PS2 Backstory Colonel Richard Morgannis

[Graywolves]

http://www.planetside2.com/news/oct21Backstory5.html

Not read yet but woot! I posted it first!!!

[Ghryphen]

Posted news, please don't manually add the news tag to topic titles.

[basti]

Woha, they really keep the posting up. awesome :)

[basti]

My
God


After all the rage i saw and understood about the first 3 parts, i now got lost.
Lost in a story as epic as it has to be for Planetside.

[Graywolves]

My
God


After all the rage i saw and understood about the first 3 parts, i now got lost.
Lost in a story as epic as it has to be for Planetside.

This part I really enjoyed and really gave me an idea of what was going on. I feel like this should've been part 1. Definatley what Planetside deserves though.

Interested in seeing more of those holotapes and finding out more of how that explosion effected everything and the details around it.

[Dorest0rm]

Poor pluto.

Awesome story!

[CrystalViolet]

My
God


After all the rage i saw and understood about the first 3 parts, i now got lost.
Lost in a story as epic as it has to be for Planetside.

They've really punched up the quality in all areas. Was this written by the same person? :eek:

[Talek Krell]

They've really punched up the quality in all areas. Was this written by the same person? :eek:Seriously. The quality level is incomparable.

Hot damn, now we're cooking with gas. :)

[sylphaen]

Definitely the start of something epic.

May this continue long into many years !
:D

[Raymac]

They finally really did it. Getting demoted to a dwarf planet wasn't enough? You maniacs! You blew up Pluto! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!

[EASyEightyEight]

They finally really did it. Getting demoted to a dwarf planet wasn't enough? You maniacs! You blew up Pluto! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!

Seems more like it blew up after the first wormhole collapsed. Probably the Vanu test driving their fully functional Death Star, only without tipping off the Jedi light years away.

Or maybe the darn thing was just in the way of their scan of Earth.

[Halseth]

*GASP*

Vanu is actually Neil deGrasse Tyson!

He found a way to travel into the future and onto a distant planet where he became a god to a species of extraterrestrials. He then set his true plan into motion...Develop their technology to the point where they could destroy Pluto, once and for all...

We here in the present just couldn't let go of Pluto, so he had to resort to this...

EDIT:

By the way, this story is much, much better! Glad to see they've put more effort into the quality here.

Nice job!

[Tycho]

Really stepped up to the plate here. Best piece so far.

[RedKnights]

They finally really did it. Getting demoted to a dwarf planet wasn't enough? You maniacs! You blew up Pluto! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!

Suddenly, the motivation behind the NC hatred of the vanu explained :rolleyes:

[DviddLeff]

Why Pluto, its not like its even the biggest object out that far (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet))...?

But yeah, much better, really good read.

[Xyntech]

As others have already commented, this story really stepped it up. I hope the story continues at this level.

I like how the TR have been given much more depth of history. I feel like all of the people saying that TR are the obvious bad guys have been hit with a good counter argument.

What selfish assholes the NC could be looked at? Years of peace and we're going to throw it away the moment we land on a new world? Maybe the TR cracked down a bit heavy handed, maybe out of fear of rebellion and an end to a hundred years of peace, but can they be blamed for that fear? Clearly those fears were justified.

This can't be allowed to spread back to earth. The TR want to stop this shit before it destroys everyone.

Considering that the NC still have a noble struggle for freedom to fall back on, I'd say that the only ones who could use some further fleshing out to justify joining them in a positive light are the VS. I don't think we need much, it seems pretty clear already that the VS join the fight to help protect the planet from the NC and TR insanity, but painting that picture in slightly bolder colors will really help make none of the sides seem like the obvious badguys.

[Captain B]

Much, much better. I enjoyed it.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Far more solid a story than our previous glimpses. It was pure exposition yet managed to not be.

[FastAndFree]

Okay this is, as stated, not even comparable to the first 3 chapters (and the 4th is just so short it's tough to classify it)
I'm sorry I doubted you


So the (old) Terran Republic was not only a decent place, but Paradise... Lost. Sufficiently ironic

Edit, also, unless I fail at counting, Richmond Morgannis was 204 years old at the time he wrote the diary .with no indication that he is reaching the end of his lifespan-. So if that's possible, imagine what we could achieve with the help of Vanu!

