Dark forest strike
Names: Dark forest strikedark forest attacksphotoid strikeDimensional strikedark forest attack
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 43 (Broadcast Era, Year 7 Sophon)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 43Dark forest attacks are casual, with no reconnaissance, and economical, using a cheap projectile to trigger the energy already in the target star.
- Ch 43Sophon says humanity has no chance of surviving a strike and its only choice is to try to escape.
- Ch 53A photoid strike on the Sun would vaporize Mercury and Venus, strip a 500 km surface layer from Earth, and strip 100 km from Mars.
- Ch 53The projected timeframe from exposure of Earth's coordinates to a strike is average fifty to eighty years; planners used seventy as the benchmark.
- Ch 53Planners judged a second strike unlikely, since a destroyed Sun would leave no energy source for an economical attack and the system would appear lifeless.
- Ch 67An attack alert has been issued, and Cao Bin says the dark forest strike has finally arrived.
- Ch 67Despite the alert, the cities have not hidden in Jupiter's shadow; Cao Bin says the bunker is useless.
- Ch 69A dark forest attack will collapse the space around the Solar System from three dimensions into two, destroying all life within eight to ten days.
- Ch 69Escape velocity from the collapsing region is the speed of light, far beyond any human vehicle, so successful escape is impossible.
- Ch 71Lowering spatial dimensions is an attack technique; attackers survive by first transforming themselves into life forms of a lower dimension. Yifan calls it a sign of respect.
- Ch 71The collapse of space near the Solar System into two dimensions will never cease.
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 69Dark forest attack alert issued
The Federation president announces the dimensional strike, estimated to take eight to ten days, with no chance of escape.