Nuclear Information in the original Rule Book

[cosmicfish]

So do you guys follow/support the data that was provided in the original rule book about nuclear missiles, crater size, blast radius, radiation area and such?

Yes, simply because then I don't have to worry about it and the fine details have never mattered in any game I have run or participated in. Note that 3ed never really gave any useful rules for nuke anyway (what is "moderate damage"?), and regardless, 150 years later the details are not going to matter much.

How would an airburst influence those numbers?

From my admittedly limited knowledge of nuclear weapons, a nuclear airburst results in lower levels of fallout AND reduces the "ground radius" of the fireball, but pushes the shockwave out much further. If you are going after a bunker, you detonate on the ground, if you are going after a city, you detonate in the air.

As a convenient modifier I might say that for an air burst, I would cut the fireball and total destruction radii by 25%, and increase the rest by 25%. I might reverse those for an underground detonation.