Are nuclear weapons actually outdated during FTL?

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AnAngryMantis
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Are nuclear weapons actually outdated during FTL?

Postby AnAngryMantis » Thu Jul 26, 2018 5:17 pm

Now, it's common belief that by the time of FTL, nuclear weapons are outdated. However, that might not be the case. From pixel measurements someone else did, of the human compared to the Rebel Flagship, I remember that the flagship would be about 130 m wide, or something along those lines. A modern nuclear explosion of 1 megaton can cover 100 square miles, way larger than the rebel flagship. Any person within a six square mile radius would be vaporized. Also note that crew suits would not help, as in game, fire still damages crew, so they aren't immune to heat. This means that even if it didn't destroy the ship, it would at least do large damage and kill most if not all crew on board. Also remember that shields would not block any of the damage, as missiles in the game go through shields. However, there may be other reasons why you don't encounter them in game.

1. War Laws - It's unlikely, but there may still be laws that ban the use of nuclear weapons, despite the time of chaos.
2. No longer produced - As the time of FTL consists of large numbers of pirates, there could be a threat of a pirate getting access to this kind of weapon, which would probably lead to hard times.

Anyway, if you disagree with me, go yell about it in the comments. But whatever,
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stylesrj
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Re: Are nuclear weapons actually outdated during FTL?

Postby stylesrj » Wed Aug 01, 2018 6:51 am

Maybe the Rebels don't want to use nukes because they've got far more potent weapons at their disposal?
I like to think they've got something like Atmospheric Deprivation Weapons, like the Taiidan in Homeworld; nuclear weapons are just too dirty and make an area uninhabitable for quite some time. Probably easier to just remove the atmosphere and terraform later than it would be to drop nukes, irradiate everything, then try and terraform that.

As for why they're not used against starships? Well you're not going to give Petty Officer Allison Jenkins of the Forward Scout Rebel Rigger "Screw The Federation" access to nuclear weaponry.
Plus, dropping a 50 megaton bomb on a tiny ship sounds like a serious waste of resources. If you hit the target, great it's destroyed but you just used a 50 megaton nuclear bomb to do so and those don't grow on trees.

That and perhaps the war has also drained the nuclear arsenals of both sides and they're too busy making more starships with FTL drives to divert resources into really big bombs? I mean the FTL drive itself could be a bomb on its own.