Evacuate Earth a game idea discussion

[Hopeless]

So watched Evacuate Earth on you tube over the weekend and I wanted to discuss how to run something similar as a game.

The Background:

A freak meteor shower strikes various points on the earth and scientists checking along its flight path discover an anomaly has disturbed the outer edges of the solar system sending a massive shower of debris into the inner system, alot has been countered in the outer planets but not enough to prevent a potential global catastrophe.

Building underground shelters a series of major cities are built to house refugees as preparation for an ongoing program to build an "ark" to transplant a small populationa long with supplies to a safe location, this involves building an O'Neill cylinder but they have to construct a moon base before even attempting such a massive project.

However corporate and economic interests war on the actual plan ending up with different countries beginning their own plan the subsequent panic and confusion is only exasperated once the situation is revealed by the press.

The event happens and it takes years for the damage to heal with whatever society left on the planet either coping with a return to the stone age on the surface, those who remained underground remain so until they see signs that it looks safe to reemerge and those who sheltered in either the underground moon base or the O'Neill cylinder and other shelters take even longer before realising its safe to return to the planet below.

Now the Evacuate Earth video was about the planet being destroyed, mine is about a global catastophe that takes generations if not centuries before society can even begin to rebuild and I wanted to gauge your thoughts on this?

1)Primitives or the desperate survivors of thos who remained on the surface

2)Those who sheltered underground and are only now reemerging into a changed world

3)Those who sheltered on the moon having to cope with the changes that would cause and their decision on whether to return to the Earth

4)Those who grew up on the O'Neill cylinder now aware the Earth is now safe to return to but their society has their own views on whose in charge and unlike the Lunarians have coped with the changes better than they have...

5)The others who splintered off and are now gazing at the renewed Earth with a cold dispassionate gaze that wouldn't be out of place in a certain HG Wells novel!

Well lets see what you think, ok?

 

[AdrianH]

Some of the debris has already hit Earth. Even if the main event won't happen for a few years, expect more such showers. And they won't be confined to Earth. Building the Moon base and O'Neill station will be dangerous, to put it mildly.

When the main shower arrives, if it's enough to scour the Earth then it's going to scour the Moon's surface as well, and probably destroy the O'Neill station. So the Moon shelter is going to be like the Earth shelter except that it's going to need really good air and water recycling as well as food production. The O'Neill station is going to need a miracle.

If the main strike makes Earth's air unbreathable or water undrinkable then there won't be any survivors outside the shelters. If there is air and water, along with enough wildlife to support hunting, fishing and plant-gathering, then those who didn't get a place in the shelters may have survived in caves.

So the folks in the shelters emerge. They're probably the rich, powerful and government types, hoping to re-establish control. Even if they aren't, the surface survivors will want to break into the shelters to loot food and technology. Alternatively the folks in the shelters might emerge with the aim of helping the surface survivors by volunteering food and medicine.

If the Moon shelterers decide to return to Earth with spacecraft which were stored underground, they'll probably be the ones volunteering medical and scientific assistance, possibly in exchange for fresh food. They might therefore make friends with the surface survivors. They may be in competition with the Earth shelterers.

If the O'Neill cylinder wasn't destroyed then its people have probably founded a new religion celebrating the miracle that the cylinder wasn't hit by the meteor storm which levelled the Earth and Moon. They now regard themselves as the Blessed Ones. And they may have orbital weapons.

 

[Hopeless]

Good points!

One of the reasons I was thinking about this was that whatever effected the solar system wouldn't actually need to directly hit the system itself merely pass close enough to influence the edges of the solar system.

The initial showers being so unusual in that several points on the same trajectory would hit the Earth allowing for astronomers and scientists to track it back and discover something far worse was on its way.

Now giving that a 75 year time span would make more sense but as you mentioned there would be more meteor showers in the mean time making it essential they get any plans up and running as fast as possible.

I can't see them building a multi-generational colony ship in time at least now but I could see them using it as a shelter that could be moved out of harms way something the moon can't do as you mentioned.

I pictured any such construction would need a lunar base to have any hopes of success.

I haven't gone as far as just how bad the earth would be hit thinking there should be a possibility of surviving such an impact since it obviously wouldn't be enough to wipe out all life on Earth just make it very tough for a few generations and even then take centuries before it would be okay for anyone in underground shelters to move outside.

What I don't know is the capacity to build an underground city and how big it could get and remain viable since can you really build such a complex beneath an existing city and it would have to be self sufficient in time so what about the settlements on the surface?

Still worth discussing!

 

[CosmicGamer]

When the main shower arrives, if it's enough to scour the Earth then it's going to scour the Moon's surface as well, and probably destroy the O'Neill station.

That's generally what I was thinking as I read the OP. Additional resources and time for these projects and lower chance of success. Not worth the effort.

can't see them building a multi-generational colony ship in time at least now but I could see them using it as a shelter that could be moved out of harms way something the moon can't do as you mentioned.

Maybe something that can stay on the back side of the Earth, one of the larger planets, or even the sun if the incoming event is just sweeping through the solar system. At some point there may be danger from objects that are influenced by the sun and maybe even become cyclical dangers to the earth.

I pictured any such construction would need a lunar base to have any hopes of success.

