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Anaraxes · 06-12-2009, 11:21 PM

At least according to Striker, even an "unarmored" starship has an armor rating of 40, which was 33 cm of steel equivalent as far as penetration goes. That's about 33 halving thicknesses, depending on what sort of radiation you're talking about, if the material absorbed radiation as well as steel. A ten-billionth of the incident radiation may be negligible for natural causes. And of course the material matters; maybe higher-tech spaceship hull material is better at absorbing radiation than is steel.

The meson weapons would penetrate the armor and then decay inside, so you wouldn't get protection from the hull, hence the radiation casualties. If I recall, the High Guard nukes also has a bonus for calculating casualties due to radiation, but they'd be external.

Nuclear dampers (and enhancers) exist. They were only described as anti-nuke weapons, as I recall, but the same tech might be pressed into service as a radiation "shield" to reduce Bremsstrahlung in the armor.

Higher tech medicine might presumably allow you to better recover from radiation exposure, thus allowing more exposure over long time intervals (as opposed to combat). I don't recall any mention of that in particular, but it could be another reason the routine exposure is neglected.

06-12-2009, 11:21 PM	#2
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Radiation shielding At least according to Striker, even an "unarmored" starship has an armor rating of 40, which was 33 cm of steel equivalent as far as penetration goes. That's about 33 halving thicknesses, depending on what sort of radiation you're talking about, if the material absorbed radiation as well as steel. A ten-billionth of the incident radiation may be negligible for natural causes. And of course the material matters; maybe higher-tech spaceship hull material is better at absorbing radiation than is steel. The meson weapons would penetrate the armor and then decay inside, so you wouldn't get protection from the hull, hence the radiation casualties. If I recall, the High Guard nukes also has a bonus for calculating casualties due to radiation, but they'd be external. Nuclear dampers (and enhancers) exist. They were only described as anti-nuke weapons, as I recall, but the same tech might be pressed into service as a radiation "shield" to reduce Bremsstrahlung in the armor. Higher tech medicine might presumably allow you to better recover from radiation exposure, thus allowing more exposure over long time intervals (as opposed to combat). I don't recall any mention of that in particular, but it could be another reason the routine exposure is neglected.