Suitcase Nukes Against Magical Cities?

[LostOne]

I'm assuming the CS would have the capability to build these if they so chose. Yes, high yield nukes are blamed for the coming of the rifts, but if the war against Tolkeen had gone differently and the CS was losing badly, or if they entered a new war against the Fed of Magic and were not doing well, I could see them trying to send in a few lone operatives with low yield suitcase nukes in the 20 kiloton range and taking out critical infrastructure of the governments or military facilities. Or failing that even just backpacks full of high yield conventional explosives and suicide bombers might be used. Drive a civilian delivery truck filled with C4 or whatever up to the target buildings. I could easily see the espionage branch of the CS engaging in terrorist attacks like this if they were losing badly, it could turn the tide of the war taking out key leadership or targets to affect morale of the enemy.

What defenses and protections would these cities have against this sort of thing? I assume some kind of team of clairvoyant psychics would likely try to be watching out for this. What else?

[Giant2005]

The main defense against it I would use (the main defense I'd use against anything) if I were Tolkeen would be covering the city in Sanctuary spells. Hell, I'd use that spell offensively too and daisy-chain it right in to the heart of Chi-Town, so the caster can attack the city without impunity.

[LostOne]

The main defense against it I would use (the main defense I'd use against anything) if I were Tolkeen would be covering the city in Sanctuary spells. Hell, I'd use that spell offensively too and daisy-chain it right in to the heart of Chi-Town, so the caster can attack the city without impunity.

That doesn't seem like a very feasible solution. The way I'm reading it is the spell covers 50ft radius per level, so even if the caster is 15th level that's 750ft radius. At the cost of 1500 PPE. At a theoretical maximum of 90 hours if you roll max duration. If a bomb is dropped into that circle it is deactivated. But what happens if the bomb lands right outside that circle? Or if the blast radius of the bomb barely intersects with the radius of the spell? I suspect it still goes off and whoever dropped it is incapacitated. But these are probably suicide bombers with a nuke in a briefcase or backpack, they're expecting to die anyway, so incapacitation is no big deal. So I'm guessing the bomb goes off, the blastwave doesn't give a crap about the circle and levels anything in the circle as part of the blast radius of the bomb, the circle has no effect because the bomber is dead anyway. Sure they might happen to try the bomb inside this circle, but odds are they won't. It isn't feasible to effectively blanket a city that large in 750ft radius circles every 3.75 days at 1500 PPE each. It's already a spell of legend, so I don't see it being increased to cover a city in one go, and if it could be, Tolkeen would be untouched at the end of the war and every magical city would be employing the city-wide version of the spell, it would be worth the cost for that level of security.

[Orin J.]

given how common radiation sniffers are in Rifts i wouldn't expect it to work. not to mention there's probably several checkpoints for these things before you even reach the city limits, what with the long period of agression the CS has has with tolkeen since the first days of the game.

That doesn't seem like a very feasible solution. The way I'm reading it is the spell covers 50ft radius per level

- which is large enough to cover the area where each person is held while they check their luggage.

[Giant2005]

The main defense against it I would use (the main defense I'd use against anything) if I were Tolkeen would be covering the city in Sanctuary spells. Hell, I'd use that spell offensively too and daisy-chain it right in to the heart of Chi-Town, so the caster can attack the city without impunity.

But what happens if the bomb lands right outside that circle? Or if the blast radius of the bomb barely intersects with the radius of the spell? I suspect it still goes off and whoever dropped it is incapacitated. But these are probably suicide bombers with a nuke in a briefcase or backpack, they're expecting to die anyway, so incapacitation is no big deal. So I'm guessing the bomb goes off, the blastwave doesn't give a crap about the circle and levels anything in the circle as part of the blast radius of the bomb, the circle has no effect because the bomber is dead anyway.

