In the Dune universe, when a laser weapons hits a shield, both are destroyed in a nuclear explosion reaction.
So instead of building nuclear weapons, wouldn’t it be easier to tie a timer and a “parachute” to a laser gun and drop it from orbit onto your enemy’s city?
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The reaction between a shield and laser is completely random, not knowing wether you are going to vaporise a few molecules, an entire city or everything in between makes it very unreliable for warfare purposes.
And you’d probably find the whole Landsraad against you, as using atomics is outlawed. While a bomb like that isn’t an atomic weapon by definition, the effects are the same and it stands to reason that they’ll therefore still retaliate in full force.
The reaction between a shield and laser is completely random
Is this mentioned in the book? I can’t recall.
It is, in the opening as well as (more briefly) when Duncan leaves his shield in the desert as a booby trap for the Harkonnen search parties.
I actually just came across the line that explained this in the first book. apparently, after the fact, there’s no way to tell the difference between this and the use of an atomic, so using this strategy could get your family accused of illegally using atomics against another house.
Well in addition to the other answers, out of universe, the answer is power of plot. Simply nuking the shit out of everything wouldn’t really make for an interesting story.
Right? Magic is real in Dune, we don’t don’t need a hard sci fi reason for every missing technology frank Herbert didn’t think of in 1965.
Nukes play a rather pivotal role in Herbert’s book though. He definitely thought of them.
I am talking about OP’s idea of using lasers instead Nukes, nukes are fine, they fit the theme of 50s/60s geopolitical allegories rather perfectly. Using hard sci fi logic on a space opera sounds like an exercise in insanity, but OP is free to drive themself mad however they like. It’s Lemmy, we’re all mad in one way or another.
