When you think about the concept of Ragnarok, the end of the world in Norse mythology, it’s a cataclysmic event filled with battles, natural disasters, and the fall of gods. But what if we tried to imagine what Ragnarok would look like in real life? To get a sense of this, we can draw some parallels with the immense power and scale of the ships and stations in EVE Online, a popular space-based MMORPG.
In EVE Online, the power and size of ships are often measured in terms of DPS (Damage Per Second) and EHP (Effective Hit Points). These metrics help players understand the capabilities of their vessels, but they don’t easily translate to real-world terms. To bridge this gap, we can convert these in-game units into more familiar energy values.
Take, for example, the Dual Giga Pulse Laser II, a powerful weapon in the game. This laser uses 320 GigaJoules of energy per shot and deals a volley of 16,393 damage. After accounting for ship bonuses, the damage per shot is around 4,554. By dividing the damage by the energy usage, we find that one GigaJoule is equivalent to 14.23 damage. In real-world terms, one shot from this laser weapon is roughly equivalent to 76.5 tons of TNT, which is slightly more than three-quarters of the energy released in a large explosion. To put it simply, one EHP or damage point is about the energy of a hand grenade.
Now, consider the most powerful weapon in the game: the Doomsday device. This weapon deals 1.5 million damage, which translates to over 25 kilotons of TNT. For comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was around 15 kilotons, and the Nagasaki bomb was about 21 kilotons. So, being hit by a Doomsday device in EVE Online is akin to surviving or perishing in a nuclear explosion.
Understanding the sheer power of these weapons helps us grasp the resilience of EVE Online’s ships. Recent battles have shown that titans, the largest ships in the game, can withstand 4-9 million damage before being destroyed. This means they can endure multiple nuclear-level explosions. Even smaller ships like dreadnoughts can tank millions of EHP, showcasing the advanced technology that allows these vessels to absorb and survive immense damage.
When it comes to size, EVE Online’s ships and stations are colossal. Titans, the largest ships, can be up to 18 kilometers long and several kilometers tall, with masses reaching 2.4 billion kilograms. To put this in perspective, walking the length of a Ragnarok-class titan would take nearly four hours, and its weight is comparable to half of one of the Great Pyramids of Giza. These ships are equipped with weapons the size of buildings and armor plates so thick that falling from the edge of one could be fatal.
But the titans are not the largest structures in New Eden, the game’s universe. Stations like the Keepstar class citadel are even more massive, stretching hundreds of kilometers in length and height and housing millions of residents and thousands of ships. If a Keepstar appeared over New York State, it would dwarf everything in sight, becoming the heaviest and largest object ever created by humanity.
Even more impressive were the Iapetan class titans, now destroyed or hidden. These ships were up to 516 kilometers long and 157 kilometers tall, capable of carrying entire planet-sized populations. They had the power to destroy planets or entire solar systems, according to the game’s lore. The materials needed to build such ships would require the destruction of entire planets.
So, what would Ragnarok look like in real life? Imagine the immense power and scale of EVE Online’s ships and stations. The cataclysmic battles, the destruction of entire worlds, and the fall of mighty structures would be akin to the end-of-the-world scenario depicted in Norse mythology. The game does an excellent job of making players feel small and insignificant, but in reality, they wield the power of entire militaries.
Next time you find yourself in the vast expanse of space, controlling one of these massive ships, remember the true scale and power at your fingertips. It might just change your perspective on the game and give you a glimpse of what Ragnarok would look like in real life.
Source: EVE Online Lore, Norse Mythology
