World War Z: Filling In The Gaps

[ggarner57]

Did it specifically mention new Gamecubes? It's not like everyone throws away old consoles for new ones right away, and the Gamecube still gets a lot of love. I still have my own at my house, in fact.

Since it's an interview, it could be like how older people call everything Nintendo. I would still pin the panic circa 2010 though.

 

[Indicus]

Since it's an interview, it could be like how older people call everything Nintendo. I would still pin the panic circa 2010 though.

That's very true. And the war was ten years long (with V-C Day being its end), right?

Then the war began in 2011 and ended in 2021, pinning the creation of the book in 2031.

 

[ggarner57]

That's very true. And the war was ten years long (with V-C Day being its end), right?

Then the war began in 2011 and ended in 2021, pinning the creation of the book in 2031.

I believe so. So that would work, and makes a pretty good timeline to place events into.

 

[AK47Productions]

Since the majority seems to agree on 2010-2012 being the approximate time when the virus began, we can probably move on from that.

What about the Iranian nukes, Chinese nuclear subs, Chinese Space Station, and Putin not annexing the Crimea into Russia? What PODs would be needed to make those plausible before Z-Day.

 

[Deleted member 87099]

Since the majority seems to agree on 2010-2012 being the approximate time when the virus began, we can probably move on from that.

What about the Iranian nukes, Chinese nuclear subs, Chinese Space Station, and Putin not annexing the Crimea into Russia? What PODs would be needed to make those plausible before Z-Day.

Hmm... that's tough but I don't blame Max Brooks for not knowing soem of this stuff.

 

[AK47Productions]

Iranian nukes? Only way I could see it was a friendly Iran under the Shah and with a nuke sharing program with the US (though if Iran were still under the Shah I doubt Brooks would've had Iran and Pakistan nuke each other in the first place). The program I think was mentioned to be in it's infancy stage so maybe they're Russian nukes?

Chinese nuclear subs? Maybe an investment policy that began in the 1960s in case the West and the Soviets nuked each other or the US tried to intervene in a hypothetical conquest of Taiwan?

Chinese Space Station? No idea other than no Sino-Soviet split and results in the two creating a joint space station begining in the 80s.

Putin not annexing the Crimea? Easy way out would be not being able to claim it before Z-Day (he waited until 2014 IOTL).

 

[Witch0Winter]

Chinese Space Station

While not slated to go forward until around 2020, China's Tiangong (Heavenly Place) program has been around since 1992, so it's not like it wasn't something that couldn't have happened. It's just that, in this world, it was apparently accelerated. Also from the article, China actually launched a lab into space in 2011, so it's again not something out of the realm of plausibility.

 

[AK47Productions]

While not slated to go forward until around 2020, China's Tiangong (Heavenly Place) program has been around since 1992, so it's not like it wasn't something that couldn't have happened. It's just that, in this world, it was apparently accelerated. Also from the article, China actually launched a lab into space in 2011, so it's again not something out of the realm of plausibility.

Huh, TIL.

But even if accelerated and assuming it did begin in 1992 would it be ready by 2010 at the earliest as seen in the book?

 

[Deleted member 87099]

Huh, TIL.

But even if accelerated and assuming it did begin in 1992 would it be ready by 2010 at the earliest as seen in the book?

Maybe not 2010 maybe 2015 as in Chinese Leadership was like "Hello peasants this space station proves that China is stronger than all other countries and zombies."

 

[Witch0Winter]

Huh, TIL.

But even if accelerated and assuming it did begin in 1992 would it be ready by 2010 at the earliest as seen in the book?

Well, in real life it's taking so long because China is essentially trying to make something as advanced as the ISS by themselves. From its description in the book, it seemed to be something more akin to a tin can wired with explosives and packed with food, so it'd be easier to launch by 2010.

 

[Fenrir_Angerboda]

Huh, TIL.

But even if accelerated and assuming it did begin in 1992 would it be ready by 2010 at the earliest as seen in the book?

Well, in real life it's taking so long because China is essentially trying to make something as advanced as the ISS by themselves. From its description in the book, it seemed to be something more akin to a tin can wired with explosives and packed with food, so it'd be easier to launch by 2010.

If I recall, it's stated that the chinese station is more like Skylab, than the ISS.
So theoretically cheaper and not as fancy.

 

[Deleted member 87099]

If I recall, it's stated that the chinese station is more like Skylab, than the ISS.
So theoretically cheaper and not as fancy.

Yeah and I honestly think they launched it during the zombie war to boost morale.

 

[AK47Productions]

Yeah and I honestly think they launched it during the zombie war to boost morale.

If they did launch it during the zombie war (which the remaining ISS astronauts would've reported), it could've been launched Jiuquan, located in the Gobi desert, or Taiyuan, which sits at an altitude of 1500 meters. Both would've been safe from zombies but the Xichang and Wenchang spaceports were near fairly populated cities and likely overran.

 

[Deleted member 87099]

If they did launch it during the zombie war (which the remaining ISS astronauts would've reported), it could've been launched Jiuquan, located in the Gobi desert, or Taiyuan, which sits at an altitude of 1500 meters. Both would've been safe from zombies but the Xichang and Wenchang spaceports were near fairly populated cities and likely overran.

I know it seems unlikely but that space station didn't seem to last long and have been launched recently according to the astronaut.

 

[Fenrir_Angerboda]

Yeah and I honestly think they launched it during the zombie war to boost morale.

Unlikely.

given that Kwang mentions "The dawn of the Chinese Century" and their mastery of everything from "Outer Space to Cyber Space", that implies they launched it before the war.

 

[freivolk]

I think we shouldn´t waste to much time in technicaltis. Brooks WWZ-world is just not our world. She is technical more developed, there are female soldiers in russian combat Teams, east-german Generals command the modern german army, etc., etc. I think we shoud concentrate more on the question, how the war goes outside the USA.

 

[ggarner57]

I think we should figure out the Redecker safe zones in each nation. Scotland, Schweiswig-Holstein, Narvik? etc, etc.

 

[AK47Productions]

I think we should figure out the Redecker safe zones in each nation. Scotland, Schweiswig-Holstein, Narvik? etc, etc.

I posted a map on the first page of safe zones in the book.

I think island nations like Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and some of the Philippines would be safe zones though smaller nations like the Maldives and the small Pacific islands probably got too many refugees to handle and collapsed during the war.

 

[miss_kat_rose]

Spring 2013?: A female reporter breaks the story that Phalanx is only a placebo drug. The Great Panic starts in America and around the world.

Does anyone know anything about this reporter? She's not name in the book. Did she die later on?

 

[AK47Productions]

Spring 2013?: A female reporter breaks the story that Phalanx is only a placebo drug. The Great Panic starts in America and around the world.

Does anyone know anything about this reporter? She's not name in the book. Did she die later on?

In the book, Max had many reporters die of during the panic either during the fall of the Celebrity Bunker on Long Island or during the rout at Yonkers.

Her fate depends on who Max had in mind while writing that scene.