[TrashMan]

Because it's highly unlikely any object can survive in the same system as a supernova.

[High Max]

;-)

[NGTM-1R]

Because it's highly unlikely any object can survive in the same system as a supernova.

I would again point out that any ship which can survive an antimatter warhead point-blank should not be immediately dismissed as being able to survive a supernova at 2AU.

Hell, we actually saw it happen with the Moloch and Deimos in the end cutscene.

[Mongoose]

Because it's highly unlikely any object can survive in the same system as a supernova.

When you're dealing with expanding volume, remember that the energy expended on any given area obeys an inverse-square relationship with the distance from the center.  An object located at 10 AU from the original star will receive a hundred times less energy than a similarly-sized object located at 1 AU from it.  We have no idea how far out into the system the Knossos was positioned, so for all we know, the supernova could have dealt it the equivalent of a warm spring breeze.

(Also, what NGTM-1R said.)

[Snail]

Let's just remember that Volition probably did not go through this much thought...

[TrashMan]

Because it's highly unlikely any object can survive in the same system as a supernova.

I would again point out that any ship which can survive an antimatter warhead point-blank should not be immediately dismissed as being able to survive a supernova at 2AU.

Hell, we actually saw it happen with the Moloch and Deimos in the end cutscene.

You kidding me?
PLANETS were destroyed. PLANETS.

Also, the Moloch and the Deimos didn't survive. Watch the cutscene again.

[The E]

Yeah, it looks like the Deimos and Moloch got taken out by EMP, then shattered by the oncoming wall of plasma.

[Mongoose]

You kidding me?
PLANETS were destroyed. PLANETS.

Keep in mind that this is the same cutscene which appears to show a supernova shockwave moving at many times the speed of light.  I wouldn't exactly look to it for scientific veracity.

[NGTM-1R]

PLANETS were destroyed. PLANETS.

Also, the Moloch and the Deimos didn't survive. Watch the cutscene again.

And a Harbinger will crack a planetary crust too, plus the planets were closer-in. As Mongoose noted, the inverse square law called.

Yeah, it looks like the Deimos and Moloch got taken out by EMP, then shattered by the oncoming wall of plasma.

Yes, because the EMP would be depicted as orange. Or there would be an EMP at all. Or it would cause the ships to rotate and drift like a physical shockwave. Or the EMP destroyed the planets!

There are many ways to interpret that scene but EMP isn't really one of them.

[General Battuta]

I did some work with supernova physics a while back and as I recall there's an initial energy release followed by a much more catastrophic one afterwards. I don't remember the mechanisms or the timescales, though.

[The E]

IIRC, there's an x-ray pulse, followed by a neutrino wave, followed by stellar matter.

[General Battuta]

That sounds about right. I wonder whether the first shockwave was meant to be the EMP or the neutrino pulse (which I believe would be dense enough to do plenty of damage.)

Oh and NGTM-1R there would definitely be an EMP from a supernova. It just probably wouldn't behave in the way that you're thinking of.

[High Max]

;-)

[Kopachris]

That sounds about right. I wonder whether the first shockwave was meant to be the EMP or the neutrino pulse (which I believe would be dense enough to do plenty of damage.)

Oh and NGTM-1R there would definitely be an EMP from a supernova. It just probably wouldn't behave in the way that you're thinking of.

Neutrinos go through practically everything without leaving a trace.  They don't interact very well with normal matter, hence "neutrino".  They're also nearly massless and thus travel close to the speed of light.  The EMP, being mere electromagnet waves (i.e., light) would travel at exactly the speed of light (well, duh) and so would of course arrive before the neutrinos.

[General Battuta]

That sounds about right. I wonder whether the first shockwave was meant to be the EMP or the neutrino pulse (which I believe would be dense enough to do plenty of damage.)

Oh and NGTM-1R there would definitely be an EMP from a supernova. It just probably wouldn't behave in the way that you're thinking of.

Neutrinos go through practically everything without leaving a trace.  They don't interact very well with normal matter, hence "neutrino".  They're also nearly massless and thus travel close to the speed of light.  The EMP, being mere electromagnet waves (i.e., light) would travel at exactly the speed of light (well, duh) and so would of course arrive before the neutrinos.

I know very well what neutrinos are, as you should probably be able to tell from the fact that we're having a coherent discussion about core collapse supernovas.

Neutrinos are indeed generally non-interactive. At this density, however, the neutrino pulse is devastating nonetheless because even the small proportion that do interact with matter are enough to wreak havoc. A significant percentage of the mass of the star goes into the neutrino burst, and in fact if I recall correctly, the neutrino wave alone may be enough to cause extinction events in nearby star systems.

The question here is not which pulse would arrive first. It is whether :V: intended that first shockwave to be the EM pulse or the neutrino pulse.

[Timerlane]

IIRC, the first shockwave visibly stripped the 'rings' off a planet, so it was something with some kind of mass.

[High Max]

;-)

[NGTM-1R]

IIRC, the first shockwave visibly stripped the 'rings' off a planet, so it was something with some kind of mass.

The first shockwave blew up the planet.

[General Battuta]

IIRC, the first shockwave visibly stripped the 'rings' off a planet, so it was something with some kind of mass.

The first shockwave blew up the planet.

Not at all, they're clearly still intact even after it passes.

[High Max]

;-)