What If? Nuclear Armageddon what do you do?

[King Arts]

Which is precisely what Soviet/Russian doctrine has them nuking most nations of the world, or at least their major cities, in the event of MAD with the US/NATO.

They reason it gives whatever the successor state to the USSR/Russia is a better chance down the road; if the whole world, even neutrals, has to rebuild from nuclear Armageddon, then everyone is on a more even footing.

That seems like a bad idea. Like they would want to cripple their actual enemy. If they waste nukes on neutrals and the neutrals survive then all the nations would join together and do the Nazi dream of generalplan ost and be justified.

 

[ATP]

That seems like a bad idea. Like they would want to cripple their actual enemy. If they waste nukes on neutrals and the neutrals survive then all the nations would join together and do the Nazi dream of generalplan ost and be justified.

IF neutrals survive.Soviets belived in their nukes,they have tsarbomb after all.And lot of her lesser cousins.

 

[Sailor.X]

This has crossed my mind more than once over the past few years, and I will ask you the same question.

"If Nuclear Armageddon starts on your average day, what will you personally do?"

Will you attempt to survive and find cover with the twenty-minute forewarning you got before the bombs drop? Will you call relatives? Or even just sit-down sip coffee and accept the inevitable?

Keep in mind this isn't a strictly political scenario as who started it and why is a mystery although today's geopolitics are in place for this scenario, so you are free to think up the usual suspects, but regardless it's happening

I do nothing because I would have already been Vaporized. My area is literally in the middle of several major military bases and Nuke assets.

 

[Aaron Fox]

That seems like a bad idea. Like they would want to cripple their actual enemy. If they waste nukes on neutrals and the neutrals survive then all the nations would join together and do the Nazi dream of generalplan ost and be justified.

Largely because of the paranoia. The general plan, from what I've been told, is pretty simple: nuke everyone then give an anthrax chaser at every breadbasket that isn't under their control with hemerogic smallpox to keep the biowar teams from killing off the anthrax spores.

Russia, above all else, always feared invasion whenever it is weak and basically vowed no one will invade it again. So it cooked up the plan to basically nuke everyone just to be sure, then ensured everyone else would be at subsistence farming for the rest of eternity.

 

[King Arts]

Largely because of the paranoia. The general plan, from what I've been told, is pretty simple: nuke everyone then give an anthrax chaser at every breadbasket that isn't under their control with hemerogic smallpox to keep the biowar teams from killing off the anthrax spores.

Russia, above all else, always feared invasion whenever it is weak and basically vowed no one will invade it again. So it cooked up the plan to basically nuke everyone just to be sure, then ensured everyone else would be at subsistence farming for the rest of eternity.

That just ensures that the survivors invade Russia take the land enslave the men and rape the women.

 

[Aaron Fox]

That just ensures that the survivors invade Russia take the land enslave the men and rape the women.

Not really, the thing was what we know of the plans were extensive, as in 'planned to fight a war in the fallout and our cities nuked' extensive (this is probably why they had the CAT system in the first place). By that point, NATO (or anyone else really) wouldn't have any leftover capacity to fight with for more than a few weeks. Russia, in preparation for this eventuality, did and likely with spare production capacity in various locations to ensure weapon and ammunition manufacture.

 

[ATP]

Largely because of the paranoia. The general plan, from what I've been told, is pretty simple: nuke everyone then give an anthrax chaser at every breadbasket that isn't under their control with hemerogic smallpox to keep the biowar teams from killing off the anthrax spores.

Russia, above all else, always feared invasion whenever it is weak and basically vowed no one will invade it again. So it cooked up the plan to basically nuke everyone just to be sure, then ensured everyone else would be at subsistence farming for the rest of eternity.

You buyed their propaganda for soviet masses.

Party bosses never feared attack,but planned on attacking and eventually taking over entire Earth - their crest was hammer and sicle on Earth globe,after all.
They planned to nuke everybody,becouse they wanted take over everything,not becouse they feared smaller countries.

But,since you never lived in commie country,your ignorance is something normal.


Everybody in West buyed "poor,frightened soviet" shit.Except Reagan,who could destroy them becouse he saw them as what they were,not what they claimed to be.

