The Lurker said:
Publishers of D&D wouldn't know magic if it came up and bit them on their collective ass.
Full Metal Alchemist
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Publishers of D&D wouldn't know magic if it came up and bit them on their collective ass.
This is a very subjective arguement, but I'll weigh in.
The problem with magic vs tech is logistics, some people may handle magic, but anyone properly trained can use tech.
The issue where magic reigns supreme is twofold, Sympathic magic that doesn't affect the item, but the user of the item. (voodoo dolls, the jedi mind trick, etc)
and magical brinkmanship, ( a group of magicians cast impersonate on themselves, and summon demons in random population centers)
so If a genocidal war between tech users/magic users were to ever occur, the tech side would very likely claim all the victories but could never rest easy again for fear that a few magic users slipped the net.
all hail Discordia, and hail Eris
The problem with magic vs tech is logistics, some people may handle magic, but anyone properly trained can use tech.
The issue where magic reigns supreme is twofold, Sympathic magic that doesn't affect the item, but the user of the item. (voodoo dolls, the jedi mind trick, etc)
and magical brinkmanship, ( a group of magicians cast impersonate on themselves, and summon demons in random population centers)
so If a genocidal war between tech users/magic users were to ever occur, the tech side would very likely claim all the victories but could never rest easy again for fear that a few magic users slipped the net.
all hail Discordia, and hail Eris
If I was going to use a nuclear handgrenade, I wouldn't. But if I did, I would use californium in polystyrene. You don't get too much yield from a thermal fission mode because it blows apart much too fast, but it's a lot lighter than a fast fission bomb.Romulus Augustulus said:
Use a very good gas mask to stop alpha and beta particles from getting into your lungs. Nuclepore membranes?
wkwillis said:
I'd use a Davy Crockett with a .45 kt warhead. Bye bye, dragon!
pisces74 said:
Nope. Not enough radiation emitted. The .45kt warhead, while effective, is tiny. Just a fairly large blast and a tiny amount of radioactive contamination...nothing harmful at all.
except to whichever poor sucker has the thing land in the latrine with him....Romulus Augustulus said:
so yeah, as was said above-- magic vs tech is a lot like military ahrdware, in that sometimes the machine does the work rather than the people-- say taking ten years to train a guy to fight with lance and bow on horseback, versus taking a week to train fifty guys with crossbows or muskets, or mass-producing clones and droids to oppose Jedi.....
The Lurker said:except to whichever poor sucker has the thing land in the latrine with him....
so yeah, as was said above-- magic vs tech is a lot like military ahrdware, in that sometimes the machine does the work rather than the people-- say taking ten years to train a guy to fight with lance and bow on horseback, versus taking a week to train fifty guys with crossbows or muskets, or mass-producing clones and droids to oppose Jedi.....
Nah. You'd clear the area around the dragon. The Davy Crockett was designed to temporarily render small areas uninhabitable for 24-48 hours (unless those were larger tacnukes?) so that NATO would have some time to rally and muster to prepare for the Soviet attack...
http://www.guntruck.com/DavyCrockett.html here's some info on the thing.... smallish bang and a lot of radiation seems the order of the day indeed.Romulus Augustulus said:
NapoleonXIV
Banned
The Lurker said:except to whichever poor sucker has the thing land in the latrine with him....
so yeah, as was said above-- magic vs tech is a lot like military ahrdware, in that sometimes the machine does the work rather than the people-- say taking ten years to train a guy to fight with lance and bow on horseback, versus taking a week to train fifty guys with crossbows or muskets, or mass-producing clones and droids to oppose Jedi.....
The one factor you all seem to be forgetting is that the magic makes the tech not work. If you shoot a .45Kt warhead and it turns into a giant velvet picture of Elvis as it hits....
NapoleonXIV said:
No it doesn't. Magic is actually in many ways more limited than technology...it's very taxing on the spellcaster for starters. And no, it won't. The dragon will die, being blown to pieces and maybe irradiated as well.
Also, interesting link on the Crockett, Lurker. We're assuming everyone pulls back significantly...and I'm just using the small warhead as an example. Yes, prompt radiation, but it does fade away relatively quickly, especially with active decontamination efforts, and you could probably use it against a dragon fairly effectually.
Maybe you'd be better off using a B61, though...
Anyway, point is, nukes vs. dragons goes to the nukes, with the dragons being vaporized.
With the taxing of the spellcasters, that depends on the person writing the story.
Romulus Augustulus said:
well, granted-- the Crockett WAS designed 50-odd years ago and you could probably stick the thing on a much more efficient rocket nowadays...
For that matter, I wonder if, say, Sarin or VX or GB gas would work on magical critters? probably dpends on whether Balrogs or orcs orwhatever actually HAVE nervous systems and lungs and so on that can be affected by nerve and blister agents and so on.... Fuel-air explosives would probably work a charm against a crowd of charging warg riders, I bet....
The Lurker said:
Well, we're assuming orcs, etc. are mammals, and that means their nervous systems are pretty similar, so I'd say probably. But have a heavy weapons squad with XM-214s and some sort of rapid-fire mortar launching canister shot mounted on an APC with plenty of ammunition if you somehow miss probably.
yeah, but they might also NOT be mammals......balrog, for example.Romulus Augustulus said:
The Lurker said:
Even if they aren't, they're still carbon-based and probably have nervous systems similar enough to be affected.
And if nerve gas doesn't work, out comes the phosgene and the actual poisonous lung-damaging agents...hell, maybe Lewisiste will fly again!
'sfunny thing.... Lewisite was discovered in 1918 at the place I got my MA, the Catholic Umiversity of America in Washington DC. They used to have a chemical weapons lab there during WWI, but never got rid of all the stuff they left behind there until rather recently.Romulus Augustulus said:
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