I'd agree with your theory as they are the rules as written, but I really don't think such loopholes are the intent of the spell. The intent of the spell is an all-encompassing area of flawless safety and those loopholes are just ones that Kevin didn't consider when writing the thing. I am about 94% certain that if he had considered them, he would have written in defenses against those too.
Either way, what you are describing isn't the fact that it wouldn't work, but the fact that Tolkeen would need to extend their Sanctuary border quite a bit further than the city itself. If their Sanctuary border extended 10 miles beyond the border of the city, nukes detonated from outside the Sanctuary border wouldn't have a blast radius large enough to impact the people within the city.

It isn't feasible to effectively blanket a city that large in 750ft radius circles every 3.75 days at 1500 PPE each.

Sure it is. We are talking about a city full of mages, on a Nexus. Getting that much PPE would take a group of four mages less than five minutes. Not to mention that PPE is effectively infinite with a level five or higher Warlock around, even without a Nexus; or that Techno-Wizardry could reduce the required PPE of each casting to 1.
Hell, by combining that Warlock and Techno-Wizard's efforts, the entire thing could be automated by having a single machine that summons Phantoms and instructs them to activate the Sanctuary machines that are spread around the city.

[LostOne]

Sure it is. We are talking about a city full of mages, on a Nexus. Getting that much PPE would take a group of four mages less than five minutes. Not to mention that PPE is effectively infinite with a level five or higher Warlock around, even without a Nexus; or that Techno-Wizardry could reduce the required PPE of each casting to 1.
Hell, by combining that Warlock and Techno-Wizard's efforts, the entire thing could be automated by having a single machine that summons Phantoms and instructs them to activate the Sanctuary machines that are spread around the city.

If it was that easy, Tolkeen would still be standing, as no violence could happen within 10 miles of it, the CS war machine would be totally impotent and would only be able to march in and offer harsh language.

[Giant2005]

Sure it is. We are talking about a city full of mages, on a Nexus. Getting that much PPE would take a group of four mages less than five minutes. Not to mention that PPE is effectively infinite with a level five or higher Warlock around, even without a Nexus; or that Techno-Wizardry could reduce the required PPE of each casting to 1.
Hell, by combining that Warlock and Techno-Wizard's efforts, the entire thing could be automated by having a single machine that summons Phantoms and instructs them to activate the Sanctuary machines that are spread around the city.

If it was that easy, Tolkeen would still be standing, as no violence could happen within 10 miles of it, the CS war machine would be totally impotent and would only be able to march in and offer harsh language.

Only if Tolkeen was smart enough to bother, but Kevin had to take some liberties with their intelligence in order to make sure that the CS won.
Not using Sanctuary to its full effectiveness isn't even the stupidest thing Tolkeen did. Thanks to the cost-effectiveness of Warlock summons (especially when combined with Techno-Wizardry), they could have literally summoned hundred of billions of them on a whim. The only real limitation to the size of their army would be how much massive they could add to the planet before it collapsed into itself as a black hole. Not to mention the effects of combining flight, invisibility to sensors, and invisibility simple to make your army basically untouchable, or using 4d assassins (or using a 4d being to make a puppet of the Emperor via Transfer Soul, Soultwist, or any number of spells enhanced by Permanency), or Death by 1,000 Cuts, or teleporting bombs, or doing any number of crazy things with magic (and especially Techno-Wizardry).
Tolkeen lost because that is what Kevin wanted to happen, not because it made sense.

[drewkitty ~..~]

There are the precognitive resources that Tolkeen would have that would give a warning to them of the suicided attack. So they could start searching for this type of attack before it happens.

[Axelmania]

We are talking about a city full of mages, on a Nexus. Getting that much PPE would take a group of four mages less than five minutes.

in fairness of course, the outcome of SOT was determined pre-RUE when Rifts hadn't yet adopted the "just take a free 10 PPE every melee round from a ley line, wizards" buff to magic introduced in PF2, back when (like BTS1/Nightbane/HU2) you at most could hope for a little bonus every 30 minutes or so. The time factor overturn is basically 120x faster now.

Not using Sanctuary to its full effectiveness isn't even the stupidest thing Tolkeen did.

I figure they did but metaplot-wise the Vanguard infiltrated them somehow and were constantly launching Negate Magic / Anti-Magic Cloud against countermeasures like these to lower their defenses.

