NationStates Jolt Archive

A hypothetical scenario for the posters of NSG.

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A super-villain (think James Bond villain) has taken you captive.

During your time at his secret facility, you have been able to ascertain that this man has a substantial number of nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver them to any target in the world.

After many days of torture and interrogation at the hands of his henchmen, this super-villain has you summoned to him.

He gives you a list of cities around the world. He tells you that you must select six to be destroyed by a multi-megaton nuclear device, or he will destroy every city on the list. Instruments behind him indicate the launch readiness of enough missiles to destroy every city on the list.

Presuming no chance of rescue, or of stopping the launch of all the missiles by you or anyone else, which six of these cities do you select for destruction???

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Baghdad, Iraq*
Bangkok, Thailand*
Barcelona, Spain
Beijing, China*
Berlin, Germany*
Bogota, Colombia*
Brasilia, Brazil*
Buenos Aires, Argentina*
Cairo, Egypt*
Dhaka, Bangladesh*
Essen, Germany
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam*
Istanbul, Turkey
Jakarta, Indonesia*
Johannesburg, South Africa
Karachi, Pakistan
Kinshasa, D.R. of the Congo*
Lagos, Nigeria
Lahore, Pakistan
Lima, Peru*
London, United Kingdom*
Madrid, Spain*
Manila, Philippines*
Mexico City, Mexico*
Moscow, Russia*
Mumbai, India
New Dehli, India*
New York City, United States
Osaka, Japan
Ottawa, Canada*
Paris, France*
Rome, Italy*
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Santiago, Chile*
Seoul, South Korea*
Shanghai, China
St. Petersburg, Russia
Taipei, Taiwan*
Tehran, Iran*
Tokyo, Japan*
Toronto, Canada
Washington D.C., United States*

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List Creation Information: No nation has more than two cities on the list. All nations with GDPs over $1 trillion USD have both their capital and their largest city on the list (in many instances, the same city). All nations with populations over 100 million have their largest city on the list, regardless of whether it is the capital or not. The remaining cities are those with populations over 5 million on the list from the link below, so long as they do not break the 2 city per nation limit. Essen was selected to represent the Ruhr Area of Germany. National capitals are marked with an asterisk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population

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By astonishing coincidence, the list is comprised of 42 cities. ;)

I think I would choose the six less populated cities, just to minimize the death toll. (No, I don't want to check on wikipedia right now). It is most likely that I would kill myself after that, anyway.

He gives you a list of cities around the world. He tells you that you must select six to be destroyed by a multi-megaton nuclear device, or he will destroy every city on the list.

This makes me sad.:(

I don't wanna kill noone...*sucks thumb*

Depends, if the nukes could be blown out of the sky in the air, then I would launch it at the US and Russia, hoping they could shoot them down causing no casualties. If not, rank by the least populated.

Or I would kill myself.

You forgot Poland!

Anyways, I would destroy Toronto, Ottawa, Kinshasa, Lagos, Shanghai, and Toronto again.

Depends, if the nukes could be blown out of the sky in the air, then I would launch it at the US and Russia, hoping they could shoot them down causing no casualties. If not, rank by the least populated.

Or I would kill myself.

OFFICIAL RULES (:p )

- The nuclear weapons CANNOT be intercepted, regardless of the defense capabilities of the target nation.

- Killing yourself before selecting six cities will result in all 42 cities being destroyed.

If there was absolutely no way out of destroying six cities, I suppose I'd choose the six cities with the smallest potential victim pools, both for the blast itself and for the subsequent radiation issues. (And, no, I'm not going to go to the effort of figuring out which six that would most likely be.) I admit I might also be selfish enough automatically to exclude those cities in which friends or family of mine live.

Baghdad, Iraq,
Karachi, Pakistan,
Paris, France,
New York City, United States,
Mexico City, Mexico,
Karachi, Pakistan

OFFICIAL RULES (:p )

- The nuclear missiles will NOT be shot down, regardless of the defense capabilities of the target nation.

- Killing yourself before selecting six cities will result in all 42 cities being destroyed.

Well then I would activate my secret tracking device hidden in my brain that would alert the Pentagon to my exact location!

Nyah Nyah!

most situational/hypothetical dilemma threads end up this way, with people coming up with ludicrous ways of bypassing the dilemma.

Smallest Cities:

6. Barcelona, Spain
5. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
4. Rome, Italy
3. Brasilia, Brazil
2. Ottawa, Canada
1. Washington D.C., United States

Smallest Cities:

6. Barcelona, Spain
5. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
4. Rome, Italy
3. Brasilia, Brazil
2. Ottawa, Canada
1. Washington D.C., United States

NOOOO, Not Rome! Think of the buildings, the architecture, the history! :eek:

NOOOO, Not Rome! Think of the buildings, the architecture, the history! :eek:

Yeah, I think I would hit Manilla instead.....

