PREVIEW: staznes XI

1. United Kingdom
2. Israel
3. France

If the UK disintegrates in the BT due to separatism, I won't object, but in that case I would prefer to transfer to Israel as suggested above, and I'm not enthusiastic to just play England.
 
Actually if I don't get Japan, put me down for Los Zetas
 
How do you foresee technology changing in the BT?
 
How do you foresee technology changing in the BT?

Well, it depends on how long the BT is. Then it depends on player orders and events.

As for my own philosophy on how to progress tech...honestly, all of that is not my strongsuit. I've been reading up and gleaming ideas from other people, but right now I would not be able to give you a great idea of how technology would change.

I would say for sure alternative energy sources will be more fully developed, with the consequences and opportunities that brings. More advanced drone technology and pilot-less aircraft should be a thing. The Playstation 15 should be going strong.

As you can see, I'm not a virtuoso at this stuff. I am always open to ideas.
 
I think you'll need to put a lot of thought into that. It may be worth stating how long you think the BT should be so we can start planning for how technology and potentially culture will change in the meantime.

Thoughts based on a 2100AD NES i ran for a very short while.

Chemistry

  • Molten Metal/Salt Batteries
    Molten metal or salt batteries provide high efficiency energy storage while advances in thermo-stability allow apllications at both the micro and macro scales.
  • Nano-Batteries
    Making use of nano-scale printing, these batteries provide much more available power and greatly reduced recharging times. Requires Molten Metal/Salt Batteries and Nano-Scale Manufacturing
  • Synthetic Fossil Fuels
    While fossil fuels have been depleted on earth, liquid fuels have proven incredibly useful in many applications. By 'charging' low-energy hydrocarbons, synthetic fossil fuel technology allows a new era of energy-hungry engines for military and industrial uses
  • Ultra Cold Plasma
    By using lasers or other precise tools, electrons can be energized to escape the bonds that hold them to their atomic nuclei. Applications include high-energy physics as well as military use. Requires Fuel Cells and Themobaric Weapons

Physics:

  • Advanced Electronic Warfare
    Electronic warfare has prorgessed to the point where entire malignant viruses can be delivered wirelessly to target computers be they missile guidance firmware, radar towers or even SIGINT satellites. Requires Electronic Warfare, Cyberwarfare, and Optical Computing
  • Advanced Photovoltaics
    The use of nanocomposites has opened a new realm of photovoltaic technology that promises much higher efficiency as well as greatly reduced scales. Requires Solar Energy and Nanocomposites
  • Electronic Warfare
    Control the electromagnetic spectrum. Eavesdrop on your opponents and protect your communications.
  • Fuel Cells
    New generation fuel cells typically produce energy from burning hydrogen in a polymer exchange membrane. Alterantively liquid fuel from biomass can be 'burned'. Fuel cell technology is critical for a 'hydrogen economy'.
  • Polyceram Fuel Cells
    Polyceram fuel cells focus exclusively on hydrogen as a fuel. Unlike previous fuel-cells, polyceram allows hydrogen to be very tightly stored without requiring cyrogenic refrigeration. Polyceram also offers much greater temperature stability allowing much greater leniency in fuel purity and therefore greater reliability. The net result is a much more powerful, compact and reliable fuel cell. Requires Fuel Cells and Polyceram
  • Pure Fusion Atomics
    Fusion weapons have, historically, required a fissionable fuel. Modern atomic scientist quickly learned that despite its uses in industry, thorium is completely unusable as a fissionable weapon. And so nuclear weapons have fallen out of disfavor. All that changes with the advent of pure fusion atomics which use an extremely high energy chemical fuel to power the intiial 'priming' required to commence the fusion reaction. Requires Ultra Cold Plasma and Scaled Thorium Atomics
  • Scaled Thorium Atomics
    Whie thorium atomics will never truly be 'portable', scaled thorium atomics allows their use in large ships, providing greater range and reducing port time for your navy. Requires Thorium Atomics
  • Solar Energy
    While most nations are quite capable of generating some energy from solar power, this technology represents the specialization and manufacturing required to increase the efficiency and portability of 'sun-power'.
  • Thorium Atomics
    The last of the non-renewable fuels, thorium is plentiful, though not cheap to extract, and can provide sustainable, reliable energy on large scales.