Thanks to the cost-effectiveness of Warlock summons (especially when combined with Techno-Wizardry), they could have literally summoned hundred of billions of them on a whim.

Does anyone recall the first example we have of a TW creation utilizing warlock spells?

I assume you're referring to summoning a "Phantom" who in turn summons "Phantom Footman" and similar, a classic trick?

It sounds like what you have in mind is the RUE rules for TW creation which allow minimization of PPE cost through lots of gems.

This is a concept pretty much absent prior to RUE where any TW device I've seen always had pretty standard activation costs.

So again, much like the 10/melee from ley lines being absent, these rules weren't around when SOT1-6 was written.

It's also not entirely clear many gems that Tolkeen would have on hand for creating stuff like this. Isn't it Lazlo that's the TW capital? Maybe they have gem control and refused to sell to tolkeen so there are shortages?

The only real limitation to the size of their army would be how much massive they could add to the planet before it collapsed into itself as a black hole. Not to mention the effects of combining flight, invisibility to sensors, and invisibility simple to make your army basically untouchable, or using 4d assassins (or using a 4d being to make a puppet of the Emperor via Transfer Soul, Soultwist, or any number of spells enhanced by Permanency), or Death by 1,000 Cuts, or teleporting bombs, or doing any number of crazy things with magic (and especially Techno-Wizardry).
Tolkeen lost because that is what Kevin wanted to happen, not because it made sense.

Permanency does cost souls, and is a pretty high-level demon magic. I'm sure some demons in Tolkeen must've known it, but power like that you don't necessarily share.

A puppet-Karl with a demon soul also seems like something which Psi-Net would eventually uncover.

How are you even going to get in range to soul-twist him, and how are you going to get the spell to work despite his probably-dozens-of-Psi-Nulliifier-bodyguards?

[Giant2005]

We are talking about a city full of mages, on a Nexus. Getting that much PPE would take a group of four mages less than five minutes.

in fairness of course, the outcome of SOT was determined pre-RUE when Rifts hadn't yet adopted the "just take a free 10 PPE every melee round from a ley line, wizards" buff to magic introduced in PF2, back when (like BTS1/Nightbane/HU2) you at most could hope for a little bonus every 30 minutes or so. The time factor overturn is basically 120x faster now.

That is a fair point. The same applies to the Techno-Wizardry as that too was using RUE rules.

Not using Sanctuary to its full effectiveness isn't even the stupidest thing Tolkeen did.

I figure they did but metaplot-wise the Vanguard infiltrated them somehow and were constantly launching Negate Magic / Anti-Magic Cloud against countermeasures like these to lower their defenses.

That is a fair point too. Magical saboteurs are the best saboteurs and the CS has access to them too. Even more importantly, magic users working for the CS's interests would be the last thing that Tolkeen would expect, so their defenses against magical sabotage would probably be a lot less stringent than they could be.

Thanks to the cost-effectiveness of Warlock summons (especially when combined with Techno-Wizardry), they could have literally summoned hundred of billions of them on a whim.

Does anyone recall the first example we have of a TW creation utilizing warlock spells?

I assume you're referring to summoning a "Phantom" who in turn summons "Phantom Footman" and similar, a classic trick?

It sounds like what you have in mind is the RUE rules for TW creation which allow minimization of PPE cost through lots of gems.

This is a concept pretty much absent prior to RUE where any TW device I've seen always had pretty standard activation costs.

So again, much like the 10/melee from ley lines being absent, these rules weren't around when SOT1-6 was written.

It's also not entirely clear many gems that Tolkeen would have on hand for creating stuff like this. Isn't it Lazlo that's the TW capital? Maybe they have gem control and refused to sell to tolkeen so there are shortages?

Regarding the Phantom summoning Phantom Footmen, I was more thinking of a Phantom that is told to pump its PPE in to a TW machine and press a button, and that TW machine's design was to summon a Phantom (not a Footman). But yeah, the TW angles are more of a RUE thing. I don't think that gems would have been an issue though. Any city with Warlocks and Shifters basically has access to whatever Gems they desire.

