Neutron Bomb!

[GoblynByte]

I'm trying to come up with an idea for a good intestellar age "cold war" weapon (the new nuclear "boogie-man"). Anti-matter weapons are good, but what about neutron weapons?

What effects would a theoretical nuetron bomb have? What would the effects be in real world terms? What would the effects be in GURPS terms? Any ideas or theories?

[garfield]

Originally Posted by GoblynByte

I'm trying to come up with an idea for a good intestellar age "cold war" weapon (the new nuclear "boogie-man"). Anti-matter weapons are good, but what about neutron weapons?

What effects would a theoretical nuetron bomb have? What would the effects be in real world terms? What would the effects be in GURPS terms? Any ideas or theories?

neutron bomb = normal nuclear bomb with a neutron "enriched" surrounding, has usually less explosion power, but releases lots of neutrons, which in turn irradiate the surrounding: that means the surrounding itself becomes radioactive. The neutron bomb is highly lethal, but much less damaging than the normal nuclear weapon ... and much more dirty.

The neutrons are also much harder to stop than normal radiation, since they are not charged.

[GoblynByte]

Sound good from a strategic standpoint. "nuke" the planet, blockade the planet while you wait for the radioactive cloud to disapate (in what...couple hundred years?) then move on in and claim your prize. :)

I like the sound of that. Thanks!

[Pesterfield]

If you want to kill the people and leave the infastructure I'd suggest chemical weapons, they degrade faster.

Custom bioweapons are useful, not just diseases but microbes that eat vital supplies like rubber and oil are also very handy. They aren't currently used for fear of them escaping, but if you're blockading a whole planet that's not a worry. Just make sure to include a self destruct gene when they've done the job.

[roguebfl]

Yes but risk to the biosphere with such weapons is high....why concor a planet if you make it unlivable?

[Rolando]

and neutron bomb dont harm the biosfere!?

killing everithing in its radious of effect must have some consecuences to the biosfere :)

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Rolando

and neutron bomb dont harm the biosfere!?

not the plural on the word "weapons"

[Wonder Lemming]

Because if you have the capacity to fire such weapons from orbit then terraforming is probably within your grasp.

However, if it was, say, ISWAT trying to wipe out Centrum they might be less likely to use such devastating weapons, nobody wants another Gotha parallel!

[Digren Kaellise]

The problem with free neutrons is that they can only be stopped by actually colliding with matter. And, when they collide, they tend to displace atoms and break apart nuclei of the material they hit.

Living tissues don't like this much, no, but it causes nonliving things to become radioactive as well.

In short, I don't think such a bomb would kill the people while causing all infrastructure to remain intact and immediately useable. Certainly any computing hardware made in the last 5 years would be pretty damaged by having its atomic structure intermittently disrupted. Perhaps older, larger processes would be more immune to such damage. Buildings near the blast site could be fragile, with their support structures damaged at the molecular bond level.

In a college course I took on nuclear fusion, we ran some numbers on free high-energy neutron production in common fusion reations like the deuterium-deuterium cycle. The end results of the calculations were that, on average every single atom in the first containment wall would be displayed from its lattice structure by neutron bombardment approximately every three months. In other words, nuclear fusion might not produce direct radioactive products, but every three months or so you have to replace a few tons of now radioactive tungsten, because its lattice structe is shot and it is too fragile for use.

[flyingwombat]

How about the hypnagogic projector from Ultra-Tech p.97, but on a planetary scale. If you can broadcast it through a TV signal, then a lot of people would be effected by simply viewing the screen. Assuming everyone has a HT of 10 and the weapon's effect requires a HT-3 roll, then only 16.2% of population will not be effected.
The invaders could round up the zapped population put them in trucks and send them to the new slave pens. Meanwhile sending out active combat units to hunt down those who weren't affected.