Energy to atomize a city block or a small town?

[Soldier_Blue]

How much energy would you need to atomize a city block or a small town?

Context:

Early on in the novel Star Wars: Alphabet Squadro the titular starfighter squadron is doing some training in an old imperial orbital mine field. They are practising evading orbital mines and also getting some target practise in (by harmlessly vaporising the mines with their laser cannons).

Then the A-wing of the squadron gets too close to one of the mines:

The flash that followed seemed insignificant against the starfield. The atomizing destructive force could have devastated a city block.

There is also another line in the very same novel which talks about bombardment ordnance atomising whole settlements:

Her mind flashed to planetary bombardments, operations she'd dutifully joined at Mek'tradi and Mennar-Daye, where she'd watched ordnance fall and atomize settlements. She recalled those missions' preflight briefings and the professionalism with which she'd carried out the slaughter. She remembered cheering with a crowd on the observation deck of the Pursuer as she beheld the mighty Star Destroyer annihilating its targets. She recalled the face of Major Soran Keize and every mistake she'd ever made.

This isn't a one-off thing, mind you. Throughout Star Wars canon lore, we have examples of bombs and warheads that can vaporise. There are also rifles and even freaking pistols in this verse that can atomise an adult Human. So atomisation from anti-starship orbital mines and capital ship ordnance shouldn't really be too surprising. Refer this blog for more information about vaporisation and atomisation feats.

 

[Andytrenom]

A while ago I tried to revise attack potency for tiers including low 7-C, the topic was deciding new basis for calcs that would give the tier baseline

It was there I was informed that a "small town" is too arbitrary of a concept to base a general calc off of

 

[Soldier_Blue]

It was there I was informed that a "small town" is too arbitrary of a concept to base a general calc off of

Understandable. I used the term 'small town' here in place of 'settlement' as in the second excerpt.

 

[Andytrenom]

I believe that would still be arbitrary

The best you can do is take the time and place into account and figure out a good size for the settlement in context

 

[ByAsura]

Vatican City sounds reasonable. It's only 0.44 square kilometers.

Using these sources gets a value of roughtly gets 1.42084925609 megatons for atomizing a city block. Although that sounds incredibly low.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

The best you can do is take the time and place into account and figure out a good size for the settlement in context

Unfortunately, there is just that one quote about the atomising bombardments. No further information about these 'settlements' is given.

 

[Andytrenom]

If it was based off a real place, maybe finding an average would be possible. But if it isn't I wouldn't be sure what to do

 

[NeoSuperior]

We might really need a baseline equivalent for terms such as "settlements" and "villages" and other communities that are not mentioned in Tiers, i.e. how many destroyed baseline villages and/or settlements are equivalent to a cityblock? Though I guess the opposite is also true. If locations are provided with certain sizes then their energy levels when destroyed should also be made deducible.

Of course that doesn't take into account the difference of material, e.g. medival villages made out of straw and wood, modern villages made out of stone, sci-fi villages made out of futuristic metal alloys, fantasy wooden palisades "strengthened via magic", etc.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

Last night I recalled a feat from the Tarkin novel.

The planet Murkhana was bombarded during the Clone Wars, and her surface was left peppered with craters stated to be the size of Lucrehulk Core Ship maintenance pits. That's 700+ metres in diameter.

User blog:Soldier Blue/Star Wars - Murkhana received a pounding

I guess that is the most accurate estimate we'll ever get for the AOE (area of effect) of these kinds of ordnance.

I guess we can consider this thread settled?

Well, there is still the issue of the orbital mines and their stated power to atomise a city block.

 

[ByAsura]

This is what you mean right?

Tarkin leaned toward the viewport to assess the landing field. It was impossible to tell the bomb craters from the circular repulsorlift pits that had once functioned as service areas for the Separatists' spherical core ships. The edges of the field were lined with ruined hemispherical docking bays and massive rectangular hangars, their roofs blown open or caved in. The façade of the sprawling terminal building had avalanched onto the field, and the interior had been gutted by fire. Ships of various size and function were parked at random, though most of them looked as if they hadn't seen space in a long while.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

^ Yes. There is another quote in there that describes the devastation at the spaceport and how it was slagged and charred by orbital beam weapon strikes.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

Come to think of it. I recall another atomising feat (but for ISD2 turbolasers) in the novel Battlefront: Twilight Company (which was also written by Alexander Freed). I'll need time to track that down. I don't know where that book is. I know I have it. I just have to find it.