The only real limitation to the size of their army would be how much massive they could add to the planet before it collapsed into itself as a black hole. Not to mention the effects of combining flight, invisibility to sensors, and invisibility simple to make your army basically untouchable, or using 4d assassins (or using a 4d being to make a puppet of the Emperor via Transfer Soul, Soultwist, or any number of spells enhanced by Permanency), or Death by 1,000 Cuts, or teleporting bombs, or doing any number of crazy things with magic (and especially Techno-Wizardry).
Tolkeen lost because that is what Kevin wanted to happen, not because it made sense.

Permanency does cost souls, and is a pretty high-level demon magic. I'm sure some demons in Tolkeen must've known it, but power like that you don't necessarily share.

A puppet-Karl with a demon soul also seems like something which Psi-Net would eventually uncover.

How are you even going to get in range to soul-twist him, and how are you going to get the spell to work despite his probably-dozens-of-Psi-Nulliifier-bodyguards?

Permanency also is another thing that didn't actually exist at the time of the SoT.
Getting close to Karl wouldn't be all that difficult with 4d Transformation as there isn't any defensive measures against it. The real issue is making sure you have the right guy and not one of his doubles.

[Hotrod]

I'm assuming the CS would have the capability to build these if they so chose. Yes, high yield nukes are blamed for the coming of the rifts, but if the war against Tolkeen had gone differently and the CS was losing badly, or if they entered a new war against the Fed of Magic and were not doing well, I could see them trying to send in a few lone operatives with low yield suitcase nukes in the 20 kiloton range and taking out critical infrastructure of the governments or military facilities. Or failing that even just backpacks full of high yield conventional explosives and suicide bombers might be used. Drive a civilian delivery truck filled with C4 or whatever up to the target buildings. I could easily see the espionage branch of the CS engaging in terrorist attacks like this if they were losing badly, it could turn the tide of the war taking out key leadership or targets to affect morale of the enemy.

What defenses and protections would these cities have against this sort of thing? I assume some kind of team of clairvoyant psychics would likely try to be watching out for this. What else?

I have a similar scenario play out in the opening of the manuscript for Duty's Edge. I have a way of explaining this that isn't canon, but I think it fits canon.

Think of Rifts Earth kind of like a massive organism. When supernatural invaders come and wreak havoc, it has immune responses, and psionics are its immune response to the Coming of the Rifts. Animals have potent psionics, and many humans do too. Psi-Stalkers, natives of Psyscape, and other psychic character classes are kind of like white blood cells, and they're especially attuned to major supernatural threats to the planet. This explains why when major threats are coming, we get the Edict of Planetary Distress that is mostly picked up by psychics.

Rifts Earth has also been ravaged by nuclear war before, and this is a big part of what triggers psychic abilities to become so prominent and powerful among humans after the Coming of the Rifts. High-yield, city-smashing weapons are a threat to the planet itself, and thus psychics are particularly attuned to the threat of high-yield nuclear weapons. The bigger the WMD, the easier it is to see coming. Thus trying to sneak a nuke in will draw attention and ire from those with any significant psychic senses (especially clairvoyance and 6th sense), so backpack nukes aren't a very good option as a deliverable weapon. This also explains how Tolkeen is able to predict, prepare for, and nullify a nuclear barrage.

As I said, this isn't canon, but it seems plausible given what we know of the setting.

[Axelmania]

Getting close to Karl wouldn't be all that difficult with 4d Transformation as there isn't any defensive measures against it

Stab the 4D being with a psi-sword?

[Giant2005]

Getting close to Karl wouldn't be all that difficult with 4d Transformation as there isn't any defensive measures against it

Stab the 4D being with a psi-sword?

A 4d being can't be touched or even detected by something in the third dimension.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Getting close to Karl wouldn't be all that difficult with 4d Transformation as there isn't any defensive measures against it

Stab the 4D being with a psi-sword?

A 4d being can't be touched or even detected by something in the third dimension.

But they also can't do more than observe the third dimensional world without stepping into the third dimension, at which point they are vunerable to attack by psi-swords and anything else for that matter.

