Survivor communities outside the known world

[Oskutin]

Hmm, has Musk gotten in Mars before year 90?

[Void Slayer]

The ISS has had resupply missions delayed for weeks due to technical problems with the spacecraft used. Simultaneously, they keep one capsule suitable as a reentry vehicle docked at all times to allow for immediate evacuation (loss of station atmosphere, noxious gasses in the atmosphere, hard radiation from a solar flare, that kind of "immediate"). I have little doubt that they can return to planetside whenever they want to, the question is which part of the planet they'ld be safe after the landing.

I think if they could communicate with Iceland they could probably crash down nearby and have a "code signal" to allow them to get picked up.  If Iceland would take them is a different question though.

[urbicande]

I think if they could communicate with Iceland they could probably crash down nearby and have a "code signal" to allow them to get picked up.  If Iceland would take them is a different question though.

That really depends on the orbit of the ISS.  I don't think it's in anything resembling a circumpolar orbit  so it's not likely to go that far north (Google seems to suggest London is about as far north as it gets).  My orbital dynamics knowledge has long, long since rotted away; I don't think I've used any of it since I got my degree, and that was a LONG time ago.  But I don't think it's possible to get to Iceland.

The ISS has had resupply missions delayed for weeks due to technical problems with the spacecraft used. Simultaneously, they keep one capsule suitable as a reentry vehicle docked at all times to allow for immediate evacuation (loss of station atmosphere, noxious gasses in the atmosphere, hard radiation from a solar flare, that kind of "immediate"). I have little doubt that they can return to planetside whenever they want to, the question is which part of the planet they'ld be safe after the landing.

Oh, sure.  They COULD come back at any time. I'm not sure they'd want to, given what they'd be coming down to.  They'd have better luck hoping a carrier group was available and rash-free.

[Snommelp]

The orbit of the ISS takes it on a sinusoidal curve (when looking at a flat map) from 52 S to 52 N in latitude, and Iceland is around 65 N. I believe that puts Iceland around 1500 km away from the "apex" of the ISS orbit, at the closest. So they would need to coordinate things very carefully to have any real hope of getting picked up by an Icelandic crew.

[BreezeLouise]

Oh, sure.  They COULD come back at any time. I'm not sure they'd want to, given what they'd be coming down to.  They'd have better luck hoping a carrier group was available and rash-free.

That's a thought. What kind of communications equipment do they have on the ISS? Would they only be able to communicate with specialized places designed specifically for that? Or once they're back down to Earth, would they have an emergency signal or something? And if so, I wonder what the range would be.

If they can only communicate with places that have special equipment, which seems most likely to me, then they might not have a clear idea what exactly is going on. They might catch that there's some kind of pandemic, but by the time people are turning into trolls, I doubt there would be anyone to communicate that to them. Given that, it might not be too much of a stretch to imagine that they'd assume that something really, really bad happened once things went quiet. I think it is a bit more of a stretch, though, to jump from there to the conclusion that the whole world is dead and they should try to come down near an isolated island where people might have survived. I think it's more likely that they'd try to come down near a major nation.

As far as carriers go, if they come down very soon, any major nation would do--a lot of nations have them now. Any later, though, and a lot of those carriers will run out of fuel and be unavailable, in which case they'd have to come down near the US or France, since those are the only two nations with nuclear powered carriers. Many more nations do use nuclear submarines, though, so there could be hope there, too. They wouldn't be as well equipped for picking up survivors, but the ISS doesn't really have enough crew to make any appreciable difference. I'm sure they would be able to manage. So, provided they have some kind of emergency signal that carriers and subs are able to respond to (which seems likely to me), the candidates are: the US, France, England, Russia, China, and India.

This is all if they wait until after the disaster fully pans out--it's definitely possible that, right before things went dark, somebody told them that they should really return as soon as possible. In that case, some kind of pickup for them could probably still be arranged.

[FinnishViking]

Hmm well i imagine other than the transmitters they have on their spaceship the escape pod would also be equiped with a rudimentary radio with ok enough signal so if by chance they landed near a vessel they should be able to get a communication going. Still that relies on them landing near someone with radio equipment so it's very likely they will be stranded alone and as i think the escape pod lands in a sea they might essentially be running a very high risk of starving and never actually seeing any trolls.

One thing i wonder is that how attractive might a battleship be for a sea giant ( if they excist ) since i think we know pritty well that they are attracted to humans so a giant attacking a battleship might end up looking a lot like the tales of krakens of old. Also an intresting prospect is that if the thing can become so big that it could actually merge itself with the ship forming a giant human hunting vessel somthing like this expect with water

[JoB]

What kind of communications equipment do they have on the ISS? Would they only be able to communicate with specialized places designed specifically for that? Or once they're back down to Earth, would they have an emergency signal or something?

