The tag alias #77769 rail_gun -> railgun has been approved.

Reason: A rare space variant that wouldn't hurt to alias since it's spoken similarly:
https://e621.net/post_versions?commit=Search&search%5Btags_added%5D=rail_gun

I am leaving the other entries under energy_weapon untouched since it's, uh, kind of a mess. There are no implications to it, usually only to ranged or melee weapon. The "See also" section groups together other mass driver/electromagnetic launcher weapons, though these likewise have no implications to a shared root or even all to ranged weapon.

EDIT: The tag alias rail_gun -> railgun (forum #456521) has been approved by @spe.

song said:
I am leaving the other entries under energy_weapon untouched since it's, uh, kind of a mess. There are no implications to it, usually only to ranged or melee weapon. The "See also" section groups together other mass driver/electromagnetic launcher weapons, though these likewise have no implications to a shared root or even all to ranged weapon.

I'm partial to Halo's terminology for that weapon group as Gauss weaponry

nin10dope said:
I'm partial to Halo's terminology for that weapon group as Gauss weaponry

I personally like mass driver as a catch all, as gauss guns use specifically electromagnetic coils to accelerate a projectile.

Also with regard to the alias, I've heard people refer to railway guns as 'rail guns' (with the space). But it seems unlikely we'll ever have more than a tiny handful of posts depicting a railway gun, so I don't expect aliasing it would do any harm.

quenir said:
I personally like mass driver as a catch all, as gauss guns use specifically electromagnetic coils to accelerate a projectile.

Also with regard to the alias, I've heard people refer to railway guns as 'rail guns' (with the space). But it seems unlikely we'll ever have more than a tiny handful of posts depicting a railway gun, so I don't expect aliasing it would do any harm.

Mass driver is a really good name. The only problem I have with it is that the terminology is ambiguous. Like is it someone driving you to mass(church)? Is there just a lot of drivers in traffic? idk unless you're familiar with that word is doesn't really yell "This is a gun(kinda)" There's also coilguns which (according to wikipedia) are often confused with gauss and railguns

Maybe all three of those should imply Mass_Driver? Since that's technically what they all are and the differences are largely a difference in applied physics

The tag alias rail_gun -> railgun (forum #456521) has been approved by @spe.