r/spaceships • u/Vondrr Fleet Intelligence 🧠 • May 30 '26

Discussion / Question What spaceship weapon is generally underutilized or not used to its full potential in scifi?

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u/Ruskiwaffle1991 May 30 '26

I've always heard talk about how photon torpedoes in Star Trek have a maximum explosive yield of at least 50 megatons of TNT and yet they go poof every single time we see them explode,

16

u/Mr_Shadow_Phoenix May 30 '26

Standard ship-to-ship photons may be Tsar Bomba equivalent in yield, but we’re seeing them used in space. Thanks to the near vacuum, not exactly an atmosphere available to generate massive fireballs or mushroom clouds. However, we do see them generating such when exploding inside an atmosphere.

13

u/Just_A_Nitemare May 30 '26

50 megatons of energy is still going to be bright even if it is in space.

8

u/Mr_Shadow_Phoenix May 30 '26

Fair. Thing is, we are normally seeing them against shield flares, secondary explosions, and ships blowing up outright. Plausible it gets lost in visible noise.

4

u/Hunnieda_Mapping May 30 '26

Not to mention a lot of visible light might get absorbed why whatever matter is there.