NOOOO, Not Rome! Think of the buildings, the architecture, the history! :eek:

But these are the GREAT cities of the world...

...they ALL have these things.

But these are the GREAT cities of the world...

...they ALL have these things.

Comon, just hit a city in Pakistan, any city but Rome!

My reasoning:

* remove major cities of nuclear powers (wouldn't want to trigger a nuclear war...)
* remove major economic centers (New York, Taipei, etc.)
* remove major cultural centers (Rome, Paris, etc.)
* remove major population centers (Lagos, Jakarta, etc.)
* try not to strike cities that are both the nation's capital and sole major city (Santiago, Istanbul, etc.)
* try not to hit one country more than once (Barcelona was hit, while Madrid was spared)

With that in mind, here are my choices:

Baghdad, Iraq - Face it, it's pretty much gone already.
Brasilia, Brazil - Small population; artificially designed, so not a lot of history there; Rio is more important to the country.
Essen, Germany - Only the 8th-largest city in Germany.
Barcelona, Spain - Small population; not a capital
Johannesburg, S. Africa - small population, and the country has two other capitals!
Tehran, Iran - Last and toughest choice; would prevent a nuclear Iran from capitalizing on the aftermath of Baghdad's destruction.

* remove major economic centers (New York, Taipei, etc.)
* remove major population centers (Lagos, Jakarta, etc.)

~~~

Essen, Germany - Only the 8th-largest city in Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr_Area

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr_Area

Well, how big is that area? It was my understanding that each nuke would take out a single city, not a sizable fraction of the country...

The weapons are multiple megaton warheads (10-20 MT)...most, if not all of the Ruhr Area will be destroyed by a detonation in Essen (chosen for it's central location).

The weapons are multiple megaton warheads (10-20 MT)...most, if not all of the Ruhr Area will be destroyed by a detonation in Essen (chosen for it's central location).

Blast. Well then, I'll switch my choice to Ottawa, seeing as it has less than a million people, is not particularly old (urbanized ~1800), and because I think that Canada would be the nation best prepared to deal with the loss of a major city.

Sorry, Ottawans... :(

Blast...

:p

Behold the power of my Ctrl+V and Ctrl+C keys!

Lagos, Nigeria
Lahore, Pakistan
Lima, Peru*
Bogota, Colombia*
Brasilia, Brazil*
Buenos Aires, Argentina*

Cities chosen completely at random.

I'd close my eyes & randomly point out six of them.

Is there a chance I can cut a deal with Dr. Evil here?

I mean, I don't have any guarantee he's not going to use the rest of the missiles afterwards anyway, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.


;)

Kill him, because most of his goons wouldn't be smart enough to actually send the missiles.

Now. If I was forced to choose because of a computer or somesuch, I would simply kill myself because choosing would make me responsible for the deaths of the people killed.

I highly dislike this exercise.

Is there a chance I can cut a deal with Dr. Evil here?

Nope...none.

OFFICIAL RULES

- Killing yourself before selecting six cities will result in all 42 cities being destroyed.

Now. If I was forced to choose because of a computer or somesuch, I would simply kill myself because choosing would make me responsible for the deaths of the people killed.

...you killed a lot of people besides yourself there. ;)

...you killed a lot of people besides yourself there. ;)

Technically, no. I chose to decide to not kill anyone but myself. However, if I had chosen any cities, I would be directly responsible for the deaths of all in those cities.

What might be seen as the 'lesser of the two evils', choosing, puts oneself in the position to have to take responsibility for that choice. I would choose to end my own life and not have to make the decision as to who lives or dies. The fact that he would kill many more people would not be my fault or responsibility - it would be his own.

I'd pick cities in countries that are not armed with nuclear weapons, as the retaliation would probably be worse than the initial attack, if nukes were used. Also, I'd avoid cities that play an important role in the global economy, or where a detonation would effect far more than just that city because of how densely populated the area is.

Baghdad, Saigon, Tehran, Johannesburg, Brasilia and Barcelona all seem to be the least regrettable choices.

Teheran – Actually PREVENT a nuclear war.
Beijing – Free Tibet!
Shanghai, China – Free Tibet!
Moscow, Russia – Free Chechnya!
Ho Chi Min City – Free (Occupied South) Vietnam!
Paris, France – hopefully cause the EU to collapse. And it's France.

Teheran – Actually PREVENT a nuclear war.
Beijing – Free Tibet!
Shanghai, China – Free Tibet!
Moscow, Russia – Free Chechnya!
Ho Chi Min City – Free (Occupied South) Vietnam!
Paris, France – hopefully cause the EU to collapse. And it's France.

The end result being a massive nuclear war because of the Beijing, Moscow and Paris bombs.

London, UK
New York, United States
Tokyo, Japan
Toronto, Canada
Paris, France
Berlin, Germany

JK!

Real list:
Baghdad, Iraq
Bogota, Colombia
Lahore, Pakistan
Lagos, Nigeria
Karachi, Pakistan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Mumbai, India
New Dehli, India*
Lahore, Pakistan
Karachi, Pakistan
