Post nuke Alaska

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Hello everyone!

I'm making a campaign in Alaska after WWIII and I'm looking at a few things that I could use for it.

So basically, aside from the fuel production facilities, I start with the assumption that Alaska was not hit that hard by the warheads.

Then, there is the fact that Alaska's gun laws make it easier than in a lot of other states to get guns, but gathering food would be harder than in warmer climate, so instead of being hit hard by the warheads, Alaska was hit hard by the social collapse.

I'm using an actual road map of Alaska that the PCs have access to In-Character, but I would welcome if someone has more knowledge of Alaska than I do could indicate the "good spots" of Alaska (more food than other places, or easily defended places for urban centers with a start of economic production beyond simple survivalist activities), and the "bad spots" (hard to defend places, hard to find food, and the places most likely to have been hit by the warheads, the fallout, and other spots best avoided because of post nuke hazards).

Thanks a bunch.

[Bengt]

Fishing is usually a very important food source in cold areas with a coast. If industrialised fishing is gone in the wake of the war fish should be plentiful for local fishers, though it might be radioactive. :)

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

Okay, so if I get this right, I can expect new settlements to be made alongside coasts for fishing, with whatever (salvaged or newly built) boats available used for fishing? That's a good thing to know.

What about ethanol/biodiesel/gasifiers? Where could I expect prewar boats retrofitted with these kind of engines for fishing and where would be good places for newly build Age of Sail type of fishing boats?

What kind of psychoactive chemicals could local raider bands/local junkies be high as a kite on? Alcohol is universal in that regard, but what else could raiders/junkies use to get high?

[Irish Wolf]

The northern reaches might have been hit, both to destroy the DEW Line and to deny access to the oil fields around Point Barrow. Also, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the neighboring (in fact, nearly attached) city of Anchorage might well have taken a few nukes. I doubt they'd have targeted any other major cities in Alaska, though - no real strategic reason to do so.

[Bengt]

As roads in cold climates takes a lot of maintenance most trade would be seabound as well. So raiders would probably be pirates.

Though if you don't want too much nautical stuff climate change induced nasty storms could be a good excuse.

[The Colonel]

I understand that the Amerindian tribes are still pretty cohesive up there - presumably they would form a significant part of any post collapse society.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Anchorage might well have taken a few nukes... I doubt they'd have targeted any other major cities in Alaska, though - no real strategic reason to do so.

Fairbanks has an air force base (a fighter squadron and tanker squadron) and two army bases (an infantry division and an ABM launch site). It's also a transportation hub for most of the state (including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to Prudhoe Bay), and the economic center of the interior (including the northern terminus of the Alaska Railroad down to Anchorage, and the Tanana River connecting to the Yukon and to the southeast. Historical river transport routes might well return to importance in a post-apoc setting with lower industrial and energy output).

A minimalist surgical strike focused on warfighters only might give it a miss, other than Fort Greely, at least if your war plan lets you ignore the fighters because you're not sending your bombers that way. Any attack that's trying to affect economics and long-term military capability, or just sheer revenge / spite / MAD would probably hit Fairbanks as well.

FEMA's 1990 "Nuclear Attack Planning Base" document is a county-by-county list of their expectations of nuclear attack effects in the entire US at that time. Since that's a 500-page monster document, and scanned images so not searchable, here's an image of Alaska that's supposed to be based on that report. It shows four nukes in the Fairbanks area, compared to only one each on Anchorage and Juneau (and six others elsewhere in the state, including one on Kodiak Island). So Fairbanks rated a third of the total warheads dropped on the state, at least according to 1990's FEMA.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

FEMA's 1990 "Nuclear Attack Planning Base" document is a county-by-county list of their expectations of nuclear attack effects in the entire US at that time. Since that's a 500-page monster document, and scanned images so not searchable, here's an image of Alaska that's supposed to be based on that report. It shows four nukes in the Fairbanks area, compared to only one each on Anchorage and Juneau (and six others elsewhere in the state, including one on Kodiak Island). So Fairbanks rated a third of the total warheads dropped on the state, at least according to 1990's FEMA.

That's a really nice find! A few notes:


Most of the maps are in the two annexes, which start off an intro and follow very quickly with tables of contents. you have to find the region for the state you're looking for, but two pages of scanning will give you the exact page. The pages are scanned and simple but get the point across. Blast waves are very clearly marked, and the psi for given areas listed. Fallout is done by county which is much less useful.



Unfortunately, map quality for very large states (California and Texas) is rather low, and maps for outside of the contiguous 48 are "published separately)



These assume a 1990 attack, which you should keep in mind: some population centers have shifted.



Also, remember that this is made by FEMA, and I don't know what kind of security clearance or effort level was put into it. It was built by civilians, not soldiers. When I look at areas I know well, I spot things that make me scratch my head. In particular, Duchesne county in Utah gets nuked in an off-center fashion (12,000 population at the time, middle of nowhere, nuke placed on the east side of the population area) while similarly sized communities all across rural Utah are untouched. Including the larger community 30 miles away, and Washington county, which had 40k at the time (and now has 160k, remember what I said about population centers). I can only figure its centered on the now-defunct oil refinery.



But good find, and don't be scared of using the PDF's. They're actually easy to use.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Fairbanks has an air force base (a fighter squadron and tanker squadron) and two army bases (an infantry division and an ABM launch site).

One of the two is no longer a separate operational base (IIRC, Greely); its used as training grounds, but now part of Wainright for administration and maintenance purposes.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

Hello everyone!

I'm making a campaign in Alaska after WWIII and I'm looking at a few things that I could use for it.

So basically, aside from the fuel production facilities,
.

There aren't any such facilities in operation. Not since the Agrium plant in Kenai shuttered. All the oil goes out of state for refining.

The primary target zones are JBER - Elmendorf AFB, Ft. Richardson, and the Fairbanks area bases, Eilson AFB, Ft Greely, and Ft Wainright.

It's worth noting that the Anchorage bowl alone is about 50% of the state population - over 350k people in the Muni.

Also note: There are no counties and no sherrifs. The boroughs are not counties specifically to avoid giving them the powers normally assumed for counties. Boroughs have mayors. Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage all are municipalities - the major city is also the borough government.

Also: Schools are not independent; they are budgeted from the boroughs, have no tax authority, and the boroughs can fire the school board members for cause, even tho' they're elected.