Planet cracker

[JHDude]

Been a while since I last posted, but I've got a new thought problem for you guys.

I'm transcribing a TL12^ race into GURPS, and I'm trying to figure out the damage that their main planet-destroying weapon does. It's a spinally mounted conversion beam (as per ultra-tech), and it takes 4 of them constantly firing for 15 minutes to detonate an earth-sized planet (the beams tunnel through the planet and detonate the core).

So what I'd like to know is:
-How many dice of damage per second does this beam produce?
-How much energy will this beam consume?

Explanations using math and/or physics is welcome.
Thanks in advance!

[sir_pudding]

Have you seen this thread?

My main question though is why can't they just use kinetic kill?

[Fwibos]

This is going to sound an awful lot like useless trolling but this seems to merely an academic exercise.

It just seems at these levels you could simply say it costs a lot of TL12^ Energy (requiring a large shipboard power source and recharge in minutes) and being hit with it results in anything less than TL12^ shields and equipment being obliterated.

But then, most of my spaceships are powered by handwavium.

[Gorgoo]

If you want the official take on it, there is a sidebar in GURPS Supers that goes over how much damage it would take to destroy the Earth that happens to be viewable on page 7 of the preview PDF.

The thread that was linked to might be more scientifically accurate, though. I'm not sure, since I didn't take too much time to look through it. But the section in Supers does seem to make sense.

[MatthewVilter]

Originally Posted by Gorgoo

If you want the official take on it, there is a sidebar in GURPS Supers that goes over how much damage it would take to destroy the Earth that happens to be viewable on page 7 of the preview PDF.

I was trying to come us with these numbers on my own and hit a problem. If a put "8*((cube root (weight of the earth)) in lb)" into Wolfram Alpha I get "1.88927x10^9 lb^(1/3) (cube root pounds)". What is a "cube root pound"? I get, like, no hits on Google!

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

I was trying to come us with these numbers on my own and hit a problem. If a put "8*((cube root (weight of the earth)) in lb)" into Wolfram Alpha I get "1.88927x10^9 lb^(1/3) (cube root pounds)". What is a "cube root pound"? I get, like, no hits on Google!

Try GURPS Fantasy "Behind the Curtain: How Strong Is a Giant" p.51 it is basically a HP. (using the definition of pound being mass not force)

[lexington]

Originally Posted by MatthewVilter

I was trying to come us with these numbers on my own and hit a problem. If a put "8*((cube root (weight of the earth)) in lb)" into Wolfram Alpha I get "1.88927x10^9 lb^(1/3) (cube root pounds)". What is a "cube root pound"? I get, like, no hits on Google!

Its effectively the same as an HP. You're really meant to work out the weight in pounds then put that number into the equation without any qualifiers.

[EGerbil]

You may find the information on this website useful. There's actually some reasonably scientific discussion on the various difficulties involved in destroying the Earth, and how you might overcome them: http://qntm.org/geocide.

[JHDude]

Thank you for the link sir_pudding. I hadn't seen it.

I assume "kinetic kill" means smashing some other celestial object into it. The race has focused almost all of it's research efforts into energy manipulation, so they're not exactly inclined to chuck a moon at it if they already have beams at their disposal. Besides, the original targets for the weapons were actually hollowed-out planetships, which usually had enough firepower to take out objects like that.

As for Fwibos, I have considered handwavium, but I've worked on these guys for a long time before I came to GURPS, and I wanted to see what their abilities would translate as. Still, for actual play purposes (if that ever happens) handwavium will do nicely.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by JHDude

I assume "kinetic kill" means smashing some other celestial object into it. The race has focused almost all of it's research efforts into energy manipulation, so they're not exactly inclined to chuck a moon at it if they already have beams at their disposal. Besides, the original targets for the weapons were actually hollowed-out planetships, which usually had enough firepower to take out objects like that.

You don't need a moon. A old junked spacecraft will do.