Pillar of Autumn VS Galactica

[Gandalf]

As suggested by AnonymousRedShirtEnsign I bring you the Pillar of Autumn VS the Galactica.

Galactica's weapons loadout, look at the citations.

Pillar of Autumn's weapons loadout

The Pillar of Autumn is as we see her in Halo:CE just after she emerges from slipstream and the Galactica is as we see her after she rearms from Ragnar Anchorage, so she has nukes but they have to be delivered by Raptor.

Battle takes place in a solar system identical to Earth's. I give this to the Pillar of Autumn, she's got nukes. And her MAC is in the megaton range if I recall the calculations correctly from SDN. And a kiloton range nuke caused a hull breach on Galactica in the Miniseries.

[Dragoon]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about either to say anything on this. But Halo has Master Chief...So Halo wins. Because MC is cool.

[Praeothmin]

if I recall the calculations correctly from SDN. And a kiloton range nuke caused a hull breach on Galactica in the Miniseries.

Yup, a 50 Kiloton nuke caused a minor hull breach, that was so easily ignored that they were able to jump even with that breach.

But I do agree, Megaton vs Kiloton = Dead Kiloton... :)

[Gandalf]

Yup, a 50 Kiloton nuke caused a minor hull breach, that was so easily ignored that they were able to jump even with that breach.

But I do agree, Megaton vs Kiloton = Dead Kiloton... :)

It was meant more to illustrate the toughness of Galactica's armor.

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

Aren't Shiva missiles supposed to have enough power to take out the shields for half a Covenant fleet? Halo space combat is a lot like Submarine warfare, were the weapons involved are better than the defenses so battles tend to happen fast. Since Galactica doesn't have shields and the flak burst won't do anything to a multi-ton MAC (gun?) round traveling at hypersonic velocity. There is alsot the issue of weapons range, UNSC ships engage at ranges were it takes MAC rounds 30 seconds to reach their targets (I knew Covie ships were slow, but God damn!). Galactica tipically engages at around a dozen km.

[Gandalf]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about either to say anything on this. But Halo has Master Chief...So Halo wins. Because MC is cool.

While the Pillar of Autumn has the Master Chief on board with the awesomeness he entails. The Galactica has Starbuck, uber sniper, pilot, alcoholic, gambler and all round degenerate to fight him. Clearly she will obliterate him in a blast of angst!

[Dragoon]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about either to say anything on this. But Halo has Master Chief...So Halo wins. Because MC is cool.

While the Pillar of Autumn has the Master Chief on board with the awesomeness he entails. The Galactica has Starbuck, uber sniper, pilot, alcoholic, gambler and all round degenerate to fight him. Clearly she will obliterate him in a blast of angst!

Not the angst! DX

[Gandalf]

Aren't Shiva missiles supposed to have enough power to take out the shields for half a Covenant fleet?

Not sure on that. I've only played Halo:CE and it's silent on the matter. I've never read the books.

Halo space combat is a lot like Submarine warfare, were the weapons involved are better than the defenses so battles tend to happen fast. Since Galactica doesn't have shields and the flak burst won't do anything to a multi-ton MAC (gun?) round traveling at hypersonic velocity. There is alsot the issue of weapons range, UNSC ships engage at ranges were it takes MAC rounds 30 seconds to reach their targets (I knew Covie ships were slow, but gosh darn!). Galactica tipically engages at around a dozen km.

All very good points. There's no reason why the Galactica can't engage at longer ranges it's not like there is a range limit on her projectile weapons.

[Dragoon]

Gotta love Newtonian mechanics. One advantage of projectile weapons over energy...they don't stop or dissipate at ranges. Of course, its a lot harder to hit at ranges, but still...

[Mike DiCenso]

Gandalf wrote:

Battle takes place in a solar system identical to Earth's. I give this to the Pillar of Autumn, she's got nukes. And her MAC is in the megaton range if I recall the calculations correctly from SDN. And a kiloton range nuke caused a hull breach on Galactica in the Miniseries.

I just looked at the nuclear weapon's citation and the Galactica has launchers for her nukes:

"Multiple nuclear warheads[9]
Deployed from 12 vertical-launch tubes mounted in the main hull. (The Eye of Jupiter) "


The Raptor nuke capability is from earlier in the series where the Galactica could not directly take on the Cylon basestar and it's full complement of raiders that was sitting above the planet of Kobol. Without raiders, a battlestar can easily kill a basestar one-on-one.
-Mike

[Gandalf]

I just looked at the nuclear weapon's citation and the Galactica has launchers for her nukes:

"Multiple nuclear warheads[9]
Deployed from 12 vertical-launch tubes mounted in the main hull. (The Eye of Jupiter) "


The Raptor nuke capability is from earlier in the series where the Galactica could not directly take on the Cylon basestar and it's full complement of raiders that was sitting above the planet of Kobol. Without raiders, a battlestar can easily kill a basestar one-on-one.
-Mike

I think those vertical tubes are for ground attack targets only. At least thats the impression one gets from the episode Eye of Jupiter.

[Mike DiCenso]

if I recall the calculations correctly from SDN. And a kiloton range nuke caused a hull breach on Galactica in the Miniseries.

Yup, a 50 Kiloton nuke caused a minor hull breach, that was so easily ignored that they were able to jump even with that breach.

But I do agree, Megaton vs Kiloton = Dead Kiloton... :)

Actually there was no specific statement about the yeild of the nuke that hit the Galactica in the mini-series. In fact, we can't be very certain about the various yeilds, only that it was thought the faked explosion set off by Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama was around 50 kt. Some of the nukes used on the colonies, in particular Caprica City, was estimated at 50 megatons.
-Mike

[AnonymousRedShirtEnsign]

All 12 nuks would have wiped out everything within 20kms of the temple. A modern thermonuclear warhead has about a 2km radius of total destruction.

[Mike DiCenso]

I just looked at the nuclear weapon's citation and the Galactica has launchers for her nukes:

"Multiple nuclear warheads[9]
Deployed from 12 vertical-launch tubes mounted in the main hull. (The Eye of Jupiter) "


The Raptor nuke capability is from earlier in the series where the Galactica could not directly take on the Cylon basestar and it's full complement of raiders that was sitting above the planet of Kobol. Without raiders, a battlestar can easily kill a basestar one-on-one.
-Mike

I think those vertical tubes are for ground attack targets only. At least thats the impression one gets from the episode Eye of Jupiter.

I'am not sure you can make that assumption any which way about the nuclear weapons the Galactica has. Since many ship-to-ship munitions seen so far are delivered by missles, it could be that these are also for ship-to-ship, but since they are so few in number, they do not get used unless it is for special purposes.

Interestingly enough, if we take Admiral Adama's statements to a Number Three literally, the 12 missles are enough to lay waste to an entire continent. That's pretty impressive firepower.
-Mike

[Gandalf]

I'am not sure you can make that assumption any which way about the nuclear weapons the Galactica has. Since many ship-to-ship munitions seen so far are delivered by missles, it could be that these are also for ship-to-ship, but since they are so few in number, they do not get used unless it is for special purposes.

Then why didn't they use those against the Basestars directly instead of threating the surface? Or use them in the Battle of the Resurrection Ship? Or use them in them in the Battle of New Caprica?