From what I recall, the Herald (an Imperial II-class star destroyer) provides supporting/suppressive fire to Imperial ground troops attempting to retake an important weapons factory on Sullust. Her turbolaser bolts glass igneous rock and outright atomise rebel troops unlucky enough to be caught in their blasts.

Edit: Found the quote online.

The Empire's infantry and airspeeders kept their distance from the facility as the Star Destroyer descended. The reason why became obvious when the first emerald turbolaser blasts rained from the sky onto the mountainside, cratering the black slope and turning stone into cracked, sizzling glass. The few Twilight Company scouts and snipers who prowled about the peak's upper reaches rapidly withdrew to the innermost perimeter or were disintegrated by the lasers' atomizing spite.

There is also this feat, where TIE fighters colliding against the overcharged clashing deflector shields of a CR90 corvette and Braha'tok-class gunship are outright atomised:

The Thunderstrike and Apailana's Promise flew in such tight proximity that their shields bumped and clashed, coruscating through the visible spectrum and releasing enough energy to atomize any TIE fighter that passed through their field. Any squadron that attempted to weave between the rebel vessels was destroyed as surely as if it had been crushed between their hulls.

I guess Alexander Freed loves atomising feats XD

 

[ByAsura]

I've got the book on computer. I can find it pretty quickly.

 

[ByAsura]

Here's the quotes

The acrid scent in the air was almost painful. Roach asked Namir about it, and he shrugged. "Blaster bolts rip up the atmosphere," he said. "Every time you fire, something gets vaporized. Every planet stinks a little different."

The few Twilight Company scouts and snipers who prowled about the peak's upper reaches rapidly withdrew to the innermost perimeter or were disintegrated by the lasers' atomizing spite. Namir felt a wave of heat billow across his face and tried to shield himself with one arm. Even through his breath mask's filter, the burning air smelled like sulfur and ozone. The emerald rain closed in on the troops, accompanied by the glowing spheres of guided proton bombs encircling the processing facility. How close could the enemy strike without destroying the compound? Namir wondered. How precise were a Star Destroyer's targeting systems?

They're in position!" Hober yelled into Namir's ear. He could barely hear the quartermaster over laserfire and shattering rock. Namir saw a squad of soldiers nearby begin to back away from the crest, glancing toward the facility entrance. "Hold the line!" Namir called. If he'd judged wrong—if the Star Destroyer's gunners could vaporize the troops without touching the facility—he would die with the rest of Twilight, and the battle would be over in an eyeblink. But a moment later, the laserfire stopped. Namir raised his gaze to the gray sky and laughed, the scorched air burning his nostrils. The dark wedge of the Star Destroyer was beneath the cloud layer now, larger than Sullust's dim and distant sun and close enough to display the lines of its metal underbelly. Red and green lightning flashed around it, but the weapons fire wasn't targeting the ground anymore. Instead, the Star Destroyer was lashing at three new shadows descending through the clouds: one a sliver and two mere specks.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

Yeah. I edited my comment above.

 

[ByAsura]

Ok.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

It's shit like this that makes me say: Star Wars directed energy weapon yields are vastly greater than what their blast/explosion sizes would indicate. Hell, it applies to their bombs/warheads as well.

 

[ByAsura]

I calced that feat of General Grievous vaporizing the temple, by the way. Using explosion size gets a result of only 10 tons of TNT, whereas the actual temple's destruction is 4.4 to 2800 times greater.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

Not bad.

But the missile feat results are hilarious, because that gunship's laser cannons have a Low 7-C feat.

I guess one possible explanation is that those missiles are using warheads similar to those of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles, which unleash super-heated plasma payloads that can vaporise. So the yield is far greater than what that explosion would indicate.

I also recall a statement from a couple of reference books (such as the AOTC ICS) that warheads in Star Wars have "blast focus" tech that can focus warhead blasts into a narrow few-degree blast cone.

 

[ByAsura]

I believe they rebuilt the comm tower later, so it would make sense if they decreased the yield as to not obliterate the entire installation. They only wanted to take it out of the Rebel's grasp.