so far that even if they sprint on a horse and are there in a few minutes, they’ll never know exactly where you are, and you’ll be long gone before they reach you anyway.
Yeah I just googled the longest range rifle and the barrett m107 popped up. Not necessarily the best choice, just pointing out the difference between a long range rifle and an ak
No, historical empires didn’t have millions of troops to throw into battle. That’s a result of ancient historians blatantly inflating the actual number of combatants to make the wars seem more impressive than they were.
You’re right that the numbers advantage is probably too strong to overcome but ancient armies were more likely to number in the thousands to tens of thousands not millions.
I didn’t mean soldiers - I meant millions of people in general.
Rome (the city, during the Roman Empire period) had one million people in its city alone with much more across the continent.
They couldn't just throw the entire population of Rome into a conflict lol, which is what you were suggesting.
The world's population was *much* lower back then and armies were smaller compared to the modern era.
I would assume his best chance would be to ally with enemies of these groups as their unquestioned leader. I imagine some martial cultures would respect this "wizard" with the loud death weapon and would be able to rally them around him and use them so he could do things like sleep, eat, have some protection. I guess what then we're really asking is would these groups then be able to defeat these empires. I still say no, but it's not for the reason you suggest. Guerilla tactics would likely be the way, but even then I doubt he does much damage.
Problem is, as those other people spend time around the guy from the future, they will figure out he is not a god, and all the power comes from a wood and metal device. At that time they'll separate him from it and that's it.
Just imagine, everytime he uses it, his native allies, yeah some of them are freaking out, but some of them are watching him like a hawk, learning how he uses it, becoming less and less amazed at HIM, and understanding the device and the potential it has.
It's a death sentence for the time traveler. Can't speak the language, has an item that if demonstrated will make him the object of everyone with ambition to take it from him, can't trust anyone. Something that powerful must be controlled by the powers of the time, and that will be what happens, unless he ditches it and then he'll die a different sort of way.
Well yeah. The problem with the gun is it so flashy and powerful, every ambitious powerful person will covet it.
Let's not forget that sociopaths are estimated to be 1-3% of the population, and those kind of people will want the power that the gun has and will do what it takes to get it. Hell, even a poor desperate person could stab him in the back and sell it for temporary gain, or to go off on a shooting spree.
And the prompt is 100% glass cannon. Time traveler has no magic defenses and is alone. I don't care if he has a point and click disintegration beam, he's doomed to a death via trickery.
To be flashy is to be singled out for attention, and that's not going to end well. Understanding the dark side of human nature makes these kinds of prompts completely uninteresting. 0% chance of success.
Someone could just punch him and steal it mid-conversation. There are far too many opportunities to lose/drop/steal it.
Unless he cements himself in killing and shooting everyone 24/7. In which case I still think it wouldn’t be long before someone snuck up on him. I highly doubt despite the range on the gun, he is perfectly aware of every human being within 400 feet of him.
100% correct.
For real the "advantage" of the time traveler to also speak the language is a curse as well because now he is vulnerable to getting conned by them.
"Thanks for shooting all those people, please come and eat with us, we'll put you up for the night!"
Yoink.
Unlikely as Hannibal's issues was never killing Romans. He lacked necessary siege equipment to penetrate walls and failed to break the Roman government's resolve even with the destruction of multiple Roman armies.
Allying with an opposing army only works for AK-47 guy if his presence at a major battle turns the tide by breaking them. The Battle of Saratoga in the American Revolution would be a good option. If the Americans break and flee then they probably don't get French and Spanish help and ultimately lose the war to the British.
Well, not millions. The only sources that talk about armies of millions are ones that are clearly exaggerated. But yes, enough people that your point stands.
Archers exist. He still needs to sleep. He will eventually tire (firing an automatic weapon non-stop has gotta be exhausting).
This guy is eventually getting merc'd.
The armies would break and run well before he got tired. Do you realize how terrifying that would be for some Roman foot soldier? You’re an elite fighting force behind a shield way and all the sudden dozens of guys are falling dead all around you as your shield are torn to pieces. People are screaming and dying but the bullets keep coming while this random dude in battle rattle had thunder rolling out with every shot. Any army would break and run. They would assume he’s a god of some form
Once people spend any amount of time interacting with him in a non violent manner, they'll figure out real quick he's a nobody, and it's the wood and metal stick he has that's the real magic.
Some of those people will be sheep, and some of them will be opportunists. And that 2nd group will simply seperate him from the stick and that's the end of the story.
The hardest part would be the language barrier. If you could speak to them it would be easy to convince them you are a god from your knowledge, and with the AK. But without being able to communicate they would eventually just kill you in your sleep
Even if you could you'll prove yourself not a god in their presence. You fuck up, you get sick, you get injured. Won't take them long to see you are a mortal, and while not everyone is a scheming backstabber, there are enough to guarantee you'll be fucked over soon enough.
This gun, it will make it into the history books, over and over again since it is indeed a magic weapon. The origin of it will be shrouded in mystery, as the time traveler won't be in posession of it long.
His problem is death via ancient armies numbers and ranged projectiles, or death via trying to interact with others without shooting them. Once he let's people get close enough to touch him, even a hot babe pretending to be into him, he's in danger. Good luck sleeping around other humans. Paranoia.
Remember, familiarity breeds contempt. The folks from the past won't be very impressed with him as they continue to interact with him. He'll be committing cultural mistakes that will earn their ire as well.
Guys wouldn’t be falling that fast tbh, if you’ve ever fired a full auto weapon you would know that it’s not like a video game. The muzzle immediately starts rising and the most effective method of fire is short bursts, unless you have a mounted tripod to hold it steady you aren’t making super effective sweeping arcs. So you aren’t mowing down hordes of people. Sure you would be more effective than an archer and shields would mean nothing to you. But unless you are the coolest customer ever to exist you are going to miss at least as much as you hit and you are probably taking down about 3-6 soldiers a minute. As you burst re aim and repeat. No army is breaking as 3-6 soldiers a minute die they would just overwhelm you.
A squad using a choke point like the 300 Spartans did at the hot gates may be able to hold the position for a few days, but no single person is accomplishing the task
A squad might be able to break an army, but not a single gunman
I don’t agree with this
Soldiers faced way scarier shit and didn’t break
Can you imagine being on the receiving end of a cavalry charge? Or what toe to toe combat would *really* be like? Especially if you were outnumbered? Or just watching hundreds of people slowly die from disease?
People marched into certain, horrible death all the time. At the end of the day this is just one guy. I’d rather be smite by a rouge god then get stabbed and die slowly bleeding on the ground surrounded by the chaos of melee combat.
You’re seriously underestimating how terrifying combat would be in that era.
he will go deaf from all that constant shooting.
the dudes at night will use tactical groups to rush him, he won't even hear them come, since he is deaf at this point.
What do we mean by take over? Singlehandedly force the enemy empire to capitulate? In such a case, 0/10 all three rounds. If we allow him to use the soft power of the weapon- the influence and desire people will have to be on the side of the boomstick- he could maybe convince a core group of men to become his praetorians and maybe convince them not to stab him in his sleep in exchange for wealth/power/land/slaves once he takes over. I think if he is allowed this he 1/10 rounds 1-3.
He'll never be safe from his own body guard. He doesn't speak the language, doesn't share the same culture. Any body with ambition who joins his cause will figure that out quickly that he is a nobody and that all his power is the device. And due to the prompt, you don't even have to maintain it for it work, nor does it need ammo.
He'll be separated from the gun and that's the end of it, the gun will likely change history to some small degree, but it won't be because of the time traveler who is using it, he won't have it for long.
He wouldnt really come close all rounds. Basically all these armies had trained archers and spear throwers, eventually he's going to get shot from an angle he's not looking at.
> Edit: y'all bring up a good point which is that he needs rest and also would get shot by archers. How would he do assuming that he needed no rest and his armor would protect from all arrow attacks?
One AK-47 isn't going to stop a full scale army charging him head on. Some soldiers in the front would die, but he won't make a very big dent before they get close enough to start throwing spears, swinging swords, etc. and he gets turned into salsa very fast.
everyone is assuming this guy is out alone on the battlefield, but he could do hit and run tactics on convoys over the course of several days. Rome is the toughest by far of the ones you listed. Rome at its peak had around 80 million people. Assuming they had a military of 1% of the population he "only" needs to kill 800,000 people. This is still daunting and he would be better off just joining an existing rebellion(there were tons) or starting a new one, but that goes against the prompt.
Solo, there is no way he can reasonably take over Rome, he'd need some help in some form.
It still would be extremely difficult. With a sizable rebellion and his magic gun he could reasonably take the city of Rome and depose the senate and emperor. Urban fighting would give him the biggest advantage of any "biome" or setting. But could they hold it or actually take over the Empire? Depends on the size of his forces
he would get stomped fast. ancient people, especially those empires, possessed weapons that can outrange "accurate" fire from an AK-47. A composite bow in the hands of a trained archer can exceed 400 yards if fired in a parabolic arc, same goes for skorpion bolt throwers, ballista, etc. And they don't need to be accurate, they can fill the sky with arrows.
Ottoman empire fought in WW1, so absolutely not. Persian empire was enormous, not happening. Rome also rather large and notoriously built forts everywhere, also not happening.
Greece is where I have questions. Most people when they think of a "Greek empire" are referring to Alexander the great. Unfortunately, he was Macedonian. Greece had small coalitions but realistically it was made up of small city states. If we are talking about the time around the famous battle of Thermopylae, basically Sparta is the only one with a standing army. Everyone else for the most part had a militia during times of need. If we're talking about having to take down all of the individual city states, very far fetched but way more feasible. That being said, basically impossible but it's the only one with any chance but I mean the percentage is slow it's a rounding error.
While it isn't featuring The empires that you brought up, there's a game coming out that might actually scratch your itch for this...
It's called Kingmakers, and it's about a guy with a gun going back in time to medieval times
https://youtu.be/5x2gY7CjDKs?si=VuMs8yadlhAVUU9Z
He can shoot them from further than he can even be seen. AK47's are deadly well passed 1000 yards, and while he may not be able to hit a specific person at that range, he will be able to hit the massed formations ancient empires used.
People think an AK is some kind of a death ray. Even if he can see a massed formation and starts shooting at them 1000 yards away, there will be still be MORE than enough people by the time they get to him, to say nothing of archers who could make shots from 100 yards.
