More Planet-Killer Weapons

Heya guys, i am just amazed by the idea of having the extraterestrial objects in play, so i started thinking about other ways, awesome looking yet still realistic, how to use the potential of Celestial Warfare to unleash true havoc upon the solar systems!

Itry as much as i can to stick to the Developer´s vision of the cool looking RTS with massive explosions and never before seen scale, not a physics simulator, therefore these ideas do not involve any more complex calculations than original idea of the creators, the self propelled asteroid.

1. Controlled Solar Super-Eruption


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The power of the Star is uncomprehencable. Yet the start itself is almost untouchable, we could still use its power to burn our foes to ashes. Or ourselves, if we calculated it bad.

Gameplay impact:
Yet not as effective as self-proppeled giant asteroid, this could be still the weapon capable of turning the tide of battle into your favor. The main charasterictis of the Solar SuperEruption is that it hits only one side of the planet/moon/asteroid, the current night side will remain intact.

The effect of the burst itself will cause Electromagnetic induction inside elecronic circuits, overloading the energy network, causing temporal, but massive blackout. Generators offline, shields down, mechs immobilized, aircrafts falling from the sky.

Much greater effect will have the eruption of evyrything outside the protective electromagnetical field of the planet. Exposed orbital stations and moon bases will burn to the ground under the preassure of devastatic solar winds.

But how to evoke such a forcefull event? There might be several ways how to trigger SuperEruption: Asteroid impact into Star´s atmosphere, specialized heavy-element charge or some sort of distant electromagnetic whirpool projector, lietrally sucking the plasma out of sun.

Technical impact:
I think that sun eruption would be pretty easy to added into the game, not requiing more physical simlations that gravitational slignshot and few graphical effects of the sun mass flowing to the space. However, hitting only the day side of the planet/moon might be tricky.


2. Meteor Tractor


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Propelling L.A.-sized rock is cool, bu also expensive. Player forced to exile the base planet should be also able to cause some damage from safe distance to reclaim lost ground, but cheap enough to be used by recently devastated economics of the exiled player.

Gameplay Impact:
The solution is construcion of repeatedly-usable spacecraft, pulling small asteroids from their orbit to the collision course. Tractor itself, however, should be fragile and requies some time before being able to send another rock to the bad guy´s base. Also, small mateor is pretty easy to destroy, and highly inaccurate due to low mass. Also can you imagine better usage of mining-depleted piece of rock?

Technical Impact:
Almost zero, just a smaller version of the big asteroid, probably most difficult thing on this suggestion to be implemented is Meteor Tractor model.


3. Planet Core Destabilization


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There is another way to harness the power of the sun than throwing nukes on its face, simply create rift in the protective magnetosphere of the planet and laugh at the roasting crispy opponent.

Gameplay Impact:
Ever wanted to use power of the universe to destroy your opponents without leaving your planet? Take giant drill, reach the planet´s molten core, and place some neat device inside to controll the rotation, followed by the magnetosphere. Then create a rift in the magnetosphere to expose enemy base to the devastating solar winds. But be carefull! Overusage could lead to the uncontrollable and unreversible destabilization of the core, possibly leading to the complete inhabittable surface of the planet...

Technical Impact: This one could sound tricky, but in fact its a pretty usual superweapon with Area-of-effect capabilities. The coolest thing is what could happen if its overused. Or imagine its cooperation with Solar Eruption, is somebody curious how the hell looks like?


PS: Please forgive me gramatical and keyboard fails, so please discuss the ideas, not the form, thank you.

Re: Celestial Warfare Suggestions

4. Gravity Well Generator


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So, you are loosing battle for one planet, and you have backup base, but you dont want to give the planet to the opponent, but you have not yet finished your KEW. What about to leave here a surprise for him before evacuating?

Gameplay Impact:
Simple little device, multyplying the mass of the planet where it is build on, converting it into meteor magnet. If left to work long enough, also moon could change their trajectories...Building the Gravity well should be pretty cheap invesment, but requies solid portion of power to keep up running. Its fast deployment could be also used for secret construction on the enemy planet, revealing its purpose when its too late.

Technical Imapct:
To simplyfy the physics as much as possible, instead of regular gravity simulation, simple expanding sphere of effect could be used. At first, "level 1" invisible sphere will start to grow from he planet outwards, pulling smallest asteroids slowly to the collision trajectory (probably scripted). When the sphere reach preset scale (lets say 0,5 AU). second one ("level 2") will start to grow, pulling to planet a bit bigger asteroids. Repeaing this will make the illusion of real growing gravity well. A the end, even moon (if planet have one) will be pulled into the spiral of death.

