What is "The Great Mistake"?

[KrikkitTwo]

Nuclear winter isn't triggered directly by the nuclear bombs, but rather by the cities burning in the aftermath. A large number of firestorms would propel tonnes of soot into the stratosphere, which would block enough sunlight to create a massive, year-round winter. Then, once there's snow everywhere, Earth's albedo would be high enough to prevent future warming, basically locking Earth into an ice age until natural variance pulled us out again (typically estimated on a timescale of 10,000 years).

Considering the trailer didn't show any of those effects, I think we can rule out nuclear winter.

There might have been a short nuclear winter...followed by rapid return to greenhouse effects.

Probably the combo of climate effects from
1. normal fossil fuel produced greenhouse gasses
2. short nuclear winter
3. different intentional geoengineering attempts to deal with the above (all that end up causing more problems)

gives some type of a climate whiplash

In combination with the setbacks to the global economy from a small nuclear war
Might be enough

I think however that throwing in
a computer virus that destroys the global nature of the internet (and costs a lot in the meantime)
and
some failure of the green revolution (modern crops die out...food prices spike destroying the global economy for a long time period)

 

[Silverman6083]

Well you see, what happened is that Fallon, Letterman, Meyers, Leno, & Colbert all get together & write a skit SO FUNNY that the world can't physically handle it & the earth starts destroying itself.

 

[cpm4001]

Well you see, what happened is that Fallon, Letterman, Meyers, Leno, & Colbert all get together & write a skit SO FUNNY that the world can't physically handle it & the earth starts destroying itself.

Sounds familiar...

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

They didn't want to be bothered with writing details so "Great Mistake" it is.

 

[Milith]

They talk about a nuclear exchange in the Asian subcontinent during the PAX panel iirc. I'm pretty sure it's a reference to Gandhi nuking people.

 

[Quintillus]

I hope they don't say.

Me too. I don't think it really matters what it was, so much as that colonization on a new planet it necessary. Saying what it was would inevitably rub some people the wrong way, lead to debate over whether that was realistic, etc. - in other words, detract from the actual game.

 

[VSorceress]

They talk about a nuclear exchange in the Asian subcontinent during the PAX panel iirc. I'm pretty sure it's a reference to Gandhi nuking people.

Due to it being a series of events, I think it was not only a nuke exchange, but things that are happening even today that they were using for warfare - Weather Modification systems, man made black holes and biochemical warfare. It left such a devastating impact that there was a great migration to the northern hemisphere due to erosion and destruction of the land.

60% of the world is now uninhabitable. Biospheres were created to shield people from the gaping holes in the ozone layer caused by the erratic weather produced by the modification systems, and the overcrowding of these groups spread even further disease and high mortality rates. Even though half of the Earth's population was lost during the war, and food was scarce due to poor soil and low livestock.

The only difference between this dark ages and the one from the past is that we had Science and Technology to sustain us during the worst period of mankind. While we are back on the rise due to our scientists and engineers being able to come up with technological advances to help repopulate some of the areas that we once lived, we know that the Earth will never be the way it once was. What we have learned out of this crisis will help us move on to a new planet with a fresh start.

 

[CaterpillarKing]

If they do say what it is then I highly doubt it will me from nuclear war. It's too mainstream. From the trailer it appears to mainly be overpopulation, possible famine, and destroying the environment. The Great Mistake might not mean one certain date but a general time and era. It might be every date after the 2020s from all the above said problems.

 

[JokerJace]

What are everyone's ideas on the The Great Mistake?

1upt.

Moderator Action: This answer has nothing to do with the subject of this thread and is trolling. Please stick to the subject of thread.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[otaman1]

1upt.

This, doesn't make any sense. Surely 1UPT didn't cause mankind to destroy themselves.

 

[CaterpillarKing]

This, doesn't make any sense. Surely 1UPT didn't cause mankind to destroy themselves.

Well clearly what happened was because humanity could never be right next to each other they couldn't socialize so everyone died of boredom.

 

[Aeson]

1UPT was my first thought too... but since CivBE will have 1UPT too, it doesn't really fit.

The great mistake was actually Civ V as a whole. Civ IV was just about perfect, but then they went too far ... messed things up ... the expansions helped address some of the issues but it wasn't enough ... now civ players are jumping ship to play Civ on another planet ...

 

[CaterpillarKing]

1UPT was my first thought too... but since CivBE will have 1UPT too, it doesn't really fit.

The great mistake was actually Civ V as a whole. Civ IV was just about perfect, but then they went too far ... messed things up ... the expansions helped address some of the issues but it wasn't enough ... now civ players are jumping ship to play Civ on another planet ...

Well considering civ be appears to run with the civ v engine there will be a lot of disappointed people according to your theory.


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[Aeson]

Well considering civ be appears to run with the civ v engine there will be a lot of disappointed people according to your theory.

Yes ... People always take the source of their problems with them, even when trying to escape their problems.

 

[Babri]

Some scientific experiment(s) that went wrong, eventually leading to some serious environmental catastrophes that earth could never recover from.

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[CaterpillarKing]

Some scientific experiment(s) that went wrong, eventually leading to some serious environmental catastrophes that earth could never recover from.

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Like sharknado?


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[SemperFi2382]

Messing up the Moon would have consequences. Messing with the tides could throw entire ecosystems out of whack, which could be exaggerated by other things like global warming. To me, messing with the Moon (in a particular fashion) would be more than enough to be considered "The Great Mistake".

 

[Darsnan]

I voted for the "experiment to fix climate change which went horribly wrong" option: in 35-40 years we rub up hard against the reality of the Malthusian Equation, and in an attempt to reverse the trends of global warming (which presumably would bring about more arable land) we make things worse. Much worse. To the point of global famine. After the ensuing collapse of global society, the pockets of civilization which survive realize that Earth is dieing, and so they each launch expeditions to nearby stars with identified Goldilocks planets.

D

 

[CaterpillarKing]

And after all earthling humans die and Earth slowly begins to rebuild itself we come back and rinse repeat until the suns engulfs us in 2 billion years.


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[Heart's Soul]

An accident with a plane caused it to crash, which killed the President of the United States inside, and it landed in North Korea, which was followed by a series of propagandic messages from both sides, resulting in NK getting upset and launching a nuke onto Russian territory which launched onto US territory because Cold War-era systems, which retailated back and everybody died. The end.