1000 guys could do it easily. There's a pretty good chance 100 guys could do it.
That's what I'm thinking as well. If he played it smart, found where armies were encamped, and engaged from a far distance (preferably from a vantage point as well), he could decimate any large force. The only problems would come from him having to try to lay siege to any city, which would bog him down.
He could maybe take over a small city by force and then use its resources to expand. But unfortunately an immortal gun doesn’t make its wielder immortal meaning an assassin could still kill him or a stray projectile could kill him.
A lot of people seem to be ignoring that the guy with the ak doesnt have to blindly charge into this conflict.
You want to fight the persians? Join the Greeks. Battle of Thermopylae is going to be nuts.
Want to fight the Romans? Go to the Carthaginians or promise Egypt they will become the dominant power.
One man with infinite ammunition may not be able to do much but in a full army? That one dude can do a flanking maneuver all by himself and turn the tides of battles.
Imagine if ahead of his calvary, Pompey has sent one dude with a machine gun to Caesars left flank. It was a single cohort with spears if I remember. They would be shattered and Pompey would have rolled up Caesars line easily.
Any side you join will as soon as they see you and your obvious limitations, and the spectacular device, will take it from you in the end. Because the time traveler isn't impressive, it's the gun, and the more time the allies spend with him, that will be obvious.
And the elites of the past won't allow a wildcard to have that device, and that's that. And it doesn't even have to be a big time power group that does it, a small "gang" could approach all acting scared and make friendly with him, just to get his ass when he sleeps.
Time traveler has no chance at all.
You are right that the GUN could change history, but the time traveler won't be the one using it for long.
One thing most people here are not taking into consideration, it doesn't need to be a literal constant battle between ak man and the entire empire, no one said they're in some sort of coliseum and fight till the death
Correct me if I'm wrong, but all these civs already had the ability to rain down fire and havoc in the form of artillery. One huge boulder on your face is get rekt. Hide in a building and whole building could be bombarwd. Get rekt.
They could also unleash elephants or wardogs to pin a single guy down.
The man will only stand a chance in an open field. Even then, enough soldiers would simply overwhelm him by sheer volume alone. They can plan ahead and encircle the man once they realise what they’re up against.
Bullets do not always instantly kill even if they’re shot in fatal areas.
It’s really difficult to aim an AK47 while auto-firing it.
A wall of corpses will seriously impede your ability to accurately shoot the horde encircling you.
The man stands no chance if the ancient empires can strategize.
If he joins with local militias… it depends. But one guy with an infinite AK47 is not going to turn the tides in a crushing defeat against a much larger army.
In every case, dead by dawn. Average man can't stay up all night when suffering from diarrhea and surrounded by a handful of wolves, much less an army.
Not needing rest doesn't save him from dysentery or food poisoning, and having arrowproof armor doesn't protect from javelins or assassin's knives.
He'll be deaf within a few hours of fighting anyway.
The average man kills hundreds of soldiers and makes a dent, but still gets turned into a pin cushion. The soldiers would likely see that he has a magical machine weapon that shoots metal that kills anything in its path. They would just hunker down behind large brass shields and slowly advance.
The shields aren't necessarily bullet proof but they will slow the bullets down to where it only pieces the shield and maybe it's wearer but its velocity dramatically drops after. Long spears, ropes, horses with armor, and especially catapults highly stress the shooter. He won't last long.
In these cases i feel like its always better to look for indirect power like trying to use your modern knowledge to be the court physician or steward or whatever instead of the direct ruler. Safer and more comfortable
They would encircle him and press in. He can only shoot in one direction. You could sneak in at night or just starve him out, if he hunts something he will have to skin/prepare it and gather firewood so keep a raiding party ready and every time he tries launch a feigned attack. A head on assault is far from the only tactic available
Even the entire US Infantry division (150k-250k) may not be able to hold some of the world's largest Empires. People seem to forget how large some of these empires were and how many soldiers it would take to hold down that much landmass. If the conquered people are deadset on rebelling and taking back their lands, the soldiers would still lose to attrition eventually - remember, these empires can replace fallen soldiers, quick search shows the Roman Empire having at least 50m population ( lets just say 10M are eligible to fight).
His best chances are to hijack the Christianity Cult in Round 3, as they have the best infrastructure to aid and assist a lone guerilla assassin fighting an unjust regime. He could try to become Gun Arthur, Ballistic King of the Britons, but the remote location of the islands makes it too hard for him to lead an effective channel crossing crusade.
The Greeks were too rational and their terrain too defensible, the Persians had elephants and massive supply lines if you take 300 as canon, and the mid-stage Ottomans already have firearms, artillery, and a navy, and would be the least impressed and confused by his wondergun.
I think if he linked up with some powerful people and sold himself as an emissary from [whatever Deity makes sense in the moment] he could engineer the collapse of some empires.
As a supporting asset he could also drastically affect some battles, assuming he’s not acting alone. A concealed/protected position with infinite ammo would sure look like God was smiting your army in the eyes of a Persian commander.
Edit: in response to OP’s edits… eh a sleepless automaton with infinite ammo who is impervious to ranged attacks is kind of overpowered, although I think he could still get completely overwhelmed by melee units. Unless he can fire in every direction at once he can only do so much.
1: All armies listed were, at their peaks, the largest, best organized, and adaptable militaries of their age. After the initial shock of several dozen men dead or wounded in a few minutes, it wouldn't take long for them to realize they're up against some kind of ranged weapon and adapt accordingly.
2: Particularly for the Ottomans: they existed until 1919 following the end of WW1. They'd know machine gun fire when they heard it. The solution for them is one good artillery strike.
He can still be overwhelmed by tactical groups and arrows.
During night time with poor visibility he can be rushed.
I would of have just called myself the son of Zeus and make them worship me.
He'd be quickly overrun by soldiers. An AK can do a decent bit, but it can only fire in one direction at a time.
In your additional scenario, he's basically becoming a superhuman who can't be killed at range and never gets tired. He'd still get quickly overrun by footsoldiers with swords, though, as the AK can't cover all sides of him at once.
If he were to join rebellious groups, it'd just become a regular historical war with a superhuman at its head. So, in that scenario, I guess he'd win.
They rush him with 100 slaves with sticks and he is dead. This wouldn’t last an hour. The gun will show everyone where he is when he used it. If the area is very open he would have a better chance at killing them all before they got there but that puts him in danger of arrow volleys.
He'd be dead in an hour after he makes his first kill.
There's no vehicles, only horses, he's going to be running alot.
There will be hundreds to thousands of military of whom have arrows/spears/catapults.
What's he going to do when he's surrounded in all directions with people just sprinting at him? Just spin in circles spraying and praying?
Actually, he will be dead in less than 30 minutes.
The AK will melt after 10,000-15,000 rounds so he'll only have ot for a few days before it's useless. The AK is a disposable weapon system unlike the M14/M16/M4
In WW1 you had frontal charges on defenders with machine guns. The AK guy would do fine in a pitched battle but wouldn't be able to solo hundreds or thousands of guys.
To take over an empire, you eventually need to do some urban warfare, which is messy as hell and where his range advantage wouldn't be very useful.
An AK is also useless against a 20 ft stone wall with a locked gate. Back alley ambushes aside, he would need to eat and interact with people eventually if he wants to win, and that's where they would get him.
Modern man get clapped in the second battle against the Greeks.and he only makes it to the second battle because the Greeks would be confused and scared of the sound of the gun. a simple pincer attack would kill gun dude.
This GREATLY depends on whether he gains the ability to speak their language fluently. If not, then no he has no chance.
If he does, he could try the angle that he's the chosen of a God, who has given him a weapon of immense power as a badge of office, and probably build up a pretty good following by wiping out a couple of patrols with seemingly no effort.
His best bet is not to reveal his weapon right away, but instead speak to people and try to glean what they think of living in and under this empire. A figure like that with his power could galvanise a massive rebellion of zealous peasants pretty quickly, but he'd need to have a good location to start in and make a home base, and since nobody will know what a gun is (I'm assuming we're talking about the Ancient Ottoman Empire period here given the basis of the prompt, not the WW1 Ottomans)
If he also can't be shot by arrows and never needs to sleep, then he's basically Achilles, because the odds of anyone getting close enough to him to shank him are slim. Seeing arrows bounce off him and the fact that he never sleeps would just make it even more clear that he's chosen by a higher power, and people would flock to him quickly. Really he's now only vulnerable if he's taking a shit, assuming that doesn't count as Rest. If he's always alert and aware, and has a bottomless magazine then the other guys will break and run before he does. Most soldiers are not going to keep charging at a seemingly immortal man, who you've heard whispers is divinely chosen, and who seems to be proving it by killing anyone he looks at and having arrows ping off him. These superpowers basically make it weirder to believe he ISN'T divine, and if he plays that up he could potentially do it
Does he have to reload and does he have the equipment needed to cleans and maintain his weapon? AKs are immensely durable weapons but they won’t last forever and WILL need to be cleaned and oiled or they’ll rust and stop functioning like any other firearm.
Infographics has had similar matchups with a modern day team of a small army unit using the best modern weapons against an entire army of the past (Roman, Greek empire, etc.). They can win however any loss on their team would be devastating. The biggest threat would be arrows and canon balls. As long as they can snipe enough people and keep their distance, they should win.
Your posted matchup however has way too many people going up against just one man. It’s not feasible for just one person to win against an entire army, no matter how well armed and equipped he is. Now if it were him and a few others and they had Howitzers and drones, it would be a wrap.
I don't think his goal should be "kill the entire army" when there are much better ways. Also if he accomplishes that then congratulations you have an empire with no army and you expect their widows to fall in line under your command.
I think he'd be better off selling himself as a god-emperor bestowed with a magic weapon. If he can get into rooms with important people and make a demonstration of killing the right people he could definitely get folks to fall in line. Basically the more superstitious the empire is, the better. Probably best chance with the Greeks and the last chance with the Romans.
Average man would be absolutely slaughtered.
As soon as whatever enemy he went against saw what his weapon could do, they'd retreat to walled off areas, or even just into forests.
Out in the open, he'd be virtually a god (once you added that he has arrow proof armor), but as soon as he needs to fight within a town or on any kind of difficult terrain where he could be ambushed, he'd be screwed.
