Theorycrafting, how powerful is the explosion?

[Tuomo L]

I had absolute no idea where to put this, so I'll post it here.


When talking about really massive explosions of stellar scale, generally it's accepted that an explosion of a Super nova is 350 septillions (350x10²⁴) gigatons of TNT minimum.


In a game of mine (adventures of dragon, for anyone caring) the main character's Super Nova ability contains the third explosion of a powerful hyper nova explosion.

I calculated that Hyper Nova would most likely be 350 Octillion (350x10²⁷) gigatons of TNT.

However, the scale of such a giant explosion of hyper nova is considered 10 or more times brighter, so have I actually calculated the explosion as too weak and it should be even higher amount of gigatons of TNT?

 

[Countyoungblood]

Whats the point of realistically calculating an explosion that would destroy the planet?

 

[The Stranger]

I believe hypernovae are a fair bit more energetic than what you'd called standard supernovae. I've read that a hypernova can be 100 times the power of a standard supernova. I'm terrible at mathematics, though, so I really have no idea what that would be in quantities of TNT.

 

[??????]

unless your character literally destroys the planet when they use this skill - your overthinking it.

 

[XIIIthHarbinger]

I can't believe I of all people am going to say this, BUT, you are almost certainly overthinking this.

Unless you are going to have some tech speak dialogue, where "exposition man" is explaining the explosive force of the attack in question down to the megaton, by contrasting it with other explosions in terms of megatons. Especially if your attack in question, isn't going to accurately represent the explosive force it supposedly generates.

The simple fact of the matter is explosive forces on that level, would utterly destroy the planets they were caused on. To say nothing of the individual enacting them, unless you are intending your character to be so inherently indestructible, that they would effectively be exempt from peril to anything smaller than cataclysmic events on the galactic scale. I.e. a super black hole of the dimensions that it swallows entire star systems, or the kind of explosive force responsible for the formation of the universe.

Frankly, once you start dealing in those kinds of power levels, force calculations largely become irrelevant, because your stories are going to violate so many laws of science anyways, that any pretense of accuracy is something of a bad joke. Characters like The Sentry, Superman, or Goku get away with it because they largely ignore reality & focus on visuals.

 

[Countyoungblood]

Game over

( you killed the bad guy and all the good guys)

 

[XIIIthHarbinger]

Game over

( you killed the bad guy and all the good guys)

Essentially yes.

Even if we were to assume that 99.9% of energy in the attack were conveyed directly to the opponents body, by say something like a punch, & essentially reducing their entire body to something akin to a fine red mist. The residual 0.1% of kinetic energy being transferred to whatever they happen to be standing on, would cause such wide scale destruction that it would shatter virtually any theoretical planetary body.

As the difference between 0.1% of the energy being transferred to the planetary body versus 100%, would akin to the difference between shooting a ping pong ball with a 50 caliber sniper rifle, versus hitting it with 131 mm howitzer artillery round. There is certainly a difference in the destructive force conveyed, but given what it is applied to, the distinction is largely academic.

 

[Mrs_Allykat]

Semantically, a supernova is simply just a giant expulsion of energy. I mean anything that does 10 to the 44'th power of joules in an instant is hardly comprehensible. A supernova, in an instant releases the same amount of energy as our own sun throughout it's entire 10 billion year expected lifetime. TNT is a fair comparison, but I like watts. We all have 40 watt light bulbs somewhere... So... Twenty-five billion, billion, billion, billion forty watt light bulbs.

Also, I'm guessing that Tuomo is looking for some interesting bits of info to add color to a game. Assuming that it's a planet with life forms on it, I would actually consider doing the reverse. Instead of exploding the world with a massive explosion, draw the power out of the core of the planet to shut down it's own internal "natural" reactor. All planets have one, living planets like earth have a functional core. Dead worlds, like our moon doesn't have enough radioactive material left to naturally "burn." So a negative energy blast of some kind could wipe a planet out pretty quickly.

 

[consolcwby]

In a game of mine (adventures of dragon, for anyone caring) the main character's Super Nova ability contains the third explosion of a powerful hyper nova explosion.

I calculated that Hyper Nova would most likely be 350 Octillion (350x10²⁷) gigatons of TNT.

If the end boss is immune to this attack...
...then I refuse to play it.

Explain to us, will DEF or MDF help with this if used against us? Because I've always felt good armor and accessories beat grinding any day! (Especially with this, sheesh!)

 

[Tuomo L]

If the end boss is immune to this attack...
...then I refuse to play it.

Explain to us, will DEF or MDF help with this if used against us? Because I've always felt good armor and accessories beat grinding any day! (Especially with this, sheesh!)

They are not. No one is. The explosion bypasses both armor and damage cap.

Further context:
The explosion is made in concentrated spot of pure power, if the character were not able to do it properly, they'd cause the full force of hyper nova to take out the whole solar system pretty much, which is why most of the game you're actually learning and growing up to be able to properly use this power. Which is why even though you learn it relatively early, it costs 9999 mp at start.

 

[Aesica]

As a science and sci-fi junkie, I feel like I should offer a bit of caution regarding the use of power of that magnitude and how it might be a bit too out there for other scientifically-minded individuals to stomach. It's often difficult for us tiny little apes to comprehend the sheer destructive force these celestial objects are capable of producing. To give an idea, the sun produces the equivalent of several trillion times more energy than a nuclear warhead every second. And, contrary to what was stated above, a supernova actually produces more energy in its explosion than our sun will produce in its entire lifetime, and hypernovae produce far more than even that.