As mentioned, unless there is no incidents in between the first wave and the event 75 years later, it would be awfully risky. As above, if possible, perhaps staying on the "back" side of the Earth with a mobile staging point for assembling a modular design and loading supplies. If the Earth can't protect it, maybe leaving the staging point "behind" the sun. You have 75 years and can determine the best times to launch assemblies and supplies from earth to rendezvous with the staging point.

Those who remained underground remain so until they see signs that it looks safe to reemerge

Those who didn't get a place in the shelters may have survived in caves.

How will these cave survivors obtain water, food, sun and other necessities? If they pre plan and provide all the necessities, how are they any different from the "underground" survivors? The best caves and caverns will be used by the "underground" planned settlements, no?

Maybe a better delineation between the underground and cave survivors is needed.

There's old bomb shelters and silos. How about surviving in basements and other man made structures like a parking garage under a building or in the subway or a tunnel?

If people are surviving on the surface, I don't see why those underground need to stay there for long and be fully self contained. Less air recycling if above ground air is available. Water. Waste removal. Salvaging operations. Is every square mile of the surface going to be uninhabitable? For how long?

Could some shelters be set up for shorter term and then once the main event is past they emerge and spread out into smaller communities. How many survive the after events.

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While I enjoy discussing things. This can get EXTREMELY complex. We could spend years discussing it and still have more questions than answers and never ending debates over possible outcomes.

Perhaps pick a time period for the game and the ideas for the setting you want so we can concentrate on some general background needed to get you to that point and the specifics for the setting and game.

Is the game about preparing for the event, surviving the event, the struggles after the event, rebuilding once things stabilize.

So for example you might have a game that is set 25 years after the main event.

Now, 25 Years Later
Who are the characters going to be? Surface survivors who resettled one of the few cities that mostly is still intact? Nomads made up of both surface survivors and underground survivors that came to the surface? Survivors still living in a underground shelter? People from a ship returning to earth?

How many people do you want to have surviving underground in shelters?
How many people are currently surviving on the surface?
Salvage and survivors: What % of the original surface structures do you want destroyed by the event itself or fire, tsunami, earthquake, war and other effects. If not 100%, we need to work on what are some of the largest, most important locations still intact and their current population (in the city or in nearby shelters) and capabilities.

Physical
Any ongoing radiation, electromagnetic, environmental and other effects. Any cyclical recurring events. For example maybe super storms with extreme flooding, winds and/or temperatures. Another example is rolling once every xx time period and xx% of the surface is effected by a meteor storm.

Air
Could be anything from just covering your face with a damp cloth to a single breath of it and you die so need air bottles or an enclosed habitat with heavily processed and recycled air. For example, maybe air quality is still an issue causing anyone breathing it directly for more than xx time to suffer fatigue as per the rules on page 74.

Water
Water is still undrinkable without the following treatment:

Mutants
Are you going to have mutants, monsters and whatnot?

And so on....

 

[Hopeless]

Hmm makes me wonder exactly how much would be revealed before the event?

What if someone begins building such a shelter but the authorities don't take this seriously until the scientists discover the Oort cloud has been disturbed and the meteor showers will intensify for a few decades making it necessary for a limited number of the population to use the shelters hoping the showers remains too small to irretrievably damage the Earth' environment?

I'm picturing that the person who begins the building of the shelters does so initially as a test as part of a plan to build such shelters on say Mars, but being in the loop realises before most of the scientists fully understand what's going on and expands on her original plan but her shelters are usurped by the authorities in the countries where they're either being built or have been completed and she's killed protecting her remaining family when they're targeted in an attempt to keep her quiet.

So you have massive shelters built over a few decades expanded upon as the meteor showers intensify, but the science behind them has been lost making it necessary for those inside to send out parties to locate necessary salvage perhaps even try to re establish contact with any other surviving shelters whilst imperilled by the survivors who remained outside and adapted to the changes to the environment (mutants you mentioned?).

Then there's the nuclear shelters and others already built, just how surviveable are they when compared to what they were planned to work against compared to what actually happened?

Lord what about the military, do the submarines shelter under the icepack and hope that protects them?

Still... just how far do I go with this idea?

 

[CosmicGamer]

Still... just how far do I go with this idea?

Like I said.

While I enjoy discussing things. This can get EXTREMELY complex. We could spend years discussing it and still have more questions than answers and never ending debates over possible outcomes.

Perhaps pick a time period for the game and the ideas for the setting you want so we can concentrate on some general background needed to get you to that point and the specifics for the setting and game.

Is the game about preparing for the event, surviving the event, the struggles after the event, rebuilding once things stabilize.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

So, basically this is a proposed 'Traveller' version of 'Aftermath!'?

 

[Hopeless]

Or Fallout but its looking that way isn't it?

Just how far forward do i go before starting play?

Just how long would such an event go on for before it could settle down, lord what if the Earth gets its own ring as a result? :shock:

More importantly if I recall Planetes the threat posed by debris in Earth orbit is of far greater concern if they intended an offworld base and the occasional meteor shower would make that even more precarious (wasn't that mentioned above?)...

I still think I need to sandbox this a bit more perhaps consider the likely aftermath, would Yellowstone erupt, we already have worsening weather, how does that effect that?