StarDestroyer.Net BBS

How does the strength of the Death Star's superlaser compare to the Ringworld's defense system? In reading some of Niven's Ringworld stories, I found that it is defended by a swarm of satellites in close orbit around the central star; these satellites convert the star's entire energy output into an X-ray laser beam.
The system is set to target anything that threatens to approach the Ringworld's inhabited interior surface. The system isn't named, so I termed it a 'Sun Beam'.

Mike Garrity

Its limited by the output of a G V star at maximum (its not a Dyson Sphere and 100% efficiency is ridiculous, so we know it must be substantially lower). The Sun's output is approximately 3.8 x 10^26 W. The Death Star's reasonable firepower in order to cause the destruction of highly-shielded Alderaan is around 10^38 W. The Death Star HUGELY outperforms the intensity of this sun beam.

The Death Star is more powerful than Niven's sunbeam. Massively so.

I direct you to the beginning of Second Stage Lensman by E.E.Smith Ph.D for a reasonably accurate description of what a sunbeam will do to planets.

Oh, and the above description of the Ringworld meteor defense is wrong. It works by the Ringworld pulling a gas plume out of the star, and then inducing lasing inside the plume.

Beowulf:

Thank you for the correction. I hadn't read the story in more that 20 years, so my memory wandered somewhat....
Now that you have corrected me, what is the energy output of the sunbeam weapon? What kind of destruction can it do to terrestrial bodies?

Mike Garrity

Wouldn't this question be more pertinant to OSF as it involves comparison between SW and another scifi verse?