Biology

  • Bio Machinery
    Grow tissues or even organs for use in industry or military applications. Provide 'bioware' to your sodiers to provide stronger muscles, quicker reflexes, or even accelerated healing. Requires Bio-Manufacturing
  • Bio Manufacturing
    All the best tools man has made are based on nature's design. Instead of redesigning nature, tap into its potential directly by manipulating the planet's species to provide innumerabe useful reagents. Requires Molecular Biology and Nano-Scale Manufacturing
  • Biome Engeineering
    The planet can be healed. Tailor-made bacterium can clear polluants. Biological atomospheric exchange systems can modify precipitation. New species of plants and microorganisms can be engineered to reclaim 'wastelands'. Requires Bio-Manufacturing and Genetic Manipulation
  • Combat Drugs
    Hell Yeah! Requires Pharmacology
  • Cybernetics
    Half-man, half-machine, cybernetics allow, amongst a wide variety of uses, the implantation of artificial eyes that see in the infrared spectrum or in very low light. Replacement of neuronal reflex arcs can make puling a trigger occur faster then thought. Better soldiers are't trained, they're built. Requires Neural Link, Advanced Robotics, and Polyceram
  • Genetic Manupulation
    GMOs weren't that bad for the 21st century were they? While monocultures probaby were, genticically modifying crops or animal species in of itself can increase productvity in a wide variety of ways. Not to mention human medecine. Requires Molecular Biology
  • Man-Machine Interface
    Early exploration of a rapidly growing field, the man-machine interface utilizes 'squid-like' neural induction systems to send a signal to a computer directly with only a thought.
  • Molecular Biology
    The basis of many other technologies, molecular biology is responsible for a bewildering array of medical advances and a growing number of commercial and industrial applications.
  • Neural Link
    Plug man into the machine- directly. Behold the birth of the temple-mounted 'data-jack' and thought controlled fighter jets, robotics and computers. Requires Man-Machine Interface, Pharmacology, Optical Computing, and Nano-Scale Manufacturing
  • Pharmacology
    For medicine or for the military, drugs have a lot to offer.
  • Trance Fractionation
    Control what the mind remembers, or doesn't. Implant memories, personalities, skills. The perfect spy doesn't even know they are a spy. Requires Combat Drugs, Immersive Software, and Optical Computing

Computing

  • Advanced Cyberwarfare
    Feel yourself inside the machine, ride the matrix code, manipulate hostile code with a thought and command the communications and control systems of your advesaries. Requires Cyberwarfare, Immersive Software, and Optical Computing
  • Cyberwarfare
    Malicious attacks upon an opponent's command and control systems can lead to havoc and confusion. A probe can provide valuable intelligence. Cyberwarfare is as valuable to the modern nation as an army or spy- often it can be either.
  • Immersive Software
    Based on the capacity to send a signal from man to machine, immersive software 'reverses the polarity!' and lets man see, with his optical system, what a distant camera sees, or feel, with his tactile system, what a distant robotic arm feels. Requires Man-Machine Interface
  • Near-Sentient Computing
    Programs that learn and adapt. Requires Bio-Manufacturing, Immersive Software, and Optical Computing
  • Optical Computing
    Electronic based computing is so passé. Increase speed and storage by adopting photonic computing systems.