Destroying the well generator (or cutting it off the power source) will immidiatelly cancel the spheres, but already pulled objects will finish their course anyway.

5. Dimensional Rift


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So far we were talking about purging the surface of the planet, bu if you want to get rid of it forewer, you have to use much, much bigger gun. Opening the rift in timespace into different dimension, with completely different physical laws will eradicate anything standing in its way.

Gameplay Impact:
Also known as Doomsday Weapon, would be in a form of a rocket, providing it much more strageic uses. Thats because impact on the surface will not destroy the planet, but create giant and very deep canyon, however in random direction. To destroy planet, the weapon must be combined with another superweapon (Planet Core Destabilizer or similar drill weapon). Upon reaching the planet core, detonation will tear whole planet apart.

Technical Impact:
Giant serface modification with random rotation should not be a problem, but Planet-tearing could be. Not because planet itself, more because of it moons and other satelites, which would be probably thrown into deeps of space, or will fall into the sun.

There should be several weapons affecting the planet. But i think very few of them should result in a planetwide catastrophe. Maby you only want to blow up the side of the planet where you opponent is. Things like orbiting satellites with death rays would be nice. Only affecting a region and not the entire planet. Also several planetkillingweapons would be redundant as players would only use the most effective one and ignore the others.

Soler Eruption for example affect only one side of the planet. Also those weapons are ment to be used in different situations, for example: Meteor Tractor when low on funds, Gravity Well when losing the planet, Solar Eruption to stun enemy and gain time...

Actually what seems to be the core idea is the use of meteors of various sizes, Rather than multiple weapons. it makes it simpler to manage, track and counter the weapons that will kill you into pieces.

I like the solar eruption idea, but I'd like to add something to it. Solar flares are huge, and the entire thing won't be the planet. I'd say make it so that these also affect friendly units that it hits. Imagine it: the attackers suddenly retreat from the planet and it's orbit. Why did they retreat? Did you win? Then comes the solar flare

This is my favorite planet killing weapon:

I don't in principle oppose other planet killing weapons... But I'd rather not see the game solely turn into a race to destroy every planet in a solar system. Because if these are all "I win" buttons, I think that will turn a lot of people off, especially the first several times they play the get crushed by giant doom weapons.

Agreed. I think the massive meteor impact should be basically the highest-end of the planet-scale weapons, with other weapons (like a core detonation) having non-KT-event effects (such as reshaping terrain and causing tsunamis that wash your lighter units away).

Only one weapon suggested here is capable of destroying the planet like KEW, others only play with the potential given by idea of the game itself. I think that play on the solar system map with only one possibility how to destroy / damage planet is the same waste of potential like playing chess only with pawn (infantry, i am not sure with this translation) figures.

I really like the "kill everything on this hemisphere" solar flare idea.

Also in the style of homeworld there should be a weapon that destroys a planets atmosphere.

Really good idea, problem is that i assume that most of the units will be robots or tanks and similar machines, so they would probably not even notice it is gone

What would that achieve exactly?

No more aircraft.

You forgot to add a none of the above option to your poll.

In my opinion the only planet killing weapon should be an asteroid, since you're basically throwing away all resources you've put into it and all resources you might've gotten out of it.

Some aircraft would be excluded, but many would probably fly using thrusters. (Or antigravity, who knows what the future brings)

Probably most aircraft. Atmospheric lift is still a probably will always be the most efficient method of flight. If you had 'thrusters' powerful enough to launch anything around at low altitudes it would stand to reason that you'd put them on everything, Commander included. Also, what would the difference be, then, between an aircraft and a spacecraft? It would stand to reason that they would treat aircraft as AIRcraft, simply so they don't have to explain why your anti-gravity cold-vacuum fighter can't just fly into space and attack the moon.

Lack of atmosphere would also kill vegetation... though the atmospheric deprevation missiles in Homeworld didn't actually remove the atmosphere, it just set it alight.

True, but my point being as far as planetary destruction devices go, eliminating a planets atmosphere is pretty awesome. It can be made into something more fitting for PA that will be quite destructive to both organics and inorganics.

Agreed, i am already thinking about something what would dramatically (and temporary) change the physical properties of local atmosphere, causing massive thunderstorms. No flying, lower visibility, ocassional random lightening strikes... sounds cool, but needs some more work before i will add it to my list.