[Non-canon] Fixing "Satellite Down"

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Okay, so there's an opinion or two that Satellite Down is a pretty poor module. I maintain that execution aside, the core of the module's plot is not only usable, but for non-canon DIY folks like myself the plot can basically "fix" the "everybody in America dies" canon of Howling Wilderness.

So how do we fix Satellite Down, and how does Satellite Down let us fix canon?

Firstly, we've got to throw out the USS Virginia plot hook completely. While the idea of having a nuclear vessel there providing power to the locals is cool, it's been done before (The Last Sub #1) and it's very badly handled (the ruined Virginia staving off an inexplicably oil-burning mostly-wrecked "Osa-II" class missile boat? Not hardly.)

What we do is, put the satellite where it is. Make the big antagonist separatists or narcos who've set up shop. Maybe even a break-away Mexican Navy detachment with their own ship. The Mexican Navy has a slew of ex-US frigates and missile destroyers. It's pretty easy to make the ship a conventionally powered vessel, trading protection for some oil production from a nearby off-shore platform and (badly, but serviceably enough) refining it for fuel for the ship's turbines, which in turn power the town around the ship.

Now...how do we save what's left of the US with Satellite Down?

The data on the tapes from the satellite are much as they're described in the module. However, once the weather data is decoded (not an easy feat, should require some definite serious ELEC rolls if a character wants to attempt it), it should be able to put all enclaves and governments and fragments of the US government "on the mend".

I know there are people here who have an extreme dislike of a recovered US in Twilight:2000 and I'm not suggesting my way is best. However for "canon-breakers" I think this is a workable "fix" for the module (and game, if you're of a mind to go that far with it.)

[The Rifleman]

I agree there is no need to toss it all away. Even the notion that there is a nuclear powered cruiser sitting there isn't a bad thing. However, the canon plot just has to go. Its like watching a trainwreck in slow motion.

Also, for people that like the realism of the game, the weather pattern change has got to go too. Thats just complete fiction used to set up GDWs future RPG series.

I think that using the plot of recovering the downed satillite, to obtain intelligence or weather data is fine. Heck, the PCs don't really have to know a darn thing about the satillite on a "need to know" basis.

To me, pretty much any of these fixes is fine. As far as the "pure" canon, heck, the V1 game couldn't even do that, they needed to adjust things themsevles. I don't know about a recovered US as a complete nation. I think that it depends on the PCs and how the mods turn out as they are completed.

I think that something to keep in mind is how small the 2TK world has become. When I spent a few years in a brigade of 4,000 people, I got to know quite a few of them. Living in the same town of 12,000 people off and on for years, I got to know ALOT of people too. Heck, the entire US army is roughly 100,000 thousand, right? So if early in the war, the US army is 1.5 million, the effects of a few key people wouldn't be much, unless they are at the perfect place and time. What are the odds of that? However, if you have some elite soldiers in a massively reduced army, with a reduced population, suddenly making key decisions changes everything.

For example, the death of Mr Hughes and the end of New America would suddenly allow organization and revitalization of large, fertile tracts of land. Another good example is breaking up the "white death". Breaking up a huge band of bandits and restoring order of a large amount of a state would change the dynamics of the country.

I guess my point is that its up to the PCs to determine where the plot goes. Maybe not even due to their liking, but due to the choices they make.

[Olefin]

our small group changed the game a lot

We ended up blowing up two Soviet fuel and ammo dumps on the way out of Kalisz and killing the Army commander - so there went a lot of the pursuit of the 5th and hamstrung some of the Soviet offensive

We took the Baron out completely at Warsaw - thus changing the canon

We gave the Madonna to the Free Polish Congress - again changing the canon

Our GM changed the Texas and Submarine scenarios so both played out very different from canon with very small tweaks

So what we as players went thru and did is totally different from canon - due to our actions and with a small amount of tweaks from the GM we ended up with the US taking back a lot of Texas, the USN having four SSN's rejoining their fleet to add to the Christi which was never lost to Carlucci, and changing what happened in Poland so much that we couldnt do the Return to Europe modules even if we wanted to

plus keep in mind - there is nothing in the game that says you have to adhere to canon once the game begins - after the Escape from Kalisz begins everything your people do potentially changes the whole scenario

especially in a world where now a few men can make a huge difference

[pmulcahy11b]

How fresh is the satellite's intel? For that matter, what if the satellite's designed to listen to communications and not take pictures? Maybe someone got mixed up and it's actually a scientific satellite that's not even designed to look at the Earth. If it's a civilian survey satellite, it's pictures won't be as close-up as a military satellite. Inaccurate intel is great for fuzzing up the battlefield.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I think the premise was that as a weather satellite it would provide data about pattern changes due to strikes that would help people on the ground accurately forecast changes in upper atmosphere patterns (the Jet Stream, el Nino/la Nina, etc.) and plan planting seasons accordingly...

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

I think the premise was that as a weather satellite it would provide data about pattern changes due to strikes that would help people on the ground accurately forecast changes in upper atmosphere patterns (the Jet Stream, el Nino/la Nina, etc.) and plan planting seasons accordingly...

+1