Industry

  • Advanced Robotics
    Robots that walk, slither, crawl and possess previously unimaged agility and strenth. Requires Composite Materials and Robotics
  • Cermets
    The union of metals and ceramics, cermets are a very specialized composite material. These materials form the basis for much of up and coming high-tech industry.
  • Complex Composite Materials
    By bonding two or more compounds, composite materials often take advantage of the best of either while minimizing the disandvantages of both.
  • Nanocomposites
    Nanocomposites bind materials at a nanoscale and offer awhole world of new military, industrial, and other applications. Requires Advanced Robotics and Nano-Scale Manufacturing
  • Nano-Scale Manufacturing
    By exploring the intricacies of manufacturing at very miniscule scales, a variety of new tools and devices are revealed. Requires Complex Composite Materials
  • Polyceram
    Polycerams comprimise a variety of ceramic/metal polymers synthesized partialy through the use of recombinant enzmye technology. Their applications are much like the plastics of the 20th century but are able to withstand much greater stresses, both thermal and mechanical. Requires Molecular Biology, Cermets, and Nano-Scale Manufacturing
  • Robotics
    Robotics have critical functions in industrial contruction and exploration of systems man is unfit to do himself.

Military and Space:

  • Avionics and military electronics
    Required for jets, missiles, advanced naval sensors or anything that requires fine control or sensors. Critical for a modern airforce and very useful for navies and armies.
  • Communications Satellite
    Requires Space Flight
  • Plasma Acceleration
    Requires Ultra-Cold Plasma and Nanocomposites
  • Plasma Stealth
    Requires Ultra-Cold Plasma, Electronic Warfare, and Avionics
  • Remote Drones
    Requires Electronic Warfare, Immersive Software, and Advanced Robotics
  • Satellite Weaponization
    Requires Nano-Batteries, Communications Satelite, and Remote Drones
  • Space Flight
    Return to yonder celestium. Requires synthetic fossil fuels.
  • Stealth Materials
    Radar-defeating materials are requisite for stealth aircraft and ships.
  • Thermobaric Weapons
    Requires Synthetic Fossil Fuels and Cermets
 
North Korea promises electricity for every household by a deadline not to be released yet upon order of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.

Suck it America.
 
So are we starting at 2013 and then just having 20-50 years where technology develops and things happen before we actually start?
 
  • Ultra Cold Plasma
    By using lasers or other precise tools, electrons can be energized to escape the bonds that hold them to their atomic nuclei. Applications include high-energy physics as well as military use. Requires Fuel Cells and Themobaric Weapons
lolololololol

All the stuff about Thorium is also hilarious. And the idea that thermobaric weapons are new (stuff dates back to WWII). And that some spooky new "advanced" cyberwarfare lets you hack things which often don't even have remote connections. Weapons doesn't have a single mention of lasers, railguns, pulsed weapons, or other DEW under active development right now. And so many other things! Thanks for the laughs.

Azale: reading Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku is a good start, although his timeline is slightly optimistic in the long-run and he fails to cover certain topics and technologies.
 
This is sort of a generic overview of what I would be submitting to happen to about 2030-2035, arranged sort of by topic. Of course, it doesn't take into account what other people are doing, and it assumes a lot, but consider this my "pitch" for the position. This is briefer than it should be in places, and is more "the future looks like today but different" than wacky NESer hijinks, but I'm not paid by the word and that's my campaign platform:

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DOMESTIC POLITICAL HISTORY

The basis of the Republican Party as a populist, non-policy based opposition collapsed during the wilderness years of Hillary Clinton's Presidency. Having failed in their bid to obstruct several of President Obama's objectives, and failing to capture the 2016 election (sensing success after running the same playbook from 2010 and 2012 in the 2014 midterms, the reactionary and ultraconservative elements doubled-down on the strategy in 2016 to diasterous results), the extreme elements of the party grew ever more shrill and fringe, with collapsing poll numbers accompanying them. Minor spasms of violence from deluded supporters only exacerbated this decline. The Republican Party however, did not die.

After an intense period of soul-searching that harkened back to TwenCen leaders like Eisenhower and Nixon instead of the debased name of Reagan, the Republican party slowly rebuilt itself on two pillars from its past: conservatism and defense. There was a difference in the meaning of these terms though. On defense: seizing upon the Pentagon's assessments of global climate change and educational underachievement as national security risks, the Republican party rebuilt its platform on major security challenges to the United States from a top-down perspective. On conservatism: recognizing the political cost of supporting regressive social policies, the party began to redefine conservative as "not progressive," and largely abandoned the field on social issues. The Republican Party effectively become a party about America and American integrity and strength, arguing that strong collective security (for whatever definition of secuirty, on all fronts) would make America—and its citizens—strong and prosperous, leaving them to do as they would in their personal lives.

