Effects of The Event


Schneidox

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So I'm guessing a massive solar flare caused the event. If so, it would probably cause significant damage to the atmosphere. Should there be sunblock to avoid major sunburns? And should there be falling satellites considering all of them were probably knocked out of functionality/orbit from the event? 

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Geomagnetic Reversal was actually one of my leading theories behind "the event." Data is somewhat speculative, but a lessening of the earth's magnetic field (during the swap) could allow much greater amounts of solar radiation to hit the earth. Similar effect to a solar flare, or perhaps even an explanation as to why we were more vulnerable to a genuine one.

As someone who used to work in nuclear power (and is very familiar with radiation/energy dose models), I can say this:

If "the event" is a single solar flare, all the exposure would happen at once and there'd be no need for continued protection. Will probably has some kind of tumor(s) from getting blasted in the upper atmosphere.

If "the event" is a sustained phenomenon (such as a weakened magnetic field around the earth), the atmosphere will provide enough protection near sea level to prevent any noticeable increase in sunburn. Only gamma rays would stand a chance of penetrating down to the ground, and those don't cause sunburn; they cause cancer. Extra photons would get eaten up by the air above you. (You'd have to get up much higher than TWM peak to see the effects: think Everest)

Both natural (the moon) and artificial (Sputnik) satellites stay in orbit due to natural gravity and do not require any power to stay in orbit. They would certainly stop functioning, but they wouldn't fall unless something physically knocked them to the ground.

Sustained, elevated levels of solar radiation would cause havoc with the atmosphere on a chemical level - causing changes in the nitrogen/methane/oxygen balance. This could cause severe/atypical weather, microbiological changes in the soil and oceans, and severe effects on plant and animal populations of the world.

So, in short, I think "the event" could very well have serious effects on the world. I just don't think we'd need to worry too much about sunscreen and satellite repellent.

Also, this is all just speculation. "The event" could be caused by alien demons from dimension Z that use human despair as starship fuel. In theory.

Just my 2c.

+1

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Well I'm not a physicist (I'm in investment management) but I thought a very powerful solar flare might have enough energy to maybe push the satellites off course. I could be totally wrong. But thanks for shedding light on the subject!

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No, the sats would continue on their orbits. 

That said, they would fall - eventually. But it would be piecemeal, due to decaying orbits. They typically pack attitude jets that help them make corrections to maintain the proper orbital path. Once that fuel runs out, they gradually drop out of the orbital path, and it starts to decay. Some may be flung out into space? But some will definitely fall. Just not all at once, nor right away. ^_^

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Geomagnetic reversal is highly improbable, since it takes hundreds(and that would be extremely fast version) or even thousands of years to happen.

Most popular theory at this time is solar flares, altho they are usually singular events that come and go, not continuous. But that theory has some major holes as well.

Possibility is also that something is wrong with Earth itself, its core.

Satellites would hardly be a problem. As already mentioned they are orbiting fairly stable orbit and even if they do get knocked out, they would just burn up in atmosphere. Earths atmosphere is getting constantly bombarded by various space junk, that includes defunct satellites or their pieces(humanity is not big on cleaning up space from all the crap we launched there, its far easier and cheaper to just leave it there and launch a new satellite).

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A geomagnetic storm has happened in the past in 1859. If one of that size happened today in 2016 it would screw up our world pretty badly. Seriously it would be TLD irl.

Sort of...

 

In TLD the geomagnetic storm is a fictional and exaggerated type of storm. In TLD, the storm knocks out power from everything including, radios, cars, planes, power grids, cellphones and pretty much everything else electronic. It can also turn certain things back on.

 

It's probably not going to have any radioactive affect just because it's a videogame and they aren't aiming for PERFECT realism.

 

However there still are affects. Brain waves may be interrupted. Explaining the aggravated behaviour, strange diet (being overly hungry) and the wolves being rabid.

 

But it really gives off one hell of an Aurora show!

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Geomagnetic reversal is highly probably since the last major one happened 780,000 years ago.  Thousands of years.  Yep.  That fits.

I'm putting my bets on geomagnetic reversal, solar flares, or both, which would be very bad combo.  Geomagnetic reversal/storm would render compass navigation anomalies, and solar flares/appearance of auroras would have a temporary EMP-like effect, which we have already seen in the trailers.

The story mode game is probably going to have a potentially hazardous situation that we haven't seen in Sandbox yet.  Let's imagine that when we walk into the Carter Hydrodam, the power is on.  As we walk down to the lower hallways, suddenly the power goes off.  If you don't have a lantern/torch in inventory, you would be trapped in the dark.