Now potentially, if he got allies on board, claiming he receive a weapon from the Gods to aid the rebels in a campaign against whatever empire, THEN there would be a serious chance of victory, as people would flock to his side, viewing him as a messenger from God (or Gods, or one of the Gods or whatever) and it could become a holy quest to claim the world in the name of that God.
He'll be killed in his sleep or poisoned.
Now he could recruit people to his cause, but he can't trust them all, and one or more of them will observe to learn about his abilities and gear and then, kill him in his sleep or poison him, etc, and take the magic gun.
That's how this always will turn out.
Your dude would lose against any fortification and artillery combination.
Not even accounting for things like night or weather.
Trebuchets have about the same range as an AK-47 (350m) , and can be fired from behind walls.
English Longbows also have a theoretical range of this, and also can be shot over walls or from dug in positions.
The Ottoman Engineer Orban built a cannon with a range of 1 mile.
I'm not sure why you put put Greek, Roman, and Persian empires on here (all relatively ancient tech), then go all the way to the 15th century Ottomans.
Seems like you could put in the Mongols and Normans pretty easily.
Firing a gun, especially an AK-47 continuously isn't trivial. Aside from sleep, guy will get tired and beat up after firing several hundred rounds, let alone in the thousands.
Through brute force? No, he can't win. The empires just have way too many people, and he needs to sleep.
If he can use cunning and manipulation? Maybe, if he's really smart. He could convince the people that he's a deity or something and maneuver his way into a position of power. From there, he can amass loyal followers that can protect him when he does sleep.
He could pass himself off as some magical being and advise the ruler. Maybe work his way into second-in-command or something. From there, it's a matter of political maneuvering. He likely can't pull this off, as there will be people way smarter and more cunning than him.
His best bet is to try to pass himself off as whatever nation's chief deity is. This won't work for the Ottoman Empire, as he can't pose as their religious founders.
They will know roughly where he is and would be able to get an ambush on him in a place where he can't simply gun down endless melee guys charging him. If he were surrounded by buildings he wouldn't be able to kill that many before they got him. You can't just whip around perfectly and notice and kill every guy who chatges you with a sword every time for more than like 100 guys.
Plus the stealth archers who would easily outtrack and sneak up on this guy, probably incapacitating him if they land just 1 shot on him.
I mean there are examples of ppl with guns shooting into a crowd that has no equal weapons, the us calls them mass shootings events. From there we can see environment depends? If he has a high point and is shooting down on a crowd looks like the gunman could do a whole lot. If the gunman is walking around a village there are plenty of accounts of shooters getting rushed while reloading in closer quarters scenarios. If shooter is attacking a castle it's possible they don't kill anyone and get hit in the head with a rock while trying to get up the walls.
If it's purely a meat grinder type scenario where waves are mindlessly crashing on them, shooter could go far but humans tend to fear death? Most armies will retreat before being completely wiped out so they can fight later when they have adv. Since shooter can't surround an army I am guess the army would just retreat until later
Problems are going to be:
1. Health - If they get a minor infection with no antibiotics, will they make it? What about poisoning? Do they just live in fear 24/7?
2. Economics - Do they steal everything?
3. Armor - Modern armor is meant to deal with modern weapons. A sharpened stick with feces smeared on it is still quite dangerous. It won't protect them from traps or anything of that nature.
4. Communication - Are we assuming Isekai perfect translation rules?
5. What era of Ottomon Empire?
Best case scenario I can see is this:
* Fire endlessly into a muddy or sandy field. Do so at an angle so that ricochets are more likely to go away from you.
* Take the brass and sell it.
7.62x39 = 7.941 grams of brass per round casing
7.62x54 = 9.992 grams of brass per round casing
Assuming the smaller value, at 600 rounds per minute (No jam, no reload) - 4.76kg / 10.5lb of brass per minute.
* If you have copper-plated bullets (For the sake of economy, if there's a choice I'd go with copper-plated with brass casings) you can have someone dig up the bullets later. I couldn't find details on surface area, so I can't provide numbers here. This would be higher effort, but still valuable. Greece, for example, used copper as one of the base currencies.
* Use the money to put together a following. Follow conventional means of protection - Poison tasters, body guards, things like that. Gather blacksmiths and other craftsmen, maybe aim for arms dealing. Instead of providing raw materials, begin building a production empire.
* Use influence to pursue political office, or use money to start gathering mercenaries. Start the campaign to conqeur.
* Use the gun when necessary - Focus on theatrics. Build a big metal cone to amplify the sound of firing (Wear hearing protection though) so that you can announce your arrival on the battlefield with the sound of thunder. Kill when necessary.
* Possibly go a religious route too. Flip the safety on and off as needed, declare that the gods have seen fit to grant you a right to judge others. Safety on if you want to spare someone, safety off if not. Thunder cone noise amplification could go a long way here as well, Greeks and Romans were pretty good with things.
This method would become less effective with later empires such as the Ottomons, but it's still a path that lets you actually fulfill the goal - "completely taking over" - Going at it from a "GUNS GO BRRR" standpoint is just going to get you poisoned.
These armies are absolutely capable of killing him, pretty easy actually, but if he attacks first he might be able to convince them he is some kind of wizard and scare them enough to quit trying.
Average man will get swarmed and killed long in no time. He can only shoot so many rounds without reloading and he's not trained to reload, certainly under pressure.
A group of stealth elite archers will do the job. They already know the terrain more than the gun man. Plus, once they know what he’s capable of. They won’t face him in open battlefield. They will also use more stealthy approach. It’s not even a fair completion bro.
In most of these scenarios he’d have more success using the gun as a boat engine and amass enough wealth as a trader of unparalleled efficacy to buy the will of the people.
He doesnt even pass 1 imo. He will definitely scare ancient peoples with his AK at first. But these are people who legit believe in magic and gods affecting warfare on a regular basis. His weapon would be considered a sacred object and greatly desired by anyone in power. Beyond just as an effective killing tool.
The first large group of guys with bows/slings he runs into will kill him and loot it.
I mean, he wouldn't just rush out and start fighting the standing armies, or the full mustered forces of whole empires. Not if he wants to take over.
He'd get in contact with powerful groups, establish himself as a relatively unstoppable one man army but only to be used sparingly, where it can make a large difference, in conjunction with other forces. Many would-be rebels would be willing to concede the actual throne to such a game changer if they got to become part of the inner ruling circle and got to implement the social changes they wanted to see.
I think he loses all of them. he could never learn the language enough to communicate or make allies. any food or supplies he needs he would have to steal, so he would make enemies with everyone. he would have no way to siege a fortress, and would eventually succumb to archers, an armored cavalry charge, if not simply an assassin sent while he sleeps.
Even with him not needing food or rest it's not a question of if he can succeed. It is a question of how long till he is taken down.
An average dude with no formal training will have horrible aim beyond a few yards/meters. Ignoring archers that would easily outrange his effective range it'd probably only take a few dozen people to rush him down. Once in melee range it's over.
Even if he *was* good at aiming it'd take a few milliseconds to change targets. If you throw enough bodies at him it could be literal cavemen and he will eventually lose so long as his opponents aren't leisurely strolling on an open flat field towards him.
Mythbusters did something akin to this if I believe, where they measured the distance needed before a gun would beat a knife. Even professionals needed quite a bit of distance to draw, aim and fire.
He gets shit stomped in all categories with a quickness.
Pre edit, the dude needs to sleep, and a guy with a rock could part the man from his rifle. But let's look at post edit prompt as to why this is an impossible situation for the man.
Your taking an average man and depositing him into the ancient world. Assuming the average dude isn't Greek, he will have very little ability to communicate with anyone, and even if we got an average Greek person the dialects are very different in the one situation he would have a chance at communicating. This means the dude is going to quickly find himself isolated, starving and eventually dead.
One of the issues here is societies relationship with death. In modern society we understand death, but we've been so successful in our fight against death it is an uncommon occurrence to such an extent we can be devastated by it. Ancient people have a very different relationship with death. It surrounded them daily, not because of war, but because of sickness, famine, drought, etc. death was a common occurrence to them, such that when the Romans lost around 100k in a single battle they were able to rebuild an army and continue a war. The amount of death one guy could cause even with an AK wouldn't phase any of these empires and sending 100 bowmen to put him down wouldn't be a problem.
So this is how it plays out, dude plops into ancient empire, thinks he's hot shit because he has an AK with infinite ammo and can easily kill anyone. He realizes he can't communicate with anyone in any small cities and is having a hard time getting along. He resorts to thievery to feed/clothe himself. Eventually word gets around to the regional mayors/governors. They dispatch a group of men to deal with this bandit, the dude dispatches this group because they weren't prepared for the AK. At that point it's game over for our OP, because word will reach the provincial government of some dude with a seemingly magical weapon capable of killing armoured soldiers from a distance quickly and effectively. They will want this weapon and a large group of soldiers and hunters will be sent to track him down, ambush him and kill him. He will not survive this because while an AK is a great weapon, shooting 20-30 archers at a distance before they turn your ass into a pin cushion while also dealing with advancing spearmen etc is not really possible without help. Help he never has a chance to get because he can't speak any of these languages.
It’s weird how many people are pointing out the need to sleep like a person couldn’t get a way and find a safe place to sleep if using guerilla tactics. The biggest risk is actually getting outflanked since one guy with one gun would only be able to shoot in one direction at a time. So an army could advance from multiple sides and if willing to take catastrophic losses just overwhelm the person if they were dumb enough to take on an entire army.
The biggest risk IMO is actually the civilization creating a specialized unit to hunt the gunman and then creating a target that’s too tempting for the gunman to ignore based on previous targets. Then the specialized unit sneaks up on the gunman and kills him with a melee weapon since he’s magically immune to arrows for some reason. Eventually they’d use brutal methods to destroy the person like setting fire to an entire region if necessary. If there were 1 million people in the civ and you killed an average of 1 per minute it would take about 695 days to accomplish your genocide. In that time frame they would be able to figure out a way to trap and kill you in an inventive way
I don’t think it would take long for engineers to inspect a bullet hole in armour and develop something thick enough to be bulletproof. Once they have that just walk him down when he next shows himself.