 

[Aaron Fox]

You buyed their propaganda for soviet masses.

Party bosses never feared attack,but planned on attacking and eventually taking over entire Earth - their crest was hammer and sicle on Earth globe,after all.
They planned to nuke everybody,becouse they wanted take over everything,not becouse they feared smaller countries.

But,since you never lived in commie country,your ignorance is something normal.


Everybody in West buyed "poor,frightened soviet" shit.Except Reagan,who could destroy them becouse he saw them as what they were,not what they claimed to be.

No, it's more like 'ensure that what happened in the two world wars never happens again'. A lot of the Soviet/Russian military policy is based on that statement.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I live fairly near a major air force base. It's about 40 minutes away so I'm reasonably sure I'm out of immediate fireball range but well within "fried to a delicate black by fallout radiation" range and possibly within "They missed and hit nearby" range, I really don't know how accurate Russian missiles are and whether or not they'll hit everything in the general vicinity. So in that situation, there's a decent chance I die immediately.

Assuming I survive I own several hunting firearms as well as several bows and crossbows for the same purposes for defense or acquiring food and I hunt regularly so my skills aren't terribly bad, though I'd be worried the food I kill would be radiation-contaminated in the immediate future. I do have a basement, like everybody sane in tornado alley, so I can at least take cover though I doubt a couple of feet of dirt will protect against anything like a direct or even near hit.

As far as immediate survival I'm actually in good shape, I keep a fat stack of food and water on-hand for emergencies due to the weather periodically knocking everything out (I was literally iced in for about four days last month) so I can actually make it a tidy few months just on my stored canned food and fifty-odd pounds of dried beans, lentils, peas, and rice alone. I'm stocked up on a reasonable supply of spices and a couple of pounds of salt as well so I have trade goods if things go full Mad Max.

Assuming we go movie-style post-apocalypse (I presume those movies are approx. as accurate in that as Disney Pocohantas was, Talking Tree included), I have two vital skills that will assure me a solid position as a valued worker: I know how to make good quality soap old-school from ashes and fat (This is in fact my main hobby), and I know how to brew alcoholic beverages (secondary simply because there're significant legal restrictions on brewing, though surprisingly the police tend to throw a rather hard eye at soapmakers as well because we have a lot of overlap with meth labs in our tools and supplies). There's little chance a burgeoning survivalist colony won't take me in with that diverse skill set, Lord Humongous types so they can get drunk and heroic types so they don't have blackened skin and smell like dead yaks.

More likely I die quickly and somebody else manages to make a good position for themselves after scavenging my stash of dried beans and rice though.

 

[Scottty]

That seems like a bad idea. Like they would want to cripple their actual enemy. If they waste nukes on neutrals and the neutrals survive then all the nations would join together and do the Nazi dream of generalplan ost and be justified.

At the height of the Cold War, the USA and the USSR each had around 10,000 warheads ready to go. That's more than enough to turn the other side to slag with plenty left over for anyone else. Way more than enough. We are talking "kill the whole world several times over" arsenal levels.
I believe the justification for this was to be sure of having Second Strike capability - even if the other guy got in a sneak first attack and took out 90% of your nukes, you'd still have enough to hit back with.

As for "all the nations join together and..." scenarios? "Well, comrade, that is why we nuke them out of existence first, so they cannot do that!"

And another thing to understand: in a total war with nuclear weapons scenario, each side will try to preemptively take out the other side's nuclear missiles before they can be launched. Which means that if you have such missiles, it's "use it or lose it". Either pick a target and send them on their way, or see them destroyed where they are.
So you don't waste nukes by using them - you waste them by not using them!

Which means that nuclear-armed nations having their warheads and delivery systems on survivable platforms - eg boomer submarines that can hide out in the ocean - will in effect make a war that escalates to use of nukes actually be less all-out crazy.

 

[ATP]

No, it's more like 'ensure that what happened in the two world wars never happens again'. A lot of the Soviet/Russian military policy is based on that statement.

Soviet policy was to conqer world.As for KGBstan cosplaing as Russia - if they cared about russians,they would not start their bloody reign with blowing up 300 of them.

