Going Nuclear (small question)

[FeiLin]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I won't say that the exact numbers for nuclear explosions make"no" difference but you have to have a pretty estreme ship for them to really matter.

For example, a 10 megaton warhead in a proximity hit does 2800 dDam and that's a lot. A TL12^ SM+15 ship with a Heavy Force Screen does have dDR 3000 and can shrug off such a hit though it's best possible armor is only dDR 700 per layer. The TL11^ version can't shrug off such a hit and of course a direct hit does 100x more.

So most of the time a hit from a nuclear warhead (even proximity) is going to mean an effective kill for most ships. In universe navies are probably goign to worry more about point defense and as GM I might too.

I’ve made similar observations, and I’d like to remedy that (doesn’t make for cool enough space battles for my taste). My first instinct was to check if it’s according to B-RAW or not.

The reason I’m a bit picky with the solution is that it would be neat if the damage was consistent with “character scale”, so that perhaps an nuclear arsenal storage facility could be turned into improvised bombs, etc. Of course, actual damage might matter even less on that scale. Still, it’s aesthetically pleasing and in the spirit of GURPS.

Point defence is a good idea, though, so if nothing else, perhaps that’s the solution. Thanks for the tip!