Per High Guard, the nuclear damper appears at TL12, its job to, "suppress the strong nuclear force, making atomic nuclei shed neutrons at low energy levels and rendering fission warheads useless." The TL12 variant is kinda big and lunky, they get a good deal smaller (and more effective, if power hungry)after that.
Striker introduces battlefield nuclear dampers at TL13 - a good deal smaller and probably shorter ranged. The little battlefield one takes 250 Mw (1 High Guard EP) each, with two needed for battlefield applications. Striker also introduces damper boxes: boxes as small as 4 cubic meters that enhance the strong nuclear force to make radioactives more stable, while they're in the box. I don't see mention of power consumption for those.
And on to a semi-related subject: fusion. High Guard introduces an advance in fusion tech at TL13: smaller reactors.
Now, no amount of suppressing of strong nuclear forces is going to make a plain ol' hydrogen atom less stable. However, is it conceivable that you can make hydrogen more willing to fuse by fiddling with the strong nuclear force? Can that form the basis of a more efficient fusion plant?
And ... the damper is designed to neutralize nukes with "only a fraction of a second" exposure. I'm not sure if it can be made to encounter the plasma bottle of a maneuvering ship for more than a fraction of a second - but what would happen in that fraction? Would it make the plant splutter briefly, making the hydrogen require a slightly higher temp to fuse and perhaps resulting in a briefly lower energy output? What impact, if any, would that flicker have on the plant, or would the pilot just say, "Hey, that was a damper," and go on about his business with no change other than maybe the realization that his missile turret's nukes had just been neutralized?
Striker introduces battlefield nuclear dampers at TL13 - a good deal smaller and probably shorter ranged. The little battlefield one takes 250 Mw (1 High Guard EP) each, with two needed for battlefield applications. Striker also introduces damper boxes: boxes as small as 4 cubic meters that enhance the strong nuclear force to make radioactives more stable, while they're in the box. I don't see mention of power consumption for those.
And on to a semi-related subject: fusion. High Guard introduces an advance in fusion tech at TL13: smaller reactors.
Now, no amount of suppressing of strong nuclear forces is going to make a plain ol' hydrogen atom less stable. However, is it conceivable that you can make hydrogen more willing to fuse by fiddling with the strong nuclear force? Can that form the basis of a more efficient fusion plant?
And ... the damper is designed to neutralize nukes with "only a fraction of a second" exposure. I'm not sure if it can be made to encounter the plasma bottle of a maneuvering ship for more than a fraction of a second - but what would happen in that fraction? Would it make the plant splutter briefly, making the hydrogen require a slightly higher temp to fuse and perhaps resulting in a briefly lower energy output? What impact, if any, would that flicker have on the plant, or would the pilot just say, "Hey, that was a damper," and go on about his business with no change other than maybe the realization that his missile turret's nukes had just been neutralized?
