Re: OFFICIAL - GZG: Vacuum and zero/low gravity combat…?

Very interesting, Roger, and quite different from what many people
(including me!) thought that they knew!  ;-)

I don't think we need worry too much at the moment about the effects of
nukes and similar as far as current game proposals are concerned - I'm
really looking at very low-level conflicts between small units of
Marines sent up the well to defend mining installations and the
like….. I think that tossing nukes about is probably outside the scope
of that at the moment, though I guess rules for them (and their
after-effects) might be needed in certain scenarios….

Jon (GZG)

On 2 Feb 2016, at 10:24, Roger Bell_West <roger@firedrake.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 01, 2016 at 05:36:03PM -0500, Jason Weiser wrote:
>> EMP generating weapons will also be popular, take out a suit ' s
electronic
>> capabilities,  and that trooper is out of the fight.
> 
> EMPs are generated when gamma rays hit _atmosphere_ and strip
> electrons off atoms there; you need a magnetic field too. A nuke on
> the moon or in orbit won't generate noticeable local EMP (though there
> may still be some on earth - look up STARFISH PRIME and the Soviet
> Project K Test 184).
> 
>> Nukes in this environment are very deadly..as there won't be an ounce
of
>> protection against hard rads outside of a hab...God help you if there
is a
>> solar flare during a firefight.
> 
> Similarly, you won't get any of the blast effect that comes from
> compression and explosion of air. So you may actually survive being
> close enough to the detonation to take a lethal dose of radiation.
> Yay? :-)
> 
> (If the game goes down this path, don't forget the possibility of
> "zombie troops", people who've taken terminal radiation doses but are
> still going to be functional for a few days.)
> 
> Roger, who knows too much about this stuff.
>