[Brusi]

Colonel Rick Moranis?
http://www.matchflick.com/pimages/7480.jpg

[basti]

Just noticed: Phobos? Great parks and rivers?

Phobos is just a small rock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_%28moon%29

[FastAndFree]

That was the entire point of that sentence, read it again

They terraformed Phobos

edit - Fail...

Well it's about 27 × 22 × 18 km I guess that's still enough surface for great parks.

Not sure about rivers, they probably simulated water flow or something

[basti]

That was the entire point of that sentence, read it again

They terraformed Phobos

edit - Fail...

Well it's about 27 × 22 × 18 km I guess that's still enough surface for great parks.

Not sure about rivers, they probably simulated water flow or something

Dude, that rock is so small that it cant have a atmosphere...

[Corax]

Back in my day.... Pluto was a planet.

Man I am so happy for this portion of the story. It reads almost like it is someone else writing it.

Looking forwards to fleshing out more of all 3 sides with this level of writing. And maybe even findings more hints of content.

[FastAndFree]

Dude, that rock is so small that it cant have a atmosphere...

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

Or maybe they were under domes? Just because they could...

[basti]

I know what you mean, there are indeed endless possibilitys how to make it work. Still doesnt make much sense, Phobos as well as deimos, means both Mars "moons" are that goddamn small that they cant hold a atmosphere, or even have enough gravity to not let everything float away after a tiny jump.

[Traak]

A few civilians sacrificed for the future of freedom on Auraxis. It's not too much to ask, is it? I wonder it's the purple guys on a Vihad. I guess we will find out.

[Vash02]

I know what you mean, there are indeed endless possibilitys how to make it work. Still doesnt make much sense, Phobos as well as deimos, means both Mars "moons" are that goddamn small that they cant hold a atmosphere, or even have enough gravity to not let everything float away after a tiny jump.
I suppose you constantly bitch about there not being any zero gravity in Star Trek.

[2coolforu]

Escape velocity of Phobos is so small you could run off it and get into orbit. I'd understand having a colony on the moon as it would be easier to get back to Earth as you wouldn't have to escape as much G.P.E as you would on the Martian surface but I don't see how you could 'Terraform' the moon. Perhaps domed cities but the word terraforming implies giving it an atmosphere etc, while that would be easily possible to do to Mars it would not be possible to do it to Phobos.

I suppose you constantly bitch about there not being any zero gravity in Star Trek.

Yeah but they had technical reasons, it's damn fucking expensive to simulate low-gravity or zero-gravity so they just invented the idea of artificial gravity. They had technical reasons to have it but the Terrans don't even have FTL travel yet, I don't see how an even more impossible tech would be invented beforehand.

It's also a vidya game, fighting in different levels of gravity would be fucking awesome.

[Vash02]

Escape velocity of Phobos is so small you could run off it and get into orbit. I'd understand having a colony on the moon as it would be easier to get back to Earth as you wouldn't have to escape as much G.P.E as you would on the Martian surface but I don't see how you could 'Terraform' the moon. Perhaps domed cities but the word terraforming implies giving it an atmosphere etc, while that would be easily possible to do to Mars it would not be possible to do it to Phobos.

Please would people remember that this is sci-fi, there can be a thousand explanations to how they could terraform Phobos and retain a atmosphere. The only bar is a lack of imagination or your obtuseness.

It could be gravity plated floors, a gravity generator sunk into the core of phobos, etc.

Its really annoying when people write off work because they cant use their imagination.

[basti]

Err Vash, you mixing up something there. This is Sci-Fi, not Fantasy! Science Fiction, not stuff you invent out of your mind that doesnt even remotly make sense.

Artificial Gravity makes sense, but it still doesnt make sense to terraform a fucking asteroid.

[2coolforu]

Please would people remember that this is sci-fi, there can be a thousand explanations to how they could terraform Phobos and retain a atmosphere. The only bar is a lack of imagination or your obtuseness.

It could be gravity plated floors, a gravity generator sunk into the core of phobos, etc.

Its really annoying when people write off work because they cant use their imagination.

