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Posted: 2004-08-22 01:11am
by Beowulf
I forsee nukes in the coming chapters. It's an axiom that attacking a SAC bomber leads to glowing in the dark. I sure I won't be disappointed.

Posted: 2004-08-22 07:15pm
by darthdavid
The caliphate is fucked with a razor wire dildo.

Posted: 2004-08-23 09:22am
by Col. Crackpot
Marisol!! :cry:
I demand bloody vengance!

Posted: 2004-08-23 12:04pm
by Beowulf
Chapter 18

“Good God. Which country has ceased to exist?”

“They are all still with us. For the moment anyway."

Posted: 2004-08-23 03:33pm
by phongn
The Med is going to have 2 CVN-65, 4 CV-41 and 4 CV-9 plus escorts and the amphibious group :shock:

Posted: 2004-08-23 04:52pm
by Burak Gazan
phongn wrote:The Med is going to have 2 CVN-65, 4 CV-41 and 4 CV-9 plus escorts and the amphibious group :shock:
:shock: Yowsa!

Cue the Imperial March and get ready for a good-old-fashioned smackdown :twisted:

Posted: 2004-08-23 05:05pm
by Grand Admiral Thrawn
phongn wrote:The Med is going to have 2 CVN-65, 4 CV-41 and 4 CV-9 plus escorts and the amphibious group :shock:
Poor Model. Fucked again.

Posted: 2004-08-23 06:04pm
by phongn
I'd wager his troops can put a world of hurt on those Marines -- their doctrine is old and likely badly flawed without the real-world experience our Marines have. Certainly they can't win but they can make the rescue bloody.

Or maybe Model will achieve another escape...

Posted: 2004-08-23 06:11pm
by Col. Crackpot
phongn wrote: Or maybe Model will achieve another escape...
with a radioactive dick no less.

Posted: 2004-08-23 07:54pm
by RedImperator
The Americans are going to find some solution that lets them save face without burning the Caliphate off the face of the Earth, much as everyone would probably like to see that. Maybe they'll claim it was Model's Janissarries acting alone and merely torch Gaza.

Posted: 2004-08-23 08:55pm
by phongn
RedImperator wrote:The Americans are going to find some solution that lets them save face without burning the Caliphate off the face of the Earth, much as everyone would probably like to see that. Maybe they'll claim it was Model's Janissarries acting alone and merely torch Gaza.
Exactly. The epilogue of TBO notes that the Caliphate exists at least until 1989 so I haven't been expecting them to die under nuclear annihilation.

Posted: 2004-08-23 10:35pm
by MKSheppard
phongn wrote: Exactly. The epilogue of TBO notes that the Caliphate exists at least until 1989 so I haven't been expecting them to die under nuclear annihilation.
Check the latest timeline update. I don't think the Caliphate lasts to 1989
in any REAL form.

Posted: 2004-08-23 10:39pm
by Grand Admiral Thrawn
They last till '72, seems like it'll be the B-70 that kills them, not the BUFF.

Posted: 2004-08-23 11:03pm
by RedImperator
Yes, curiously, the Caliphate is mentioned as having STARTED an offensive into Algeria but not FINISHING it.

Still, there's the epilogue of The Big One to consider. Though Stuart is well within his rights to say, "I hadn't planned on writing three sequels to The Big One when I wrote that epilogue, so I'm changing it as I see fit."

Posted: 2004-08-24 01:11am
by CaptainChewbacca
Anyone know if there exists maps of the TBOverse at different times, or even just the modern one?

edit: And hey, what's up with South America? Is there a timeline somewhere?

Posted: 2004-08-24 03:12pm
by Crayz9000
Is Stuart going to make mention of the X-15 project, which should have been running since 1959? I'm not sure whether it would fall under Air Force or NASA in this universe, given how NASA is looked down on, but either way it should be based out of Edwards Flight Test Center or NASA Flight Research Center...