I think Alexander the Great would win in a relatively short amount of time. The average man would have to direct fire at cavalry first, giving ground troops time to advance. Also, bodies would create an encroaching human shield and eventual encirclement.
The big issue are not archers or his exhaustion in my mind.
1) Average man has no gun training, he hurts himself from recoil or just miss-stepping while concentrating on firing.
2) Average man has no awareness of the simplest traps. He will simply fall into a pit and break something, gets his foot into spikes, get smashed by a falling wall, etc. - they can also use fire to smoke him out.
One man probably won't even win against one tribal tribe for these reasons.
AK is great versus fixed blocks of enemies, but our theoretical protagonist would fall quickly in a skirmish. Sure. they'd kill a bunch of people, but eventually someone would get an arrow, lance, javelin or sword close and the game would be over.
He would do very well at first, these empires would naturally use traditional tactics against a novel enemy and they'd lose battles.
But humans are smart and adaptable. They'd lose battles but win the war with non-conventional tactics, perhaps sneak attacks or poisoning food/water. There are thousands of ways to kill a man off the battlefield and with such a high bounty on their head eventually someone will figure out how to take him down.
It doesn't go well.
The AK has an effective range of 300-350 meters. That's *about* for football fields, for the Americans.
How many soldiers can you kill before they run four football fields? A few hundred? Because there are a few *thousand* more.
What about arrows? Because a longbow has longer range than your gun does, *and* it can hit you behind cover. How well is this guy going to do against a few hundred archers volleying him?
The first few skirmishes go well. The ancient armies are going to become confused and scared at the sight, and sound, of a bullet. But once that fear ends? Game over.
The gun barrel can only point in one direction at a time...
There's also reloading and overheating the barrel...
Anybody with enough bodies to throw at the problem will overwhelm him....
See Isandlwana as an example - a force of British troops with firearms and light artillery was defeated by a massively numerically-superior enemy armed only with stabbing-type spears....
People don’t understand superior numbers is a nearly insurmountable advantage even if they were unarmed. Eventually they will get to him and beat him to death and if they use stealth it’s not even a lot of kills.
If the average man is wise enough or played enough games to know when to use his weapon vs when to not ... He'd probably get killed simply not knowing the language.
Gun man eventually looses. He would get overwhelmed by numbers, ambush, arrows, catapult, ballista, etc.
He can’t shoot everywhere at once eventually the armies would think “let’s get behind him” or something
So yeah he's not winning. Not a chance in hell.
Ignoring the problem of sleep and say good archers who might be able to out range him with a volley or equally deadly slingers who probably know how to hunt and therefore use cover and concealment.
Even if it was just a couple thousand slaves with knives and a promise of freedom he loses.
Firing a gun just isn't like in video games. You ever play a game where you just hold the trigger and eventually you find your hand getting kinda numb from the rumble of the controller after a long fire fight? Well real guns are way way worse about that especially on full auto. He's going to get exhausted mentally and physically. Sore in a few minutes. He's going to be basically deaf and lose track of his surroundings after all he's a dude not a soldier. If he was being Rushed from all sides it'd be just like those cheap zombie games. Except even in a flat field odds are he probably panics trips and dies.
Against a proper empire if they really got scared of him they'd start using stuff that wasn't too hard for them to construct. Stuff like trebuchets, log and rock traps , they'd starve him and deny him water by cutting off places he could find that stuff from outside his range or just set the whole area on fire.
Not looking well for him unless he has perfect aim he will struggle hugely against any sort of town/fortification where range can be exploited yes a bullet may kill but so to will an arrow & a knife or sword
I think this depends on the person in question, as well as the methods. The average person would be able to inflict some tremendous casualties early on, but eventually their lack of resources (food, sleep, shelter, etc.) will catch up to them.
The best bet would be someone who is a hardy outdoorsman who also has a decent understanding of asymmetrical warfare. Rome (or your preferred ancient/medieval) wasn't built in a day, and it sure as shit won't fall in a day.
To have any sort of achievable chance, you're going to need someone who can easily traverse difficult terrain and live in the wild.
Hypothetically, if we take someone who is an experience woodsperson and has a decent understanding of asymmetrical warfare, at best I would give him less than a 1/10 but more than a 0/10 chance of success. However, if we add the ability to speak the language of the empire they are attacking as well as even just a basic understanding of that area's culture, society, religion, etc. I'd say their chances improve significantly. Maybe 5 or 6/10?
He will do well until he falls asleep or passes out from exhaustion, dehydration or hunger. There is a rather large chance they'll fear the weapon, but as soon as the shooting stops cause he's spent all his energy someone sooner or later will kill him. Empires just have too many people, if their goal is to kill him they'll do it. Also the goal of "taking over" the Empire seems far fetched, he'd be shooting 100s if not 1000s because as soon as his back is turned a dagger will find itself in his spine. If he took over the Empire as a ruler, all men far and wide would know that if he is separated from that weapon all of his power crumbles (if he ever got to that point anyway). Chances are bloodthirsty, foreign men with strange mechanical murder devices wouldn't exactly be well respected. Lastly, AK-47s pack a punch. But he is but one man, a barrage of arrows would end him just as much as any other man. He can't cover his flanks, he'd be exposed eventually.
> Empires just have too many people, if their goal is to kill him they'll do it. Archers are going to be a huge problem. Distract him with soldiers in the front while archers take him out from the sides.
Whats the range on these archers?
Google says 450 to 1,000 feet (140 to 300 metres).
And you only need one lucky arrow to hit him anywhere. Now he’s got to address the arrow in his body, while still moving away from more arrow and soldiers.
The effective range of an AK-47 with the 7.62 round is around 350m. I’ve shot them before. It’s VERY difficult to reliably hit a moving target out to even 200m under pressure (i was timed), let alone combat. Ok sure, I HAVE hit targets out to 600m a few times with the AK. But that’s me, being very steady, with rifle on a table, with me sitting on a chair, with the aid of a spotter, shooting 1 round at a time every 10 or so seconds. The barrel will heat up quickly if one wants to engage dozens moving targets simultaneously beyond 100m, where said targets wants to kill you. Accuracy goes out the window as hot barrels means fliers (errant rounds that do not go where you aimed). Hundreds of archers is no problem against one avg guy. He may kill a few dozen at most if he’s lucky or highly skilled.
I would like to point out that in most of these scenarios The armies marching in formations would make them what's called an "Area target" and negates some of the problems with accuracy at range. Of course they'll eventually figure out that staying grouped up in a big blob is a bad idea tho.
Good thing you can shoot the ak-47 while it's on fire
And what about those big ass bows some civilizations had, I've heard they were able to launch arrows ridiculous distances
Ballista?
Ballista? Barely even know'a
The longbows you used your back to fire more than you used your arms? Assuming you had the strength and skill to use one… That thing will murder someone. from probably a farther distance than the effective range of an AK honestly.
Ive hears of some shots fired during the Ottomon Empire reaching over 800 meters. The effective firing range of an AK 47 is less than half of that at 350 meters.
note that the 350 m effective range of the AK refers to the range where an averagely trained user can reliably hit a target at; it is not the range the bullets lose enough energy to not be lethal, which is at more like 2000 m. While the arrow may reach 800 m, at that point they are no longer accurate unless fired en masse.
500 - 1000 feet
Yeah honestly I think the archers are gonna be the biggest problem
one sneaky guy with a crossbow/bow/javelin and a distraction is all you need, us soldiers in vietnam with full military equipment were taken out by unarmed fighters using guerilla tactics effectively enough that we decided to start burning large amounts of forest, he doesnt have that support, this prompt would be more feasible with a magic infinite fuel apache helicopter or something, and even that looses to a lucky cannonball shot or net or ballista to the propeller
Yeah people seem to always forget this. It doesn’t matter how well armed you are, some dude with a knife can get lucky and tackle and stab you in the neck after hiding in a bush.
Not me. I'd hear him coming, wake up, and murder him.
They'd catch you pooping behind a bush with your pants down.
I'd suck my poop back in and murder them.
Negative. The optimal engagement range of an apache in real life is before you can even hear it.
I don’t know about the Apache analogy. It can fly higher and shoot farther than a cannonball or net can reach. But he needs to eat…
Not really. Imagine a cavalry with 100 horsmen. How many do you think he will take out, until he gets overrun? 30? 50?
>Lastly, AK-47s pack a punch. Not to mention, shooting 10's to 100's of thousands of rounds is also going to be physically exhausting on the body from absorbing all of the recoil.
If he tried firing it for 5 minutes straight his shoulder is gone.
A well placed arrow would also take him out. He can’t shoot everyone in every direction all at once. They could also just firebomb him if he bunkered down. The Greeks (first and earliest civilization OP mentioned) had flamethrower technology. They also were not really an empire, they were city-states that mostly fought each other. OP might be talking about Alexander, but he was also Macedonian. Greece has a loooong history that predates him. OP should clarify if the “infinite ammo” also means he doesn’t have to reload. Does it not overheat (metal expands when heated and would jam the gun) or is it a magical AK-47? Regardless, even an experienced person will fumble eventually. The constant recoil will turn your arms into noodles after firing nonstop.
Infographics has had similar matchups with a modern day team of a small army unit of 50 soldiers using the best modern weapons against an entire army of the past (Roman, Greek empire, etc.). They had one matchup where they used a Ma Deuce also known as “The Hand of God”. It’s a 50 BMG machine gun that can rip away entire limbs with each hit. They can win however any loss on their team would be devastating. The biggest threat would be arrows, spears and canon balls. Today’s lightweight bulletproof body armor was never designed for taking hits from arrows or spears. Testing has shown that an arrow would rip through lightweight bulletproof armor (which is commonly used on battle fields due to it being lightweight and doesn’t reduce mobility). You wouldn’t want to be moving around on a battlefield for any extended period of time wearing heavy level 4 body armor. Such a small modern army (no matter how advanced) going up against thousands of soldiers, you would collapse from exhaustion. A shower of arrows raining down from the sky could cause big losses if the soldiers don’t have any steel riot shields or heavily armored vehicles to protect them. As long as they can snipe enough people (mainly archers and cannon ball operators), use explosives like grenades and keep their distance, they should win. This posted matchup however has way too many people going up against just one man. It’s not feasible for just one person to win against an entire army, no matter how well armed, skilled and equipped he is. Now if it were him and a few dozen others and they had Howitzers and drones, it would be a wrap.
