UFP vs. The Dominion (Starcraft)

[Omeganian]

BDZ grade? The planets were quite habitable within 5 years.

[Ariphaos]

BDZ grade? The planets were quite habitable within 5 years.

You are thinking Mar Sara, which was never scorched. Chau Sara no longer has an atmosphere. Korhal IV, the extent of the Terran's ability to destroy worlds, was merely transformed from an ecumenopolis with two oceans into a desert planet.

I'm a little reluctant to take high-end figures for the firepower implied there. Because at the same time, tactical nuclear weapons are still relevant on the battlefield, and the heavy Yamato gun is described as focusing the force of a 'nuclear explosion.'

Gigaton-range weapons don't feel right to me for Starcraft.

Bear in mind, by the way, that a Protoss fleet hovering in orbit might effectively BDZ a planetary surface by laying down saturation patterns of 'relatively' light weapons. 10 megatons per second adds up to something a lot more impressive after you've sustained fire for 10,000 seconds.

Yield isn't ever given but the weapons that destroyed Korhal IV are certainly on the upper end of the scale, and they were apparently fired from battlecruisers, and they had to have delivered enough to boil away its oceans. That implies petatons worth of total yield delivered, at least. That is significantly beyond the Federation's demonstrated capability for a fleet.

[Purple]

I'm a little reluctant to take high-end figures for the firepower implied there. Because at the same time, tactical nuclear weapons are still relevant on the battlefield, and the heavy Yamato gun is described as focusing the force of a 'nuclear explosion.'

I see no reason why these things would be contradictory thou. We today have high end nuclear weapons available and yet tactical nukes and even normal artillery shells are still a factor on our battlefields. They come in handy for those times when you do NOT absolutely want to obliterate everything in a 100 mile radius. And considering that the Yamato is an energy weapon it makes sense that it can be dialed down for planetary bombardment.

[Omeganian]

BDZ grade? The planets were quite habitable within 5 years.

You are thinking Mar Sara, which was never scorched. Chau Sara no longer has an atmosphere. Korhal IV, the extent of the Terran's ability to destroy worlds, was merely transformed from an ecumenopolis with two oceans into a desert planet.

Thirteen hours after the evacuation of Mar Sara, Protoss warships took up orbit around the colony and unleashed a massive planetary bombardment. All life upon the surface was extinguished.

[Simon_Jester]

BDZ grade? The planets were quite habitable within 5 years.

You are thinking Mar Sara, which was never scorched. Chau Sara no longer has an atmosphere. Korhal IV, the extent of the Terran's ability to destroy worlds, was merely transformed from an ecumenopolis with two oceans into a desert planet.

Mar Sara was burned about as thoroughly as Chau Sara, or should have been, because the Protoss attacked it for the same reason.

I'm a little reluctant to take high-end figures for the firepower implied there. Because at the same time, tactical nuclear weapons are still relevant on the battlefield, and the heavy Yamato gun is described as focusing the force of a 'nuclear explosion.'

Gigaton-range weapons don't feel right to me for Starcraft.

Bear in mind, by the way, that a Protoss fleet hovering in orbit might effectively BDZ a planetary surface by laying down saturation patterns of 'relatively' light weapons. 10 megatons per second adds up to something a lot more impressive after you've sustained fire for 10,000 seconds.

Yield isn't ever given but the weapons that destroyed Korhal IV are certainly on the upper end of the scale, and they were apparently fired from battlecruisers, and they had to have delivered enough to boil away its oceans. That implies petatons worth of total yield delivered, at least. That is significantly beyond the Federation's demonstrated capability for a fleet.

Sigh.

I recognize what you're doing here, but I really don't like it; it leads to firepower figures that just don't square gracefully with what we see in game cutscenes. For instance, a Yamato gun is supposed to be one of the most powerful weapons in the Terran arsenal.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

If Korhal had been so brutally savaged, it probably wouldn't look like a normal, brisk, living city-planet, including lakes and trees and grass in abundance, in the Starcraft 2 mission Media Blitz.

[Omeganian]

During the 5 years it served as a capital world, the vicinity of the capital city could have been subject to some massive restoration projects.

[Stofsk]

Korhal was brutalised but that took place a few decades prior to that particular mission.

I don't recall SC2 ever mentioning that Korhal had become a city planet though. The rest of the planet could be a wasteland save for a few arcologies for all we know.

[Omeganian]

The Brood Wars campaigns show Korhal as a copy of Tatooine, complete with Sarlaccs.

[Imperial528]

Well, Brood War Korhal also had literal oceans of tar. Which is really the only difference between it and Tatooine.

I just found some images from the wiki:

Circa Brood War:



Circa Second Great War (SCII):



From the looks of it, they appear to have begun terraforming. I wouldn't say it's all city though, but that is definitely some massive construction for that short period of time.

[Stofsk]

Or it was a retcon. SC2 made mention how Kerrigan returned and already billions were killed by the zerg.

That figure for the pre-existing population of the terrans in the Koprulu sector is difficult to believe to be honest, from what I vaguely remember of the backstory in the SC1 manual.

[Guardsman Bass]

Or it was a retcon. SC2 made mention how Kerrigan returned and already billions were killed by the zerg.

That figure for the pre-existing population of the terrans in the Koprulu sector is difficult to believe to be honest, from what I vaguely remember of the backstory in the SC1 manual.

You would need continuous, very high birth rates for 200-300 years. They went from a population of 8000 on Tarsonis to 8 billion, for example, which means that population doubled 14-15 times during the period when they arrived in the Koprulu Sector (2259 C.E.) to the events in the games (2504 C.E.). The birth rates would need to be even higher when you factor in all the space colonies they have.