The Democrats, meanwhile, became something of a victim of their own success. Four highly successful if tumultuous terms under a single party was a statistical anomally unseen since the days of FDR and Truman. Amplified by the first elections of a black man and a white woman to the Presidency, the pair of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were rightly seen as a turning point in American history. It was not to last. Although a former San Antonio mayor and later Governor of Texas, Julian Castro, would win the Presidency in a landslide in 2024 as the first Latino in office, completing an apparent trifecta, a lackluster performance in office combined with the Republican resurgence would cap off Democratic dominance in 2028. Amusingly, the series of firsts would not end with the Democratic streak: President Hung Ba Le, former US Navy Admiral who rose to fame during the various PacRim Crises, would go down in history as the first Asian-American President, thanks in no small part due to a Democratic move to allow non-nativeborn citizens to ascend to the Presidency (brought about after discussions involving the incorporation of Puerto Rico as a state).

In the insuing years the pattern reverted to form, with the Presidency and the Congress changing hands fluidly as it had in the latter half of the TwenCen. Much as the Republicans had realigned to a more focused and directed policy, so too did the Democrats, settling solidly on a bottom-up perspective: high quality of life for citizens would result in the success of the nation as a whole. Both Democrats and Republicans tend to run with their own particular suites of government platforms with differing foci. The days of talk of government reduction or dismantlement are long dead.

Reforms in immigration, education, healthcare, transport, social security, and drug reform (see below) undertaken during the Democratic Years, albeit generally piecemeal and spread out over time, have generally taken to being called the New New Deal or New Deal 2.0 in aggregate. As a result of these policies (and continued immigration), America remains dynamic in a greying world and although its population is not booming as much as some have predicted from promoting attracting the best and brightest, it is nonetheless seeing positive growth on most key metrics. With the growing threat of climate change, there is some talk of current and former US territory incorporating as a new state, dubbed by some as "Pacifica."

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FOREIGN POLITICAL HISTORY
The United States remained the world's premiere power throughout the early 21st century, to the costernation and surprise of many a naysayer.A wide variety of assertions, like the PRC's $123 trillion economy, proved false and the BRICS did not unseat the Western world's dominance American power was not displaced worldwide by cheap Chinese credit or investment. Deep structural problems remained and continued to plague would-be aspirants to global leadership.

To be sure, the PRC was the first and foremost of America's partners, rivals, and sometimes-enemy during the period. But it didn't go as predicted, because the truth of a situation is often hard to discern, and a number of misunderstandings colored the perceptions of the relationship. The US pursued its Pivot to Asia and doctrines of AirSea Battle and continued to press for the uniform interpreation to UNCLOS in the and continued to build ties with regional partners, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and ASEAN through a variety of mechanisms including civilan ones such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and through military readiness and training exercises. Although there were a number of scares over inconsequential rocks such as the Spratleys and Senkakus, the Indian and Pacific saw a continued but gradual transfer and buildup of assets, eventually accounting for some 70-75% of US Navy and Marine assets under a watchful peace. (At the risk of making a lot of suppositions about what the PRC player wants to do, I feel it important to point out the reality on the ground in so far as is prudent to the US. I haven't gotten into domestic trouble, social issues, environmental degredation, and academic/innovation issues. The PRC player is going to have a hard time.)

