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Nukes in Star Wars

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Rules: U

        * All nukes are considered to be in capital-scale

                      Physical Damage           Blast Radius
        Short Range : Max Damage                1D x 1000 m
        Medium Range: Max Damage - 1D           2D x 1000 m
        Long Range  : Max Damage - 2D           3D x 1000 m

                      Ionization Damage         Blast Radius
        Short Range : Max Damage/2              2D x 1000 m
        Medium Range: Max Damage/2 - 1D         4D x 1000 m
        Long Range  : Max Damage/2 - 2D         6D x 1000 m

        Note: Ionization damage can also be known as EMP, or Electro-
              Magnetic Pulse, which only affects electronics.
              Ray/Energy shielding does not protect against this type
              of damage


Short- and Long-term radiation effects on characters:

Regarding short-term radiation effects, take the maximum damage value
of the warhead, Convert it to character scale and consider that to be
the number of radiation damage dice to roll against the characters
strength. Armor and spacesuits can protect against radiation but must
be completely sealed to be of any use. Take the armor's strength code
to resist physical attacks and add it to the character's strength.

How much radiation that remains after some time is up to the gamemaster,
since that depends on local conditions such as terrain, climate, if the
nuke detonated in the air or on the ground and so on.


Regarding how weapons handle radiation, se the following quotes from
page 27, Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim.

"While most modern weapons are quite resistant to radiation, there are
limits, and all radiation zones above grade four causes continuous
malfunctions in most powered weapons."

"Thermal detonators are almost never used, as their already notorious
volatility is made much worse by strong radiation"

The first quote suggest the following table:
Radiation Zone, Grade 1: 1D radiation damage, character scale.
Radiation Zone, Grade 2: 2D radiation damage, character scale.
and so on.


Using some source materials from my time in the armed forces here in
Sweden, I managed to collect the following facts:

* A detonating nuke of 10 KT gives un-protected humans an initial dose
  of 100 rad within a blast radius of 1.5 km, and 400 rad within a blast
  radius of 1.3 km.

* A 1 MT nuke gives corresponding doses within 2.5 and 2.1 km.

* Between 300 to 400 rad is how much a human can take and survive in the
  short term, but even doses around 100 rad gives radiation sickness.
  A dose of 300 rad has a lethality of 50% within 6 weeks, while 400 rad
  has a lethality of 90% within 3 weeks.

I suggest that 1D rad damage, character scale, is about 100 rad. This
gives us the following system for radiation sickness:

Radiation sickness means that the character womits, loses hair, suffers
from burns.

Radiation sickness occurs only if the character has been damaged, in
other words if radiation damage is higher than strength+armor, use the
following table:

Rad damage      Symptoms                        Fully healed
1D              within 6 hours, lasts 1 day     within 1 month
2D              within 6 hours, lasts 1 day     within 2 months
3D              within 6 hours, lasts 1 day     within 3 months
4D              Within 2 to 4 hours             Never, needs treatment

Notes: Fully healed means that the character has naturally recovered
       from radiation sickness, but could in the future suffer from
       ill effects such as cancer.
       Never, needs treatment means that the character must have medical
       help to recover from radiation sickness.

       Use the normal damage table found in the rule book to find any
       penalty dice, example_: stunned suffers -1D to all actions etc.





Copyright © 1997 Urban Lundqvist 

http://www.sdf.luth.se/~luna



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