A Quick Word About Radioactivity

No, I'm not. One is a genuine, real, scientific phenomenon, entirely knowable to human beings; the lifetime of radioactive materials. The other is an entirely fictional construct whose only purpose is to enable a specific kind of gameplay. It's impossible to advocate for appropriately informative levels of detailed information on Jump Drives because there is no such information on Jump Drives to be had; they don't exist.
 
Tenacious-Techhunter said:
The natural forces on Earth that sweep radioactive material away don't exist in space. There's no "rain" and "wind" in a space-hulk to scrub it clean. What it gets contaminated with stays there until someone cleans it up manually. The same goes for any atmosphereless moon or planet.

Actually, the (possibly wrong) impression I got from what I looked up was that the extremely long half-life materials were not the materials that were left after nuclear explosion.
 
FallingPhoenix said:
Actually, the (possibly wrong) impression I got from what I looked up was that the extremely long half-life materials were not the materials that were left after nuclear explosion.

That's also what I was referring to, not wind/rain/etc. It might not be safe in a month or so, but years later, and especially centuries later, radioactive decay will typically be to the point that the solar wind is likely to be a much bigger radioactive threat.

This assumes that the attack actually left significant radioactive material inside the ship to begin with. A lot of the time the damage would be from the blast impact/shockwave and the immediate EMP and radiation pulse penetrating the ship, in which case the radioactive material itself may not even get inside.

Even if it is inside, people will be wearing vacc suits which protect from radiation if only because otherwise they'd have trouble due to said solar wind/incoming cosmic radiation/etc. If this isn't necessary then it implies that the ship is still structurally intact, shielded, and with a breathable atmosphere, which isn't terribly likely if the ship was left derelict by a nuclear blast that scattered radioactive materials inside it.
 
Anti-rad: Anti-rad drugs must be administered before or immediately (within ten minutes) after radiation exposure. They absorb up to 100 rads per dose. A Traveller may only use anti-rad drugs once per day – taking any more causes permanent END damage of 1D per dose. Costs Cr1000 per dose.

Or a party could dose themselves and ignore the problem and get the prize, or as someone else pointed out use the high tech hand wavium and clean the hulk of radioactivity. A nuclear damper might do it and make things safe, or it could be a piece of kit they can buy/rent from a Class B Starport or better. The radiation warning could be added to the rules, with the addition of the high tech magic that makes radiation a logistical and economic problem.

The game can be as realistic or as space opera as the players and GM want. Particle beams irradiate crew members to cause damage, up to 1200 rads per hit (minus the 500 a hul, protects from). Does this mean the players ship may get irradiated and be worthless after a single battle? Again, it depends on how realistic the game that is being run is.

Radiation can be a great plot device, and pointing out the sterility hit effect from exposure makes all the guys at the table groan and squeeze their thighs together, but there may be a High tech solution that just makes it another plot device.
 
Its definitely a sidebar subject. "Yo, irradiated places probably are still radioactive. Half-lives are very long, generally."

But as a note, the example of nuking a spaceship and then coming back isn't exactly perfect. For an abandoned nuclear warhead storage facility (metal gear...?), then its a point. But the nuclear byproducts of nuclear weapons (at least now) are usually gone in a few months. Deep irradiated soil may be tainted for a lot longer (I can't remember, but its cobalt-60(?) that lasts long enough and is put into the dirt from a blast that causes this). Or, if not gone they're reduced to a reasonably safe level to be frollocking about in.

But its a thing determined by the type. The warhead magazines, probably not good place to be chilling when the containment is deactivated. A ship that was killed by a nuclear missile, it'd probably be safe to board (there's nothing there to become radioactive. The nuclear material was used up in the blast, and a good amount of residual material likely got blown clear of the place detonated. Its kinda just stuck on earth, nowhere to go).

Good point to include though.
 
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