Some evil dude with magical powers is gonna kill you. Rape you, kill you, gut you, skin you, then eat you. There is one way out of this, an option he gives you.
You must choose a war from the past to fight in, for a period of one year. Obviously he will magically transport you back in time to fight in this war. You will be a lowly private, on the front lines, fighting as an American soldier in the Army. After the year is up, if you are still alive, you will be magically transported to the exact time that you left. You may not use your knowledge of the future to benefit yourself (dadudemon).
Here are your choices of which War to fight in:
American Revolution (You can be a Colonial or Militia)
American Civil War (Which side)
WWI
WWII
Vietnam war
Which war would you choose, and why?
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All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I **** like you wanna ****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
How? it's not like you can forget. Does he remove any memories or knowledge you might have, or is it just a rule that's impossible to follow?
And in my opinion, anyone who threatens to Isn't going to let you go even if you do take his challenge. He's going to go back on his word and kill you anyway. He's a power-mad bloodthirsty wizard, man, how are you going to stop him?
I say just get it over with and kill me, without making live through a year of war first.
All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I **** like you wanna ****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
Remember playing pretend when you were a kid? Apply it here.
And No worries.
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All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I **** like you wanna ****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
American Revolutionary war AND I get to keep my knowledge.
First day, I draw up plans for an APC or Tank.
Day 2, I am taken to George Effin' Washington to have my war machine produced.
Day 3, I create a fabrication process that will greatly speed up the ability to churn out the APCs. We can mount canons to this tank, as well.
Day 20, first tank is complete. It can take on the Red Coats without taking any damage. Yes, we use contemporary fuels to power the tank.
Day 40, we have won all battles it participates in and others move to multiple fronts.
Day 80, I finish my designs for an automatic rifle which includes barrel rifling, FMJ aerodynamic rounds. I also finish the "templates" for making the FMJs and a "purer" form of black powder.
Day 100, I complete plans for an electrical energy infrastructure, which includes power plants.
Day 120, I compile a large list of materials that should or should not be used in housing. I complete central heating and air designs for homes. I also completed designs for farming techniques which includes modern irrigation techniques. I also include plans for making the plants more "hearty" to survive more against insects and droughts.
Day 140, construction on the first powerplants begin. King George III unconditionally surrenders. I offer peaceful solutions for King George III and I demand that he operate in certain manners during the remainder of his reign until 1820.
Day 160, I help write the constitution which avoids the articles of confederation fiasco but includes about 95% of the current constituion and 10 amendments. I avoid the whole slave issues with...
Day 180, my final plans for the cotton Gin, various Combines, and other tools, are completed as well as oil refinery processes. This in combination with modern farming techniques eliminates the need for slaves. Because of this, Africans will be much smaller in number in the modern US, the US will obtain a much more powerful standing in the world far faster than any other nation, etc. However, due to my freedom to the slaves by necessity, we avoid the whole civil rights movements, African Americans enjoy large amounts of freedom and initial subsidies due to our massive surpluses, and the racial economic gap is non-existent in modern times.
Provisions for Native Americans are made and no massacres occur. However, their territories are consolidated and the US expands.
Day 200, constitution finalized, modern currency finalized, light bulb invented (I'll use tungsten), modern mining techniques written up, typewriter invented by myself, assembly line process designed, automobiles designed, work on the transistor started, refrigeration development started, modern chemistry techniques started, immunizations design started, modern surgery techniques started, and flight design started.
Day 140, completion of automobile designs, working logical gates for transistors completed, modern materials fabrication processes completed, surgical techniques successfully completed, first working fling contraption, completed, with a very simple petro based engine (petro derived from my semi-completed oil refinery process), first working light bulbs completed (requires mechanical vacuum creation process), chemistry techniques net independent discoveries (independent of myself), groundwork for modern astrophysics laid out, image capture techniques invented, microscope vastly improved, modern road system started on.
Day 160, first manned flight, oil refinery process almost completed with a crude version of diesel and gasoline derived, petro engine improved and "template" parts created for the assembly line process, my very large transistor invention is created even smaller with some of the material refinement processes I've created through modern chemistry and fabrication techniques, centrifugal applications developed, larger diesel engine designs created to fuse in construction machines, modern construction techniques developed for large buildings, first successful vaccination completed.
All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I **** like you wanna ****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
Gender: Unspecified Location: With Cinderella and the 9 Dwarves
Well, his plan's good, really, though I doubt it would work. I'm just wondering what he'd choose if he couldn't use his knowledge of the future. If we could, obviously the American Revolutionary War is the smarterst place to start, as there's the most room for improvements.
All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I **** like you wanna ****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
I refuse to follow rules created in threads posted in the OTF that I do not like. The idea that we have to choose a war we would fight based on our knowledge of that war, but not have knowledge of that war, is a paradox and does not bode well with me. Our memory is wiped once we make our selection and we are transported through time and space to our destination...defeating the entire purpose of the selection to begin with.
RJ and I already had this discussion on the phone, which is why he didn't go ape shit: he already knew how I would treat his proposal.
