On Fri, 22 Nov 2013, Onno Meyer wrote:
Johannes replied to me:
Antimatter power plants would really help my Heavy Grav Gunship, but
adding AM technology to the setting seems like a bad idea. Comments?
How much would it change? Not a rhetorical question as i don't know right
now what AM technology exists in Gurps.
AM bombs propably are not a big problem. They are a bigger version of
nuclear bombs, and thoose supposedly exist in the setting but they don't
play a big role IIRC. So if AM bombs (or the potential to build them)
exist somewhere in the background, i don't think it would be a big change.
Everything has to go exactly right to start a fission or fusion
reaction. There are limits how large or small the bombs can get,
too. By comparison, an antimatter storage bay will explode if
anything goes wrong with the containment field.
An antimatter-powered ship can self-destruct with a hammer blow
in the right place -- it takes just one fanatic. Or one unlucky
shot. According to the 3E rules, there is a 17% chance of a
fusion reactor explosion if a ship is disabled, and 98% for an
antimatter explosion.
Scaleable bombs can become a problem. Are small AM bombs actually
effective in bang for weight/volume if you include the containment field?
If you have something like a minimum size for containmentfields, you might
be better off with ordinary explosives.
AM storage facilities as target for military or terrorist strikes are an
other possiblity, i am not decided if that is good or bad for the setting.
The ship being in danger of exploding has it's advantages. It means there
is good reason not to build AM ships if you can help it, even if AM
technology exists.
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