Miscellaneous, Non-Frivolous ASB Ideas II

[Zyobot]

Seeing as the original thread is no longer active, here's a second thread is for whatever non-frivolous ASB ideas people would like to share.

Anyhow, to start us off after that brief hiatus: 'Greco-Roman Students Take An American History Course'.

Thank you in advance,
Zyobot

[Zyobot]

‘2020 Mikhail Gorbachev To 1940 Joseph Stalin’.

[stevep]

Jan 3, 2021 3:50:29 GMT Zyobot said:

‘2020 Mikhail Gorbachev To 1940 Joseph Stalin’.

  Might depend on what date in 1940.  Early enough and he might sell Hitler, by breaking the trade deal and giving a warning about the coming attacks of Norway and France.  The latter if the sickle cut is prevented from working would give the situation Stalin desired, with a long and bitter war between the allies and Nazi Germany.  Although if Gorbi cut the trade to the Germans the allies would almost certainly win.

  If later then he has about a year to prepare for the coming storm.  Too late to stop the purges but can start restoring some of the better generals and getting rid of the chaff and sycophants.  As well as trying to get forces upgraded and in better position and reducing the power of the commissar.  If he simply avoided some of Stalin's madder orders of OTL he can probably cut Soviet losses but 40-50% at least and probably hold them somewhat further west.  [Although allowing them to get close to Moscow could be very handy for a winter counter offensive when their supply lines are so long.]

  Steve

[Zyobot]

'2021 UK To 21 A.D.' That's on January 1st of both years, by the way.

[lordroel]

Jan 4, 2021 18:43:43 GMT Zyobot said:

'2021 UK To 21 A.D.' That's on January 1st of both years, by the way.

Rule Britannia 2.0.

[Zyobot]

Jan 4, 2021 18:48:34 GMT lordroel said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:43:43 GMT Zyobot said:

'2021 UK To 21 A.D.' That's on January 1st of both years, by the way.

Rule Britannia 2.0.

After reeling from the shock of the ISOT and (hopefully) resolving its assorted economic troubles, then yes. Their interactions with the Romans should prove very interesting, to say the least.

[lordroel]

Jan 4, 2021 18:50:40 GMT Zyobot said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:48:34 GMT lordroel said:

Rule Britannia 2.0.

After reeling from the shock of the ISOT and (hopefully) resolving its assorted economic troubles, then yes. Their interactions with the Romans should prove very interesting, to say the least.

Also the Romans will be introduced with something called Covid 19, a lot of them are going to die from it.

[Zyobot]

Jan 4, 2021 18:53:46 GMT lordroel said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:50:40 GMT Zyobot said:

After reeling from the shock of the ISOT and (hopefully) resolving its assorted economic troubles, then yes. Their interactions with the Romans should prove very interesting, to say the least.

Also the Romans will be introduced with something called Covid 19, a lot of them are going to die from it.

...Oh, yeah. The same could be said of other uptimer diseases, as well. Contrariwise, what about downtimer diseases that have since faded away, could those do a number of the uptimers, too?

[stevep]

Jan 4, 2021 18:48:34 GMT lordroel said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:43:43 GMT Zyobot said:

'2021 UK To 21 A.D.' That's on January 1st of both years, by the way.

Rule Britannia 2.0.

  Can't remember that one, and would have thought I would have done with the cross dressing.

  Would agree, it would mean a huge shock to the country and also some time needed for adjusting and also deciding how to handle issues such as the Roman empire and how to solve the problem of the Americas it would have meant, for a while at least a British dominated world.  At this point we probably have as much if not more population as the entire Roman empire.

[lordroel]

Jan 4, 2021 18:55:40 GMT Zyobot said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:53:46 GMT lordroel said:

Also the Romans will be introduced with something called Covid 19, a lot of them are going to die from it.

...Oh, yeah. The same could be said of other uptimer diseases, as well. Contrariwise, what about downtimer diseases that have since faded away, could those do a number of the uptimers, too?

They could, but the British are more able to handle it, but then again, they are hard press fighting the current pandemeic.

[stevep]

Jan 4, 2021 18:55:40 GMT Zyobot said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:53:46 GMT lordroel said:

Also the Romans will be introduced with something called Covid 19, a lot of them are going to die from it.

...Oh, yeah. The same could be said of other uptimer diseases, as well. Contrariwise, what about downtimer diseases that have since faded away, could those do a number of the uptimers, too?

  There could be issues on both sides, given how much common illnesses have changed, although hopefully modern medical knowledge would prevent things like smallpox, plague and the like doing too much damage.  I suspect it would really put a kink in Covid treatment however as not sure how much of vaccines, not to mention other medical equipment can be quickly supplied from Britain itself without an extended period of time to develop new industries to supply them.  Then there's issues such as the food supply, albeit that fishing could become very productive.

