'Til they glow in the dark...

The draft of the rules for nukes. Yeah, that's right nukes. The little ones are not too bad, but the bigger ones don't really fit on the table without a crap load of blue on blue going on. We've barely used these. The last game we played had the Marines tossing .1kt tac missiles at the advancing Zho. This is really where PD and damper systems earn their costs back.

These are very much subject to revision. I'm already thinking the damper rules need some tweeks.

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Nuclear Weapons

At the scale of the game typically modeled, nuclear weapons are truly ‘overkill’ weapons. Even though the Imperial “rules of war” are designed to restrict their use, when two Empires clash, all bets are off. Nukes can be scaled down to relatively small sizes (as small as 0.1kiloton) with devastating, though limited effects.

Effects of nuclear weapons:

Yield	Crater	Induced	Primary	Secondary	Tertiary
.1	1	2	1	5	10
.5	1	2	2	8	16
1	2	2	3	11	21

Yield: Yield of the weapon in kilotons.

Crater: Size of the crater in inches

Induced: After detonation, the area remains within the tertiary blast radius is contaminated with induced radiation for 15 turns. After that time, only the are listed as induced radtion is effected. Non-protected personnel that remain in an area of induced radiation for two turns roll on the wound table for the effects of radiation sickness. Protected troops include, combat environment suits, combat armor, battledress, vacc suits and sealed-environment vehicles.

Primary: Radius in inches of the primary blast zone. All figures and vehicle models touching the primary blast zone are KIA and removed from play.

Secondary: Radius in inches of the secondary blast zone. All units within this zone suffer a firepower attack of 8D8. Vehicles use deck armor. No cover modifiers are allowed.

Tertiary: Radius in inches of the tertiary blast zone. All units within this zone suffer a firepower attack of 6D6. Cover modifiers are allowed.

Nuclear Dampers

Technology offers a solution to the problem of nuclear weapons – the nuclear damper. Suppressing the strong nuclear force, the dampers can render a nuclear weapon inert and harmless. If a force has nuclear dampers available, a TQ check is made against each nuclear round fired. A success result indicates the round has been neutralized.

The roll is modified by the tech level of the damping equipment.

TL3 (TL15)   +3 to TQ roll

TL2 (TL 14)  +2 to TQ roll

TL1 (TL 13)  +0 to TQ roll

In addition, a nuclear damper may be used to neutralize an irradiated area on the battlefield. A successful TQ result means that the irradiated area is rendered permanently safe.

A damper can attack a nuclear weapon equipped unit. A successful result indicates that all nuclear rounds present in that unit are neutralized and must be replaced before they can be used.