These explosions are so massive that, even if you're far enough away to avoid having your planet utterly destroyed, it could still be burned sterile. Then of course there's the resulting GRBs and left-over spinning black holes with their space-time-warping ergospheres and...yeah. Scientists actually theorize that hypernovae and their resulting GRBs may have been the cause of at least one mass extinction this planet has suffered throughout its existence. And that's from stars that blew up somewhere outside our solar system.

The kind of thing being described here reminds me of the final battle with Sephiroth in FF7, where he uses that utterly ridiculous (and agonizingly long) attack which causes the sun to flare up large enough to devour Mercury and Venus, stopping just short of touching Earth as it damages the party for non-fatal damage.

It's okay to have your character contain/command something powerful, but just know that if you turn things up too high, it goes from "his power is badass" to "his power is downright corny." That said, good luck.

 

[consolcwby]

@Tuomo L : That is awesome to hear! I like it!!! (I always like science facts like your OP! Great post!)
@Aesica: Do I understand, correctly, you don't like things like the falcon punch?? Realistic power of destructive forces aside, I think many people like this sort of stuff in RPGs. Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? :/

 

[Aesica]

@Aesica: Do I understand, correctly, you don't like things like the falcon punch?? Realistic power of destructive forces aside, I think many people like this sort of stuff in RPGs. Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? :/

Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous, but I get the feeling that absurdity is what that show is trying to sell as its entertainment, which is fine. In fact, if that's the same kind of theme the OP is after, then he should absolutely go ahead with it since containing and controlling some of the most powerful and violent cosmic events in the known universe fits the bill perfectly. However, if it's not, my post was intended to point out just how absurd it is for a tiny little person to wield something like that.

 

[Tuomo L]

Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous, but I get the feeling that absurdity is what that show is trying to sell as its entertainment, which is fine. In fact, if that's the same kind of theme the OP is after, then he should absolutely go ahead with it since containing and controlling some of the most powerful and violent cosmic events in the known universe fits the bill perfectly. However, if it's not, my post was intended to point out just how absurd it is for a tiny little person to wield something like that.

Actually it's not a tiny little person, it's a huge dragon, the strongest dragon in the existence who's the strongest being in all my multiverse, which is saying a lot since there exists people like Trixie who have control over all matter and anti matter.

Also the Hyper Nova is not their strongest move.

 

[Countyoungblood]

Actually it's not a tiny little person, it's a huge dragon, the strongest dragon in the existence who's the strongest being in all my multiverse, which is saying a lot since there exists people like Trixie who have control over all matter and anti matter.

Also the Hyper Nova is not their strongest move.

What is this I dont even....
Are you trying to define overkill?

 

[Adonael]

They are not. No one is. The explosion bypasses both armor and damage cap.

Further context:
The explosion is made in concentrated spot of pure power, if the character were not able to do it properly, they'd cause the full force of hyper nova to take out the whole solar system pretty much, which is why most of the game you're actually learning and growing up to be able to properly use this power. Which is why even though you learn it relatively early, it costs 9999 mp at start.

A interesting concept would be to let the player be able to use it at the beginning with a great warning and then if a player uses it without mastering the power first, they treated to a cut scene of them accidentally demolishing the whole world as a consequence.

Just a funny thought on my end.

As far as the Hyper Nova goes, I have no idea how powerful that would be and nor can my mind comprehend any of this power scaling.

 

[Aesica]

As far as the Hyper Nova goes, I have no idea how powerful that would be and nor can my mind comprehend any of this power scaling.

Imagine a tiny ball of mud, teeming with microorganisms. Now imagine destroying that ball of mud and everything on it with the biggest nuke you can find.

As far as hypernovae are concerned, the Earth is that tiny ball of mud.

The only way to accurately portray that kind of power in a game is, once the player casts it, the screen goes white for a few seconds before showing the game over screen with nothing but empty space.

 

[Countyoungblood]

A interesting concept would be to let the player be able to use it at the beginning with a great warning and then if a player uses it without mastering the power first, they treated to a cut scene of them accidentally demolishing the whole world as a consequence.

Just a funny thought on my end.

As far as the Hyper Nova goes, I have no idea how powerful that would be and nor can my mind comprehend any of this power scaling.

*solar system not just earth

 

[Tuomo L]

*solar system not just earth

Yes, hyper nova would take out the whole solar system easily, maybe possibly even several other solar systems next to ours even depending on the magnitude of the scale.

 

[Countyoungblood]

Yes, hyper nova would take out the whole solar system easily, maybe possibly even several other solar systems next to ours even depending on the magnitude of the scale.

And this hero id assume will be overcoming a villan capable of destroying several more solar systems with a single attack yet cant do so yet but is planning to and the only way to stop him is to use the hyper nova perfectly the first time its ever been used without ever practicing because using it wrong destroys this solar system and several others.

I can see this story having a character that can run 1000x the speed of light and his rival who can travel through time, freeze time,teleport, and move objects with his mind. Maybe an archer with arrows made of the hardest sharpest lightest heavyest material that penitrate everything in their path including planets and fly forever but they return to the archer like a boomarang but only if she decides to so she is rarely seen firing arrows because she can just summon a storm of arrows from all directions.