Popular Post Pax Posted September 27, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted September 27, 2015 I sincerely doubt this was actually planned out by Sheepy, but I'm just having a thought experiment here. I have a growing theory that the difference between the PNW timeline (Orbis) and the real world (Earth) is a nuclear war breaking out. The game starts in ~1960 (I'm not sure the exact date), when something went horribly wrong in the Cold War, pushing back the entire world to a dark age. In the past 50 years over 25,000 nations have existed, but none have ever actually been larger than just a small nation-state. The largest country in this entire game has a smaller combined population than the 48th largest city on Earth. Every single country in this game forms out of nowhere. Next to no population, no cities, nothing. They're very small bands of people with no power, who can build up and grow quickly. They obviously have the pre-established technology to build up large cities, and have from the time the very first nation existed. The small nations war each other constantly to raid for resources, and can grow uninhibited across land that apparently isn't occupied - likely for the same reasons that the populations barely exist. Food is rationed in small amounts, as discussed here, and those rations never grow. The average military to population ratio on Orbis is insanely high (nations with low military amounts often have a larger ratio than the highest on Earth) Nuclear technology exists, but in horribly unrefined standards. Nukes can take out maybe 50,000 people tops, indicating that their sizing is likely no more refined than the very first nuclear weapons to exist in the world. Nuclear power exists, but can only supply up to a max of around 200,000 citizens per power plant - a typical modern plant can provide power to over 10x that number. International ruling bodies don't exist, but most nations find themselves aligned in alliances where they're set up to fight global conflicts together. TL;DR: pretty much every single thing about this planet seems to lean much more heavily towards "nuclear wasteland" than "modern Earth equivalent" 17 Quote <+JohnHarms> We need more feminists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted September 27, 2015 Administrators Share Posted September 27, 2015 I love this theory. This is great If it helps, the game date technically began Jan 1, 1970. Seriously though, I'd love to be able to adopt this into some sort of established "canon" in game lore. 4 Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Scandanavia Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 I love this theory. This is great If it helps, the game date technically began Jan 1, 1970. Seriously though, I'd love to be able to adopt this into some sort of established "canon" in game lore. how long is a orbis year Quote The Great Emperor of New Scandinavia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted September 27, 2015 Administrators Share Posted September 27, 2015 how long is a orbis year One game day is one turn (2 hours). So every RL day, that's 12 days in-game, which translates to roughly one RL week being one in-game month. I stand corrected: 2 months. Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekejen Luish Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 My theory is there was some huge worldwide accident (possible nuclear war) that lead to the fall of Earth. The survivors, 1 million people (that's why the population is so much lower than the real world population), created Orbis, and the 1 million people were the select smartest and most important people in the world (that's why we didn't go back to primitive versions of ourselves, and instead still had the knowledge to create armies and nuclear weapons and farms and whatnot). 1 Quote This is very small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted September 27, 2015 Administrators Share Posted September 27, 2015 My theory is there was some huge worldwide accident (possible nuclear war) that lead to the fall of Earth. The survivors, 1 million people (that's why the population is so much lower than the real world population), created Orbis, and the 1 million people were the select smartest and most important people in the world (that's why we didn't go back to primitive versions of ourselves, and instead still had the knowledge to create armies and nuclear weapons and farms and whatnot). The current population is: 1,704,470,310 people which is significantly less than Earth's population in 1996, which was 5.78 billion. Obviously something dramatic happened to change that. 4 Quote Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Scandanavia Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 One game day is one turn (2 hours). So every RL day, that's 12 days in-game, which translates to roughly one RL week being one in-game month. I stand corrected: 2 months. sempie notice me Quote The Great Emperor of New Scandinavia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekejen Luish Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 The current population is: 1,704,470,310 people which is significantly less than Earth's population in 1996, which was 5.78 billion. Obviously something dramatic happened to change that. That's why I said only 1 million people were selected to survive the worldwide accident. Quote This is very small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apeman Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Does nobody remember me going nuke rogue? Murdered lots. Maybe orbis was a colony of earth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekejen Luish Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 A colony that's pretty much exactly the same? No. 1 Quote This is very small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adama Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Actually there is an established reason why Orbis exists. http://politicsandwar.wikia.com/wiki/Baa-ism Lets not stray from the truth into pseudo-science, people. 3 Quote If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a roll. There is one you will follow. One who is the shining star, and he will lead you to beautiful places in the search of his own vanity. And when there is no more vanity to be found, he will leave you in darkness, as a fading memory of his own creation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Scandanavia Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Actually there is an established reason why Orbis exists. http://politicsandwar.wikia.com/wiki/Baa-ism Lets not stray from the truth into pseudo-science, people. you just had to ruin it Quote The Great Emperor of New Scandinavia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pax Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 (edited) I love this theory. This is great If it helps, the game date technically began Jan 1, 1970. Seriously though, I'd love to be able to adopt this into some sort of established "canon" in game lore. If you actually want to work on it, I'm a writer and I could help you work it out. Not sure how we'd implement it but I'm sure we could brainstorm something Edited September 27, 2015 by Pax 1 Quote <+JohnHarms> We need more feminists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitri Valko Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 You should make this into a wiki article. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutwa Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Ofcourse if the player base expanded and you ended up with a larger Orbis population that the real world you might need to come up with a reason why proper nations don't form. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayayay Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Actually there is an established reason why Orbis exists. http://politicsandwar.wikia.com/wiki/Baa-ism Lets not stray from the truth into pseudo-science, people. Lies, this is the history of Orbis Quote Orbis Wars | CSI: UPN | B I G O O F | PW Expert Has Nerve To Tell You How To Run Your Own Goddamn Alliance | Occupy Wall Street | Sheepy Sings TheNG - My favorite part is when Steve suggests DEIC might have done something remotely successful, then gets massively shit on for proposing such a stupid idea. On 1/4/2016 at 6:37 PM, Sheepy said: This was !@#$ing gold. 10/10 possibly my favorite post on these forums yet. Sheepy said: I'm retarded, you win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodo Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 I like this theory. Good basis for a rp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Since you seem to be going for a quasi-realistic approach, it's been projected that an all-out US-USSR nuclear war would not have come close to wiping out humankind, although it could perhaps be nuclear war in combination with something else. A pandemic, perhaps, or... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pax Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Since you seem to be going for a quasi-realistic approach, it's been projected that an all-out US-USSR nuclear war would not have come close to wiping out humankind, although it could perhaps be nuclear war in combination with something else. A pandemic, perhaps, or... That projection assumes a lot of things about how everything will go down, and the way that everything else goes down would vary significantly based off of those early days. Just to quote the page itself, "Certainly the predictions described here are uncertain: for example, casualty figures in the U.S. are accurate perhaps to within 30% for the first few days, but the number of survivors in the U.S. after one year could differ from these figures by as much as a factor of four". The most notable assumption is just how many people would be killed by starving and collapsed governments. We don't have exact numbers on that, but many estimates are much higher than the one you provided: it's very possible that for years, there would be almost no crop yields. 1 Quote <+JohnHarms> We need more feminists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moreau Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 O/ real nukes in Orbis Quote Signed by Sultan Moreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 That projection assumes a lot of things about how everything will go down, and the way that everything else goes down would vary significantly based off of those early days. Just to quote the page itself, "Certainly the predictions described here are uncertain: for example, casualty figures in the U.S. are accurate perhaps to within 30% for the first few days, but the number of survivors in the U.S. after one year could differ from these figures by as much as a factor of four". The most notable assumption is just how many people would be killed by starving and collapsed governments. We don't have exact numbers on that, but many estimates are much higher than the one you provided: it's very possible that for years, there would be almost no crop yields. That is true, and interesting. I'll have to read further. Would you happen to have links to specific alternate estimates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamea Arano Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 It's funny, i had a theory that was similar. But my theory stated that Orbis was a post-nuclear fallout Earth sometime in the 22nd century due to the level of technology some nations have. 2 Quote Terms of Service | Wiki | Contact Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pax Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 That is true, and interesting. I'll have to read further. Would you happen to have links to specific alternate estimates? This is one article citing that a small nuclear conflict could cause starvation of over a billion people (though admittedly this source is biased and should be taken with a grain of salt - the website is very specifically anti-nuclear) This is one from a weather website discussing the possible effects of the nuclear winter, much less biased. It cites that at least a few years of major widespread crop failure would take place, followed by at least a decade of massively reduced crop yield. This is yet another one citing similar numbers. Worth noting that all of these articles site what would happen with around 100 of the smallest nukes available in the world - at the peak of the cold war, there were over 70,000 between the US and USSR, and the average was probably ten times the size of these. The amount of fallout that all of those could cause is almost impossible to accurately measure, but it would be pretty horrible. 2 Quote <+JohnHarms> We need more feminists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitri Valko Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 This is one article citing that a small nuclear conflict could cause starvation of over a billion people (though admittedly this source is biased and should be taken with a grain of salt - the website is very specifically anti-nuclear) This is one from a weather website discussing the possible effects of the nuclear winter, much less biased. It cites that at least a few years of major widespread crop failure would take place, followed by at least a decade of massively reduced crop yield. This is yet another one citing similar numbers. Worth noting that all of these articles site what would happen with around 100 of the smallest nukes available in the world - at the peak of the cold war, there were over 70,000 between the US and USSR, and the average was probably ten times the size of these. The amount of fallout that all of those could cause is almost impossible to accurately measure, but it would be pretty horrible. I'm surely not the only one to call Orbis the second Dark Ages, am I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekejen Luish Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 (edited) 10 Edited September 27, 2015 by Golen II Quote This is very small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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