Now, Dolash has just basically split the dreadnought in half, and it is falling, or has fallen into the hole. Now the force of the dreadnought impacting the ground could cause tunnel collapses all by it's self, but considering what happens in outer space, imagine what would happen in the atmosphere when the reactor core in the dreadnought goes critical.
The effect would be something along the lines of a several hundred megaton bomb going off, and would either A) Destroy the city outright, B) Generate ground quakes of sufficent force to collapse all the caves and caverns and bury everyone alive, plus C) The radiation from the blast would be enough to make that part of the planet uninhabitable for the next thousand years or so.
I disagree with the fact that the Reactor Core will go critical. Odds are that every time a ship is blown up the Reactor Core does not go critical. There would be a lot of shielding etc. In fact in most of the books they discuss floating hulks in battles.
Certainly the case - if every reactor exploded like that, all the time, then I imagine a single battle above a planet would soon turn that planet uninhabitable by all the radiation. Not to mention the use of ships with such power sources in the atmosphere. I also don't think each reactor comes with a "Big red button" that you press, and the whole thing explodes. All in all, the chance of the thing exploding like that is rather small, compared to the near-certainty of explosions if they kept firing.
Besides, couldn't such a move be construed as ramming? Just sending your ships in and whacking them into things until the reactor explodes? I remember I once threatened to do that to get out of a tight spot in a space battle, and was told it was not allowed.
No, just because a ship is destroyed does not mean its reactor will explode.
That would depend on where it had been hit, etc...
Things that explode by default when they simply veer off course or crash is mainly the result of Hollywood.
But like I said, depends on how it was damaged, if its coolant system was damaged (for example) , and if the reactor had time enough to reach critical mass etc... then yes probably, otherwise probably not.
Well, the ship was cut in half amidships, so it's cooler lines would definitly be cut, plus it's in atmosphere, so there would be plenty of oxygen avilable to fuel an explosion.
And even if the reactor doesn't explode, the fireball from all the other explosions and stuff would be sufficent to suck the oxygen out of the tunnels.
If by tunnel you mean the entire undgerground city, the explosions would have to be big enough to probably destroy the city. Not to mention there's now a hole in the ceiling plus probably other sources of oxygen built in.
Also, note that the ship's reactor probably just got blasted to bits instead of provoked and overheated until it blew, because of all the shooting down on to the ship that was going on. A broken reactor is unlikely to explode.
The ban on ramming was instituted back when we had a meterage system... and I think it was designed to limit the disproportionate power that ramming would have lent to small ships.
However, in the new TRF, in which our battle system is more fluid, I think ramming should SOMETIMES be allowed.
Ramming SHOULD NOT become a standard tactic... but I think in certian occassions ramming would not be out of the question. It happened several of times in Star Wars cannon... and I can't see it as highly improbable if for example a Cree-Ar vessel rammed another ship that was trying to board it.. or if a GLF squad is on a suicide mission or something to that effect.
Even the Coalition could possibly employ ramming- if by sacrificing a ship they could save thousands of lives- though I don't think it should become a mainstay tactic.
Anyway... feel free to go back to useful conversation.
Ramming was banned if I recall in the first big TNA/TNO/TRE/NR war because as Brutus said they gave disproportianate power to smaller ships. Also there was a problem that Chadd I believe Rped like three of his star destroyers ramming the TNA ESD and the odds of having three suicidal captains and 3 suicidal crews were very unlikely. Also people would ram ships with ESD's and be like, its shields are so strong it can take it. It was just a giant hassle.
Yes, but there are I think certain factors to take in hand to consider the fact that ramming is more possible now. The thing is as you state Marth, no one is that suicidal. However, certain factions my have ways to actually do it, like the Union since we have the lack of moral fiber as well as soldiers who don't care about their own lives.
I think it all actually depends on the faction there. The GC would never do it because they'd never commit suicide like that. TNO likely wouldn't do it either because no Imperial is that fanatical. But take into account those with fanatics in their employ and they have a more viable option, for the rare occasion to use it.