[Axelmania]

Don't clairvoyance / 6th sense also give warnings even of non-detected attacks?

[Riftmaker]

Umm if you kill someone in rifts there PPE doubles for an instant right? Im pretty sure if you kill a city full of people, let alone a city of mages, in the same instant the energy release would be stupidy huge. Im not 100% sure but I think thats part of how the apocalypse happpened. If the CS knew enough about magic to know that they might just no do it.

[Killer Cyborg]

Don't clairvoyance / 6th sense also give warnings even of non-detected attacks?

6th Sense is iffy at best.

Clairvoyance has a chance to predict bad events in advance. So something like a suitcase nuke could set it off spontaneously, even if psychics were for some reason not actively looking for such events in advance.

[ShadowLogan]

Don't clairvoyance / 6th sense also give warnings even of non-detected attacks?

6th Sense is iffy at best.

Clairvoyance has a chance to predict bad events in advance. So something like a suitcase nuke could set it off spontaneously, even if psychics were for some reason not actively looking for such events in advance.

If you are depending on 6th Sense to protect against a "Suitcase Nuke" you are pretty much screwed. 6th Sense has such a small window of detection* that if the bomb sets it off, its probably already to late.

*per text the event happens w/n next 60seconds, no indication of what is the cause, range is 90ft.

[Orin J.]

Don't clairvoyance / 6th sense also give warnings even of non-detected attacks?

6th Sense is iffy at best.

Clairvoyance has a chance to predict bad events in advance. So something like a suitcase nuke could set it off spontaneously, even if psychics were for some reason not actively looking for such events in advance.

If you are depending on 6th Sense to protect against a "Suitcase Nuke" you are pretty much screwed. 6th Sense has such a small window of detection* that if the bomb sets it off, its probably already to late.

*per text the event happens w/n next 60seconds, no indication of what is the cause, range is 90ft.

a HELL of a lot of psychics are going to be within 90 ft of the atomic explosion. and if clarvoiants have picked up on an imminent attack, odds are they'll be looking for it and walking near any of them will set it off, a plan to detonate a bomb certainly qualifies as an imminent attack to me....

this is all ignoring the fact that they're a city and not some strawman concept so they would reasonably be screening everyone before they enter the city, again. probably with telepathy and dispelling magics in addition to conventional methods.....

[ShadowLogan]

That 6th Sense might trigger from an atomic explosion is plausible, but the power itself is not as much help as some seem to think it is:
"The character will not know what the danger is or where it will come from, nor who it will be direct at when in a group. All he will know is that something life threatening will happen within the next 60seconds(4 melees)!"-RMB pg 123 and RUE pg 177 description of the power (and in HU2E and PF2E).

What this means is that you can have someone move the nuke into the city without setting off any 6th Sense, which won't be set off until 1minute before detonation that is per the text of the power as it has existed for like 3 decades (if not more). And even then the psychics in question will not know anything about what the danger is (big boom and such), only that some UNDEFINED danger is coming from some unknown direction and WITHIN 60seconds. Even if the Psychics have clairvoyant based intel, it isn't going to change the fact that 6th sense is not that accurate and could be triggered by other things during the search. Heck knowledge that a Nuke could go off might even prevent 6th Sense from being triggered at all (because the danger is known).

[Orin J.]

That 6th Sense might trigger from an atomic explosion is plausible, but the power itself is not as much help as some seem to think it is:
"The character will not know what the danger is or where it will come from, nor who it will be direct at when in a group. All he will know is that something life threatening will happen within the next 60seconds(4 melees)!"-RMB pg 123 and RUE pg 177 description of the power (and in HU2E and PF2E).

What this means is that you can have someone move the nuke into the city without setting off any 6th Sense, which won't be set off until 1minute before detonation that is per the text of the power as it has existed for like 3 decades (if not more).

it's long enough to cast energy disruption on the nuke, then rip out the reaction chamber bits while it's disabled. which is probably standard operating procedure for all suspected explosive devices in a magical city.