 

[King Arts]

At the height of the Cold War, the USA and the USSR each had around 10,000 warheads ready to go. That's more than enough to turn the other side to slag with plenty left over for anyone else. Way more than enough. We are talking "kill the whole world several times over" arsenal levels.
I believe the justification for this was to be sure of having Second Strike capability - even if the other guy got in a sneak first attack and took out 90% of your nukes, you'd still have enough to hit back with.

As for "all the nations join together and..." scenarios? "Well, comrade, that is why we nuke them out of existence first, so they cannot do that!"

And another thing to understand: in a total war with nuclear weapons scenario, each side will try to preemptively take out the other side's nuclear missiles before they can be launched. Which means that if you have such missiles, it's "use it or lose it". Either pick a target and send them on their way, or see them destroyed where they are.
So you don't waste nukes by using them - you waste them by not using them!

Which means that nuclear-armed nations having their warheads and delivery systems on survivable platforms - eg boomer submarines that can hide out in the ocean - will in effect make a war that escalates to use of nukes actually be less all-out crazy.

But the thing is you won’t be able to get everyone there will be survivors. And the nuclear sub crew would not want to launch it at neutrals, sure they’d launch at America and NATO but after they launch the nukes they would still want to live and Russia there homeland got destroyed the best place for them to go is a neutral to have a good life.

 

[ATP]

But the thing is you won’t be able to get everyone there will be survivors. And the nuclear sub crew would not want to launch it at neutrals, sure they’d launch at America and NATO but after they launch the nukes they would still want to live and Russia there homeland got destroyed the best place for them to go is a neutral to have a good life.

Even better - go to neutrals with all your missiles as kind of paing for entry.

 

[King Arts]

Even better - go to neutrals with all your missiles as kind of paing for entry.

Well maybe not all the sub crew might want revenge against the enemy for destroying their nation but after that if they want to survive they’d want to go to a neutral.

@Aaron Fox why laugh? If you were a nuclear sub captain, would you launch towards neutrals or just go to a neutral nation and try and make a new life? Your old country is now 3rd world at best, chances of living aren’t high.

 

[Robovski]

I live in a major urban area so if I somehow survive I have to escape to the country and also across the desert to somewhere where rain actually happens and crops can happen if I am to make a longer effort at surviving. God help me. If I was still in Chicago this was viable but out west here in the LA area this is a pretty doomed premise.

 

[Aaron Fox]

@Aaron Fox why laugh? If you were a nuclear sub captain, would you launch towards neutrals or just go to a neutral nation and try and make a new life? Your old country is now 3rd world at best, chances of living aren’t high.

Largely because those who get slated for such targets are not the ones to balk at the idea. Please note that every nuclear power did this, it's just Russia/USSR had a far more thorough plan of action for it. That's why whenever Pakistan and India come to blows anymore, people get real antsy because it could easily escalate to the point that nukes are used, and that would likely have Indian and Pakistani nukes hit Chinese cities, largely because both powers don't trust China enough to not come over and conquer the two of them in the aftermath.

I live in a major urban area so if I somehow survive I have to escape to the country and also across the desert to somewhere where rain actually happens and crops can happen if I am to make a longer effort at surviving. God help me. If I was still in Chicago this was viable but out west here in the LA area this is a pretty doomed premise.

Chicago? One of the US primary railheads? You're doomed either way. That area is going to get plastered with ground bursts if what I've read is any indication...

 

[PsihoKekec]

I live in a town surrounded by hills in a country nobody cares about. The big worry for me would be the shortages after the supply chains and economy of the world collapse. I am kind of attached to the idea of 3-5 meals per day and toilet paper.

 

[Scottty]

Obligatory cartoon - for some people somewhere this applies:

 

[Buba]

I hope I die quickly and painlessly.
BTW - old Polish joke on what to do in such a situation:
"Upon reception of news of nuclear strike wrap yourself in a white bedcloth and trudge to nearest cemetary. Remember to move slowly as not to cause panic."

 

[ATP]

I live in a town surrounded by hills in a country nobody cares about. The big worry for me would be the shortages after the supply chains and economy of the world collapse. I am kind of attached to the idea of 3-5 meals per day and toilet paper.

If that happen,remember to pray for our soull.My,at least ,would need it.