RWLT

[kilemall]

Otherwise known as the Radiation Weapon Limitation Treaty.

In preparation for a Space Hurts And It's Personal version of CT/HG space combat, I really got into quantifying what those weapons do, compartment by compartment, and the PA and MG weapons really stand out as horrible things.

The PA weapons of course can turn any orbital habitat or deep space station into a radioactive waste, potentially killing thousands or millions of civilians and much more cheaply per death then nuclear weapons.

And the Meson Gun can reach into any hidey hole or moon fortress and gut it from the inside out, and whatever survives the limited nuclear blast like effect is likely irradiated.

And other then the meson screen and the 'hull defense' there is no stopping them, unlike missiles, nuclear warheads, laser and energy weapons which have more or less defense to stop them.

The history of arms control on Earth, short as it is, does show that people will throw over arms treaties if there are no consequences, or will follow treaties, even ersatz/unspoken ones ala chemical weapons in WWII, if there ARE consequences.

Given that, I have to think there might be interest in such treaties or understandings out of self-interest, if not the OTU then YTU, if for no other reason then empires don't end up with 1000s of radiation veteran disability payments.

What do you think? Any possibility of RWLTs in your reality?

 

[savage]

Doubtful. There is a lot of radiation in space. I could see such weapons rated as military only in some 3I campaigns.

The weapons levels in the uwp suggests restrictions for whatever reasons.

 

[whartung]

PA tend to not work in atmospheres, so their effect is limited to space environments making the vast majority of civilians simply out of range. Obviously they could be used to render a large space habitat to junk, but the bulk of the populations are planetside, and thus mostly safe.

The real question about these weapons is how particularly radioactive they are, and how long lasting the effects.

If a Meson gun goes about not simply poking holes in the universe, but irradiating everything for years to come, then they likely would be more tightly regulated than they are.

But if they're mostly "clean", then it's less of an issue. It not clear what the radioactive after effects of these weapons are.

 

[Condottiere]

Nuclear dampers for a post conflict sweep.

It should be that you get diminishing returns from building Death Star sized spinal mounts, but you can squeeze a lot of power into just one shot hydrogenized warheads.

Biological warfare can evolve and get out of hand.

Chemicals would depend on how extensively they are used and their actual effect.

 

[DanDare]

Any real polity is going to restrict military grade weaponry within its own territory. Adjacent polities with roughly equal are likely to come to agreements about not hopelessly destroying infrastructure and killing civilians during conflict. And they may also adopt something like a Geneva Convention for the same reason the convention exists.

 

[McPerth]

Maybe a look to this thread may be useful for this discussion...

 

[kilemall]

Maybe a look to this thread may be useful for this discussion...

That is a fine high quality thread, touching on a lot of related issues I'm not specifically asking here, but in the same vein.

Most of the discussion in that thread was OTU, which is fine and in scope, but I am hoping to hear just as much or more from ATU/IMTU takes on the topic.

I agree that we do not know enough about the weapons to quantify the civilian aftereffects that would drive much of the interest in treaties.

However, the civilian habitat bit was an afterthought, I was thinking the radioactive mayhem amongst crew would end up being as repugnant as chemical weapons' use is today.

It occurs to me that while Nuclear Dampers could accelerate neutron shedding and thus reduce/eliminate radiation, it would have the side effect of either transmuting (which would be VERY bad for delicate high value electronics, engineering and/or weapons) or causing neutron embrittlement, thus rendering the habitat or ship safe for disposal or recycling but not reuse.

That result right there might provide a motivation for a treaty.

 

[kilemall]

It also occurred to me that Nuclear Damper technology is likely as much a candidate for the materials tech breakthrough of Superdense and Bonded Superdense armor as gravitics.

 

[kilemall]

Oh one other thought I wanted to bring up- there would need to be an alternative weapon system, I was thinking railguns.

These would not be mass drivers in the Striker artillery/point defense/Gauss weapon sense, but small caliber near-C large guns competitive with the established systems.

One for one price and power use as Particle Accelerators, instead of 1 surface and 1 radiation hit they would deal 2 surface hits.