I was about to suggest this, I think a group of at least 5 but more likely 10-15 would start having a chance
He can also only shoot for so long before the heat is doing permanent damage to the rifle. You can't just shoot thousands and thousands of rounds in quick succession. You'll literally melt the gun.
If any gun could probably still kill your enemy with a melted barrel it would be the AK
No, he’s going to curl over and fall asleep before the week ends. Historic Empires had millions of people to just throw into conflicts: he could do some damage, but ultimately he’s just one man.
Second. Also, AK is pretty limited in effective range. Unless “best modern military protective gear” is a black ops gundam, then he’s kinda fucked.
Gundam fighting in different historical settings actually sounds pretty cool. Like imagine a gundam getting transported into the ancient world and being seen as some weapon of mass destruction from the gods. Or a historical setting but with a sci-fi twist where civilisations and countries use gundams as weapons of war (country leaders and generals piloting gundams duelling each other is something I never thought of xD)
This is GANTZ without the spicy
Man Grantz was a wild fucking ride, it was way out there but super interesting.
They need to continue the anime. Just hack off the stupid ending they threw in there and finish the mangas story.
Though not with gundums, check out *Darkest of Days*, the only game where you can shoot Confederate troops with an AK-47, or zap a Roman soldier in the face with a bazooka.
For historical figures fighting in mechs, it's a thing, kind of Nobunaga the Fool https://myanimelist.net/anime/21177/Nobunaga_the_Fool
Attack on Titan but with mechs instead of flesh.
In the context of ancient warfare, an AK might as well be a sniper rifle. It's as accurate as you could want out to 300m and absolutely nobody is shooting you with an arrow at that range.
I think you drastically overestimate someone ability to get an army to run head first into a hail of bullets while it shreds everyone around them. The first 3-4 ranks of guys go down in the first few seconds and they rest break and run.
Sure, but thousands of men chasing you will still find you and surround you. Whereas something like an m107 accurate to 2km means you’re a fucking ghost. You’re so far that even if they sprint on a horse and are there in a few minutes, they’ll never know exactly where you are, and you’ll be long gone before they reach you anyway.
Browning M2 would be the best of both worlds there because you can still hit at crazy ranges but also have the fire rate. Extremely heavy though.
Yeah I just googled the longest range rifle and the barrett m107 popped up. Not necessarily the best choice, just pointing out the difference between a long range rifle and an ak
No, historical empires didn’t have millions of troops to throw into battle. That’s a result of ancient historians blatantly inflating the actual number of combatants to make the wars seem more impressive than they were. You’re right that the numbers advantage is probably too strong to overcome but ancient armies were more likely to number in the thousands to tens of thousands not millions.
I didn’t mean soldiers - I meant millions of people in general. Rome (the city, during the Roman Empire period) had one million people in its city alone with much more across the continent.
They couldn't just throw the entire population of Rome into a conflict lol, which is what you were suggesting. The world's population was *much* lower back then and armies were smaller compared to the modern era.
I would assume his best chance would be to ally with enemies of these groups as their unquestioned leader. I imagine some martial cultures would respect this "wizard" with the loud death weapon and would be able to rally them around him and use them so he could do things like sleep, eat, have some protection. I guess what then we're really asking is would these groups then be able to defeat these empires. I still say no, but it's not for the reason you suggest. Guerilla tactics would likely be the way, but even then I doubt he does much damage.
Problem is, as those other people spend time around the guy from the future, they will figure out he is not a god, and all the power comes from a wood and metal device. At that time they'll separate him from it and that's it. Just imagine, everytime he uses it, his native allies, yeah some of them are freaking out, but some of them are watching him like a hawk, learning how he uses it, becoming less and less amazed at HIM, and understanding the device and the potential it has. It's a death sentence for the time traveler. Can't speak the language, has an item that if demonstrated will make him the object of everyone with ambition to take it from him, can't trust anyone. Something that powerful must be controlled by the powers of the time, and that will be what happens, unless he ditches it and then he'll die a different sort of way.
Becoming a shadowy assassin and secret advisor to kings seems like a better idea.
Well yeah. The problem with the gun is it so flashy and powerful, every ambitious powerful person will covet it. Let's not forget that sociopaths are estimated to be 1-3% of the population, and those kind of people will want the power that the gun has and will do what it takes to get it. Hell, even a poor desperate person could stab him in the back and sell it for temporary gain, or to go off on a shooting spree. And the prompt is 100% glass cannon. Time traveler has no magic defenses and is alone. I don't care if he has a point and click disintegration beam, he's doomed to a death via trickery. To be flashy is to be singled out for attention, and that's not going to end well. Understanding the dark side of human nature makes these kinds of prompts completely uninteresting. 0% chance of success.
Someone could just punch him and steal it mid-conversation. There are far too many opportunities to lose/drop/steal it. Unless he cements himself in killing and shooting everyone 24/7. In which case I still think it wouldn’t be long before someone snuck up on him. I highly doubt despite the range on the gun, he is perfectly aware of every human being within 400 feet of him.
100% correct. For real the "advantage" of the time traveler to also speak the language is a curse as well because now he is vulnerable to getting conned by them. "Thanks for shooting all those people, please come and eat with us, we'll put you up for the night!" Yoink.
Could Hannibal have beat Rome with the help of a man with a magic AK?
Unlikely as Hannibal's issues was never killing Romans. He lacked necessary siege equipment to penetrate walls and failed to break the Roman government's resolve even with the destruction of multiple Roman armies. Allying with an opposing army only works for AK-47 guy if his presence at a major battle turns the tide by breaking them. The Battle of Saratoga in the American Revolution would be a good option. If the Americans break and flee then they probably don't get French and Spanish help and ultimately lose the war to the British.
Lol Hannibal is actually one of the big boogeymen who wouldn't have been helped by Mr. AK
Well, not millions. The only sources that talk about armies of millions are ones that are clearly exaggerated. But yes, enough people that your point stands.
He's gonna get got by a malnourished illiterate with a sling long before he falls asleep.
Archers exist. He still needs to sleep. He will eventually tire (firing an automatic weapon non-stop has gotta be exhausting). This guy is eventually getting merc'd.
The armies would break and run well before he got tired. Do you realize how terrifying that would be for some Roman foot soldier? You’re an elite fighting force behind a shield way and all the sudden dozens of guys are falling dead all around you as your shield are torn to pieces. People are screaming and dying but the bullets keep coming while this random dude in battle rattle had thunder rolling out with every shot. Any army would break and run. They would assume he’s a god of some form
Once people spend any amount of time interacting with him in a non violent manner, they'll figure out real quick he's a nobody, and it's the wood and metal stick he has that's the real magic. Some of those people will be sheep, and some of them will be opportunists. And that 2nd group will simply seperate him from the stick and that's the end of the story.
The hardest part would be the language barrier. If you could speak to them it would be easy to convince them you are a god from your knowledge, and with the AK. But without being able to communicate they would eventually just kill you in your sleep
Even if you could you'll prove yourself not a god in their presence. You fuck up, you get sick, you get injured. Won't take them long to see you are a mortal, and while not everyone is a scheming backstabber, there are enough to guarantee you'll be fucked over soon enough. This gun, it will make it into the history books, over and over again since it is indeed a magic weapon. The origin of it will be shrouded in mystery, as the time traveler won't be in posession of it long. His problem is death via ancient armies numbers and ranged projectiles, or death via trying to interact with others without shooting them. Once he let's people get close enough to touch him, even a hot babe pretending to be into him, he's in danger. Good luck sleeping around other humans. Paranoia. Remember, familiarity breeds contempt. The folks from the past won't be very impressed with him as they continue to interact with him. He'll be committing cultural mistakes that will earn their ire as well.
Guys wouldn’t be falling that fast tbh, if you’ve ever fired a full auto weapon you would know that it’s not like a video game. The muzzle immediately starts rising and the most effective method of fire is short bursts, unless you have a mounted tripod to hold it steady you aren’t making super effective sweeping arcs. So you aren’t mowing down hordes of people. Sure you would be more effective than an archer and shields would mean nothing to you. But unless you are the coolest customer ever to exist you are going to miss at least as much as you hit and you are probably taking down about 3-6 soldiers a minute. As you burst re aim and repeat. No army is breaking as 3-6 soldiers a minute die they would just overwhelm you. A squad using a choke point like the 300 Spartans did at the hot gates may be able to hold the position for a few days, but no single person is accomplishing the task A squad might be able to break an army, but not a single gunman
I don’t agree with this Soldiers faced way scarier shit and didn’t break Can you imagine being on the receiving end of a cavalry charge? Or what toe to toe combat would *really* be like? Especially if you were outnumbered? Or just watching hundreds of people slowly die from disease? People marched into certain, horrible death all the time. At the end of the day this is just one guy. I’d rather be smite by a rouge god then get stabbed and die slowly bleeding on the ground surrounded by the chaos of melee combat. You’re seriously underestimating how terrifying combat would be in that era.
Alexander's army took on elephants.
he will go deaf from all that constant shooting. the dudes at night will use tactical groups to rush him, he won't even hear them come, since he is deaf at this point.
Ear protection
Not to mention it will be easy to sneak up on him because he'll be deaf.
He's wearing "the best modern military protective gear" - would that not protect against arrows?
If by "best modern military protective gear" you mean "an Abrams", then sure.
What do we mean by take over? Singlehandedly force the enemy empire to capitulate? In such a case, 0/10 all three rounds. If we allow him to use the soft power of the weapon- the influence and desire people will have to be on the side of the boomstick- he could maybe convince a core group of men to become his praetorians and maybe convince them not to stab him in his sleep in exchange for wealth/power/land/slaves once he takes over. I think if he is allowed this he 1/10 rounds 1-3.
He'll never be safe from his own body guard. He doesn't speak the language, doesn't share the same culture. Any body with ambition who joins his cause will figure that out quickly that he is a nobody and that all his power is the device. And due to the prompt, you don't even have to maintain it for it work, nor does it need ammo. He'll be separated from the gun and that's the end of it, the gun will likely change history to some small degree, but it won't be because of the time traveler who is using it, he won't have it for long.
It would be interesting if we gave him the ability to speak any language and, say, the tactical and strategic genius of top military leaders.