  Would the ISOT include things like North Sea facilities, both oil/gas ones and things like wind farms?  If not there's a hit on energy supplies.  Ditto are any overseas territories included, such as Gibraltar, the Cyprus bases, the Falklands, Cayman Is and the like?

[Zyobot]

Jan 4, 2021 18:56:21 GMT stevep said:

  Can't remember that one, and would have thought I would have done with the cross dressing.

  Would agree, it would mean a huge shock to the country and also some time needed for adjusting and also deciding how to handle issues such as the Roman empire and how to solve the problem of the Americas it would have meant, for a while at least a British dominated world.  At this point we probably have as much if not more population as the entire Roman empire.

I believe I came across one estimate stating that at its prime, the Roman Empire had about sixty million people? Whereas the modern UK has almost seventy million, which is likely to surprise downtimers once they get wind of a far-off island was able to grow its population so much over the years. Let alone forge an empire big enough to give Augustus himself a heart attack--and an even larger Anglo-Saxon cultural sphere in doing so!

Jan 4, 2021 18:57:36 GMT lordroel said:

They could, but the British are more able to handle it, but then again, they are hard press fighting the current pandemeic.

I'm no epidemiologist, but I'd suspect that certain downtimer diseases that have either mutated or died out in the thousands of years since 21 A.D. could pose a problem. Seeing that uptimer immune systems haven't adapted to them and that the British medical apparatus will need some time to counter them, I'm not sure just how able to handle it the UK would be at first. ...Then again, given the abysmal death rates from disease that are already pretty normal in the Ancient World, they may be a whole lot better off than their Greco-Roman counterparts.

[Zyobot]

Jan 4, 2021 19:02:50 GMT stevep said:

Jan 4, 2021 18:55:40 GMT Zyobot said:

...Oh, yeah. The same could be said of other uptimer diseases, as well. Contrariwise, what about downtimer diseases that have since faded away, could those do a number of the uptimers, too?

  Would the ISOT include things like North Sea facilities, both oil/gas ones and things like wind farms?  If not there's a hit on energy supplies.  Ditto are any overseas territories included, such as Gibraltar, the Cyprus bases, the Falklands, Cayman Is and the like?

Sure, why not? Given that the UK's in for economic hardship not seen since the Great Depression in any case, it's only fair to throw them a bone and send the assorted energy assets and remaining overseas territories along for the ride. I'd have sent the entire Anglosphere along for the ride if I wanted an instant curb-stomp, but that'd be too easy in more ways than one.

Although, it would've been interesting to see Greco-Roman reactions to the United States, which would've taken charge if the whole Anglosphere were sent back to 21 A.D. instead. Considering that it's the global superpower in our time and resides on a vast landmass that the ancients never knew of to begin with, its arrival would be quite something. Ditto since the downtimers would like to see for themselves what the fuss about America being the modern Rome is all about. But I digress.

[stevep]

  Zyobot ,

  Interesting.  I agree there is the distinct danger that some ancient versions of say flu, measles or something like that will prove deadly to the up-timers, probably including myself . 

  If we're including the territories then there will definitely be clashes over Gib and the bases in Cyprus with Rome and their also going to be unhappy with the Channel Is.  Even the OTL RN should be able to deal with the Romans however provided they can keep themselves fueled.  Might have more problems with raids from across the N Sea or southern Ireland.  The Irish 'nationalists' in the north will be unhappy at the loss of the republic to the south but some of them might seek to expanding into and 'reclaim' it.

  The further distant lands are going to cause difficulties as that means contact with the Americas and possibly some other regions.  However it could take some time for the UK to even find out their been brought along as well, let alone reach them.

  There will be huge shocks due to the loss of access to the rest of the world we're used to, along with facilities such as a lot of the You're taken Lordroel from us so this site is dead - or is still active in the world Britain has been taken from and its lost its British members.  Going to be a hell of a shock, even apart from resource losses, especially to a computer addict like me.

  A half measure between just Britain and some territories and the entire Anglo-sphere might be to include say the three Anglo dominions, i.e. Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  That would definitely make them along with Britain the super-power of the new combined world.

  Steve

[Zyobot]

Jan 5, 2021 9:59:25 GMT stevep said:

A half measure between just Britain and some territories and the entire Anglo-sphere might be to include say the three Anglo dominions, i.e. Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  That would definitely make them along with Britain the super-power of the new combined world.

Okay, that sounds like a pretty reasonable compromise to me. Perhaps when they reestablish contact with one another, they'll probably align into a more tight-knit "Anglospheric Union" that serves as a political alliance and trading bloc (becoming separate dominions of a resurrected British Empire seems like too much of a stretch to me). In which case: Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand being sent to 21 A.D. it is, then!

And, having made that proclamation, perhaps I should create a separate ASB thread based around this idea. Hopefully, it'll be up pretty soon.