And also why do people call the Gluon Gun the egon?
In the game files, the Tau cannon was labelled as “Gauss.” I think it was only actually established for certain as “Tau”
in HL2.
Same deal with the Gluon gun and “Egon,” which is a Ghostbusters reference.
Crypt hit the mark. As for what an IRL gauss gun IS:
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=gauss+rifle
The TAU functions on similar principles. It uses magnetic coils to accelerate and fire Tau particles at a high velocity.
Two reasons: 1) It looks like the proton pack from Ghostbusters (Egon is one of the Ghostbusters). 2) The original entity code for the Gluon Gun is weapon_egon. The same reason the G-Man is called “G-Man” despite never being referred to in game as such (entity code: monster_gman and npc_gman).
I knew that coil guns were a real thing and found a few while looking it up myself, I just didn’t know they used the same principles. As for the Egon, I don’t know why I didn’t get that, especially because I made the connection that it looked like it. I guess I just didn’t know what it was called.
Because Carl Friedrich Gauss was a badass.
Anyway, I believe the Tau Cannon was originally intended to actually be a Gauss gun, hence the weapon entity name.
Eh I just call both of them laser weapons of doom, cause seeing either and not having them in your hands… means you are dead.
Don’t you mean in the hands of another…? The weapons aren’t EXACTLY lethal without something holding it on the other end who knows how it works.