Kinshasa, D.R. of the Congo*
Lagos, Nigeria

I chose 2 shitholes and hoped if both india and Pakistan are nuked, there won't be a escalation since no crazy president/king/head honcho/whatever can blame the other side... (I would ask wether Lagos could be replaced by Harare or maybe Pyongyang)

Now flame me for targetting India...

Baghdad, Iraq*
Cairo, Egypt*
Dhaka, Bangladesh*
Jakarta, Indonesia*
Karachi, Pakistan
Tehran, Iran*

I assume the villian would be in a protected facility, therefore I would say nuke them all and lets start the human race all over.

I'd just let the guy nuke all of them, in return for an NBC suit.

That way, when the air clears, I'd be able to walk free without getting fried to a crisp by the radiation.

As for the dead people.... eh, who cares? The world had too many people, anyway. Killing a few billion will be good for it in the long run.

I assume the villian would be in a protected facility, therefore I would say nuke them all and lets start the human race all over.

"Let the human race start all over"? Pussy. :p

Nope...none.

Not even a "meh, kill them all. Can I join your evil army sir?" kind of deal?

"Let the human race start all over"? Pussy. :p

Eventually I would assasinate the villian and take over the remains of humanity. And in the attempt to repopulate the earth, I would indeed be getting a lot of pussy.:D

Eventually I would assasinate the villian and take over the remains of humanity. And in the attempt to repopulate the earth, I would indeed be getting a lot of pussy.:D

Yeah, but what's the point. We'd just end up with a human race made up of little Jims, which would then proceed to assassinate you as soon as they're old enough and take over the position themselves. Or rather, try to assassinate you; their laughably under-planned attempts would most likely fail, but they would provide a critical distraction preventing you from capturing the heroine and using her as bait to get the rest of the team of quest people into your fortress, in time. :p (Or whatever the videogame stereotype is.)


I on the other hand would declare myself ruler of whatever is left of humanity and have the survivors build embryo conditioning facilities. Eventually, we'd have a whole Brave New World style society, soma and all. Then I could get as much as I wanted (if I hadn't been transformed into a cyborg with no physical needs by then). Seriously, learn some proper Evil Overlord schemes! :rolleyes:

Yeah, but what's the point. We'd just end up with a human race made up of little Jims, which would then proceed to assassinate you as soon as they're old enough and take over the position themselves. Or rather, try to assassinate you; their laughably under-planned attempts would most likely fail, but they would provide a critical distraction preventing you from capturing the heroine and using her as bait to get the rest of the team of quest people into your fortress, in time. :p (Or whatever the videogame stereotype is.)


I on the other hand would declare myself ruler of whatever is left of humanity and have the survivors build embryo conditioning facilities. Eventually, we'd have a whole Brave New World style society, soma and all. Then I could get as much as I wanted (if I hadn't been transformed into a cyborg with no physical needs by then). Seriously, learn some proper Evil Overlord schemes! :rolleyes:


You have a point, but I was thinking more along the line of organizing humanity as a theocracy with me as God, the father of All.

You have a point, but I was thinking more along the line of organizing humanity as a theocracy with me as God, the father of All.

Being worshipped is fun... but it's more fun for extremely introverted and antisocial people like me to be the power deciding everything, but hidden behind a screen. Like, I'd be the person no-one's ever seen the face of, much less slept with. In My dark throne room there will be torches and lights behind me, but not in front so I'd appear simply as a silhouette. And my voice would be cybernetically modified, etc.

I wouldn't mind being a sentient AI, actually. Those things are awesome.

Not even a "meh, kill them all. Can I join your evil army sir?" kind of deal?

He just had you tortured for several days...he'd just have you taken to the nearest target. ;)

Lagos, Nigeria
Lahore, Pakistan
Lima, Peru*
Bogota, Colombia*
Brasilia, Brazil*
Buenos Aires, Argentina*

Cities chosen completely at random.

Sure about that? I think someone doesn't like South America! :p

...I suppose I should post my own choices.

Baghdad, Iraq - That's one problem solved...
Tehran, Iran - Two. :eek:
Washington D.C. - Three. :p
Paris, France - Four. ;)
Taipei, Taiwan - Five. :p
Beijing, China - SIX! FTW! :D

I wouldn't do it.

He just had you tortured for several days...he'd just have you taken to the nearest target. ;)

Bleh. 42 cities can burn for this outrage.

the first one i would pick would be the city where this secret base is located after that it doesn't matter. then i would do some karate chops or some shit and escape. and then maybe i'd try to catch the warhead as it came down and direct it specifically to this lair, which is no doubt encased in concrete and steel, and lob it through the front door, thereby destroying the evil bloke and containing the blast. then i'd get the girl and live happily ever after. until the next time..... dun dun duuuurrrhhhhhhhhnnn....!!!