Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
One thing that should be a factor is the difference between nuclear and antimatter weapons. Antimatter weapons should always detonate when destroyed by point defense, as the containment field fails. Nuclear weapons can be dialed down for effect though, so they have more overall utility.
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This is a case of "read the fine print". Antimatter(TL10) on p.47 ofSpaceships says "This is a clean antimatter-catalzed fusion warhead".
It is not a containment field full of antimatter. The TL 10 version of the portable antimatter trap on p.80-81 of UT weighs 20 lbs and only holds 100 micrograms. Antimatter costs $2500 per microgram too. To get a 10 megaton blast out of antimatter alone you'd need 250 grams at a TL10 cost of $625 trillion if i haven't overloaded my poor little calculator.
Large "pure" fusion explosions are probably very tricky and are almost certainly not something that can be set off by battle damage.