What does the Min ST-based cap on weapon damage represent?

Hi all,



I come to you today with one of my biggest GURPS-related confusions: the Min ST-based weapon damage cap. I don't understand it.



After looking around a bit, and doing a bit of thinking I've come up with the following possible justifications, though all of them have issues.

• A small knife cannot significantly injure a giant creature. This only seems to apply with weapons that injure by penetrating the target, and in situations where there is a large discrepancy between the size of the weapon and the size of the target.


• F=ma, and mass doesn't increase. But this should come into effect before the 3*Min ST cap. And if acceleration is increasing then there should still be an increase in the applied force. Besides, this already seems adequately represented by the fact that weapons give a fixed damage bonus, instead of a damage multiplier.


• The human arm can only move so fast without requiring additional mass to make any difference. This is true, but relies on the arm being human, instead of animal, alien, or superhuman.

I would really appreciate any clarification.



Thanks.

What does the Min ST-based cap on weapon damage represent?