ORIGINAL: mlees
I've been to the Hiroshima Peace Park. They have models of the city before and after.
The blast damage appeared localised to a radius smaller than I first imagined. The long term effects (radiation sickness, thousands homeless & without food that need to be cared for...) seems to have as much effect, if not more, on the local infrastructure and production capability than the blast itself.
I think that the "spectre" of Nuclear war and the Cold war may have instilled a preconception (at least it did in me) of an entire nation (or world) looking like that photo above. But a single 16-20kT bomb focuses all that force in a 2 mile radius. (Heavy brick/stone/cement buildings were toppled in that radius.) Then the fires started add to the misery, and spread out.
If I recall correctly, Nagasaki had a bigger bomb used against it, but the damage was even more localised due to the terrain features.
As has been mentioned, other fire bombing campaigns achieved more widespread damage. The only difference being that those campaigns involved a lot more planes, over a longer period of time, than a single plane mission...
I know that B-29's did more with firebombing that the A-Bomb actually did (but that has already been nerfed in this game)
I also know, there ain't no way a 20Kton nuke will destroy a 60 mile hex.
But the industrial part of a city isn't evenly spread over a 60 mile hex - it's like any other city, Like Los Angeles where I came from - a flat costal plain surrounded by mountains with heavy industry localized towards the center. By the way - industry wouldn't have to be at Ground Zero to be effectively taken out.
I know we all have preconceptions - but if Nagasaki had 600 Hvy Industry and Hiroshima had 720 Hvy industry (in game terms) what percentage of war material output did those citys keep up the day after they were nuked? I just can't concieve that they only suffered a 15% reduction in output....maybe I'm wrong[&:]
EDIT:
From the general report on Damage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki "
The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
by The Manhattan Engineer District, June 29, 1946" (see here http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/index.shtml )
"In Hiroshima over 60,000 of 90,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged by the atomic bomb; this figure represents over 67% of the city's structures.
In Nagasaki 14,000 or 27% of 52,000 residences were completely destroyed and 5,40O, or 10% were half destroyed. Only 12% remained undamaged. This destruction was limited by the layout of the city.
The atomic explosion over Nagasaki affected an over-all area of approximately 42.9 square miles of which about 8.5 square miles were water and only about 9.8 square miles were built up, the remainder being partially settled. Approximately 36% of the built up areas were seriously damaged. The area most severely damaged had an average radius of about 1 mile, and covered about 2.9 square miles of which 2.4 were built up.
The next most seriously damaged area in Nagasaki lies outside the 2.9 square miles just described, and embraces approximately 4.2 square miles of which 29% was built up. The damage from blast and fire was moderate here, but in some sections (portions of main business districts) many secondary fires started and spread rapidly, resulting in about as much over-all destruction as in areas much closer to X.
An area of partial damage by blast and fire lies just outside the one just described and comprises approximately 35.8 square miles. Of this area, roughly 1/6th was built up and 1/4th was water. The extent of damage varied from serious (severe damage to roofs and windows in the main business section of Nagasaki, 2.5 miles from X), to minor (broken or occasionally broken windows at a distance of 7 miles southeast of X).
This is the games 10% to 15% loss of industrial capacity?
I think it's under estimated