Why would they, what's the reasoning. I'm not saying the technology doesn't exist. Phobos is a tiny rock with effectively zero gravity, it's extremely close to the surface of Mars and will likely break up some time in the very near future.

It's like coming across two houses; one next to a pond that needs a lick of paint and another on the lip of a volcano, rotten and filled with evil spirits and deciding to live on the latter. The planet Mars is 5000 miles away, can support an atmosphere, has natural resources and water for oceans, there is no logical sense in terraforming Phobos. Perhaps it would be possible in the Cowboy Bebop sense where the asteroids have covered community on them but why not have a space station or something in a more stable orbit.

To me it just feels like DNDtR that's the only reason I'm pointing it out.I also don't want gravity plating because I want to fight in zero/low g goddammit

[Vash02]

Err Vash, you mixing up something there. This is Sci-Fi, not Fantasy! Science Fiction, not stuff you invent out of your mind that doesnt even remotly make sense.

Artificial Gravity makes sense, but it still doesnt make sense to terraform a fucking asteroid.

Right I have to do everything for you...

The gravity gernerator could of been an experimental design and the rock they tested it on was Phobos.

And to make 2cool4u happy, the technology was hugely expensive and could not be scaled up to planetary size without exceeding the maximum energy production of the human civilisation.

Seriously, this is easy.
Its not really anything for Marv to write about though since it would be quite a large detour everytime he mentioned something he had to explain it fully to make sense to you guys.

[Hamma]

Come on guys.. lets not figure out how they did it.. it is fiction :lol:

I also thought this one was better than what we have seen previously - some really good stuff!

[FastAndFree]

Well it would make perfect sense to use Phobos as a starship staging base or shipyard, exactly because of the lack of gravity, but they said parks and rivers...

Maybe the shipyard was hidden UNDER the parks and rivers!

[Raymac]

Yeah, the Phobos gravity thing kinda bugged me at first, but since it's sci-fi it can always be explained with some sub-space tachion ion neutrino thinga-ma-gig. Plus I think it's outweighed by the coolness of the namesake of "Phobos" in relation to the story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(mythology)

[basti]

All i read is bla.

The reason why im mad about the phobos thing is that it shows that this guys has absoluty no clue what hes writing. He doesnt check if the stuff he writes makes sense, he doesnt take care of facts. Sooner or later, he will start generating issues with his own writings.

Dude, i hope you get that: CHECK YOUR FACTS! YOu should know that once a story is written and published, its done. You cant change it, mistakes stay the way they are. If sony is pushing you to get stuff ready, then tell them no. Tell them the truth: You need time. Every good writer needs time to get his story written, his stuff checked and his ideas shorted out. If you dont leave yourself enough time to make sure everything is fine and right, then you end up saying thing A at one part of the story, and then completly destroying everything by suddenly saying thing B at a later part. And then everyone will be quite pissed. :)

edit: and if you happen to write something that may sound strange, then care to explain it in detail asap. Phobos is an perfect example: How and why did they terraform it? What else in Sol did they terraform, how far did mankind spread? Just Sol, or some other Star system? Theres much to cover to understand what humanity went through till they finally flew through the wormhole.

[Raymac]

I always find it silly when people cherry pick details in sci-fi to get worked up about. Like it's totally believable that a wormhole temporarily opens and closes, some weapon destroys Pluto, people get re-born with "nanites". But it's impossible to figure out a way to live on Phobos? Use your own imagination to fill in the blanks, just like every single story ever told.

[robocpf1]

Guys, stop being nitpicky, we have hovertanks and we can't die and there are aliens.

Science. Fiction. Stop it now. Phobos was terraformed using the patented Nanite-Technologies "Acme Terraforming Kit", you can buy one at your neighborhood N-Mart, it's really not that difficult to comprehend.