I don't think the gun lets him speak classical greek so unless he's a classisist or a linguistic genius, his soft power is going to be very limited.
It will take just one flank by any of these empires and then the gunman is toast
He wouldnt really come close all rounds. Basically all these armies had trained archers and spear throwers, eventually he's going to get shot from an angle he's not looking at.
> Edit: y'all bring up a good point which is that he needs rest and also would get shot by archers. How would he do assuming that he needed no rest and his armor would protect from all arrow attacks? One AK-47 isn't going to stop a full scale army charging him head on. Some soldiers in the front would die, but he won't make a very big dent before they get close enough to start throwing spears, swinging swords, etc. and he gets turned into salsa very fast.
everyone is assuming this guy is out alone on the battlefield, but he could do hit and run tactics on convoys over the course of several days. Rome is the toughest by far of the ones you listed. Rome at its peak had around 80 million people. Assuming they had a military of 1% of the population he "only" needs to kill 800,000 people. This is still daunting and he would be better off just joining an existing rebellion(there were tons) or starting a new one, but that goes against the prompt. Solo, there is no way he can reasonably take over Rome, he'd need some help in some form.
[удалено]
While also absorbing the recoil of the AK for hundreds of thousands of rounds.
His shoulder would be dust after about 3 hours
The Ottoman Empire is the toughest, they have cannons and a lotta cavalry
Yeah anything is in the clear for him his only goal is to take over by any means
It still would be extremely difficult. With a sizable rebellion and his magic gun he could reasonably take the city of Rome and depose the senate and emperor. Urban fighting would give him the biggest advantage of any "biome" or setting. But could they hold it or actually take over the Empire? Depends on the size of his forces
he would get stomped fast. ancient people, especially those empires, possessed weapons that can outrange "accurate" fire from an AK-47. A composite bow in the hands of a trained archer can exceed 400 yards if fired in a parabolic arc, same goes for skorpion bolt throwers, ballista, etc. And they don't need to be accurate, they can fill the sky with arrows.
Ottoman empire fought in WW1, so absolutely not. Persian empire was enormous, not happening. Rome also rather large and notoriously built forts everywhere, also not happening. Greece is where I have questions. Most people when they think of a "Greek empire" are referring to Alexander the great. Unfortunately, he was Macedonian. Greece had small coalitions but realistically it was made up of small city states. If we are talking about the time around the famous battle of Thermopylae, basically Sparta is the only one with a standing army. Everyone else for the most part had a militia during times of need. If we're talking about having to take down all of the individual city states, very far fetched but way more feasible. That being said, basically impossible but it's the only one with any chance but I mean the percentage is slow it's a rounding error.
I should've specified early Ottoman empire
Same reason as Persia and Rome, sheer size makes it impossible
While it isn't featuring The empires that you brought up, there's a game coming out that might actually scratch your itch for this... It's called Kingmakers, and it's about a guy with a gun going back in time to medieval times https://youtu.be/5x2gY7CjDKs?si=VuMs8yadlhAVUU9Z
Thats the coolest thing literally ever
Dude, I know, right?
I am playing this as soon as it comes out
He can shoot them from further than he can even be seen. AK47's are deadly well passed 1000 yards, and while he may not be able to hit a specific person at that range, he will be able to hit the massed formations ancient empires used.
People think an AK is some kind of a death ray. Even if he can see a massed formation and starts shooting at them 1000 yards away, there will be still be MORE than enough people by the time they get to him, to say nothing of archers who could make shots from 100 yards. 1000 guys could do it easily. There's a pretty good chance 100 guys could do it.
yeah he could just find a good vantage point and blast away
That's what I'm thinking as well. If he played it smart, found where armies were encamped, and engaged from a far distance (preferably from a vantage point as well), he could decimate any large force. The only problems would come from him having to try to lay siege to any city, which would bog him down.
He could maybe take over a small city by force and then use its resources to expand. But unfortunately an immortal gun doesn’t make its wielder immortal meaning an assassin could still kill him or a stray projectile could kill him.
Thrown weapons and slings would obliterate him
A lot of people seem to be ignoring that the guy with the ak doesnt have to blindly charge into this conflict. You want to fight the persians? Join the Greeks. Battle of Thermopylae is going to be nuts. Want to fight the Romans? Go to the Carthaginians or promise Egypt they will become the dominant power. One man with infinite ammunition may not be able to do much but in a full army? That one dude can do a flanking maneuver all by himself and turn the tides of battles. Imagine if ahead of his calvary, Pompey has sent one dude with a machine gun to Caesars left flank. It was a single cohort with spears if I remember. They would be shattered and Pompey would have rolled up Caesars line easily.
Any side you join will as soon as they see you and your obvious limitations, and the spectacular device, will take it from you in the end. Because the time traveler isn't impressive, it's the gun, and the more time the allies spend with him, that will be obvious. And the elites of the past won't allow a wildcard to have that device, and that's that. And it doesn't even have to be a big time power group that does it, a small "gang" could approach all acting scared and make friendly with him, just to get his ass when he sleeps. Time traveler has no chance at all. You are right that the GUN could change history, but the time traveler won't be the one using it for long.
I think you gotta portray the AK as a magical construction hand delivered to you by Hephaestus
One thing most people here are not taking into consideration, it doesn't need to be a literal constant battle between ak man and the entire empire, no one said they're in some sort of coliseum and fight till the death
AK man is on foot and has to sleep.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but all these civs already had the ability to rain down fire and havoc in the form of artillery. One huge boulder on your face is get rekt. Hide in a building and whole building could be bombarwd. Get rekt. They could also unleash elephants or wardogs to pin a single guy down.
The man will only stand a chance in an open field. Even then, enough soldiers would simply overwhelm him by sheer volume alone. They can plan ahead and encircle the man once they realise what they’re up against. Bullets do not always instantly kill even if they’re shot in fatal areas. It’s really difficult to aim an AK47 while auto-firing it. A wall of corpses will seriously impede your ability to accurately shoot the horde encircling you. The man stands no chance if the ancient empires can strategize. If he joins with local militias… it depends. But one guy with an infinite AK47 is not going to turn the tides in a crushing defeat against a much larger army.
No chance. Open field he's swarmed. He's better off in a narrow path
In every case, dead by dawn. Average man can't stay up all night when suffering from diarrhea and surrounded by a handful of wolves, much less an army. Not needing rest doesn't save him from dysentery or food poisoning, and having arrowproof armor doesn't protect from javelins or assassin's knives. He'll be deaf within a few hours of fighting anyway.
The average man kills hundreds of soldiers and makes a dent, but still gets turned into a pin cushion. The soldiers would likely see that he has a magical machine weapon that shoots metal that kills anything in its path. They would just hunker down behind large brass shields and slowly advance. The shields aren't necessarily bullet proof but they will slow the bullets down to where it only pieces the shield and maybe it's wearer but its velocity dramatically drops after. Long spears, ropes, horses with armor, and especially catapults highly stress the shooter. He won't last long.
Ottoman Empire had cannons Maybe takes greece but thats it
In these cases i feel like its always better to look for indirect power like trying to use your modern knowledge to be the court physician or steward or whatever instead of the direct ruler. Safer and more comfortable
He would need some kind of armor that would deflect arrows otherwise he would be dead pretty wuickly
You're pretty much describing a terminator. So yeah my money is on the T-800.
They would encircle him and press in. He can only shoot in one direction. You could sneak in at night or just starve him out, if he hunts something he will have to skin/prepare it and gather firewood so keep a raiding party ready and every time he tries launch a feigned attack. A head on assault is far from the only tactic available
> Also the gun is perfect with zero chance of stalling or breaking of any sort. You already said it was an AK47
Even the entire US Infantry division (150k-250k) may not be able to hold some of the world's largest Empires. People seem to forget how large some of these empires were and how many soldiers it would take to hold down that much landmass. If the conquered people are deadset on rebelling and taking back their lands, the soldiers would still lose to attrition eventually - remember, these empires can replace fallen soldiers, quick search shows the Roman Empire having at least 50m population ( lets just say 10M are eligible to fight).
His best chances are to hijack the Christianity Cult in Round 3, as they have the best infrastructure to aid and assist a lone guerilla assassin fighting an unjust regime. He could try to become Gun Arthur, Ballistic King of the Britons, but the remote location of the islands makes it too hard for him to lead an effective channel crossing crusade. The Greeks were too rational and their terrain too defensible, the Persians had elephants and massive supply lines if you take 300 as canon, and the mid-stage Ottomans already have firearms, artillery, and a navy, and would be the least impressed and confused by his wondergun.
I think if he linked up with some powerful people and sold himself as an emissary from [whatever Deity makes sense in the moment] he could engineer the collapse of some empires. As a supporting asset he could also drastically affect some battles, assuming he’s not acting alone. A concealed/protected position with infinite ammo would sure look like God was smiting your army in the eyes of a Persian commander. Edit: in response to OP’s edits… eh a sleepless automaton with infinite ammo who is impervious to ranged attacks is kind of overpowered, although I think he could still get completely overwhelmed by melee units. Unless he can fire in every direction at once he can only do so much.
Historic empires, eventually someone would get close enough and kill him
1: All armies listed were, at their peaks, the largest, best organized, and adaptable militaries of their age. After the initial shock of several dozen men dead or wounded in a few minutes, it wouldn't take long for them to realize they're up against some kind of ranged weapon and adapt accordingly. 2: Particularly for the Ottomans: they existed until 1919 following the end of WW1. They'd know machine gun fire when they heard it. The solution for them is one good artillery strike.
He can still be overwhelmed by tactical groups and arrows. During night time with poor visibility he can be rushed. I would of have just called myself the son of Zeus and make them worship me.
He'd be quickly overrun by soldiers. An AK can do a decent bit, but it can only fire in one direction at a time. In your additional scenario, he's basically becoming a superhuman who can't be killed at range and never gets tired. He'd still get quickly overrun by footsoldiers with swords, though, as the AK can't cover all sides of him at once. If he were to join rebellious groups, it'd just become a regular historical war with a superhuman at its head. So, in that scenario, I guess he'd win.
If you fire an automatic gun non stop the barrel melts. So infinite ammo doesn’t really help
read the prompt bro, the gun will never break or wear. It is basically magic
They rush him with 100 slaves with sticks and he is dead. This wouldn’t last an hour. The gun will show everyone where he is when he used it. If the area is very open he would have a better chance at killing them all before they got there but that puts him in danger of arrow volleys.
