From another visit to the ES wiki I was reading up on the dust wars, the conflict between the concretes and virtuals that eventually grounded their civilisations to... literal dust and set the stage for the rise of the current ES factions (Survivors from the concretes include the Amoeba).



And come across this titbit of military tactics used by either factions to systematically wipe each other out:

Some of the major warfare tactics of the Dust Wars were:



Isolation - Virtuals kill the satellite system in order to isolate a planet, then drop the dead satellites on to the major industrial centers of a colony. The Concretes are forced to rebuild their civilization from Renaissance-level technology.

EMPicide - Concretes detonate an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) device near a Virtual habitat in deep space. The Virtuals are instantly wiped out, but the equipment is generally salvageable.

To Breathe Dust - The Virtuals drop Dust into the air handling system of an orbital, giving it orders to pierce holes and disable microchips. The Concretes slowly choke to death.

Grounded - Concretes bring all the electrical systems of a planet inhabited by Virtuals to ground, i.e. zero charge, destroying the Virtuals.

Fratricide - Networked Dust is released in a Concrete armada, infecting the C3 (command, control, communication) systems. The ships end up turning their guns against each other.

And I figure, with people asking about the ideas of planet destroying weapons, and other such super weapons of mass destruction, why not take a hint from history and use similar tactics used in the dust wars as weapons that could be employed in ES? While weapons like the EMPicide won't be as devastating to most of the factions, and arguably even factions like the sowers who aren't truly bound by networking, it could still cause a whole heap of trouble to any colony's systems.

Agree, why wouldn't there be preserved WMD's made by the Endless if they have surviving wonders

Or to find a Splinter-Endless system? There's plenty to get from with that entry for planet anomalies and system effects..

Why not an endless automated defence system, or a dormat terror-fleet akin to pirates but far deadlier?