I suspect that half of the things I try to accomplish will take far longer than a year until I get a massive information center up and going with electricity and typewriters. Once that occurs, then my system will work very rapidly and I'll have to do is dictate
"my" designs.
I will not be the president as that would take up too much time. I would, however, avoid the fiasco of the Articles of Confederation with a more centralized form of government and a singular form of currency. We would also avoid the hundreds of thousands lost during the Civil War, and food and starvation would not be problem. We would avoid the most embarrassing human rights violations in our History: the raping, pillaging, and murder of thousands of Native Americans. We would also start on a modern medicine system many many years before the modern medical system is started. Because of my efforts, it would start he modern computer, electricity and that goodness, food production, human rights foundations, etc.
Changing the Souths opinions of African Americans will be much easier as people were more easily persuadable back then with religion. I have already thought of the accusations of me being a Satanic prophet from my jealous detractors: I know the bible better than most people back then. Add in my superior charismatic abilities of persuasion, good looks (lol hahahah...I can't keep from laughing at how retarded this one was), superior physical form with knowledge of the body and nutrition, and my saving hundreds if not millions of lives, and we have a recipe for righteousness being easily passable.
However, I do admit that it would take decades to build up a manufacturing and fabrication system to meet my real goals. I do not, however, believe it to be difficult in the slightest to create designs for war machines and get them up and going in less than 100 days templates are very easy to make, even with 18th century fabrication processes. Once you have templates and a modern assembly line method, fabrication becomes easy. However, designing multiple "machines" would be more difficult as it would take many weeks for each design. Tanks/APCs are much simpler due to their primitive locomotion abilities (treads are much easier to fab than tires...which would take years to reach that point of rubber tires. However, linked treads are really easy to make especially when you have templates and an assembly line ready to assemble.)
Do you know how a steam-engine works; the key components necessary? With the tech available to you, this is about the only power-plant you'd be capable of building within a 10 year period; that's being generous.
Edit: I see in you reply to Bardock, you realized the massive time-line you'd need, but your "100 Days" is lunacy, considering the tech of the time.
You'd also create a massive paradox that would likely wipe you from existance, America was created as in in part vy slavery, the pillaging of the Natives etc. Though I doubt much would change, you'd be one voice amoing thousands that want it that way it happened.
Gender: Unspecified Location: With Cinderella and the 9 Dwarves
I don't know once we talk about magic, I don't see a problem with assuming that we get to keep our knowledge but not use it in the past, for example. The scenario, what war would you fight in as a lowly soldier to save your life, makes sense to me, at least as soon as we talk about psychopathic murderers with godlike powers and an odd sense of humor.
It's fair if you don't want to answer though, it just isn't a paradox, really.
So, indeed, simple distillation processes already existed for hundreds of years before the American Revolutionary war. What I would be doing is creating a massive convergence of technologies, not really inventing new technologies. Because of our modern world and how quickly information travels, you are used to technology convergence at a blistering pace. The 'Great Information Age' is responsible for that.
You would be surprised at how much of a difference one modern person with a moderate amount of knowledge of modern technologies and how they work, could make...much less a nerd for history and technology with a really good memory such as you and I.
Also, one of the most fascinating aspects of "the future" is how much physically stronger and more muscular I would be compared to those of the "18th Century". You yourself would be a superb specimen of almost completely unheard of physical strength and muscular development. Most of our knowledge of physical performance and strength has occurred only in the last 60 years...due largely to our modern medical research systems of controlled studies, peer reviews, and chemistry. Even the last 30 years has seen such an absurd pace of athletic and plain medical discoveries that we are overturning lots of the discoveries of the previous 30 years.
One of the funnest portions of this knowledge transplantation would be computational security. I could encrypt information that would not be decrypt-able until many years after I encrypted them. I do not know how much I would change the future with all of "my" break through's, but it's possible that some elements would remain.
The main goal would be to improve the quality of life as much as possible and leave my mark of "peace" as deeply rooted as possible on history. It would be fun, I think.
It would be lunacy to assume that I would be "just one voice among thousands" when it would actually be millions, my brief little adventure would already create massive changes, and I'd be relegated to "just one voice".
Edit -However, I do appreciate the criticism. I've just thought about this much more than you have. What do you think I do in my 30 minute drive to work and back each day? That shit's boring.
No, it is, and I clearly explained how it is.
Thanks, though.
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Last edited by dadudemon on Dec 13th, 2010 at 05:30 PM
If DDM were to do all he says, he would literally change America (for better or worse, don't know), considering he was born in American, there's a very good chance he'd wipe himself out of existence, thereby creating the paradox. If he was never born, how would he travel back in time to then change the past.
But I do see your angle of "we're dealing with magic."
Not the fuel source, the power-plant to power and move this/these warmachines? Steam, internal combustion, electric etc.
You'd be better off trying to change the way war was fought, ie idiots standing in line and firing, waiting to be shot. Inventing body-armor and cultivating pennicillin.
As the 'changing minds' aspect, I think you're greatly overestimating the pull you'd have on people, those in power and those who would stand to lose from your ideas of change. There were powerful men who wanted slavery, the killing of the Natives so Europeans could expand and build etc, they'd likely just use your war inventions to further what already happened in history, though at a much faster rate.