Despite leaving Iraq and Afghanistan, the US did not leave the Middle East or Indian Ocean area in any appreciable way, although its modus operandi did change. The Syrian Civil War was played out as several sides pursuing their interests by proxy, with the US directly supporting the rebels and pushing the Saudi Arabians to back the rebels. That war would ultimately reach a bloody conclusion with Assad holed up in Alawite majority areas on the coast and the Sunnis in control elsewhere, with Iranian interests considerably weakened and Hezbollah discredited in the eyes of many. Iran itself proved a tougher nut to crack, although increasing pressure sanctions under resolute insistence Iran not be allowed nuclear weapons ultimately proved economically untennable for the regime there. In the various uphevals that followed, such as revived Kurdish nationalism, the US opted for a more behind-the-scenes approach. Ties with Israel remained on-again, off-again, although rumors circulated that President Clinton had privately threatened to axe all foreign aid if Israel did not stop making provocative moves in Gaza and the West Bank. A small shadow war raged in Yemen for awhile. In the subcontinent, America tried to woo India while at the same time half-heartedly trying to pass Pakistan off to the PRC, not that they wanted it either—in either event, relations with Pakistan chilled as those with India warmed, although the Indians always kept their distance. USN and USAF became ever more present sights within the Indian Ocean at large in various capacities, and Diego Garcia remained a key hub along with Ramstein and Guam.

The Pivot to Asia, although it did not signal the death knell for NATO, did signal its effective deprioritiziation. The relationship had already been called into question during the first term of President Obama, and as the experiences in Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria showed, NATO without US guidance was effectively dead in the water. Coupled with a consistent European refusal to spend at mandated defense levels, especially during the dark days of austerity, and a lack of an identified threat, the US let NATO's priority slip. Although the organization was not disbanded (particularly in light of continued failures by the EU to organize a Rapid Reaction Force), the US consolidated facilities and forces on the continent until eventually it retained a few scattered stations and its main hub in the region, Ramstein AB, Germany, which was simply too useful to the US and brought in too much commerce for Germany to be shut down. The US continued to coordinate with NATO members in terms of exercises, policy, equipment, and occasional facility use, but its occupying presence since 1945 was largely gone, as was the Two Ocean policy the US Navy had adopted since the dawn of the TwenCen: the oceans in question were now the Pacific and Indian, with the Atlantic merely something to patrol.

US treatment of Africa and Latin America remained much as it had for the past hundred years, involving mostly quiet backroom work with governments and foreign aid grants. There were notable exceptions, however, particularly in Mexico with the peak of the War on Drugs, and a final renormalization with Cuba after the death of the Castros and the establishment of a transitional government in 2019. The United States still very much sees itself as the underwriter, guarantor, and beneficiary of an integrated global economy and international political system, having built and maintained the status quo for almost 100 years.

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HISTORY OF THE WAR ON TERRORISM

As indicated by President Obama in May, 2013, the "perpetual" war on terror would essentially be concluded with the quintessential destruction and disruption of Al Qaeda. Guantanamo was shut down and the prisoners transfered elsewhere to no ill effect despite much screaming to the contrary. Although terrorist attacks and responses against them would continue and the United States would never return to a pre-9/11 environment, these military strikes ultimately transitioned through the shadow world of covert operations into paramilitary law enforcement operations largely overseen through law-enforcement agencies (i.e., the FBI, DHS, etc.) and conducted through international agencies (esp. INTERPOL), with terrorism being regarded as a high risk crime. Utilization of military assets in the conflict became rarer and was eventually generally reserved for imminent-threat situations, although the data collection mechanisms implemented to assist in such matters, such as PRISM and the older ECHELON network did not disappear. During the 2020s there was a notable uptick in domestic violence due to ever worsening far-right extremism that was reminiscent of events from the late 1980s and mid-1990s, although this has died down back to background noise.

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HISTORY OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

The War on Drugs, declared by President Nixon in 1971, took longer to end. The slow spread of marijuana decriminalization that occurred during the second term of President Obama continued under Hillary Clinton, and this combined with continued increases in the sophistication of major drug cartels and criminal organizations and the resultant violence finally reached a crescendo in 2026. With the increasing involvement of many assets primarily employed in tracking terrorists in anti-drug trafficking activities and with political support flagging, something had to give. Citing both the violence and the distorting effect the war had caused to the criminal justice system and American society at large, President Clinton called on Congress to take immediate action. In 2027, 56 years after it began, the War on Drugs ended with the decriminalization and regulation for possession of most previously controlled substances. The majority of these wound up being treated by the government as a source of revenue. The so-called prison-industrial complex did not go without a fight in Washington, but was ultimately the sacrifice on the alter to statistics and productivity. The follow-on effects are still rippling through society, but have yet to cause the kind of civilizational apocalypse that was feared for so long.

