WMDs IN SPACE

Sam Baughn · 12-28-2010, 01:46 PM

Have a historical event (or several events) where a military unit with access to WMDs destroyed valuable resources by being too keen to use them. For example, a nuclear weapon might have wrecked a valuable manufacturing facility and irradiated it's stocks of materials, a biological weapon could have mutated into a harmful form making a planet hazardous to human life or a chemical agent could have wiped out a vital keystone species and caused a cascading ecological catastrophe which greatly reduced a world's potential agricultural output.

After such disasters, the government may have made access to WMDs highly restricted even for military forces. A normal fleet wouldn't have access to anything which could really wreck a significant chunk of a planet and even if the goverment decides that the threat warrants using them, it will probably take the WMDs a long time to be authorised and deployed to where they are needed, by which time the issue will probably have been resolved.

Add layers of bureocracy, outdated procedures and neglected technology over a long enough period of time and the WMDs will probably be effectively impossible to use. 'Nuclear fusion weapons require approval by both houses of the Terran senate before they are used, but the lower house was disbanded in the electoral reforms twenty years ago. I'm afraid you will have to wait for the legislation to be revised before you can use them...'.

Alternatively (or additionally) you could make WMDs relatively ineffective compared to other options available. Advanced biotechnology or hyper-advanced NBC gear which is convenient to wear full time might make chemical weapons, germ warfare and radiation rather unimpressive threats. Nukes would still be useful for their explosive effects, but there might well be more impressive options available, such as precise bombardment with electromag cannons from orbit.

12-28-2010, 01:46 PM	#5
Sam Baughn Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and some other bits.	Re: WMDs IN SPACE Have a historical event (or several events) where a military unit with access to WMDs destroyed valuable resources by being too keen to use them. For example, a nuclear weapon might have wrecked a valuable manufacturing facility and irradiated it's stocks of materials, a biological weapon could have mutated into a harmful form making a planet hazardous to human life or a chemical agent could have wiped out a vital keystone species and caused a cascading ecological catastrophe which greatly reduced a world's potential agricultural output. After such disasters, the government may have made access to WMDs highly restricted even for military forces. A normal fleet wouldn't have access to anything which could really wreck a significant chunk of a planet and even if the goverment decides that the threat warrants using them, it will probably take the WMDs a long time to be authorised and deployed to where they are needed, by which time the issue will probably have been resolved. Add layers of bureocracy, outdated procedures and neglected technology over a long enough period of time and the WMDs will probably be effectively impossible to use. 'Nuclear fusion weapons require approval by both houses of the Terran senate before they are used, but the lower house was disbanded in the electoral reforms twenty years ago. I'm afraid you will have to wait for the legislation to be revised before you can use them...'. Alternatively (or additionally) you could make WMDs relatively ineffective compared to other options available. Advanced biotechnology or hyper-advanced NBC gear which is convenient to wear full time might make chemical weapons, germ warfare and radiation rather unimpressive threats. Nukes would still be useful for their explosive effects, but there might well be more impressive options available, such as precise bombardment with electromag cannons from orbit.