Neutron bombs were not really made to kill people quietly and leave buildings intact. They were made to kill the soldiers in tanks and hardened bunkers. Tanks can take quite a beating–even under nuclear blasts–so you need some serious mojo to stop them.
Tris, that firestorm post is one of the most disturbing things I’ve read for a long time. :eek:
Or more to the point, Neutron Bombs allow you to use smaller nukes while killing the same numbers of soldiers in tanks and hardened bunkers that a big bomb would’ve done. It allows you to pop nukes closer to your own lines without sacrificing too many of your own troops. Not altruism, just efficiency in that old art: Slaughtering our fellow sapients