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TECHNOLOGICAL/CAPABILITY HISTORY

Ray Kurzweil's Singularity never came. Maybe it will eventually, but if it is then the predictive software isn't talking. Strong Artificial Intelligence proved harder to implement than predicted, with both bottom-up and top-down approaches stalling out; weak AI of some kind or another is ubiquitous and useful, but hardly plotting a revolution against its masters. The holy grail of nanotechnology—and the fear of gray goo—never really panned out as predicted; nanotech is a booming business, but reconciling "wet" and "dry" and self-replication and programming remain tremendous computational problems. Computers: Moore's Law finally died down and electronics hit hard physical limits around 2030, and the industry immediately exploded into specialty modules to tackle particular sorts of problems; optical computing, quantum computing, DNA computing. Cloud computing was the real innovation: instead of trying to cram as much power into a mobile device as possible, mobile devices instead could share time as terminal spokes on large, local (or distant) hubs that crunched the numbers. This was only possible with the rise of truly high-bandwidth networks. Cybernetics, at first crude but functional, and then increasingly chic, became normative. People weren't (generally) cutting their limbs off for enhancements, but they were getting implants to do this or that—mostly trivial things. Mind-machine interfaces are still developing, and software and privacy concerns are a big deal. Genetic-engineering is limited but around to stay. Longevity always seems right around the corner but it's generally accepted that the breakeven point is soon or has already arrived. The theory of the mind is likewise close, but a bit elusive. It's not quite cyberpunk, really more post-cyberpunk plus a little bit of biopunk, minus almost all the -punk. William Gibson would hate it.

As mentioned, America invested in a digital and later optical backbone system. High-speed rail and revitalized infrastructure were implemented in fits and starts but generally got done. The US played around with the idea of the LHC upgrade into the HL-LHC before restarting construction on the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. The US didn't return to the table on ITER or DEMO because it viewed them as no longer necessary (see below). American academia lead the field much as it had since WWII in many different fields. A consortium of American corporations occasionally goes out to lasso asteroids. NASA put Americans out maneuvering around asteroids themselves in 2024 and is gearing up for a Mars mission with some corporate backing by 2032. There's talk of putting together a space elevator on Jarvis Island. (And elsewhere, but this one would be purely American-owned and controlled.) But the fun stuff, as it tended to, fell out of the military-industrial complex.

The US Navy always had an appetite for power, and since the late 1980s had been funding cold fusion research up until 2004. They occasionally played with it off and on, but never got anywhere with it. What did produce results was the Polywell. After a hush-hush period from 2012-2014, the design finally managed to beat breakeven in a big way, and by 2015 USN was already quietly asking for funding to scale-up the design. They unveiled their prototype commercial-scale reactor in 2018, and although it wasn't quite ready for primetime in warships, the genie was out of the bottle. Energy-Matter Conversion Corporation was subject to a fierce bidding war by major nuclear conglomerates including Westinghouse Electric Company and Bechtel Corporation, which Bechtel eventually won. Talk immediately floated about the end of Global Climate Change but the new form of fusion was pricey and although the fuel wasn't helium-3 rare, boron-11 was still in short supply: Turkey had the look of a new resource superpower overnight, and suddenly the space program had some new objectives to reach for. It didn't save the world, but it was a way that eventually might. Inertial and magnetic fusion research continued on, including at the US's own National Ignition Facility, but with a proven solution in hand, suddenly pouring billions into blind R&D looked like a losing proposition. Fission died almost overnight, as did hydrogen fuel cells, which had never been a winning proposition anyway. Biofuels and renewables soldiered on as peak oil came and went, but miniturizing and commodifying fusion became the new holy grail.

