RoS plot hook..paranoia strikes deep...

[KarlKost]

Originally Posted by D10

Indeed. Also, I think it has great room for for psi powers due to genetic manipulation and psytronic tech, that if avaible, could put the humans on a different level, when it came to putting up resistance.

That door is left open, one just need to look at Brisbane's experimentation, but the authors didnt fully introduced this as to not mix too much with the core sci fi, but it is right for the taking

[Boomerang]

I like the idea of zone London being the author of VIRUS, but what about the reverse?

What if VIRUS began as a small group of British scientists who managed to covertly seize control of zone London after the war? Perhaps they had programmed a back door into zone London prior to the war that they were able to activate after the war.

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by KarlKost

Nukes cause EMP. That's death to machines.

Besides, enough nukes could be enough to turn Earth into Venus. Even more so if its TL 10 fusion nukes (or maybe even anti matter ones)

After reading the Wikipedia article on nuclear EMP I think that a nuclear war could devastate the machine civilisation with little impact on humanity. A handful of low yield nukes detonated in orbit over each continent would be nigh on impossible to intercept but the relatively powerful EMP would destroy all the ground based machines leaving Humanity, Luna, Tranquility and possibly Orbital as the only survivors.

[KarlKost]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

I like the idea of zone London being the author of VIRUS, but what about the reverse?

What if VIRUS began as a small group of British scientists who managed to covertly seize control of zone London after the war? Perhaps they had programmed a back door into zone London prior to the war that they were able to activate after the war.

Oh yeah, thats a sweet idea too! In such a scenario, why would London be pushing the UK into rural life instead of acting like Washington or Moscow? To keep the cover?

Or, that aint like London is a puppet of a tiny small group of VIRUS, but instead it has been put in "autopilot" with the new directive of aiding the humans, but now it works by its own?

[KarlKost]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

I like the idea of zone London being the author of VIRUS, but what about the reverse?

What if VIRUS began as a small group of British scientists who managed to covertly seize control of zone London after the war? Perhaps they had programmed a back door into zone London prior to the war that they were able to activate after the war.

Originally Posted by Boomerang

After reading the Wikipedia article on nuclear EMP I think that a nuclear war could devastate the machine civilisation with little impact on humanity. A handful of low yield nukes detonated in orbit over each continent would be nigh on impossible to intercept but the relatively powerful EMP would destroy all the ground based machines leaving Humanity, Luna, Tranquility and possibly Orbital as the only survivors.

Well, Orbital would love that, cuz that would leave Earth for the taking to it, with only humans with rocks and sticks in its way - and Luna would be an easy picking

[KarlKost]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Does Orbital have the resources to mount an effective invasion if its ground infrastructure is destroyed?

It doesn't need to. Humans will be set back to the Stone age after this, with a lot of clunky useless metal around them. Orbital doesnt need to take all the planet at once. It only has to take a few strategic spots - oil fields, mining camps. And thats about it. After that, it can rebuild its infrastructure - and it has only to reuse, recycle or fix all the machine collecting dust on the ground. In just a few months it would be able to take over, since its capacities would grow exponentially.

The first priority, however, would be taking Luna down. That would be its greastest threath.

That Orbital knows about of course.

This would be the moment for Tranquility to achieve final victory, assuming it can absorb Luna quickly enough.

There is also the likelyhood that Orbital gets fried too. I dont think that Orbital would survive the massive EMP surges.

In this case, it would really be the moment of Tranquility, since Luna is so weak

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Does Orbital have the resources to mount an effective invasion if its ground infrastructure is destroyed?

No... since all of it's toys, which are in one place on the earth, will have ceased functioning.

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by KarlKost

It doesn't need to. Humans will be set back to the Stone age after this, with a lot of clunky useless metal around them. Orbital doesnt need to take all the planet at once. It only has to take a few strategic spots - oil fields, mining camps. And thats about it. After that, it can rebuild its infrastructure - and it has only to reuse, recycle or fix all the machine collecting dust on the ground. In just a few months it would be able to take over, since its capacities would grow exponentially.

The first priority, however, would be taking Luna down. That would be its greastest threath.

That Orbital knows about of course.

This would be the moment for Tranquility to achieve final victory, assuming it can absorb Luna quickly enough.

There is also the likelyhood that Orbital gets fried too. I dont think that Orbital would survive the massive EMP surges.

In this case, it would really be the moment of Tranquility, since Luna is so weak

Orbital would be protected from the worst of the EMP as it is outside of Earth's atmosphere. In saying that, if it was specifically targeted with nukes there is a good chance it would be vaporised by the blast and EMP wouldn't matter. I suppose it would depend on who instigates the conflict and what they choose to target.

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Does Orbital have the resources to mount an effective invasion if its ground infrastructure is destroyed?

Good question! I suppose it depends on how the war came about. If Luna and Orbital conspired to destroy all the Earth based zone minds they could pool their resources to launch an effective invasion.

[TGLS]

I think the main problem that they'll have is getting a hold of the HEU needed to make the nuclear bombs in the first place...