[basti]

Wormholes are in theory possible. We havent spotted one yet, but the as far as the laws of physics go, they are possible.
A weapon that destroys a planet is also possible. Heck WE could do this RIGHT NOW. Just pack enough H-Bombs inside a planet and detonate them.
Hell, even people getting reborn by nanites is in theory possible. Save their DNA, assemble the body via nanites, copy their brain pattern, done. We would have to unlock the full DNA information, get our nano tech (yes, we right now have nano tech, RIGHT NOW!) to a whole new level, and figure out a way to store the EM info inside our brain properly, and then we could bloddy do it.
Even hovertanks are possible, and zero gravity. Heck, we discovered a way to affect gravity already, we are just not yet far enough to really use it in a way that makes sense

All that stuff is possible in Sci-FI. Yes, even terraforming Phobos.
The only thing is: IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE TO TERRAFORM A STONE! The Diameter of that Rock is about 20k.
And if you dont see that, than you dont understand Science Fiction. Its not about imaging things, its about the future how it could be.


And let me ffs get worked up about such stuff. If we dont, Wolfman just keeps completly ignoring facts and we end up with a extremly bad story.

[Captain1nsaneo]

Actually it makes perfect sense. You're not thinking of the logistics of shipping things around the solar system. Mars is only .5 AU from the Earth and 1.5 AU from the Sun. Venus is closer at .3 AU but it's geologically active and while we might be able to fix the atmosphere we probably couldn't stop the volcanism which fuels said atmosphere. Mercury is .6 AU but is only .4 AU from YE OLD SUN. The core planets are only logical places to reach as fuel and time costs to reach the moons of Jupiter is almost a factor of 10 greater (4.2 AU from Earth, assuming a linear model for fuel and time).
Phobos is just a stones throw out compared to the rest of the solar system and could be used as a test bed for various terraforming tech.

[Graywolves]

As a hater, I find it hard to suddenly flip with this part.


I strongly encourage all of you to keep being upset about Phobos. Great writing requires great research!



I'm also now finally understanding why bookstores clump Sci-fi and fantasy under the same section. :rofl:

[Raymac]

All that stuff is possible in Sci-FI. Yes, even terraforming Phobos.
The only thing is: IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE TO TERRAFORM A STONE! The Diameter of that Rock is about 20k.
And if you dont see that, than you dont understand Science Fiction. Its not about imaging things, its about the future how it could be.


And let me ffs get worked up about such stuff. If we dont, Wolfman just keeps completly ignoring facts and we end up with a extremly bad story.

Like Capt. 1nsaneo said, the #1 rule of real estate is: Location, Location, Location.

If you are already ok with the answer to "how", then you should easily be able to see the answer to "why". Just think of Phobos as the suburb of Mars.

I'm not saying you have to like the story, but using the rhetoric "extremely bad story" is a little unfair.

Personally, I think one of the main reasons he chose Phobos was for the theme of "fear" that runs throughout this part of the story. Phobos was the greek god of fear. Fear is what brought mankind together. And Morgannis fears the future of makind if they don't have a common fear to unite them.

[Graywolves]

Like Capt. 1nsaneo said, the #1 rule of real estate is: Location, Location, Location.

Personally, I think one of the main reasons he chose Phobos was for the theme of "fear" that runs throughout this part of the story. Phobos was the greek god of fear. Fear is what brought mankind together. And Morgannis fears the future of makind if they don't have a common fear to unite them.


Very good point.

[Talek Krell]

All that stuff is possible in Sci-FI. Yes, even terraforming Phobos. The only thing is: IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE TO TERRAFORM A STONE!I suppose it might have been because it was the best moon available (is Deimos larger?) and they wanted it as an intrasolar shipping hub. They might have even moved it into a stable orbit. Or maybe it was a "spirit of adventure" (read: "This doesn't make any sense but we're going to DO IT ANYWAY!") thing. Good points though. It does seem kind of odd.

[Ajaks]

I accept full responsibilty. I blew up the ship. The T.R. scum were out of control. For Liberty. For Freedom. For Life. NC.
Ajaks

[Captain B]

Well played, Ajaks.

Also, PSU, what's with the nerd rage over the terraforming thing? I am disappoint. The irony is that it's coming from VS players who will write off anything Vanu does as "supra tecknologee" but several hundred years in the future, we can't unscrew our heads from our asses to figure out how to terraform a floating rock.

Biggest piece of science fiction here? That we'll actually have enough resources in a few hundred years to even consider leaving the planet. Last I checked, NASA was going the way of the do-do and the rest of the planet is rather disinterested in any further manned space exploration at the government level.

So pipe down, space elves.

[Marth Koopa]

Maybe they made Phobos bigger?