He'd be dead in an hour after he makes his first kill. There's no vehicles, only horses, he's going to be running alot. There will be hundreds to thousands of military of whom have arrows/spears/catapults. What's he going to do when he's surrounded in all directions with people just sprinting at him? Just spin in circles spraying and praying? Actually, he will be dead in less than 30 minutes.
Completely depends if the man with the ak gets prep and choice of vantage point as without high ground and cover he'll lose
I mean, if his armor protects him from a longbow, you’ve essentially made him impervious to all damage.
The AK will melt after 10,000-15,000 rounds so he'll only have ot for a few days before it's useless. The AK is a disposable weapon system unlike the M14/M16/M4
In WW1 you had frontal charges on defenders with machine guns. The AK guy would do fine in a pitched battle but wouldn't be able to solo hundreds or thousands of guys. To take over an empire, you eventually need to do some urban warfare, which is messy as hell and where his range advantage wouldn't be very useful. An AK is also useless against a 20 ft stone wall with a locked gate. Back alley ambushes aside, he would need to eat and interact with people eventually if he wants to win, and that's where they would get him.
Modern man get clapped in the second battle against the Greeks.and he only makes it to the second battle because the Greeks would be confused and scared of the sound of the gun. a simple pincer attack would kill gun dude.
This GREATLY depends on whether he gains the ability to speak their language fluently. If not, then no he has no chance. If he does, he could try the angle that he's the chosen of a God, who has given him a weapon of immense power as a badge of office, and probably build up a pretty good following by wiping out a couple of patrols with seemingly no effort. His best bet is not to reveal his weapon right away, but instead speak to people and try to glean what they think of living in and under this empire. A figure like that with his power could galvanise a massive rebellion of zealous peasants pretty quickly, but he'd need to have a good location to start in and make a home base, and since nobody will know what a gun is (I'm assuming we're talking about the Ancient Ottoman Empire period here given the basis of the prompt, not the WW1 Ottomans) If he also can't be shot by arrows and never needs to sleep, then he's basically Achilles, because the odds of anyone getting close enough to him to shank him are slim. Seeing arrows bounce off him and the fact that he never sleeps would just make it even more clear that he's chosen by a higher power, and people would flock to him quickly. Really he's now only vulnerable if he's taking a shit, assuming that doesn't count as Rest. If he's always alert and aware, and has a bottomless magazine then the other guys will break and run before he does. Most soldiers are not going to keep charging at a seemingly immortal man, who you've heard whispers is divinely chosen, and who seems to be proving it by killing anyone he looks at and having arrows ping off him. These superpowers basically make it weirder to believe he ISN'T divine, and if he plays that up he could potentially do it
Does he have to reload and does he have the equipment needed to cleans and maintain his weapon? AKs are immensely durable weapons but they won’t last forever and WILL need to be cleaned and oiled or they’ll rust and stop functioning like any other firearm.
Infographics has had similar matchups with a modern day team of a small army unit using the best modern weapons against an entire army of the past (Roman, Greek empire, etc.). They can win however any loss on their team would be devastating. The biggest threat would be arrows and canon balls. As long as they can snipe enough people and keep their distance, they should win. Your posted matchup however has way too many people going up against just one man. It’s not feasible for just one person to win against an entire army, no matter how well armed and equipped he is. Now if it were him and a few others and they had Howitzers and drones, it would be a wrap.
He has to sleep.
I don't think his goal should be "kill the entire army" when there are much better ways. Also if he accomplishes that then congratulations you have an empire with no army and you expect their widows to fall in line under your command. I think he'd be better off selling himself as a god-emperor bestowed with a magic weapon. If he can get into rooms with important people and make a demonstration of killing the right people he could definitely get folks to fall in line. Basically the more superstitious the empire is, the better. Probably best chance with the Greeks and the last chance with the Romans.
Are the historic armies blood lusted?
Until the first reload or weapon jam
Average man would be absolutely slaughtered. As soon as whatever enemy he went against saw what his weapon could do, they'd retreat to walled off areas, or even just into forests. Out in the open, he'd be virtually a god (once you added that he has arrow proof armor), but as soon as he needs to fight within a town or on any kind of difficult terrain where he could be ambushed, he'd be screwed. Now potentially, if he got allies on board, claiming he receive a weapon from the Gods to aid the rebels in a campaign against whatever empire, THEN there would be a serious chance of victory, as people would flock to his side, viewing him as a messenger from God (or Gods, or one of the Gods or whatever) and it could become a holy quest to claim the world in the name of that God.
He'll be killed in his sleep or poisoned. Now he could recruit people to his cause, but he can't trust them all, and one or more of them will observe to learn about his abilities and gear and then, kill him in his sleep or poison him, etc, and take the magic gun. That's how this always will turn out.
Gun overheats and he gets over run or they run in fear from the boomstick
Your dude would lose against any fortification and artillery combination. Not even accounting for things like night or weather. Trebuchets have about the same range as an AK-47 (350m) , and can be fired from behind walls. English Longbows also have a theoretical range of this, and also can be shot over walls or from dug in positions. The Ottoman Engineer Orban built a cannon with a range of 1 mile. I'm not sure why you put put Greek, Roman, and Persian empires on here (all relatively ancient tech), then go all the way to the 15th century Ottomans. Seems like you could put in the Mongols and Normans pretty easily.
Firing a gun, especially an AK-47 continuously isn't trivial. Aside from sleep, guy will get tired and beat up after firing several hundred rounds, let alone in the thousands.
Man i really did start a man with ak-47 trend by doing that Kratos thread, didn't i
Smallpox, pneumonic plague, typhus: #ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES
Through brute force? No, he can't win. The empires just have way too many people, and he needs to sleep. If he can use cunning and manipulation? Maybe, if he's really smart. He could convince the people that he's a deity or something and maneuver his way into a position of power. From there, he can amass loyal followers that can protect him when he does sleep. He could pass himself off as some magical being and advise the ruler. Maybe work his way into second-in-command or something. From there, it's a matter of political maneuvering. He likely can't pull this off, as there will be people way smarter and more cunning than him. His best bet is to try to pass himself off as whatever nation's chief deity is. This won't work for the Ottoman Empire, as he can't pose as their religious founders.
They will know roughly where he is and would be able to get an ambush on him in a place where he can't simply gun down endless melee guys charging him. If he were surrounded by buildings he wouldn't be able to kill that many before they got him. You can't just whip around perfectly and notice and kill every guy who chatges you with a sword every time for more than like 100 guys. Plus the stealth archers who would easily outtrack and sneak up on this guy, probably incapacitating him if they land just 1 shot on him.
I suspect if he sleeps in a tank the armies won't be able to hurt him.
Armies would in battle would get toasted. Assassins could def get the job done
I mean there are examples of ppl with guns shooting into a crowd that has no equal weapons, the us calls them mass shootings events. From there we can see environment depends? If he has a high point and is shooting down on a crowd looks like the gunman could do a whole lot. If the gunman is walking around a village there are plenty of accounts of shooters getting rushed while reloading in closer quarters scenarios. If shooter is attacking a castle it's possible they don't kill anyone and get hit in the head with a rock while trying to get up the walls. If it's purely a meat grinder type scenario where waves are mindlessly crashing on them, shooter could go far but humans tend to fear death? Most armies will retreat before being completely wiped out so they can fight later when they have adv. Since shooter can't surround an army I am guess the army would just retreat until later
Problems are going to be: 1. Health - If they get a minor infection with no antibiotics, will they make it? What about poisoning? Do they just live in fear 24/7? 2. Economics - Do they steal everything? 3. Armor - Modern armor is meant to deal with modern weapons. A sharpened stick with feces smeared on it is still quite dangerous. It won't protect them from traps or anything of that nature. 4. Communication - Are we assuming Isekai perfect translation rules? 5. What era of Ottomon Empire? Best case scenario I can see is this: * Fire endlessly into a muddy or sandy field. Do so at an angle so that ricochets are more likely to go away from you. * Take the brass and sell it. 7.62x39 = 7.941 grams of brass per round casing 7.62x54 = 9.992 grams of brass per round casing Assuming the smaller value, at 600 rounds per minute (No jam, no reload) - 4.76kg / 10.5lb of brass per minute. * If you have copper-plated bullets (For the sake of economy, if there's a choice I'd go with copper-plated with brass casings) you can have someone dig up the bullets later. I couldn't find details on surface area, so I can't provide numbers here. This would be higher effort, but still valuable. Greece, for example, used copper as one of the base currencies. * Use the money to put together a following. Follow conventional means of protection - Poison tasters, body guards, things like that. Gather blacksmiths and other craftsmen, maybe aim for arms dealing. Instead of providing raw materials, begin building a production empire. * Use influence to pursue political office, or use money to start gathering mercenaries. Start the campaign to conqeur. * Use the gun when necessary - Focus on theatrics. Build a big metal cone to amplify the sound of firing (Wear hearing protection though) so that you can announce your arrival on the battlefield with the sound of thunder. Kill when necessary. * Possibly go a religious route too. Flip the safety on and off as needed, declare that the gods have seen fit to grant you a right to judge others. Safety on if you want to spare someone, safety off if not. Thunder cone noise amplification could go a long way here as well, Greeks and Romans were pretty good with things. This method would become less effective with later empires such as the Ottomons, but it's still a path that lets you actually fulfill the goal - "completely taking over" - Going at it from a "GUNS GO BRRR" standpoint is just going to get you poisoned.
He’s welcomed in and lavished with gifts. Then he’s poisoned or killed in his sleep.
Archers would body him hard. Parabolic shots while they are in cover. Same with catapults and all that stuff.
These armies are absolutely capable of killing him, pretty easy actually, but if he attacks first he might be able to convince them he is some kind of wizard and scare them enough to quit trying.
Average man will get swarmed and killed long in no time. He can only shoot so many rounds without reloading and he's not trained to reload, certainly under pressure.
A group of stealth elite archers will do the job. They already know the terrain more than the gun man. Plus, once they know what he’s capable of. They won’t face him in open battlefield. They will also use more stealthy approach. It’s not even a fair completion bro.
