OMG Explosives

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by lexington

In space, with no atmosphere to transmit the force of the explosion, 100 meters divides damage by 10000.

No, it doesn't.

Rules-wise, the rules are just the same as anywhere else. With no atmosphere, you do lose the cr ex explosion component.

And while the energy density of the blastfront drops off with the square of radius (and it's got to drop at least equally fast in air), damage is not linear in energy.

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

No, it doesn't.

Rules-wise, the rules are just the same as anywhere else. With no atmosphere, you do lose the cr ex explosion component.

And while the energy density of the blastfront drops off with the square of radius (and it's got to drop at least equally fast in air), damage is not linear in energy.

I don't have my books at the moment but I'm pretty sure the burn part is specifically noted as dropping by distance squared.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

No, it doesn't.

Rules-wise, the rules are just the same as anywhere else. With no atmosphere, you do lose the cr ex explosion component.

And while the energy density of the blastfront drops off with the square of radius (and it's got to drop at least equally fast in air), damage is not linear in energy.

Campaigns still says divide by yards squared.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by lexington

I don't have my books at the moment but I'm pretty sure the burn part is specifically noted as dropping by distance squared.

The Tox Rads for the antimatter warhead in UT has that note.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Refplace

However like I said consistency not a trademark of the series.

Pretty much. Weapons in any TV series are like this, their effects are a function of the requirements of drama rather than anything realistically connected to the effectiveness of the weapon. You need to play with cinematic rules - one torpedo will vaporize any ship, but when the blast front reaches a member of her crew who whould have been vaporized but has a spare character point and spends it on Only a Flesh Wound, it disappears.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vitruvian

Campaigns still says divide by yards squared.

Where? I don't think I've seen that, and I can't think where it might be.

[munin]

Originally Posted by vitruvian

Campaigns still says divide by yards squared.

The Basic rule for proximity explosions in a vacuum is to divide by 10×yards:

"In a vacuum or trace atmosphere, with no medium to carry the shockwave, damage comes only from the expanding gases themselves: divide damage by 10 × range in yards." (p. B415)

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by munin

The Basic rule for proximity explosions in a vacuum is to divide by 10×yards:

"In a vacuum or trace atmosphere, with no medium to carry the shockwave, damage comes only from the expanding gases themselves: divide damage by 10 × range in yards." (p. B415)

Right, that's it. Usually it's just by range in yards, not range squared.

So, damage scales proportionately to square root of energy (roughly), which works out to linear with range from center. So, divide that damage by 1000, not 10,000. Still a whole lot less.

[Tzeentch]

-- You may want to check out the Taming Explosions optional rule from David's article in Pyramid #3/34.

[jbalsle]

Originally Posted by Tzeentch

-- You may want to check out the Taming Explosions optional rule from David's article in Pyramid #3/34.

Thanks! I was hoping for a cite to a book for a fix, too.