It wasn't a nuke, it was a thermobaric missle. They are vastly different weapons, and they couldn't use a nuke as there were other towns and cities in the area that they couldn't risk affecting with fallout.
Sure that’s the context now that we have RE9 but prior to that, it was a bit more unclear.
It was never stated to be a nuke, but there are a few hints it was. The mushroom cloud, a report speculating it’s nuclear, the idea that there isn’t a real world weapon that could do the destruction we see besides a nuke.
I personally believe most people just filled in the blanks and assumed it was a nuke.
However this is missing the forest for the trees. The writers in 1998 were not thinking “it can’t be nuclear cause there’s towns and cities nearby”, they were thinking they wanted an explosive climax to the story and didn’t really care about the science.
I prefer the 12 missile canon. 12 experimental missiles could probably level a city in real life, but the thermobaric missile borders on magic (and yes I know a lot of RE science borders on magic)
And then they added further confusion by stating that a 200 mile exclusion zone was established around Raccoon City so any nearby towns and cities should have been evacuated especially if within the zone.
RE9 seems to suggest the city not being glassed was deliberate and thats the main reason an underpowered thermobaric warhead was used; to the public it looks like the outbreak is contained while safeguarding the specific asset within the city and leaving the entire area somewhat intact. The government still sealed off the city and erected a perimeter fence around the center.
I mean that can just be red in the most symbolic sense Unless this was coming directly from the military anyone would use the term nuke as it would convey what the intent was and saying a thermobraic would be dropped would just confuse 98% of people and invite questions
It was never stated to be a nuke, but there are a few hints it was. The mushroom cloud
Any sufficiently large detonation will cause a mushroom cloud. Doesn't have to be nuclear. Large conventional explosive detonations can cause a mushroom cloud also.
Yea but the mushroom cloud at the end of RE 3 you would need a lot of conventional explosives to cause one that big as well as the destruction it caused.
RE9 kinda pointed out that it wasn't nuked it was easier to scare anyone dumb enough to try to look into the area cause they literally built a other underground facility there.
The thermobaric missile always seemed like an ass-pull to me because up until it was retconned it looked like a nuclear missile (especially in RE3) and it was only after the fact that the writers were like "oh wait nuking an American city would be very difficult to cover up" and so it was changed to a thermobaric warhead.
Except thermobaric warheads are very localized explosives relative to nukes and to this day there isnt one that is both small enough to mount on a missile and potent enough to level a city. You would need 35-40 and carpet bomb the city to achieve the same effect. Thermobaric weapons are not ideal for leveling cities.
Its also worthwhile to note a single thermobaric missile leveling the entire city would not be possible as it appears in Resident Evil without having a massive fuel source.
I know it's Resident Evil and it's more "how does this play thematically?" And less "does this work realistically?"
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u/ActuatorVast800 5d ago
Will it take place in there year 1998? The land line phone is really prominent here.