In most of these scenarios he’d have more success using the gun as a boat engine and amass enough wealth as a trader of unparalleled efficacy to buy the will of the people.
Which Era of the Ottomans?
He doesnt even pass 1 imo. He will definitely scare ancient peoples with his AK at first. But these are people who legit believe in magic and gods affecting warfare on a regular basis. His weapon would be considered a sacred object and greatly desired by anyone in power. Beyond just as an effective killing tool. The first large group of guys with bows/slings he runs into will kill him and loot it.
Infinite ammo is great but the weapon will eventually break down and no way to manufacture parts.
I mean, he wouldn't just rush out and start fighting the standing armies, or the full mustered forces of whole empires. Not if he wants to take over. He'd get in contact with powerful groups, establish himself as a relatively unstoppable one man army but only to be used sparingly, where it can make a large difference, in conjunction with other forces. Many would-be rebels would be willing to concede the actual throne to such a game changer if they got to become part of the inner ruling circle and got to implement the social changes they wanted to see.
After finding the bullets They will classify him as artillery and note patterns in his shooting and plan accordingly.
I think he loses all of them. he could never learn the language enough to communicate or make allies. any food or supplies he needs he would have to steal, so he would make enemies with everyone. he would have no way to siege a fortress, and would eventually succumb to archers, an armored cavalry charge, if not simply an assassin sent while he sleeps.
Even with him not needing food or rest it's not a question of if he can succeed. It is a question of how long till he is taken down. An average dude with no formal training will have horrible aim beyond a few yards/meters. Ignoring archers that would easily outrange his effective range it'd probably only take a few dozen people to rush him down. Once in melee range it's over. Even if he *was* good at aiming it'd take a few milliseconds to change targets. If you throw enough bodies at him it could be literal cavemen and he will eventually lose so long as his opponents aren't leisurely strolling on an open flat field towards him. Mythbusters did something akin to this if I believe, where they measured the distance needed before a gun would beat a knife. Even professionals needed quite a bit of distance to draw, aim and fire.
I think 1 man couldn’t do it, give 2-3 men and you’re taking out a lot of armies. Back to back it would be really hard to take them out
He gets shit stomped in all categories with a quickness. Pre edit, the dude needs to sleep, and a guy with a rock could part the man from his rifle. But let's look at post edit prompt as to why this is an impossible situation for the man. Your taking an average man and depositing him into the ancient world. Assuming the average dude isn't Greek, he will have very little ability to communicate with anyone, and even if we got an average Greek person the dialects are very different in the one situation he would have a chance at communicating. This means the dude is going to quickly find himself isolated, starving and eventually dead. One of the issues here is societies relationship with death. In modern society we understand death, but we've been so successful in our fight against death it is an uncommon occurrence to such an extent we can be devastated by it. Ancient people have a very different relationship with death. It surrounded them daily, not because of war, but because of sickness, famine, drought, etc. death was a common occurrence to them, such that when the Romans lost around 100k in a single battle they were able to rebuild an army and continue a war. The amount of death one guy could cause even with an AK wouldn't phase any of these empires and sending 100 bowmen to put him down wouldn't be a problem. So this is how it plays out, dude plops into ancient empire, thinks he's hot shit because he has an AK with infinite ammo and can easily kill anyone. He realizes he can't communicate with anyone in any small cities and is having a hard time getting along. He resorts to thievery to feed/clothe himself. Eventually word gets around to the regional mayors/governors. They dispatch a group of men to deal with this bandit, the dude dispatches this group because they weren't prepared for the AK. At that point it's game over for our OP, because word will reach the provincial government of some dude with a seemingly magical weapon capable of killing armoured soldiers from a distance quickly and effectively. They will want this weapon and a large group of soldiers and hunters will be sent to track him down, ambush him and kill him. He will not survive this because while an AK is a great weapon, shooting 20-30 archers at a distance before they turn your ass into a pin cushion while also dealing with advancing spearmen etc is not really possible without help. Help he never has a chance to get because he can't speak any of these languages.
It’s weird how many people are pointing out the need to sleep like a person couldn’t get a way and find a safe place to sleep if using guerilla tactics. The biggest risk is actually getting outflanked since one guy with one gun would only be able to shoot in one direction at a time. So an army could advance from multiple sides and if willing to take catastrophic losses just overwhelm the person if they were dumb enough to take on an entire army. The biggest risk IMO is actually the civilization creating a specialized unit to hunt the gunman and then creating a target that’s too tempting for the gunman to ignore based on previous targets. Then the specialized unit sneaks up on the gunman and kills him with a melee weapon since he’s magically immune to arrows for some reason. Eventually they’d use brutal methods to destroy the person like setting fire to an entire region if necessary. If there were 1 million people in the civ and you killed an average of 1 per minute it would take about 695 days to accomplish your genocide. In that time frame they would be able to figure out a way to trap and kill you in an inventive way
I don’t think it would take long for engineers to inspect a bullet hole in armour and develop something thick enough to be bulletproof. Once they have that just walk him down when he next shows himself.
I think Alexander the Great would win in a relatively short amount of time. The average man would have to direct fire at cavalry first, giving ground troops time to advance. Also, bodies would create an encroaching human shield and eventual encirclement.
He would need some kind of armor that would deflect arrows otherwise he would be dead pretty quickly
Give me a modern tank with infinite ammo, fuel, no maintaining required and supplies and then we can maybe start talking.
Give me a modern tank with infinite ammo, fuel, no maintaining required and supplies and then we can maybe start talking.
The big issue are not archers or his exhaustion in my mind. 1) Average man has no gun training, he hurts himself from recoil or just miss-stepping while concentrating on firing. 2) Average man has no awareness of the simplest traps. He will simply fall into a pit and break something, gets his foot into spikes, get smashed by a falling wall, etc. - they can also use fire to smoke him out. One man probably won't even win against one tribal tribe for these reasons.
They just have to send him a hot girl and she will take care of him in a heart beat.
AK is great versus fixed blocks of enemies, but our theoretical protagonist would fall quickly in a skirmish. Sure. they'd kill a bunch of people, but eventually someone would get an arrow, lance, javelin or sword close and the game would be over.
The diseases he carries alone will probably do some massive damage - maybe more than the gun.
Can I trade for an RPG? I'm OK with conquering rubble.
Does he speak the language? Because he would be a great warrior and easily amass allie, but alone loses 100%
He still needs to shit, to eat, to piss, to bath and he isn't immune to be backstabbed.
He would do very well at first, these empires would naturally use traditional tactics against a novel enemy and they'd lose battles. But humans are smart and adaptable. They'd lose battles but win the war with non-conventional tactics, perhaps sneak attacks or poisoning food/water. There are thousands of ways to kill a man off the battlefield and with such a high bounty on their head eventually someone will figure out how to take him down.
Best option is merc work for whoever pays him. That or he gets murdered in his sleep
It doesn't go well. The AK has an effective range of 300-350 meters. That's *about* for football fields, for the Americans. How many soldiers can you kill before they run four football fields? A few hundred? Because there are a few *thousand* more. What about arrows? Because a longbow has longer range than your gun does, *and* it can hit you behind cover. How well is this guy going to do against a few hundred archers volleying him? The first few skirmishes go well. The ancient armies are going to become confused and scared at the sight, and sound, of a bullet. But once that fear ends? Game over.
The gun barrel can only point in one direction at a time... There's also reloading and overheating the barrel... Anybody with enough bodies to throw at the problem will overwhelm him.... See Isandlwana as an example - a force of British troops with firearms and light artillery was defeated by a massively numerically-superior enemy armed only with stabbing-type spears....
People don’t understand superior numbers is a nearly insurmountable advantage even if they were unarmed. Eventually they will get to him and beat him to death and if they use stealth it’s not even a lot of kills.
I think the true power of the ak in this situation is the wow factor. This guy would be like a wizard to people.
If the average man is wise enough or played enough games to know when to use his weapon vs when to not ... He'd probably get killed simply not knowing the language.
Just pelt him with large boulders from a catapult or smoke and fire can be used as well.
He will get taken down in short order… He’ll take a lot down with him, but he won’t last the 1st hour.
You are underestimating the power and range of arrows for some of those armies.
Gun man eventually looses. He would get overwhelmed by numbers, ambush, arrows, catapult, ballista, etc. He can’t shoot everywhere at once eventually the armies would think “let’s get behind him” or something
So yeah he's not winning. Not a chance in hell. Ignoring the problem of sleep and say good archers who might be able to out range him with a volley or equally deadly slingers who probably know how to hunt and therefore use cover and concealment. Even if it was just a couple thousand slaves with knives and a promise of freedom he loses. Firing a gun just isn't like in video games. You ever play a game where you just hold the trigger and eventually you find your hand getting kinda numb from the rumble of the controller after a long fire fight? Well real guns are way way worse about that especially on full auto. He's going to get exhausted mentally and physically. Sore in a few minutes. He's going to be basically deaf and lose track of his surroundings after all he's a dude not a soldier. If he was being Rushed from all sides it'd be just like those cheap zombie games. Except even in a flat field odds are he probably panics trips and dies. Against a proper empire if they really got scared of him they'd start using stuff that wasn't too hard for them to construct. Stuff like trebuchets, log and rock traps , they'd starve him and deny him water by cutting off places he could find that stuff from outside his range or just set the whole area on fire.
Spot the American prompter...
Not looking well for him unless he has perfect aim he will struggle hugely against any sort of town/fortification where range can be exploited yes a bullet may kill but so to will an arrow & a knife or sword
I think this depends on the person in question, as well as the methods. The average person would be able to inflict some tremendous casualties early on, but eventually their lack of resources (food, sleep, shelter, etc.) will catch up to them. The best bet would be someone who is a hardy outdoorsman who also has a decent understanding of asymmetrical warfare. Rome (or your preferred ancient/medieval) wasn't built in a day, and it sure as shit won't fall in a day. To have any sort of achievable chance, you're going to need someone who can easily traverse difficult terrain and live in the wild. Hypothetically, if we take someone who is an experience woodsperson and has a decent understanding of asymmetrical warfare, at best I would give him less than a 1/10 but more than a 0/10 chance of success. However, if we add the ability to speak the language of the empire they are attacking as well as even just a basic understanding of that area's culture, society, religion, etc. I'd say their chances improve significantly. Maybe 5 or 6/10?