[Traak]

Maybe they made Phobos bigger?

The Sum of All Phobos.

[Grimster]

I also have a hard time why you would want to nitpick about Phobos.

There is not many moons in the solar system that would make sense to terraform in the first place. The moon might have the right distance to the sun being the satellite of earth but it has too low gravity to sustain a atmosphere enough for humans.

Ganymede which is the largest moon might have the possibility but here is instead the distance from the sun a issue.

Basically Mars, Venus and Earth are the only planets present in what is considered to be the habitable zone. So if you look at that you only have three moons even present in the habitable zone with one of them being Phobos. :)

[FastAndFree]

I also have a hard time why you would want to nitpick about Phobos.

Because they won't show us the Dyson and we are BORED WITH NOTHING TO DO! :)

[Espion]

Thankfully this is scifi, otherwise I might have to care about tiny details like Phobos :rolleyes:

[basti]

I also have a hard time why you would want to nitpick about Phobos.

There is not many moons in the solar system that would make sense to terraform in the first place. The moon might have the right distance to the sun being the satellite of earth but it has too low gravity to sustain a atmosphere enough for humans.

Ganymede which is the largest moon might have the possibility but here is instead the distance from the sun a issue.

Basically Mars, Venus and Earth are the only planets present in what is considered to be the habitable zone. So if you look at that you only have three moons even present in the habitable zone with one of them being Phobos. :)

If we want to go for that direction: You cant terraform ANY moon that is within the habitable zone of SOL. You need a Magnetosphere for that, or you end up seeing all the nice stuff you put on the moon get cancer. Yes, even plants. You could try our moon, but you may end up getting a nasty sun, not to mention seeing most of the plants die every now and then.

Terraforming mars is most likley impossible. Mars lost its Magnetosphere 500 mil years ago.

Oh, and Cap: If you havent noticed: I S S



And i just found this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Moons_of_solar_system.jpg/787px-Moons_of_solar_system.jpg


Now get out and leave us nerds alone! :P

[Traak]

I say we Auraxiform Earth. Bring on the nanites!

[Xyntech]

I say we Auraxiform Earth. Bring on the nanites!

In the name of Vanu!

Yeah, the NC and TR have no problem with alien technology when it allows them to be immortal or allows them to travel across the universe in the blink of your eye. Then you stop for a second and try and listen to what these amazing aliens have to say and suddenly your some sort of "crazy cultists."

[Hamma]

Guys, stop being nitpicky, we have hovertanks and we can't die and there are aliens.

Science. Fiction. Stop it now. Phobos was terraformed using the patented Nanite-Technologies "Acme Terraforming Kit", you can buy one at your neighborhood N-Mart, it's really not that difficult to comprehend.

Emphasis mine :lol: Now it is just getting silly.

[Grimster]

If we want to go for that direction: You cant terraform ANY moon that is within the habitable zone of SOL. You need a Magnetosphere for that, or you end up seeing all the nice stuff you put on the moon get cancer. Yes, even plants. You could try our moon, but you may end up getting a nasty sun, not to mention seeing most of the plants die every now and then.

Terraforming mars is most likley impossible. Mars lost its Magnetosphere 500 mil years ago.

Oh, and Cap: If you havent noticed: I S S



And i just found this:

<img removed>


Now get out and leave us nerds alone! :P

I read my post again three times but I still fail to see where I said "moon in habitable zone = possible to terraform". :)

I skipped the whole Magnetosphere part because i didn't want to bore everyone with astronomy nerd stuff. :)

The point I wanted to get across is that it doesn't matter which moon he would have picked for the story because they all are more or less impossible to terraform and thus I figured you were ranting about something that wasn't even necesseary to rant about in the first place. :)

[FastAndFree]

I say we Auraxiform Earth. Bring on the nanites!

Oh but if you paid attention, in this reimagination we alredy had nanites back on Earth

[Trolltaxi]

If it is Phobos they have terraformed, then be it Phobos!

Stop calling it sci-fi, call it fantasy and you are on spot! It is not spaceships and plasma rifles that make a story sci-fi. Star Wars is also a fantasy, not a sci-fi. Warhammer 40K is fantasy. Star Trek is - closer to sci-fi, but still fantasy. Asimov wrote sci-fi, but I doubt anyone would find pleasure playing an MMO as a robot that is bound to the Three Laws of Robotics...