The Navy had also been hard at work underwriting freedom of access and finding new ways to do it. Having experimented with Directed Energy Weapons since before Star Wars, US military contracters wheeled out a whirlwind of laser modules, from FIRESTRIKE to HELLADS to LaWS. It was a sign of things to come, and eventually such military-grade lasers found their way onto everything from the Gerald R. Ford class supercarrier, to the F-35 and AC-130, to ground-installations like Guam. Anti-Access Area-Denial (A2/AD) was dead by 2025: it didn't make sense to throw a million dollar missile at a target that could kill it for pennies on the kilowatt-hour. (Saturation attacks could still work, but at a mind-numbing cost). Railguns built by General Atomics wound up being deployed on the Zumwalt class and its subsequent follow-ons. The US Navy as a whole, despite having dedicated itself to the carrier-model of fleet warfare, had always retained interest in updating the battleship, including the defunct arsenal ship idea. With railguns providing remote bomardment capability equivalent to cruise missiles and lasers securing the sky and sea (albeit only effective at point-defense against supercavitating torpedos), talk has resurfaced of resurrecting the battleship as a mobile area control system to compliment the Gerald R. Ford classes. So far it remains merely talk.

USAF likewise benefited from DEW advances, as well as burgeoning capabilities in the upper atmosphere and near-space. Vehicles such as the X-37 and X-51 paved the way for new capabilities in both regimes, that although not incorporated into the Long Range Strike-Bomber (B-3) have supposedly been incorporated into the new secret competition for the 2037 bomber. Increasingly sophisticated fleets of drones and minor experimentation with orbital weapons (to some grumbling over the Outer Space Treaty) as well as a revitalization of something very much like the Strategic Defense Initiative have left some in Washington wondering if USAF, which is responsible for both air, space, and cyber warfare domains, might have too much on its plate, although with the ballistic missile arms of the nuclear triad on their way to obsolescence (and Global Zero still seemingly very far away), new delivery systems are a must. There are scattered reports, mostly evident through Congressional budget battles, that USAF and USN are having the National Laboratories investigate the possibility of yet another set of reliable replacement nuclear warheads—an open question is whether these would have fission primaries...

The Army and USMC experienced significant drawdowns in the years after Iraq and Afghanistan and although they did quite well in Pentagon politics during the reign of AirSea Battle, the 2020s saw them focus on improving flexibility and portability for the various brushfire conflicts and peacekeeping operations that they were routinely deployed to. In the realm of infantry technology, caseless LSAT guns were a step forward for the infantryman, to eventually be augmented with ETC pulse technology at every caliber and scale. The M1A3, some 15 tons lighter than the M1A2, wound up featuring an ETC gun, while plans for its replacement likely call for a railgun with a dedicated reactor. The appropriation of explosively pumped flux compression generators has seen the rise of man-portable DEWs, although by their nature they tend to be disposable and single-shot, or of a limited number of uses. Powered armor derived from early, clunky XOS, HULC, and BLEEX prototypes is still in the teething stages, although electromuscle and various material sciences technologies mean it's beginning to see widespread deployment to combat units. Auxilliary units remain largely "soft-skinned," although personal protection standards have significantly improved. Communication and coordination envisioned by precursor programs like Land Warrior and Future Force Warrior have become ubiquitous.
 
lolololololol

All the stuff about Thorium is also hilarious. And the idea that thermobaric weapons are new (stuff dates back to WWII). And that some spooky new "advanced" cyberwarfare lets you hack things which often don't even have remote connections. Weapons doesn't have a single mention of lasers, railguns, pulsed weapons, or other DEW under active development right now. And so many other things! Thanks for the laughs.

Azale: reading Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku is a good start, although his timeline is slightly optimistic in the long-run and he fails to cover certain topics and technologies.

There was probably a better way to phrase that Symphony D. ...one that maybe respects my contributions to this forum somewhat.

To provide context. The techs lifted where from a future NES where the world had experienced apocalyptic environmental changes and resource scarcity had killed billions. Life was largely reduced to pre-industrial technology for the majority of the population. So even basic cyberwarfare was 'future tech', as was a few things from our own time line, like fuel cells and thermobaric weapons. Additionally, things like lasers, pulsed weapons, etc were available as UU.

