Nukes
- Thread starter Benson
- Start date
Nukes make big explosions and leave areas uninhabitable.
They are for leveling cities and ensuring no one can live in that location again for the next god knows how long.
They are not for detonating in space where one of their biggest features (the radiation) is of no use and where nearly all ships can be dealt with by <2 torpedoes.
That would be like using a blast furnace to cook your marshmallow or using a MOAB on a fighter jet...
They are for leveling cities and ensuring no one can live in that location again for the next god knows how long.
They are not for detonating in space where one of their biggest features (the radiation) is of no use and where nearly all ships can be dealt with by <2 torpedoes.
That would be like using a blast furnace to cook your marshmallow or using a MOAB on a fighter jet...
While I agree that nukes wouldn't be effective for dogfighting (unless they were some kind of area denial weapon) they are very effective weapons, even in space. If you've ever watched BattleStar Galatica you could probably imagine what uses I can think of. Mainly I would like to see nukes used in capital ship battles and (potentially) station sieges.
God, no. Radiation would be hundreds of times more devastating in space than on Earth in regards to material damage.
too much of an 'I Win' button for my tastes, besides the fact that we are civilians who don't get given the keys to the nuclear arsenal as a general rule.
Unless it was an extremely long range weapon it'd be as much a hazard to the ship that fired it as the target. Then there's the EMP which depending on how hard the shipboard electronics are could also be an issue. Actually radiation would be the least of the problems - space is so full of radiation anyway that a if the radiation from a little nuke was a problem you'd already be long dead.
I think maybe if capital ships or possibly stations can use them in capital ship vs capital ship battles or station sieges that would be very cool. Anything smaller than a dreadnaught using them I don't think would work too well.
This would make more sense, because..
Player fired nukes......yup, that can't go wrong.. . . .
anyhow that might actually make sense, make them maybe an event that would happen if a warring faction is aiming to destroy an outpost/station e.t.c.?
Anti-matter weaponry, please. 
Seriously, a fraction of a gram would yield a good sized explosion. One gram could send a ship to Pluto and back.
I don't want an "I win" button, but an "OH S**T!" button.
Highly illegal ship components would also be cool, making it a risk vs reward scenario.
Such things should also NOT BE REGAINED VIA INSURANCE.
Seriously, a fraction of a gram would yield a good sized explosion. One gram could send a ship to Pluto and back.
I don't want an "I win" button, but an "OH S**T!" button.
Highly illegal ship components would also be cool, making it a risk vs reward scenario.
Such things should also NOT BE REGAINED VIA INSURANCE.
Actually this sounds like something quite interesting, illegal components/upgrades, or maybe not illegal but say highly experimental weapons from being high up in a faction? that wouldn't be covered by insurance?
On antimatter though, idea, cool, practicality, not so much, the amount of destruction anti matter produce is beyond human comprehension it makes the atom bomb seem like absolutely nothing.
Anti-matter weaponry, please.
Would be fun to watch a type-9 implode inside a space station and tear it in half.
No. It isn't.
I like the direction of this discussion. Nukes are cool on a Capitolship scale but the idea of experimental weapons is very interesting. I mean, it's a huge Galaxy out there, who knows what secrets, hidden labs are cooking up!
Depends on how much anti-matter you use. Here's an excerpt from wikipedia.
So anti-matter is many orders of magnitude more efficient (thus, more destructive, gram for gram) than fusion/fission bombs. The trouble is that today, we're incapable of making more than a few anti-hydrogen atoms, though the devices we use to accomplish this aren't meant for mass production.
What I'm talking about, in regards to anti-matter weapons are weapons that utilize a miniscule amount of anti-matter, which achieves an impressive, unique effect. I'm not in favor of planet-killers. (Well... actually, I am, I just don't want players firing them.)
I am personally amazed that in the ED universe they're still relying on fusion for their energy. Granted, the Ramjet Fusion Engine concept is an impressive one by today's standards, a thousand years from now I imagine we will have moved onto better things. There's only about one hydrogen atom per cubic centimeter in space, from what I read recently. A few grams of anti-matter would be far better at powering a ship through space than loose hydrogen.
Granted, I'm not a trained physicist.
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Heard, actually. It was in an interview with one of the developers, from a long, long time ago when most of the game was conceptual. I don't recall the specific source.
But yes, the fuel scoop collects hydrogen from the stars and fuses it into helium for energy. You have a miniature fusion reactor in your ship.
Which begs the questions - why do we pay so much for the most common element in the universe? Where do the space stations get their hydrogen, if not from players? Will ice mining provide deuterium and other elements more suitable for fuel which explains where the fuel comes from? Will fuel become a finite resource, adding another (I think very realistic and very important) dynamic to the game?
Dunno.
But yes, the fuel scoop collects hydrogen from the stars and fuses it into helium for energy. You have a miniature fusion reactor in your ship.
Which begs the questions - why do we pay so much for the most common element in the universe? Where do the space stations get their hydrogen, if not from players? Will ice mining provide deuterium and other elements more suitable for fuel which explains where the fuel comes from? Will fuel become a finite resource, adding another (I think very realistic and very important) dynamic to the game?
Dunno.
Yeah those city lights are truly irritating, nuke them from orbit, only way to be sure
But I wonder if even a nuke could penetrate the mythical body exclusion zone?Nukes are a bad idea in this game, but as a weapon used in space they would have little lasting effect. Space is already filled with radiation, and the residual radiation of nuclear weapons relies on its ability to cling to matter to linger.
This sounds like a good idea for large ship warfare against huge stations and planet installations and such, and only deployable by Anaconda-sized ships (or even only even larger ships, once they're in the game.) But that's not in the game right now, so...
And perhaps they shouldn't be classic nukes, but nex-gen nukes, like a pure fusion weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_fusion_weapon). Those don't leave radiation behind, but are just as powerful as today's nukes. They are still "nukes" though, mind you. Weapons can be based on nuclear fusion or nuclear fission and still be called "nuclear" (today's hydrogen bombs use fission as the first stage [radioactive] in order to kick-off the fusion reaction of the hydrogen [non-radioactive].)
And perhaps they shouldn't be classic nukes, but nex-gen nukes, like a pure fusion weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_fusion_weapon). Those don't leave radiation behind, but are just as powerful as today's nukes. They are still "nukes" though, mind you. Weapons can be based on nuclear fusion or nuclear fission and still be called "nuclear" (today's hydrogen bombs use fission as the first stage [radioactive] in order to kick-off the fusion reaction of the hydrogen [non-radioactive].)
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I was thinking only deployable by a dreadnaught Farragut or Interdictor and only used on other capital ships in a conflict zone. Maybe once a side has enough of a their capital ship can fire off a nuke at the enemy capital ship destroying it and giving conflict zones clear resolutions. Same thing for station sieges if those are ever implemented.
Also... why would you not want your massive bomb to give off radiation? No civilians live in space, so it's just added destruction to the enemy whith no risk of making land uninhabitable or giving civilians radiation sickness.
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