If you read every "spaceship" as "magic carpet", every "plasma shot" a "swing of the mighty sword", every "technobabble" as "magick formulas" you will find most sci-fi to become fantasy. (and on a sidenote, if you read every Neytiri as Pocahontas, you will have... well, Pocahontas)

[Raymac]

If we want to go for that direction: You cant terraform ANY moon that is within the habitable zone of SOL. You need a Magnetosphere for that, or you end up seeing all the nice stuff you put on the moon get cancer. Yes, even plants. You could try our moon, but you may end up getting a nasty sun, not to mention seeing most of the plants die every now and then.

Terraforming mars is most likley impossible. Mars lost its Magnetosphere 500 mil years ago.
Now get out and leave us nerds alone! :P

All that stuff is possible in Sci-FI. Yes, even terraforming Phobos.


What happened to the Basti from yesterday? Bring him back. You can't concede that terraforming Phobos "is possible" one day, and then argue against it the next. That's 1 step forwards, 2 steps backwards.

[basti]

The first post you quoted completly ignores the Sci-Fi stuff. If we talk in Sci-Fi, then you could propably somewho terraform a rock as small as Phobos, if you somehow manage to give it gravity and some shield to protect it from solar flares etc. If we talk just about terraforming and dont just add Sci-Fi gibberish to somehow explain something, then Terraforming ANYTHING becomes a pretty hard thing to do.



But the reality is, i kidnapped Basti and locked him away. Deal with it. :p

[EASyEightyEight]

I can see why they would terraform Phobos, thinking about it from a business standpoint. Would make one hell of a scene for a recreational facility to be able to circle Mars twice in one day, seeing the sprawling cities and terraformed foliage on it's surface. Like a trip on the Solar System's largest cruise liner around possibly man-kinds first interplanetary colony. The parks may very well contain memorials.

Could also simply be used as a transportation hub orbiting around Mars and the parks are there to kill time until it's time to depart. Never know.

As for HOW? Let's just reduce any techno-babble that may be thrown our way to "it's magic!" Not here for the darn intricacies of terraforming a world, moon, or rock :p I'm here to kill time until I can shoot you all.

[Graywolves]

Well played, Ajaks.

Also, PSU, what's with the nerd rage over the terraforming thing? I am disappoint. The irony is that it's coming from VS players who will write off anything Vanu does as "supra tecknologee" but several hundred years in the future, we can't unscrew our heads from our asses to figure out how to terraform a floating rock.

Biggest piece of science fiction here? That we'll actually have enough resources in a few hundred years to even consider leaving the planet. Last I checked, NASA was going the way of the do-do and the rest of the planet is rather disinterested in any further manned space exploration at the government level.

So pipe down, space elves.



NASA no longer exists.

[Aaron]

Edit, also, unless I fail at counting, Richmond Morgannis was 204 years old at the time he wrote the diary .with no indication that he is reaching the end of his lifespan-. So if that's possible, imagine what we could achieve with the help of Vanu!

What makes you think he was 204 years old? You were looking at this part, weren't you?

"It took over a year, but on May 13, 2445, the treaty was finally signed that promised all countries would lay down their weapons and work together for the hope of mankind. You realize when I was a kid, I saw those old vid clips of that momentous signing and even at seven, I understood its significance, but I never expected that you and I would become part of its history."

He doesn't say he was seven at the time of the signing. It just says that he understood the significance of the old video clips of the signing even at seven when he watched them.

[FastAndFree]

Well played, Ajaks.

Also, PSU, what's with the nerd rage over the terraforming thing? I am disappoint. The irony is that it's coming from VS players who will write off anything Vanu does as "supra tecknologee" but several hundred years in the future, we can't unscrew our heads from our asses to figure out how to terraform a floating rock.

Biggest piece of science fiction here? That we'll actually have enough resources in a few hundred years to even consider leaving the planet. Last I checked, NASA was going the way of the do-do and the rest of the planet is rather disinterested in any further manned space exploration at the government level.

So pipe down, space elves.

