RE: Crowbars

Roger hit it right I believe.  Even if these crowbars were physically
impossible, there is a high probability of some sort of large scale
destructive weapon that couldn't be stopped existing in some form.  The
reason that we can mostly ignore such devices is definatly political. 
Does
anyone remember an old Avalon Hill board game called "Freedom in the
Galaxy"?  In this game the Empire could create atrocity units (such
nasties
as Planetary Destablizers that stoped the planet's rotation and killing
everything on the planet).  The problem with using such weapons was the
political ramifications.  All nearby systems had huge negative political
shifts against you, and any planet that was owned by the same race as
the
planet you decimated went to the brink of rebellion.  The other side
(the
Rebels) did not possess such devices, but still the Empire was kept in
check
in using them.	Except in extreme cases (such as taking out the Rebel
base)
using such a weapon was counter-productive.  No use having an Empire if
there is no actual real-estate left.  Of course, there could be some
races
that are on a Genocide mission to erradicate all life...everywhere.  And
that could make for a very interesting Many against One campaign.  Just
another thought...

Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger Books [SMTP:books@mail.state.fl.us]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 5:59 AM
> To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> Subject:	Re: Crowbars
> 
> On 12-Jun-00 at 21:38, Laserlight (laserlight@quixnet.net) wrote:
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@clark.net>
> > 
> > 
> > >"Izenberg, Noam" wrote:
> > >> You'd have to generate convincing PSB of an antimatter
> > containment system
> > >> that wouldn't consume and broadcast enough energy to give
> > significant
> > >> advanced warning.
> > >
> > 
> > >(snip)
> > >
> > > Here is Professor Apocalyse's patented "Catch me if you can"
> > > relativistic warhead delivery system!
> > >
> > >(snip)
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks, but you're supposed to be coming up with reasons why it
> > _won't_ work.  :-)
> 
> Hmmm, won't work?
> 
> I'm not a physicist (and I don't play one at work either) however...
> 
> The energy required to accelerate this crowbar is prohibative.  Why
> do you think ships usually start combat at slow speeds and top
> out at 40 or so?
> 
> This anti-matter crowbar would be visible from way out and I'm not
> even sure you could put it on a ballistic path to hit its target.
> Any particle it happened to encounter on its way in would be 
> converted to energy, which would be massive amounts of detectable
> radiation and would also affect the path of the crowbar.
> 
> My personal favorite:  Sure, the technology exists to make make
> Anti-Matter, it just takes artificially creating the atoms, which
> requires an input of energy greater than the energy produced by
> expending the anti-matter.
> 
> Political:  The UN has a policy, any Political Entity caught
> using weapons of mass destruction on a populated system will
> have their space capabilities removed, with force if necessary.
> Doctrine extends to the point that if this can be affectively
> resisted the UN will use any required force to accomplish this
> mission, including weapons of mass destruction such as the
> top secret Planet Buster Bomb.  Normally this would not be 
> required though as violation of this law is considered a war
> against humanity and the UN will extract leaders who order this
> and place them before a war crimes tribunal with the end goal
> usually being the death penalty.
> 
> Need more?
> 
> Roger