That only works if you send oil drillers to do it. Drill down 800 feet, lift-press-hold.
Why are there no nuclear weapons in Elite?
- Thread starter Zer0cool
- Start date
The non-proliferation of nuclear weapons has not been abandoned in the future
OP only available to Beta backers and we're not allowed to use them in the bubble.
Agreed - I'd love some high-yield, dirty nukes to fit in cargo canisters that register as "Low Temp Diamonds" for all those greedy pirates out there. Then I'd gladly drop my cargo and watch the fun begin.
The inverse square law.
Nuclear weapons are so destructive on Earth because there is an atmosphere to propagate energy and absorb-then-spread all those nasty isotopes with short half-lives. In space, the vast majority of the energy from a nuclear detonation essentially does nothing more than add a few femtokelvin to the microwave background after a few megametres.
Basically, if you are going to use a nuke, make sure it hits its target.
Nuclear weapons are so destructive on Earth because there is an atmosphere to propagate energy and absorb-then-spread all those nasty isotopes with short half-lives. In space, the vast majority of the energy from a nuclear detonation essentially does nothing more than add a few femtokelvin to the microwave background after a few megametres.
Basically, if you are going to use a nuke, make sure it hits its target.
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Lasers are more accurately LASERS (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).
Fuel Scoops collect energised particles (notionally Hydrogen or Helium isotopes).
Providing the nuclear weapon is a nominal Hydrogen fuelled Fusion device then in theory a fuel scoop could be used to collect (at least some of) the ejected radioactive matter. If the nuclear weapon was a fission device, then we would probably be talking something different altogether.
The emitted radiation on the other hand might be a bigger concern BUT it is worth keeping in mind that our ships are capable of with-standing the temperature and radiation levels that can be expected in the coronal regions around active stars. Neutron stars might be even more problematic on that score and we can (mostly) withstand them too.
Net result - nukes would probably just heat our ships up a bit in space, and possibly knock us a little off course. A shaped charge nuke (if there was such a thing) or a tandem warhead nuke might do a bit more.
You may actually find that the missiles and/or torpedoes in-game are comparable to real-world nukes (at least the battlefield variety).
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Rockhound: Hey Harry.
Harry Stamper: What?
Rockhound: You realize we're sitting on 45,000 pounds of fuel, one nuclear warhead and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder? Makes you feel good doesn't it?
Not exactly.
You need a plasma made of hydrogen* to get a nuclear fusion, but not every plasma results in a fusion. Plasma is "just" super heated matter - enough to strip enough of the atoms from their electrons. If you want it's "simply" very hot ionized gas. Make it hot enough and dense enough and you get something really nasty.
*) Yes, that's an oversimplification
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Nukes in space aren't as powerful as you'd think, from what I've heard - a nuke hitting a capital ship in space (which are roughly the size of the Galactica or Pegasus in BGS series) would largely result in only a moderate amount of damage - since the energy will always choose the path of least resistance.
The big damage from a nuke is the shock front of the explosion, heat, and radiation.
In a vacuum, there's no medium for a shock front to propagate so we can forget that.
As for the heat and radiation released, we regularly fly our ships through solar prominences, coronal mass ejections, and the jet cones of neutron stars.
For comparison, take the largest nuke ever created by mankind, the Tsar Bomba, and detonate roughly two billion of them - you'd maybe match a single second of Sol's energy output.
In a vacuum, there's no medium for a shock front to propagate so we can forget that.
As for the heat and radiation released, we regularly fly our ships through solar prominences, coronal mass ejections, and the jet cones of neutron stars.
For comparison, take the largest nuke ever created by mankind, the Tsar Bomba, and detonate roughly two billion of them - you'd maybe match a single second of Sol's energy output.
Colonel William Sharp: Get off... the nuclear... warhead.
Rockhound: I was doing that guy from that movie, you know, Slim Pickens, where he rides it all the way in, the nuclear warhead.
Multicrew in a Keelback?
Gamma World. Stand next to radiation, and keep rolling...
[video=youtube;ib8StpzyxDE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib8StpzyxDE[/video]