Research is showing it is possible to refract gamma rays:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120504110028.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120504110028.htm
Gamma Ray Lasers a possibility?
- Thread starter Dominator
- Start date
Nuclear weapons are illegal in the Imperium (only the Imperium itself
devil is excluded from this).Nuclear weapons are illegal in the Imperium (only the Imperium itself
You con't need nuclear weapons to use gamma rays, though, do you?
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Refraction of gamma rays is not the same as producing gamma ray lasers, it's the same as the difference between burning a fly's wings off with a magnifying glass and strong sunlight versus a visible frequency laser beam.
Gamma rays themselves are part of nuclear radiation (one of three main types), so I think that something that produces them would be counted as "radioactive" and thus "nuclear weapon".
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
When does an X-ray become a gamma ray?
Answer - it doesn't but their energies and frequencies overlap.
X-rays can be produced by electrons that have frequencies in the gamma part of the ems.
Answer - it doesn't but their energies and frequencies overlap.
X-rays can be produced by electrons that have frequencies in the gamma part of the ems.
This was discussed also some months ago in a thread about the fact FGMP throw a focused nuclear explosion in MGT, releasing radiation in the process.
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=24863
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No, they are not.
Nuclear weapons are illegal in the Imperium (only the Imperium itself
As discussed on the other thread, the problem is what is considered nuclear weapon, but rules say quite clear they are illegal, except for the Imperium itself (as 77topaz says):
(emphasis is mine)
Traveller has always been about wheels within wheels, an aspect which manifests itself in deliberate dichotomy between what we are told and what we are shown. Very often, what we are told about something is not what we are shown about it.
Of course, this dichotomy is necessarily subtle and any appreciation of it depends on the reader's ability to comprehend that, or any, subtlety.
As for the so-called "Imperial Rules of War" let me suggest you compare what is written about them with what we are shown in The Traveller Adventure, Aces and Eights, Thunder on Zyra, or even MT's own Rebellion setting among dozens of other examples.
Just that something is illegal des not mean there's none arround. Ask any drugs division cop...
About the sources you cite, I regret to say I have no access to TTA (and not only regret that just now
), about Aces and Eights and Thunder on Zira, IIRC, the owners (and would be users) of those nukes knew they were acting with illegal weapons. In the Thunder on Zira they want to profit that the Imperial attention is elsewhere (FFW is being fought) or they wouldn't dare to take those weapons with them (about Aces and Eights, I don't remeber it so well, and I have no access to my books right now).
About the Rebellion setting in MT, HT makes clear that the starmercs began to load their weapons with nukes once they saw Imperial Law disintegrating and they considered themselves the only defenders of the Law, effectively accepting the Imperium was out of play, if not outright dead. In such a situation, they may well be illegal, but no law is in force if there is no efective force to back it.
About the sources you cite, I regret to say I have no access to TTA (and not only regret that just now
), about Aces and Eights and Thunder on Zira, IIRC, the owners (and would be users) of those nukes knew they were acting with illegal weapons. In the Thunder on Zira they want to profit that the Imperial attention is elsewhere (FFW is being fought) or they wouldn't dare to take those weapons with them (about Aces and Eights, I don't remeber it so well, and I have no access to my books right now). About the Rebellion setting in MT, HT makes clear that the starmercs began to load their weapons with nukes once they saw Imperial Law disintegrating and they considered themselves the only defenders of the Law, effectively accepting the Imperium was out of play, if not outright dead. In such a situation, they may well be illegal, but no law is in force if there is no efective force to back it.
And calling something a "law" doesn't mean it is one or even that it is routinely enforced, as you'll see below...
Too bad. After reading TTA and especially the section concerning trade wars, uou might have noticed the difference between what you've told and what you're shown.
The persons who violated the so-called Imperial Rules of War in Aced and Eights now rule the planet in question, which begs the question of why the Imperium didn't enforce it's own "laws" when it's own troops were the ones being killed.