[The Beast]

That 6th Sense might trigger from an atomic explosion is plausible, but the power itself is not as much help as some seem to think it is:
"The character will not know what the danger is or where it will come from, nor who it will be direct at when in a group. All he will know is that something life threatening will happen within the next 60seconds(4 melees)!"-RMB pg 123 and RUE pg 177 description of the power (and in HU2E and PF2E).

What this means is that you can have someone move the nuke into the city without setting off any 6th Sense, which won't be set off until 1minute before detonation that is per the text of the power as it has existed for like 3 decades (if not more).

it's long enough to cast energy disruption on the nuke, then rip out the reaction chamber bits while it's disabled. which is probably standard operating procedure for all suspected explosive devices in a magical city.

You'd still have to both find and be able to get to it first.

[LostOne]

All sixth sense tells you is danger in the next minute. That might mean the nuke three miles away will go off and everything within 90ft of you will be flattened by a lethal shockwave in one minute. You don't know what is coming and unless you happen to be right by it the device and can identify the threat and have the means to disable it in that minute, sixth sense for a nuclear explosion doesn't really help.

[kaid]

I think something like a suitcase nuke is probably game wise smaller than one of the nuke warheads on the normal long range missiles. It would suck for people in the near vicinity but but given the stupid durability of MDC stuff it would be questionable if it would even destroy a building it was in.

[Axelmania]

All sixth sense tells you is danger in the next minute. That might mean the nuke three miles away will go off and everything within 90ft of you will be flattened by a lethal shockwave in one minute. You don't know what is coming and unless you happen to be right by it the device and can identify the threat and have the means to disable it in that minute, sixth sense for a nuclear explosion doesn't really help.

Clairvoyance is for the long-term countermeasures, sixth sense is for fine-tuning the last minute changes as your own countermeasures alter what you saw in your vision.

[Hotrod]

The discussion here seems to be in terms of person-centric threat detection/response. Yet we know that there are other forces in the world and universe that detect and warn of impending disasters independent of specific individuals' powers. The Edict of Planetary Distress describes this, and the Gathering of Heroes to a specific place to address a specific threat indicates a capability to anticipate and predict a catastrophic event to a reasonable certainty of time, place, and type of threat. In the case of the Four Horsemen, the threat is not instantaneous, and it's spread out over a pretty wide region. Could it be possible for this kind of environmental/planetary response to trigger with a precise response to a sudden, catastrophic, and localized event like a nuclear strike?

[ShadowLogan]

All sixth sense tells you is danger in the next minute. That might mean the nuke three miles away will go off and everything within 90ft of you will be flattened by a lethal shockwave in one minute. You don't know what is coming and unless you happen to be right by it the device and can identify the threat and have the means to disable it in that minute, sixth sense for a nuclear explosion doesn't really help.

Clairvoyance is for the long-term countermeasures, sixth sense is for fine-tuning the last minute changes as your own countermeasures alter what you saw in your vision.

That is not how 6th Sense works though. Text is pretty clear on this: (RUE pg177, but it exists in RMB and other lines) "The Sixth Sense is only triggered by an unexpected, life threatening event" (emphasis mine). This means if you are searching for a nuclear device about to go off, its detonation won't trigger 6th Sense as it is not unexpected, not to mention even if it did 6th Sense would not tell you want the danger actually is that is triggering it.

Could it be possible for this kind of environmental/planetary response to trigger with a precise response to a sudden, catastrophic, and localized event like a nuclear strike?

Yes, though the question really here is what power(s) would this manifest itself through. Or if even specific power(s) are required for X (ex. Material Plane Astral Projection, psychics can see these people without any specific power).

[Hotrod]

Could it be possible for this kind of environmental/planetary response to trigger with a precise response to a sudden, catastrophic, and localized event like a nuclear strike?

Yes, though the question really here is what power(s) would this manifest itself through. Or if even specific power(s) are required for X (ex. Material Plane Astral Projection, psychics can see these people without any specific power).[/quote]

The Edict of Planetary Distress in Sourcebook 2: The Mechanoids offers some insight here. Psychics in particular pick up on great dangers with visions, sensations, and feelings, and the passage does not describe these as a result of any specific psychic power, or as requiring any specific power to be activated.

