- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
In First Strike, when the Covenant begin bombarding Reach with plasma cannons from orbit, what Fred describes sound very much like a nuclear blast. As a side note, although the explosions shown in the announcment trailer appear to be nuclear blasts, you don't need a nuke to have a mushroom cloud. All you need is a really big explosion. Daisy Cutters, the second most powerful non-nuclear weapon used by the US (the MOAB is the most powerful, but impractical for combat use) creates a mushroom cloud, so a giant plasma ball should have no problem creating the same effect.