Could it be that the "laws" aren't laws at all? Could it be that those "laws" are just a set of precedents which have been used in the past to explain away Imperial intervention into those areas where the Imperium also claims it has no desire to intervene; i.e. internal planetary affairs?
Once again, the is a subtlety at work here which isn't appreciated by those claiming the Imperium has hundreds of "Atom Bomb Cops" busily at work in every subsector.
And you forgot that in at least one (IIRC in two) tickets in CT:Bk4 Mercenary there is a specification in the ticket description that no nuclear weapons will be used, so hinting that its use is not always discarded.
I agree with you that the Imperial Laws of War are less enforced than most think, and are mostly a legal excuse to intervene when the Imperium, or better said its representatives, either bureaucracy (Imperial Nobles) or military (Imperial Navy) decides is to their interest to do it. That's why they are so vague and unclear (the forbidding or nuclear weapons in the only thing they say clearly, and, as we've seen, not always enforced).
But here we would enter again in the discusion about laws vs men government...
I agree with you that the Imperial Laws of War are less enforced than most think, and are mostly a legal excuse to intervene when the Imperium, or better said its representatives, either bureaucracy (Imperial Nobles) or military (Imperial Navy) decides is to their interest to do it. That's why they are so vague and unclear (the forbidding or nuclear weapons in the only thing they say clearly, and, as we've seen, not always enforced).
But here we would enter again in the discusion about laws vs men government...
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BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Then according to this, possession and use of FGMP's by anyone other than Imperial troops in illegal.
Is this reflected in the rest of the MT rules, equipment, and setting info?
No it isn't, hence my blathering on about what we're told versus what we're shown.
It's rather odd that someone would honestly quote a MT Library Data entry regarding the Imperial Rules of War when, in MT, there is no longer an Imperium...
In MT, AFAIK, fusion weapons don't release radiation in such an amount as to be dangerous (they don't do radiation damage of any kind), so it cannot be considered a nuclear weapon.
About MGT, where ship sized fusion weapons roll on the readiation damage and FGMP must be used in Battledress to avoid the radiation damage on its user... wellm that was already discussed on the other thread I quoted.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
IMO, the purpose of banning nuclear weapons is actually to ban nuclear WMDs so that they don't turn economically viable planets into radioactive wastelands that can't pay their taxes. I doubt if the Imperium would be worried about the effects of a couple of FGMPs or Grasers (especially if they don't benefit from group hits).
Except insofar as they are state of the art military weapons and their presence outside of the Imperial Stormtroopers is a blatant indication of high-level leaks and arms smuggling. I dare say if Iran had fielded a few F-117s 20 years ago, the USAF would have been very interested to know where they got them...
Except insofar as they are state of the art military weapons and their presence outside of the Imperial Stormtroopers is a blatant indication of high-level leaks and arms smuggling. I dare say if Iran had fielded a few F-117s 20 years ago, the USAF would have been very interested to know where they got them...
Given the canonical existence of planetary armies, fleets, and other PDF assets - none of which are funded, operated, or otherwise controlled by the Imperium - it is laughable to presume that a general prohibition regarding nuclear weaponry exists within the Imperium, especially for Imperial member worlds along the borders with the Zhodani, Vargr, and Solomani to name just a few.
Planetary forces simply must have nuclear weapons in order to match those deployed by the Imperium's enemies and, if planetary forces have nuclear weapons, just what does that say about the so-called "Imperial Laws of War" and the alleged illegality of nuclear weapons outside of Imperial control?
Once again, there is what we are told in canon, what we are shown in canon, and the subtleties in canon we are expected to derive from that dichotomy.
Personally, I don't think FGMPs are really 'nuclear weapons'. It doesn't matter how much radiation you release, that doesn't make it a nuclear weapon. I suppose, since there's actual fusion going on with the FGMP, you could argue that it really is a nuclear weapon, but that comes down to how it's defined.
Well, IIRC, the prohibition is on the use of nuclear weapons, not the possession. And I think MT, at least, specifies that the Imperial Rules of War don't apply to wars that aren't internal to the Imperium.