Do you know what NASA or it's equivalent Terran Republic space agency would be capable of if it got the budget of all the armies in the world? Or just half of that?

Hell, with "just" the funding of the US military it's capabilities would be

*puts on sunglasses*

Stellar.

[Talek Krell]

YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

[Captain B]

Do you know what NASA or it's equivalent Terran Republic space agency would be capable of if it got the budget of all the armies in the world? Or just half of that?

Hell, with "just" the funding of the US military it's capabilities would be

*puts on sunglasses*

Stellar.

Haha, nice.

Oh, and that's the biggest fiction: that radicals and extremists would see planets blowing up as a necessity to work together instead of a sign of the end times, "proving" that their holy wars against the West are actually legit. Also, I thought the Republic was created about 200-ish years before PS? Wouldn't that be at least 2300? (Way too lazy to look up the actual years right now) Maybe even later?

And why are we not working together and putting all of our resources together to "save earth" today? Planets blowing up is the least of our concerns with widespread hunger and disease. Not to mention while the US military could fund the project using the same amount of money it does on its forces (assuming it would lower its guard like that against our enemies), then the capitalist shit who designed the prototype would charge us five hundred trillion trillion dollars to purchase one working version of it. Annnnd China would have had enough of us borrowing money and finally tow away California.

Besides, we aren't going to have the resources for all of that. Especially after 2150, when we have twice as many people than the world can handle and society collapses on itself and has to start all over.

In short: it's science fiction, but the fiction isn't in Phobos - it's in the fact we'd never accomplish working together in any goal-worthy manner. And that several hundred years from now, our tanks can't blow up trees.

[Graywolves]

It would be more realistic to say some fascist dictator finally conquered the world.

[Xyntech]

I think it actually makes sense as a way to work together. A bit like the Watchmen graphic novel. We have trouble uniting as a species because of our 'us versus them' mentality, but if there is a foreign, alien menace that can act as the 'them,' then I think humanity has a lot better shot at uniting.

If a dictator took over the world, it would collapse in a matter of decades at most.

Still pretty fictional, but it does make a certain amount of sense to me. We don't even know if there is any intelligent life anywhere else in the universe, no matter how likely it is. The day we get any kind of confirmation of alien intelligence is going to be a huge change in the way we think as a species, no matter what context we discover their existence in.

[Graywolves]

I think it actually makes sense as a way to work together. A bit like the Watchmen graphic novel. We have trouble uniting as a species because of our 'us versus them' mentality, but if there is a foreign, alien menace that can act as the 'them,' then I think humanity has a lot better shot at uniting.

If a dictator took over the world, it would collapse in a matter of decades at most.

Still pretty fictional, but it does make a certain amount of sense to me. We don't even know if there is any intelligent life anywhere else in the universe, no matter how likely it is. The day we get any kind of confirmation of alien intelligence is going to be a huge change in the way we think as a species, no matter what context we discover their existence in.

Thing about Watchman is Dr.Manhatten was someone that EVERYONE knew, there was no way to deny his existance and his was power was absolute.

When a planet randomly explodes there is alot of room for arguement and if even if you have real extraterrestials that are confirmed people will fight over how we should react.

There's too many rooms for what if's when you take the post 9/11 world and think of a way of uniting it. That's why I think it's best to come up with a post-something-else world. Like WW3 or something.

[Xyntech]

Thing about Watchman is Dr.Manhatten was someone that EVERYONE knew, there was no way to deny his existance and his was power was absolute.

When a planet randomly explodes there is alot of room for arguement and if even if you have real extraterrestials that are confirmed people will fight over how we should react.

There's too many rooms for what if's when you take the post 9/11 world and think of a way of uniting it. That's why I think it's best to come up with a post-something-else world. Like WW3 or something.

I meant the graphic novel with the squid thing or whatever (I haven't actually read it yet). Extra dimensional aliens being the outside threat. I actually liked the Dr Manhattan ending, but that's another matter.

Let's not forget that this is a significantly post 9/11 world we are talking about as well, as much so as we are living in a post Pearl Harbor or WWII world now. A lot can change.

I'm not saying the story is gospel or a fact of how the world would react to such a thing, just that a lot can change over time. I just don't feel that the story is completely implausible, more like one possible future. The threat of something outside of ourselves really does sound like a plausible thing that could hypothetically unify the world at some point in the future, at least to my way of looking at the world and human nature as a whole.

