[Luis Dias]

Video clearly says the Colly was designed 6km long.

[Contrition]

But it still strikes me as falacious that a hull plate that can withstand sustained direct plasma fire for several seconds is going to be devastated by the energy discharge from a anti-matter explosion.

EDIT: On second thought, I'll replace the flamebait I posted here with something no more productive, but at the very least less insulting. Namely:

ANTIMATTER IS SERIOUS ****ING BUSINESS

It is, but just like nukes, the vast majority of the destruction you are thinking of is related to the medium it's being reacted in.  Also, if it's being deployed off a small craft, then the amount per shot has to be something that said small craft can withstand at ranges from maximum attainable to those verging on the suicidal.  Given that restriction, it shouldn't be any more destructive than, say, a Helios(also an anti-matter warhead) or a Shivan Megabomb.

All I'm saying is this, there's more than a little fanboy going on with the Durga.  I'm just trying to keep you honest.

1 gram of antimatter would release 179.8 Tera Joules of energy, Fat Man released between 84-92 Tera Joules of energy. While there be no blast wave in space, this amount of energy alone would be sufficient to convert nearby plating to gas or liquid states. With just 11.9 Kilos of antimatter you would exceed the energy of all nuclear testing done in the world. In the a real world , antimatter = death. Luckily this isn't the real world.

EDIT: Note these are very rough estimates as matter antimatter interaction has rarely been observed and I did not account for the release of neutrons as I am assuming anti hydrogen which would mean minimal to no loss due to neutron radiation, or creation of mesons or the  as I am not familiar with how that works. 

[Liberator]

The potential warhead yield isn't the problem.  The survivability of the squishy pilot and his craft are.  Comparing to a beam cannon, which delivers enough energy to the target to obliterate in less than a second the pilot and his craft, anti-matter warheads would have to be a fraction of this power level.

[Contrition]

Not necessarily, if the shielding of a fighter is capable of deflecting high energy gamma rays then an anti matter explosion would have little effect (assuming antihydrogen is used). Though why shields would feasibly deflect gamma rays and not other Electromagnetic waves is completely unknown to me but it would allow shielded targets to survive antimatter explosions while unshielded ones would be devastated.

As for why beam cannons may be effective against shielded vessels: A plasma based weapon would due damage with thermal energy and the bombardment of high energy electrons. Assuming it was the electrons that allowed shield penetration then beam weapons would not need to be more powerful then an antimatter warhead to quickly destroy a craft and pilot.


As a side not plasma beams make no sense (as a beam of charged matter that travels instantaneously just make 0 sense) but I'll accept it for the sake of the game. (That and they look cool)

[Kosh]

Not necessarily, if the shielding of a fighter is capable of deflecting high energy gamma rays then an anti matter explosion would have little effect (assuming antihydrogen is used). Though why shields would feasibly deflect gamma rays and not other Electromagnetic waves is completely unknown to me but it would allow shielded targets to survive antimatter explosions while unshielded ones would be devastated.

Only half the energy of said explosion is converted to gamma rays, the rest is heat and some other types of lower energy radiation.

As a side not plasma beams make no sense (as a beam of charged matter that travels instantaneously just make 0 sense) but I'll accept it for the sake of the game. (That and they look cool)

It isn't instant, but it is so fast that our puny human senses make it appear that way.

[NGTM-1R]

Though why shields would feasibly deflect gamma rays and not other Electromagnetic waves is completely unknown to me but it would allow shielded targets to survive antimatter explosions while unshielded ones would be devastated.

Any realistic shield system has to have either gaps in the frequency coverage to see (unlikely) or an activation threshold below which it won't engage (much more likely). Otherwise you actually have a cloaking device, and you're as blind as everyone else.

[Buckshee Rounds]

It is, but just like nukes, the vast majority of the destruction you are thinking of is related to the medium it's being reacted in.  Also, if it's being deployed off a small craft, then the amount per shot has to be something that said small craft can withstand at ranges from maximum attainable to those verging on the suicidal.  Given that restriction, it shouldn't be any more destructive than, say, a Helios(also an anti-matter warhead) or a Shivan Megabomb.

All I'm saying is this, there's more than a little fanboy going on with the Durga.  I'm just trying to keep you honest.

I have to point out that the shells used in the Redeemer will definitely be carrying far less antimatter than a Helios and the weapon itself has way less yield, it's powerful simply because it's a primary, nothing to do with fanboy-ery.

[Contrition]

Even a very small quantity of antimatter would devastate a target in the real world. Though I defiantly am glad this is not the case in freespace as I much prefer balance to realism.

