How to create 'visible' space-laser-like weapons

Goal:

Just imaging a Star Wars X-Wing fight, and you've got the idea. However, I want to know whether something like that is possible without tons of metaphysical hand-waiving and 'just because'.

What I've figured out so far:

• Sound can be an auxillary computer program to help the pilot process information when he's too busy looking at the radar / sensor read-outs (i.e. the computer creates sound effects according to what the sensors say, kind of like the parking help in cars nowadays).

• You could perhaps make use of that technique to make otherwise invisible weapons fire visible (i.e. creating a projection on the screen of the trajectory).

• Lasers are out. For one, I want a fight where the opponent has to come within a humanly visible range when they want to make effective use of their weaponry. This question gives a ball-park figure that nowadays, a 300km distance is easily within reach of a weapons-grade laser. For another, lasers are instantaneous at such short distances. Even when using the computer-assisted screen rendering, it would look like a solid line from start to end that briefly blinks into existence (= undesired visiual effect, not to mention whether it is even possible to detect a laser not targeted directly at oneself). For another, I do want my pilots to have some warning that they are being attacked before they have a nice coin- or football- or ship-sized hole in their ship.

Question

Is there a kind of physically possible weapon that could satisfy my requirements:

• detectable by sensory equipment before impact
• flies at a speed where human reaction time can save one's bacon from a distance of 1km
• does not have any intelligence capability (i. e. no heat-seeking missiles)
• can be mounted on single-person space fighters
• can actually cripply or destroy another single-person space fighter within a couple of shots

Could something as mundane as bullets satisfy the requirements? What about the recoil?

Bonus Questions

Is there a shielding possibility that doesn't involve sacrificing heavy armor plates?

Why the frag did my space fighting race not go for lasers in the first place?

posted about 8 years ago

subrunner‭

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