[Raymac]

Actually, an external fear like that has a much better chance of uniting mankind than a dictator. First of all, dictator regimes don't usually last much longer than the lifetime of that particular dictator.

Also, 9/11 is a perfect example of different factions coming together, united against a common foe. Leading up to 9/11, America was divided along partisan lines thanks in part to the disputed 2000 election and all that recount BS in Florida. Immediately after 9/11, those partisan divisons were erased (temporarily) and Americans were more united than they have ever been with the exception of maybe Pearl Harbor.

I actually still think the only way to bring the whole world together would have to be something extraterrestial (aliens, asteroid, etc) because it seems that humans are experts at finding crap to fight over.

[Graywolves]

Actually, an external fear like that has a much better chance of uniting mankind than a dictator. First of all, dictator regimes don't usually last much longer than the lifetime of that particular dictator.

Also, 9/11 is a perfect example of different factions coming together, united against a common foe. Leading up to 9/11, America was divided along partisan lines thanks in part to the disputed 2000 election and all that recount BS in Florida. Immediately after 9/11, those partisan divisons were erased (temporarily) and Americans were more united than they have ever been with the exception of maybe Pearl Harbor.

I actually still think the only way to bring the whole world together would have to be something extraterrestial (aliens, asteroid, etc) because it seems that humans are experts at finding crap to fight over.

You make good points but the people have a short memory. We're fighting over many things right now. Some things more than others.

[Raymac]

You make good points but the people have a short memory. We're fighting over many things right now. Some things more than others.

You're absolutely right, which fits right in to this part of the story. Even though mankind has been at peace, that peace is beginning to crumble. Then we get to fight the war.

[Captain B]

I dunno' about all that "united since 9/11". We can't even agree on shit like our withdrawal from Iraq (Obama's failure or a declaration signed in '08 by Bush?) when we have VIDEO RECORDING OF THE INCIDENT to turn to. A planet blows up and we're supposed to unite?

First off, I doubt anyone would really listen to the scientists. It'd be fear-mongering for news stations and papers to make a killing and then on to the next big deal. Most people would write it off, and politicians eager to win voters would exploit that but nothing more. You'll have people saying it was an asteroid or some sort of heavenly collision, and all of a sudden the scientific community goes unheeded once again.

If it was a pre-internet era, sure. Post-internet? We know culture, we know music and literature and beliefs and religions. We can't subdue those things "for the greater good" and erase them from history, now, and so we are doomed to forever be in constant struggle with them. Hell, look at the Middle East. Those guys have been killing each other over the stupidest shit for thousands of years. I mean, those idiots can't even understand the concept of war. This isn't 1400 anymore. "Ancestral lands"? Get with the times, bro; it's about taking other peoples' lands, making them your own, and taking over their resources.

If they put half their hate and destructive natures towards that goal, they'd be a major imperialistic power like the rest of the western world, and they too could have their McD's and Starbucks.

[Raymac]

I dunno' about all that "united since 9/11".

I said "temporarily". You are totally right. Americans certainly have been far from united since 9/11, especially since the Iraq war.

However there were a few months after 9/11 though where nobody paid attention to whether somebody was left or right. We were all just American. Too bad it didn't last long, because I hate partisan politics...but I digress.

[Captain B]

Yeah, extremely temporary. I would think a dictator would have more of a chance to take the world than something like Pluto blowing up.

So long as we get our Jersey Shore and our manny-peddies, who cares who's in power? Most of us don't even vote so we clearly don't care that much. If it was 250 years ago we'd be up in arms - literally - about things going on and marching on Washington to the beat of drums beneath war banners. Now? Meh, I got kids to watch or the guys are comin' over tomorrow for football. Or hell, I don't have the time to go occupying Wall Street because I got a friggin' job. Y'know, I got shit to do, man! Maybe next week if this crap is still going on.

I can't imagine that attitude changing for the better unless it was a total collapse of society. I've already got a crew ready to go next time gas prices spike $5.00 a gallon. Tire shoulder pads and crossbows, baby. Gonna' raid us some gas stations.