Well, it looks like the rumors were true – they DID fire on cities after all. Some of them, anyway. And I guess someone figured that, Kinshasa being where it was, it would make a legitimate atomic target. I particularly like how the UNA probe came out. The last time it was referred to was way back on page 1 – it’s as “Scooper,” a small robotic aircraft designed to sample the air and determine whether there are atomic weapons nearby based on radiation. Getting one to fly as far as Kinshasa is a task (from Command Post Alpha, it’s at least 1,500 miles, which is a long way for a tiny drone like this to go). Add to that all the hot particulates in the air after an atomic war, and, well – anyway.
As for me, I’ve just been spending the week like I always do – trying to have it all. Thankfully, the heat and humidity broke in New England and so I’ve had a very pleasant couple of days. Had the chance to get outside a bit, went to visit some friends. A nice few days after all. It’s good to come up for air, however briefly.
At any rate, I’m off to another week of the same old thing. Until next time, all the best, folks!
Wow. Looks like not all bombs were aimed at military bases. I do wonder what other important cities were wiped out, the typical clichee-cities in nuclear-war scenarios like New York, Washinton, Moscow etc? Or were here other cities targeted, cities you’d not think first of when thinking of a nuclear war, like I dunno, Barcelona, Talinn or Bangalore? (Just counting up random cities here ^^ )
What I was also wondering, since in your world they have defensive lasers for their troops, do they have them against ICBMs as well? Like have they realized the SDI programm (ground based)?
Also, really great work on that drone. Is this one nuclear powered too? Just assuming as you said this drone made it 1500 miles to the place where once Kinshasa was and it is VTOL capable, so it either has some sort of super-fuel to carry it that far, or is nuclear powered. ^^
Again, bravo for your amazing comic. 😉
I should acknowledge heavy influence from this lovely piece, in Lego no less, when I drew the Scooper:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan_rubin/4092677902
As well as a heavy admixture of Hiigaran Assault Frigate:
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/kk417/Oligarth/kadeshiasf.jpg
Small drones can fly with lower fuel consumption, but nevertheless, this little guy would probably have had to have drop tanks fitted to get him as far as he went.
The anachronism here is rather amusing. . .rotary phone juxtaposed with a high tech drone. Heh.
I have always liked he idea of multiple layers of technology coexisting. It makes the world feel “used.”
Technological anachronisms are much more common than many people realize. The arrangement of many computer keyboards, for one example.
The best example is the standard controls of automobiles – steering wheel, foot pedals, gearshift. These are all based on outdated concepts (the first steering wheels were basically large cranks), but are still used because of their familiarity. If car controls were completely redesigned from the ground up using modern technology and ignoring precedent, the results would probably be very different. Possibly something like the HOTAS (Hand On Throttle And Stick) controls used in modern jets.
Dude seriously will you lay off the juxtaposing a RQ2 Pioneer would have been a better fit that drone looks down right alien.
I checked he stock and they just didn’t have any Pioneer drones on hand. I’ll try harder next time.
Well, goodbye civilization. Been nice knowing you.
Well, this corner of it anyway.
I’m kind of with Matt here. I find it hard to believe Kinshasa would have been targeted and destroyed, and not other major cities like Tokyo, Moscow, Kiev, Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Washington, etc.
Of course not everyone lives in major cities, and some cities may not have been targeted or their bombs/missiles failed to reach them for whatever reason. It’s already been made clear that humanity has not been wiped out, but this would still be a major setback to civilization. It may be centuries in rebuilding.
Well, I’m not saying they didn’t get their hair mussed, but I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed. Tops. Depending on the breaks.
Actually, given that generally in the Cold War that SLBMs were given city targets and the USSR (and somewhat with the US) apparently had the ‘fuck everyone and their dog’ policy -assuming that this USSR and the UNA has the same mentality- this means that the USSR has several Typhoons -or their equiv- surface and then launch spy sats and then target any surviving vestige of enemy civilization.
Because if they can’t have the world then NO ONE can. Yeah nuclear war is fucking insane.
Best estimate with that sort of mentality? Easily a billion or two tops after all said and done. This accounts a light dusting of weapons grade anthrax in the bread-baskets of the West just for that extra fuck you and things like hemorrhagic smallpox just to make biowar containment that much harder.
It all depends on what is classified as a “legitimate” target. Killing off your enemy’s entire government can be a big mistake, as an orderly surrender could then turn into the shattering of a state that leaves you fighting a hundred Balkanized enemies instead. There is, escalationwise, a value in making demonstrative attacks within a “legitimate” war zone and avoiding targets outside that area in order to leave room for a favorable negotiated settlement, post-war.
Why is everyone assuming that the nuclear exchange was a global event and not a regional one considering all of the lesser powers that seem to have access to atomic and other high tech gear than they would in our own realty? It seems that Kinshasa makes sense regionally as a population and governmental center center, staging point, etc.
Exactly. A regional or local exchange is widely considered much more probable than shock-horror all-out nuclear war.
To that, I would suggest that the natural reaction of most people would be to “hold back” somewhat. Nobody (well, almost nobody) wants to be the one who ended the world.
Interestingly, this tendency even exists in exercises and ‘professional’ wargames where / when such things are seriously researched. There is an instinctive and powerful reluctance in people to go “all out”in such situations, even theoretically. Just as many soldiers are reluctant to shoot to kill.
Well the reason why we think this was more than a small regional exchange can be found on this page: http://www.viciousprint.com/6commando/comic/dont-move-gertrude/
Sorry but if this is a WWIII event and even if only the major powers had access to atomic weapondry… all the “cities” would be no more. but better to be at ground zeero then the poor sob that’s existing in the bit of world left over.
Mr. Average
22 September, 2015, 2:06 pm
Well, I’m not saying they didn’t get their hair mussed, but I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed. Tops. Depending on the breaks.
This is a limited nuclear exchange being depicted. You can see the targeted sites in North America here. http://www.viciousprint.com/6commando/comic/dont-move-gertrude/
The cities of the Eastern Seaboard haven’t been lit up, meaning that the first round of strikes have been focusing on hitting military targets, and not complete destruction. The Nevada desert has been hammered, as have probable silos in the Canadian far north and the Montana area.
This comic is set in an alternate future where WW2 never happened. Having never used the bomb against civilians before, they are unlikely to have developed the same phobia and hangups about the nuclear option we have. I find it a little strange that many people don’t realize that a mass air raid by conventional bombers is more devastating to a city than a nuclear bomb. The sole benefit of the bomb is that it’s cheaper and harder to interfere with.
That also means that they are extremely unlikely to see nuclear in a binary, “LAUNCH EVERYTHING AT ONCE” way. Dropping a few nukes on military centers would sound as reasonable as bombing a few forts and military bases sounds at the beginning of world war 2. Certainly, we’d have never have resulted to mass air raids over cities at the beginning WW2.