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in hoping to settle the debate over palladium's nuclear yeilds once and for all, i've put together a chart detailing explosive yeild progression, using palladium's own canon listed mechanics.

i started at 1 kilogram of TNT, which i modelled at 2D6x10 sd, which seems to be the general consensus. (i don't have a blast radius figure though)

now palladium uses a formula where doubling the amount only increases the effects by 50%. so to double the damage and blast radius you must use 4 times the explosive.


so starting at 1 kilogram:

1 kilogram TNT = 2D6x10 sd
4 Kilograms TNT = 4D6x10 sd
16 kilograms TNT = 8D6x10 sd
64 kilograms TNT = 1D6 md
256 kilograms TNT = 2D6 md
1,024 kilograms TNT = 4D6 md 1 ton
4,096 kilograms TNT = 8D6 md 4 tons
16,384 kilograms = 16D6 md 16 tons
65,536 kilograms = 3Dx10 md 65.5 tons
262,144 kilograms = 6D6x10 md 262 tons (max yeild of a davy crockett warhead)
1,048,576 kilograms = 1d6x100 md 1 kiloton
4,194,304 kilograms = 2D6x100 md 4 kiloton
16,777,216 kilograms = 4D6x100 md 16.7 kilotons (roughly the yeild of the "little boy" bomb used on Hiroshima)
67,108,864 kilograms = 8D6x100 md 67 kilotons
268,435,456 kilograms = 16D6x100 md 268.4 kilotons


we can see a few things from this chart.
1.) even a simple MD Laser pistol can put a lot of energy into a target, 64 kilograms worth. thats equivelent to the explosive warheads of modern anti-tank missiles, which means that at this end of the scale we are right on target. no need ot worry about blast effects, lasers tend to burn and melt more than explode. however it does explain the 'misting' mentioned in canon, that much power would cause water in tissues ot flash-boil, causing the flesh to 'pop' into meaty shrapnel.

2.) RIFTS and Robotech missiles are fairly powerful for their size, with yeilds over 1 ton even for SRM's. when i get blast radius figures, i expect that the numbers will not match up, but conventional explosives can be shaped to increase power at expense of area, so i forsee few issues.

3.) the LRm 'nuke' warheads fall under a decent range of yeild, equal to the Davy Crockett tactical nuke. although when the blast radius figures are calculated, i assume we will find that the LRm warheads have radii that are several times too short.

4.) the glitterboy's boom gun is sick, equivilent to 65.5 tons of TNT. this would be in kinetic damage, meaning minimal blast effects.

5.) the '200 kiloton' nuke in coalition navy is either mislabeled, or poorly designed. damage wise it is only equal to 4 kilotons. since to increase the blast area of a nuke requires additional yeild, i would say that the #'s are a bit wonky. a true 200KT nuke would do closer to 1D6x1000 MD, looking at the chart above.

6.) Phase worlds Anti-matter warheads are only equal to 16.7 kilotons, which for anti-ship is pretty good.

So... how much damage from a Megaton?

There is a calculator on the net that does the math for you. You just plug in the yield of the weapon, whether or not your in space or an atmosphere, and the distance the PC's are from ground zero. The damage listed is then applied to every hit location.

Oooh.

Think you could find it again and post the link for us?

Killer Cyborg wrote:So... how much damage from a Megaton?

well, continuing the chart:

16,777,216 kilograms = 4D6x100 md 16.7 kilotons (roughly the yeild of the "little boy" bomb used on Hiroshima)
67,108,864 kilograms = 8D6x100 md 67 kilotons
268,435,456 kilograms = 16D6x100 md 268.4 kilotons

the next line would be :
1,073,741,824 kilograms = 32D6x100md 1 megaton

rounding that, about 2D6x1000 md.


frankly, few warheads in the worlds combined nuclear arsenals are megaton sized. most are a few hundred kilotons at best. since you can kill a city or an entire fleet with a few dozen kilotons of nuke, megaton levels are a bit redundant.

of course, in rifts, the use of megaton levels would see a rise, with things like the Ticonderoga which can withstand hundred kiloton 'city killers'. (MDC armor is really amazing stuff.)

but 'modern' nuclear strategy (from the cold war) isn't big on big bombs. instead 'megaton level' strikes would be overlapping patterns of MIRV'd 200-300 kiloton warheads. more efficent bang for your buck.
the US has about 700 megaton+ warheads in it's Enduring Stockpile, and those all date from the 70's, were designed as 'bunkerbusters' (using nuclear shockwaves to collapse underground tunnels in hardened soviet facilities), and are bombs designed to be dropped 'dumb' from bombers. not exactly practical.