Don't know for sure, but the ISS has been around for a while and many astronauts are also radio amateurs. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there's ham equipment in storage, if not actively used, on it.

[urbicande]

That's a thought. What kind of communications equipment do they have on the ISS? Would they only be able to communicate with specialized places designed specifically for that? Or once they're back down to Earth, would they have an emergency signal or something? And if so, I wonder what the range would be.

They've got radio.  And plenty of ham radio kit up there; I have several friends who've worked the ISS as it flew overheard.  Nothing really special needed.

(Also, if I was designing an escape pod, I'd make sure it didn't need any specialized comms; I'd want it to be as bog-standard as possible)

[urbicande]

One thing i wonder is that how attractive might a battleship be for a sea giant ( if they excist ) since i think we know pritty well that they are attracted to humans so a giant attacking a battleship might end up looking a lot like the tales of

If you look at page 48 - 52, whales are a concern already.

[ParanormalAndroid]

Speaking as a native of Wales, I can say that we'd have a pretty large survivor community out here.
Not many cities, distributed and small population, very hilly/forested/mountainous terrain.
Plus, rural Wales is like the Wild West. Lots of guns, lots of tough people, not much regard for restrictions.
Given time, I could probably formulate an idea for a pretty convincing community in Anglesey, or perhaps the Brecon Beacons. Snowdonia and the Carmarthen/Ammanford area are ideas too.
Lots of countryside to choose from.

[Kookieking]

Iceland was able to stay isolated because they are so far away from anyone else. The problem with Japan is that it is so close to China and Korea, and there are a lot of Chinese people in China. So even if they tried to close the borders it's likely that Chinese refugees would end up there and cause an outbreak.

If they did close down all travel routes though it's likely that isolated parts like Okinawa could get by. If they did it's possible that they reverted to the isolationism of medieval Japan. On the other hand they might be exploring the Pacific, thus maybe encountering Americans on Guam and Polynesians in Oceania and on the Easter Islands.

Um, well I want to say that China would be the first the die off...but one of the few to survive. I know, i know, makes no sense, BUT, think of it this way: China has a central feeding system (sorta) based on communism. The initial plague would hit it hard, just like any other country...but there would be no time to recover. Have you ever played Plague Inc. ? Well, if you have, you would know that make the death higher than infection rates is stupid in the first half, you'll just kill off a bunch of sick, and leave a lot of survivors uninfected by your now-dead plague. Now, we know that the plague is fatal. And in the beginning, ALL infected people died. Poor medical conditions caused by chaos would further the infection/death rate. killing off MORE. Switching gears now. China IS HEAVILY POPULATED. you're either the only person in a hundred miles or one person out of hundred thousand, in the radius of one mile. Not only that, chinese are genetically weak. Unlike the europeans, we didn't have plagues, we had herbal medicine to stop any harm, allowing weak genes to continue (ex. I ALLERGIC TO EVERYTHING GOG DAMN IT). Therefore most of the chinese would die. Now, the survivors (not necessarily immune) would most likely leave to the farms and shell/ghost cities (look it up) which are perfect for long term shelters and recovery states. Thanks to the fact that there are millions of chinese even though the immune rate is low, there's tons. Post-plague military factions would take over, and soon send China into a new, evolved (not better), state. 

[Koeshi]

Given time, I could probably formulate an idea for a pretty convincing community in Anglesey, or perhaps the Brecon Beacons. Snowdonia and the Carmarthen/Ammanford area are ideas too.
Lots of countryside to choose from.

No chance.  The UK as a whole is too heavily populated.  As soon as it became obvious that the urban areas were dying people would flock to places like Snowdonia and Brecon.

[ParanormalAndroid]

No chance.  The UK as a whole is too heavily populated.  As soon as it became obvious that the urban areas were dying people would flock to places like Snowdonia and Brecon.

Given how quickly the illness spreads, most people would be killed off.
Also, if they're in a major English city they won't flock to the Welsh countryside, trust me.
Even given that people would flock there, there are tiny villages in Snowdonia and the Beacons that don't even appear on maps, and are tucked away up in hillsides and the like.
After all, if the Swedish countryside is still a place to survive in, the Welsh could be too.

[Koeshi]

Wales has a population density of 148 people per square km, Sweden has 21.5.  Even ignoring the population boost added by the rest of the UK there is a huge disparity in population density.  Plus I live in the midlands and can tell you that people would head there, trust me.

[ParanormalAndroid]

Wales has a population density of 148 people per square km, Sweden has 21.5.  Even ignoring the population boost added by the rest of the UK there is a huge disparity in population density.  Plus I live in the midlands and can tell you that people would head there, trust me.

Well, to be fair I didn't know Sweden's population density was so low.
I stand by what I said, though- a few small communities wouldn't be unfeasible.