It is almost as if the very planet is screaming to warn us. Indeed, the magic energies that encircles and binds us to our living planet may be the source of these premonitions.

(Grammar error on Plato's part intentionally left in. Silly dragon.)

I don't have a mechanics-based explanation for why powerful nuclear weapons fail to be effective in Rifts, but I think the Edict provides some precedent for a narrative-based explanation. If large-scale nuclear weapon strikes are effective, then one strike will tend to beget more, either because people tend to re-use tactics that work, or because people tend to respond in kind. Thus, the planet itself may respond to the use of a powerful nuclear strike with eough clear, specific warnings about any premeditated attack to enable those who pay attention to psychics to prevent the attack.

Really, I'm just rationalizing plot armor here, but in this case, I think that plot armor is important. If nuclear weapon strikes were effective in Rifts, then those with nukes would paste every existential threat on the planet, and the setting would become a lot less interesting, much as it would be if the Four Horsemen won.

[Axelmania]

That is not how 6th Sense works though. Text is pretty clear on this: (RUE pg177, but it exists in RMB and other lines) "The Sixth Sense is only triggered by an unexpected, life threatening event" (emphasis mine). This means if you are searching for a nuclear device about to go off, its detonation won't trigger 6th Sense as it is not unexpected

If you have perfect knowledge of how it will happen via Clairvoyance and stop it, then you won't need 6th Sense.

If you have imperfect knowledge of how it will happen, then 6th sense will still work, because you don't know SPECIFICALLY what to expect.

If vague ideas were enough then "I know I will die some day" means death is expected therefore no threat to life is unexpected.

[Wise_Owl]

Suitcase Nukes are far more dangerous to a Tech-Only mega-city than to a Magical city. There are just to many ways for the thing to go wrong when your sending some-body with a WMD into a city filled with Psychics, Monsters, and literal Wizards. Given the way tech works in Rifts, if that things falls into the hands of your enemies, well guess what, one Psychic operator later and now they have the ability to make suitcase nukes... and they have Teleport spells.

Simply put; producing a weapon that is more useful against yourself then your enemies and plays directly into your enemies strengths is a bad idea... but of course, this as always plays into pretending Rifts is a self-consistent world rather than a Heavy Metal Van side. I mean stopping a guy who is taking a tiny nuke into a magical city sounds like an interesting adventure idea, so roll with it.

[Axelmania]

Clairvoyance can turn itself on.

I know there are similar magic spells (I think one is called Oracle?) but would need to be regularly actively used to scan for plots.

As a cheaper alternative there's also a free-cost skill in TTGD and you can buy it multiple times to represent different kinds of fortune-telling... or maybge it cost 1 PPE, don't recall

[kaid]

Suitcase Nukes are far more dangerous to a Tech-Only mega-city than to a Magical city. There are just to many ways for the thing to go wrong when your sending some-body with a WMD into a city filled with Psychics, Monsters, and literal Wizards. Given the way tech works in Rifts, if that things falls into the hands of your enemies, well guess what, one Psychic operator later and now they have the ability to make suitcase nukes... and they have Teleport spells.

Simply put; producing a weapon that is more useful against yourself then your enemies and plays directly into your enemies strengths is a bad idea... but of course, this as always plays into pretending Rifts is a self-consistent world rather than a Heavy Metal Van side. I mean stopping a guy who is taking a tiny nuke into a magical city sounds like an interesting adventure idea, so roll with it.

Also suitcase nukes are not city buster type weapons. Their damage is going to be along the lines of something half the size of one of the long range nuclear missiles. The overall damage in an MDC environment would be bad for squishy un armored humans in close proximity but I am not even sure the kill zone would reach out to a block given how strong MDC is. A lot of buildings would not even be fully compromised if you detonated it INSIDE. On the scale of things that are a major threat suitcase nukes really are not it. Hell a lot of supernatural critters would likely survive at point blank range of one.

[kaid]

Could it be possible for this kind of environmental/planetary response to trigger with a precise response to a sudden, catastrophic, and localized event like a nuclear strike?