And if it's mentioned, things are different enough in this universe that the X-15 should be able to make its 200th flight :)

Posted: 2004-08-24 05:08pm
by phongn
Crayz9000 wrote:Is Stuart going to make mention of the X-15 project, which should have been running since 1959? I'm not sure whether it would fall under Air Force or NASA in this universe, given how NASA is looked down on, but either way it should be based out of Edwards Flight Test Center or NASA Flight Research Center...

And if it's mentioned, things are different enough in this universe that the X-15 should be able to make its 200th flight :)
I have no idea about the X-15, actually. I do know that the Dyna-Soar project gets full funding in this universe, though.

Posted: 2004-08-24 07:26pm
by Crayz9000
Well, if SAC is transitioning to space as the timeline suggests, and their bomber force is going with them, they'll need atmosphere-skipping bombers, and the X-15 was basically THE hypersonic testbed project. In our timeline, we only just touched the realm of powered hypersonic flight again with the X-43A.

Posted: 2004-08-24 08:33pm
by MKSheppard
phongn wrote: Exactly. The epilogue of TBO notes that the Caliphate exists at least until 1989 so I haven't been expecting them to die under nuclear annihilation.
No I went back and checked my epilogue......

you must be thinking of Chipan.

Posted: 2004-08-24 08:47pm
by RedImperator
MKSheppard wrote:
phongn wrote: Exactly. The epilogue of TBO notes that the Caliphate exists at least until 1989 so I haven't been expecting them to die under nuclear annihilation.
No I went back and checked my epilogue......

you must be thinking of Chipan.
TBO: Epilogue wrote:As Dedmon had feared so many years ago, once the cult of terrorism and suicide bombing had started it was proving terribly hard to root out. The simmering Cold War in the Pacific had been another – and there were rumors that Chipan and the Caliphate states were becoming closely aligned.
If he sticks to the epilogue, the Caliphate isn't destroyed. What shape it's in is very much in doubt. I don't think he'll be sticking to the description of it he wrote in that "Nations of the TBO universe" thread a while back.

Posted: 2004-08-24 08:47pm
by phongn
Crayz9000 wrote:Well, if SAC is transitioning to space as the timeline suggests, and their bomber force is going with them, they'll need atmosphere-skipping bombers, and the X-15 was basically THE hypersonic testbed project. In our timeline, we only just touched the realm of powered hypersonic flight again with the X-43A.
Hrm, maybe you could pop in and ask a question about that, but the Dyna-Soar was something like the next step after the X-15.
MKSheppard wrote:No I went back and checked my epilogue......

you must be thinking of Chipan.
It mentioned ties between Chipan and the Caliphate states.

Posted: 2004-08-24 08:49pm
by Temjin
MKSheppard wrote:No I went back and checked my epilogue......

you must be thinking of Chipan.
No, he's right:
TBO Epilogue wrote:and there were rumors that Chipan and the Caliphate states were becoming closely aligned.
Too bad. I wanted to see the Caliphate glow in the dark.

Posted: 2004-08-26 03:43pm
by Grand Admiral Thrawn
Re-reading these "Rules of Engagement" why would the altitude be restricted to below 40 000 feet? Wouldn't it be a crime to be low???

Posted: 2004-08-26 06:31pm
by lukexcom
Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Re-reading these "Rules of Engagement" why would the altitude be restricted to below 40 000 feet? Wouldn't it be a crime to be low???
It's because damned McNamara wanted to be rid of bombers out of the inventory once and for all, and what better way than to get them so vulnerable that being shot down is inevitable, and manipulate that to try to show just how "useless" and "vulnerable" those bombers are?

Posted: 2004-08-26 06:54pm
by Sea Skimmer
Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Re-reading these "Rules of Engagement" why would the altitude be restricted to below 40 000 feet? Wouldn't it be a crime to be low???
It probably has something to due with the throttle settings needed to exceed that altitude. The B-58 doesn't have that big a wing to keep down drag, so it may need to go supersonic to exceed 40,000 feet.