[QuakeIV]

Your assuming we have armor remotely as strong as what you see about three to four hundred years later.

[Kolgena]

Well, a harbinger is 5 gigatons according to the wiki, which is 100 times stronger than the biggest nuke humanity has ever set off (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba). Basically, one of these could probably sink Europe and end the world.

You need 33 harbingers to kill an Orion. Even factoring the fact that damage is massively reduced without an atmosphere, that is still really tough armor.

(Random tidbit off wikipedia: The total global nuclear arsenal is about 30,000 nuclear warheads with a destructive capacity of 5,000 megatons (5,000 million tons of TNT). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TNT_equivalent)

[redsniper]

Collapsed core molybdenum is nothing to sneeze at.

[Mars]

The Battuta stated informally that he doesn't accept the Harbinger's numbers into his view of BP canon, so I assume that goes for the rest of the team.

Degenerate matter armor most definitely helps.

Although hitpoints aren't set in BP, the Carthage we see in the final mission of WiH has the equivalent of 1,000,000 hitpoints, so, more like 330 harbingers.

[Contrition]

The problem with armor protecting against an antimatter explosion is the heat. Molybdenum melts at 2896 K, Tungsten at 3683.15 k, Carbon at 3773.15 k (The highest of any known element). The heat from little boy (roughly 60 terajoules) is as follows: 17m = 300,000 k & at 50m = 9000-11000k.  Little boy released less than 1/3 then energy the a single gram of antimatter so any armor composed of currently known materials would melt from the explosion.

[Mars]

"Degenerate matter"

Plus its super armor from the future in general, but I believed its implied in "collapsed core molybdenum."

Disregarding that entirely, remember your average corvette is probably in the range of tens of thousands of tons, even if they were made of just steel. Yeah, I don't think anything is going to survive 100 gigatons, but a few megatons is conceivable to survive.

Also in BP canon, Tev ships have a shield system ingrained in their armor.

[Contrition]

Molybdenum based degenerate matter is still very much capable of melting, especially considering that altering the energy levels in degenerate matter would cause the volume to increase (and by extension density decrease).

Also out of curiosity, from what I've read on degenerate matter (which admittedly isn't much) I've only really read about degenerate gases. I am not sure if this is just my limited knowledge or due to some printable I don't know but if you have any information please feel free to link. I am curious.


Edits: A Corvette MAY survive as a ship a megaton detonation, but the direct impact are would not remain in tact at all.

The Tev shield system would be necessary to maintain high density degenerate armor (and would actually allow the use of degenerate gas as Armour) so I approve. Also noting the obvious resistance fighter shields have against these high yield explosions it would stand to reason that the Tev's integrated hull shielding would at least provide some resistance.

[Mars]

Molybdenum based degenerate matter is still very much capable of melting, especially considering that altering the energy levels in degenerate matter would cause the volume to increase (and by extension density decrease).

A) its sci fi fluff and
B) You can melt a neutron star?

Also out of curiosity, from what I've read on degenerate matter (which admittedly isn't much) I've only really read about degenerate gases. I am not sure if this is just my limited knowledge or due to some printable I don't know but if you have any information please feel free to link. I am curious.

I think being in such a high density forces the atoms into higher energy states or some such, so you may well be right.

EDIT:
I have no background in physics for the record, just stating what I think to be BP canon, IDK if its canon on the degenerate bit or not, but I heard it mentioned somewhere

[Contrition]

A neutron star is theoretically composed almost exclusively of neutrons so I don't think you can melt one (though I honestly have no idea) What I was trying to say is that if it is based on Molybdenum which does melt it would stand to reason that it would still melt if enough energy was applied.

What was sci-fi fluff? you were unclear

EDIT: lol my physics background is 1 year of base level college physics which just covers the basics really. I am perfectly capable of being wrong.

[Mars]

Nuclear scale yield absorbing armor in general.

[Contrition]

Well without it every capitol ship  engagement would have 1 bomber launching one bomb at a capitol ship and killing it. That would simply be no fun at all so you kind of have to ignore reality for the sake of game play.

[Klaustrophobia]

with no medium to propogate the shockwave in space, the destructive power of explosives is hugely reduced.

this is my own personal fluff to make sense of the canon fluff.  you may borrow it if you like.  no, i won't defend it in a physics argument.

i'm not much a fan of the degenerate hull idea.  i would think that would give the bulkheads their own gravitational pull.  (i won't defend that one either)