How Much Of A Difference Would Doubling Goku & Piccolo's Power Have Against Raditz?

[theherodjl]

Say Goku was at 840 and Piccolo was at 832. Do their chances if winning actually increase or is the result still the same? Raditz said something about "gradually increasing the strength of my attacks" against 420 Goku & 416 Piccolo so would he still feel the need to do that if their powers doubled?
Is a two-fold increase worth a damn if it is still overall weaker than a stronger opponent?

[Hugo Boss]

Weren’t those battle powers misreadings in the first place? Their actual battle powers were much higher than that, with Goku’s kamehameha nearing 1,000.

[Lionel]

In a direct fisticuffs bout I can't see the result being any different. Power level discrepancies being narrowed as they are here, they may be able to pressure Raditz to a degree and that's it. I imagine it pans out similar to Vegeta taking Recoome head on though it's two against one.

Where I believe the divergence happens is with the charged attacks. If Goku and/or Piccolo can successfully land their trump cards then that should be it for Raditz unless the Saiyan invader can counteract with a charged projectile of his own.

[Koitsukai]

Nappa at 4 or 5k was beating people left and right who were around 2 or 3k. I think the melee part of the fight would remain the same, but as Hugo said, their special attacks would be devastating to Raditz, not to mention easier to land.

[ankokudaishogun]

Raditz would possibly not play when they go at him together, and would be defeated by their concentrated ki attacks that would vastly surpass him.

...if they survive long enough to use them because Raditz would be less inclined to play with them.


also: he'd might think somehow better of Goku, having been able to reach 800 on such a weak planet.

[Yuli Ban]

Weren’t those battle powers misreadings in the first place? Their actual battle powers were much higher than that, with Goku’s kamehameha nearing 1,000.

Not really misreading per se. More a fundamental misunderstanding.

The whole point of introducing Freeza Force freezypops was to show off that these aliens didn't understand ki despite their otherworldly powers. They relied too much on technology and their rough knowledge of ki and suffered for it.
Son Goku concentrating his ki into a Kamehameha to achieve a power level of around 1,000 wasn't possible to read on a scouter because the way they understood it, all your power is present at any resting moment. Like controlling the flow of water in a hose. At full blast but coming straight out of the pipe, it looks like a gushing faucet. Stick your finger in front of the nozzle and suddenly it's exploding forth hard enough to rip through thin items. But it's the same amount of water all the same, utilized more skillfully.

Doubling their latent ki and strength would only make the concentration that much more powerful because more water's flowing. However while it'd be a marginally easier fight, it'd not go well still.

[Tai Lung]

Say Goku was at 840 and Piccolo was at 832. Do their chances if winning actually increase or is the result still the same? Raditz said something about "gradually increasing the strength of my attacks" against 420 Goku & 416 Piccolo so would he still feel the need to do that if their powers doubled?
Is a two-fold increase worth a damn if it is still overall weaker than a stronger opponent?

the characters can increase their power by focusing their ki on one point ... but that is not maintained all the time and when the series Z progresses it will cease to be important

[BWri]

They'd damn near stomp him at that point. Goku was already engaging Raditz directly in hand to hand with only a third of his strength. Piccolo's SBC would need half the time or less to charge and might not even be necessary. At that point Goku and Piccolo would likely finish off Raditz like they did with Garlic Jr. in DBZ movie #1, only Garlic was immortal. Goku, would then have survived that fight.

Being 2/3 of a person's power instead of 1/3 is a huge difference, especially if you're fighting two highly skilled fighters at that level. Goku and Piccolo were both much more skilled than Raditz IMO.

And at the end of the day, Goku and Piccolo still have their desperation tactics to rely on, only now with double the power, they'd be far more effective.

[theherodjl]

They'd damn near stomp him at that point. Goku was already engaging Raditz directly in hand to hand with only a third of his strength. Piccolo's SBC would need half the time or less to charge and might not even be necessary. At that point Goku and Piccolo would likely finish off Raditz like they did with Garlic Jr. in DBZ movie #1, only Garlic was immortal. Goku, would then have survived that fight.

Being 2/3 of a person's power instead of 1/3 is a huge difference, especially if you're fighting two highly skilled fighters at that level. Goku and Piccolo were both much more skilled than Raditz IMO.

And at the end of the day, Goku and Piccolo still have their desperation tactics to rely on, only now with double the power, they'd be far more effective.

The Daizenshuu lists Raditz at 1500 which is approaching a 4x-boost over Goku & Piccolo.

[BWri]

They'd damn near stomp him at that point. Goku was already engaging Raditz directly in hand to hand with only a third of his strength. Piccolo's SBC would need half the time or less to charge and might not even be necessary. At that point Goku and Piccolo would likely finish off Raditz like they did with Garlic Jr. in DBZ movie #1, only Garlic was immortal. Goku, would then have survived that fight.

Being 2/3 of a person's power instead of 1/3 is a huge difference, especially if you're fighting two highly skilled fighters at that level. Goku and Piccolo were both much more skilled than Raditz IMO.

And at the end of the day, Goku and Piccolo still have their desperation tactics to rely on, only now with double the power, they'd be far more effective.

The Daizenshuu lists Raditz at 1500 which is approaching a 4x-boost over Goku & Piccolo.

I never really bought into that, but even with that premise it doesn't change much of what I said. 1500/416 = 3.60576923, 1500/832 = 1.80288462. Using the official numbers and doubling them for Goku and Piccolo means that Raditz doesn't even have a full 2x boost over either character.

[Melee_Sovereign]

Weren’t those battle powers misreadings in the first place? Their actual battle powers were much higher than that, with Goku’s kamehameha nearing 1,000.

They weren't misreadings. They simply weren't powered up.

Scouters rely on reading active power output where as ki sensing can reveal potential power output.

An analogy I can think of would be, say you have a car engine. A scouter has to witness the engine being ran at max RPM, where as ki sensing allows you to just know the engine's max power output even if the engine is off or idle.

[apex_pretador]

Their power levels were in 900's. Goku's power level was read as 924 when he fired an uncharged kamehameha. This is further confirmed by Vegeta saying Raditz lost to guys with Power Level "barely over 1000". Double the power levels and then GOku and Piccolo never team up because Piccolo's first blast kills Raditz.

[Desassina]

I think that the power difference was great to showcase how powerful their attacks had become and how helpless they still were against Raditz. Goku and Piccolo in the 400s against Raditz in the 1'000s was also a means to show that you can't just add battle powers to win a battle. At some point this comparison was made: by Vegeta when he measured the humans for the first time, and against Freeza when he was considering Krillin and Gohan's rising power. No sophisticated theory going on here: if Toriyama somehow knew that the reader could add these numbers, then he left no doubts that this could not be done by letting Goku and Piccolo's sum be lower than Raditz, otherwise he didn't and still felt like showing how powerful their attacks could get before killing the enemy.

[FoolsGil]

It won't make a difference because any attempt to make the series anything beyond power levels was destroyed by Toriyama himself in Daimao and 23rd Budokai arcs previously:

- The Mafuba was once a suicidal move, and implied to only work on demons based on the name.

- The Tri Form technique split your ki into parts, so useless against an opponent who doesn't immediately panic when bombarded with multi-yous.

- Piccolo's Giant Form didn't increase your ki, so you just became a larger target.

Whatever themes Toriyama was trying to make with Raditz' realization, Toriyama ruined already, which is why in the end Gohan deus ex machina'd assistance for the heroes, instead of team work and tactics finishing the job. Doubling the power wouldn't have changed anything.

[DBZAOTA482]

They would actually be a problem for Raditz.