My intention was merely to get the ball rolling regarding a discussion on technological development.

Your response was wholly uncalled for and an excellent reminder of what this forum is, thankfully, typically not known for.
 
So you posted something that assumed preconditions that were nothing at all like this setting as if it was relevant to it? Alright. That's cool. Might as well just post the SMAC techtree. I mean, hey, I hear The Windup Girl is a really interesting book, but that doesn't mean its idea that everything is powered by springs isn't stupid as hell. I see a spade, I call it a spade.

Some of your ideas and your tech tree as a whole are awful. (Why would you need an understanding of how to make coal dust explode to make a Bose-Einstein Condensate and what is the military application of a BEC? Etc.) If you're uncomfortable with that assertion, you have my sincerest apologies, but I'm not going to lie to you about it and dismantling it in detail would take more time than I care to spend. I was a jerk about it. But I also don't have time for it. Sorry.
 
Nation selections are up. Check the front page. We still have no Turkey, Iran, or Pakistan among others.

Also, everyone should take a good hard look at SymphonyD's background post. That is exactly what I am hoping for in BT orders (though Symph went the extra mile on the link dump, which is awesome but not a requirement). I want clear identification of pressing issues facing your PC (I freaking love subtitles), well reasoned analysis and projection of what your PC will look like in 20-25 years (likely the length of the BT), and creativity. This is an NES, not the Model UN.

BT orders of course are not due yet. I need to put the main thread up, read some more on pertinent things, and hold out hope for a few more players in important spots.
 
Also, everyone should take a good hard look at SymphonyD's background post. That is exactly what I am hoping for in BT orders (though Symph went the extra mile on the link dump, which is awesome but not a requirement). I want clear identification of pressing issues facing your PC (I freaking love subtitles), well reasoned analysis and projection of what your PC will look like in 20-25 years (likely the length of the BT), and creativity. This is an NES, not the Model UN.

How will you rule on things like the development of technology that he wrote up, or the successes or failures projected? For example, SymphonyD's write-up includes expectations for the American economy and military projection and makes the statement, "The United States remained the world's premiere power throughout the early 21st century, to the costernation and surprise of many a naysayer."

If, as Germany i were to write, and this is just an example for the sake of making my point, "Unexpectedly, Germany became the world's premiere power throughout the early 21st century, to the costernation and surprise of many a naysayer." How would you rule that?

Or as another example, SymphonyD writes,
The US Navy always had an appetite for power, and since the late 1980s had been funding cold fusion research up until 2004. They occasionally played with it off and on, but never got anywhere with it. What did produce results was the Polywell. After a hush-hush period from 2012-2014, the design finally managed to beat breakeven in a big way, and by 2015 USN was already quietly asking for funding to scale-up the design. They unveiled their prototype commercial-scale reactor in 2018, and although it wasn't quite ready for primetime in warships, the genie was out of the bottle. Energy-Matter Conversion Corporation was subject to a fierce bidding war by major nuclear conglomerates including Westinghouse Electric Company and Bechtel Corporation, which Bechtel eventually won. Talk immediately floated about the end of Global Climate Change but the new form of fusion was pricey and although the fuel wasn't helium-3 rare, boron-11 was still in short supply: Turkey had the look of a new resource superpower overnight, and suddenly the space program had some new objectives to reach for. It didn't save the world, but it was a way that eventually might. Inertial and magnetic fusion research continued on, including at the US's own National Ignition Facility, but with a proven solution in hand, suddenly pouring billions into blind R&D looked like a losing proposition. Fission died almost overnight, as did hydrogen fuel cells, which had never been a winning proposition anyway. Biofuels and renewables soldiered on as peak oil came and went, but miniturizing and commodifying fusion became the new holy grail.

Does this become cannon or will all players propose similar projections and have you rule on which is accurate?



Ultimately, it may be best to simply write in our BT orders about where our focus is. For example, SymD may say he focuses on energy research and leave the success/failure of that to the moderator?



Anyway, this is not meant to criticize, merely to determine how this BT order set will progress.


EDIT: Confirming Germany.
 
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