Re: [Epic] Nukes in Epic universe

From: Perrin Haley <phaley_at_...>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 23:21:07 -0800

>I had an odd question that I thought that I would post to the list.
>Both 40K and Epic exclude mention or use of nuclear weapons or other
>mass-destruction weapons (with the exception of Exterminatus). This
>makes sense on 40K's scale :) but what about Epic? If I had a large
>spaceship in orbit and detected an incoming armored column, I'd want to
>call in a nuclear strike. To quote Ripley, "I say we take off and nuke
>the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." So, why isn't
>this a part of Epic? There's the easy answer of "It would make the
>game boring", but Dirtside II apparently does it. Is this merely an
>oversight in the game design that would be fun to correct, or is there
>a good story-related reason that nukes do not exist. Let me give an
>example from a different game. In the universe of Silent Death, there
>is an alien race called the Night Brood. They feed on psychic
>emanations of violence and are set to swarming by high levels of
>violence (e. g. a good war). Despite thousands of years of disuse, a large
>nuclear device was prepared by the Emperor of Earth and fired at the
>invading swarm. The level of violence set all the Brood in the entire
>quadrant to swarming and soon Earth was overrun. The survivors of this
>holocaust have a tacit agreement not to use nukes, lest the Brood be
>awakened.

I had always thought there was a reason for the setting of battles in Epic
to be on a battle field. Eg: you are fighting for something, be it
artifacts, land, or even defending your own people. If nuclear weapons
were brought into the picture, the whole reason for having a land battle
would be a moot point, as the battle field (with the artifacts, land,
people etc.) would be irradiated and useless.

What I've always wanted were simply "strikes" from orbit, or maybe I should
say more strikes from orbit, as the Space Marines and the Tyranids already
have something very similiar (Deathwind Pods, and Psychic Barrages.) An
equivalent card (special), that either gives a limited total on strikes, or
a limited rate of strikes per turn is something that I've always wanted for
all of the other armies. The Eldar could get a big laser, the Squats some
kind of Particle beam weapon, Chaos could get their own version of Drop
Pods (which I've always thought they should have; someone once posted
something about Khorne's Tears of Blood or something, it was *very* cool),
and the Orks, well the Orks could get something that was really Orky...
anyone have any ideas for the orks?

>This is just a random thought that flitted through my head, partially
>prompted by various players in my gaming group commenting "Gee,
>wouldn't it be nice if I had a nuke right now?" So, what do you think?

I think if they weren't too powerful, and could only be gotten as special
cards (anti-cheese), they could add some nice flavor to the game.

>Seth Ben-Ezra
>Great Wolf

        Perrin


"...I could never become a prophet...just
a critic - which is a poor thing at best,
a sort of fourth-rate prophet suffering
from delusions of gender."

        -Jubal Harshaw, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Received on Thu Jan 16 1997 - 07:21:07 UTC