I have always thought that the game's EMP effects were overstated for a couple of reasons.
EMP is line of site. Barriers do block it. Mountains, Packed earth, Concrete and Steel building materials will all reduce its effects.
There were months to prepare. Between the first launches in Poland and the Thanksgiving attack people would have had been instructed on how to shield equipment. Many would ignore the instructions but many others would not.
I have also seen evidence supporting this quote
Quote:
Another "myth" that seems to have grown up with information on EMP is that nearly all cars and trucks would be "knocked out" by EMP. This seems logical, but is one of those cases where "real world" experiments contradict theoretical answers and I'm afraid this is the case with cars and EMP. According to sources working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, cars have proven to be resistant to EMP in actual tests using nuclear weapons as well as during more recent tests (with newer cars) with the US Military's EMP simulators.
One reason for the ability of a car to resist EMP lies in the fact that its metal body is "insulated" by its rubber tires from the ground. This creates a Faraday cage of sorts. (Drawing on the analogy of EMP being similar to lightning, it is interesting to note that cases of lightning striking and damaging cars is almost non-existent; this apparently carries over to EMP effects on vehicles as well.)
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http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/empprotection.htm
Overall like most things in my T2k world I say electronics have around a 10% chance of surviving.