About geomagnetic storm activity:

"The first observation of the effects of a geomagnetic storm occurred early in the 19th century: From May 1806 until June 1807 the GermanAlexander von Humboldt recorded the bearing of a magnetic compass in Berlin. On 21 December 1806 he noticed that his compass had become erratic during a bright auroral event.[9] "

"On September 1–2, 1859, the largest recorded geomagnetic storm occurred. From August 28 until September 2, 1859, numerous sunspots and solar flares were observed on the Sun, with the largest flare on September 1. This is referred to as the Solar storm of 1859 or the CarringtonEvent. Telegraph wires in both the United States and Europe experienced induced voltage increases (emf), in some cases even delivering shocks to telegraph operators and igniting fires. Aurorae were seen as far south as Hawaii, Mexico, Cuba and Italy — phenomena that are usually only visible in polar regions. Ice cores show evidence that events of similar intensity recur at an average rate of approximately once per 500 years. "

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Somehow the quote tag got really screwed up and I couldn't do anything outside the quote box or delete it and try again so you get this in two posts lol. my mistake.

Dirmagnos, I totally agree that it's highly improbable. But, there is some evidence that GMR's can happen within the span of a human lifetime. I personally don't subscribe to the theory IRL, but I think it could make a plausible fiction for the world of TLD that explains sustained electromagnetic anomalies.

Vhal, that sounds just like the teaser video (not messing with quote boxes again lol). Well done.

Too many others to quote, but great discussion :).

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41 minutes ago, Vilespectre said:

But, there is some evidence that GMR's can happen within the span of a human lifetime. I personally don't subscribe to the theory IRL, but I think it could make a plausible fiction for the world of TLD that explains sustained electromagnetic anomalies.

 "Most reversals are estimated to take between 1,000 and 10,000 years. The latest one, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780,000 years ago; and may have happened very quickly, within a human lifetime.[1] A brief complete reversal, known as the Laschamp event, occurred only 41,000 years ago during the last glacial period. That reversal lasted only about 440 years with the actual change of polarity lasting around 250 years. During this change the strength of the magnetic field weakened to 5% of its present strength.[2] Brief disruptions that do not result in reversal are called geomagnetic excursions. "

Totally within the realm of science plausible for a story.

LOL - I have trouble quoting when trying to comment on my iPad.  That doesn't seem to work.

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Reversal can, theoretically, happen in a span of a human life, but that exactly what it is. They dont happen overnight, that would be already complete fiction, since it would defy laws of physics. And im pretty sure that some1 would notice that process.

Geomagnetic poles "wander" all the time, its normal. They dont just jump across the world in an instant.

Also Carrington Event -type of theory also extremely flawed. Among other things, like the only known gm event that made compasses unusable, it also caused auroras so intense that people confused it with daylight and prepared to go to work. Something, that judging by northern lights on various concept arts and screenshots, is not the case for LD. In game auroras seem to be fairly average. And since aurora intensity is proportional to strength of em burst, what we are having is something else.

Plus, devs have stated that on occasion, during those auroras, electricity might come back on for a while. That part is either misleading or is reference that TLD Event is completely fictional, having no roots in conventional science. But it could also mean that what player will will see is not actually electronics coming back online, but merely static electricity. Em burst of epic magnitude(as in game) would simply fry electronics, there would be nothing to come back online after it, since circuitry would be literally melted.

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This has already been discussed ad nauseum in other threads. Not particularly interested in retreading.  Geomagnetic reversal and or geomagnetic storms are a-ok with me for story mechanics.  It's just like the book "The Road" on which TLD is influenced.  "The Road" never actually explains what caused this bleak landscape, and it's not what the story is about. The story is about day to day survival, and the aftermath.  For TLD, it's only important for establishing rules of the universe.  The minute is nothing more than debating transporter technology in Star Trek.  Whether it's possible or not in our universe is irrelevant.  It was invented by Gene Rodenberry simply to accelerate the story telling when traveling. Those are the rules of that universe.

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While "The Road" doesnt explain what happened it also dosnt steer into science fiction as much.

And what the story is about ? Any normal person would wonder wth have happened. And while in book reader just comes along, then in game one get far more immersed in the world. So those questions are natural.

And no, neither geomagnetic storms nor geomagnetic reversal are a-ok with the story mechanics, since either version have some major holes in terms of physics. And discussing it is also completely ok. Its the same crap as with compass all over again - "it is this way because it is this way", without providing any viable explanation.

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