Yes, though the question really here is what power(s) would this manifest itself through. Or if even specific power(s) are required for X (ex. Material Plane Astral Projection, psychics can see these people without any specific power).

The Edict of Planetary Distress in Sourcebook 2: The Mechanoids offers some insight here. Psychics in particular pick up on great dangers with visions, sensations, and feelings, and the passage does not describe these as a result of any specific psychic power, or as requiring any specific power to be activated.

It is almost as if the very planet is screaming to warn us. Indeed, the magic energies that encircles and binds us to our living planet may be the source of these premonitions.
(Grammar error on Plato's part intentionally left in. Silly dragon.)

I don't have a mechanics-based explanation for why powerful nuclear weapons fail to be effective in Rifts, but I think the Edict provides some precedent for a narrative-based explanation. If large-scale nuclear weapon strikes are effective, then one strike will tend to beget more, either because people tend to re-use tactics that work, or because people tend to respond in kind. Thus, the planet itself may respond to the use of a powerful nuclear strike with eough clear, specific warnings about any premeditated attack to enable those who pay attention to psychics to prevent the attack.

Really, I'm just rationalizing plot armor here, but in this case, I think that plot armor is important. If nuclear weapon strikes were effective in Rifts, then those with nukes would paste every existential threat on the planet, and the setting would become a lot less interesting, much as it would be if the Four Horsemen won.

If you are immune to energy you could dance at point blank range of a suitecase nuke and walk away. Most larger creatures of magic like dragons would not be killed at point blank range.

A suite case nuke is a good terror weapon in the modern world without MDC protection but in any city with MDC contstruction its about as bad as something like a medium missile strike. Damaging but not beyond what fortifications and armored buildings are designed to handle without a problem.

[LostOne]

I would argue that most civilian construction areas would have many SDC features simply to keep costs down. Not every company can afford to build to military grade bunker
standards. But also take into account the radiation. That could be devastating to all the mere mortals in the city for a long time. Pop that suitcase nuke where that radiation will be carried across most of the city courtesy of air currents and you might effectively depopulate the city long term.

[Axelmania]

The Edict of Planetary Distress in Sourcebook 2: The Mechanoids offers some insight here. Psychics in particular pick up on great dangers with visions, sensations, and feelings, and the passage does not describe these as a result of any specific psychic power, or as requiring any specific power to be activated.

I would say it is strongly implied to be clairvoyance.

Just like when it talks about psychics seeing astral projectors, it's talking about those with See the Invisible.

The thing about 'children' just misleads people because books after BTS neglected to highlight the % chance of that power activating in emergencies.

It's not 24/7 astral-sight for kids and all psis, basically. It's rare enough that people aren't flipping out.

If you are immune to energy you could dance at point blank range of a suitecase nuke and walk away.
Most larger creatures of magic like dragons would not be killed at point blank range.

I'm actually not sure if it's considered pure energy or not.

We know IRL nukes fling debris around, possibly at MD tier like TK Acceleration attack

[kaid]

I would argue that most civilian construction areas would have many SDC features simply to keep costs down. Not every company can afford to build to military grade bunker
standards. But also take into account the radiation. That could be devastating to all the mere mortals in the city for a long time. Pop that suitcase nuke where that radiation will be carried across most of the city courtesy of air currents and you might effectively depopulate the city long term.

This was talking about striking magical cities. Most magical cities we have examples of which are not that many pretty much all buildings we have seen are MDC construction. When you have a city of mages and the ability to turn even normal trees into permanent MDC objects it would be unlikely any main part of such city is not heavily fortified.

Suitcase nukes are basically like a cleaner version of a dirty bomb. So yes normal people in the radiation foot print probably won't enjoy life. But then again we know that small scale nuclear weapons are common parts of long range missiles used by major powers. It is not unreasonable to think if they are used that commonly ways to clean up effected areas has also advanced.

[kaid]

I think the main take away even wide use of suitcase nukes is not something for an edict of planetary distress for rifts earth it is a tuesday.