Quote:Mark Skarr wrote:I don't think the situation necessarily has to go all the way to WWIII. If China's land grab leads to a call for worldwide censure, it could be possible to develop an international consensus regarding a trade embargo. The China of the time may have been vulnerable to such a tactic since it had less civilian industrial infrastructure that present day China (especially if IST China heavily prioritized developing military assets over civilian infrastructure in reaction to the greater threat level of the IST world).
Issue 4: This war will be World War III. We have to keep that in mind as there is no way around it—especially since Bob wants it to last for, at least, five years. It will become obvious, very quickly, to all sides, that the only way for this war to end is A, the elimination of China, or B, China conquering the world. If (and more likely, when) China breaks out the WMDs . . . what is going to happen. We will have to address this very carefully.
While some UN members may be obstructionist in such an effort, videos of Chinese military atrocities smuggled out of occupied territories combined with evidence that China may be using supers in a military capacity could provide a tipping point in global opinion. China's allies declare neutrality, but are unwilling to risk global censure by publicly trading with them (black market trade continues). After that, it is mostly economic warfare backed by military power that slowly wears away at China over the next five years (with extensive weapons smuggling to partisan groups).
All major battles occur either on the ocean or in or near contested territory (in much the same way that coalition forces liberated Kuwait without immediately toppling the entire Iraqi regime in the real world). Fears regarding the likely results of escalation mean that neither side ever resorts to WMDs. At no time is anyone with WMDs desperate enough to believe they must resort to such weaponry. On the other hand, a sunken nuclear sub could result in a memorable ecological disaster that convinces both sides to keep WMDs well outside of the combat zone.
In the end, China's military bureaucracy is replaced by a new faction due to widespread public unrest spurred by rapid inflation, food rationing, higher taxes, the ongoing military draft and spiraling fears of nuclear war (maybe there is even an avian flu outbreak). The new leaders admit no wrongdoing, but lease Hong Kong back to the British for 99 years and pull back to the DMZ (maybe they even pull out of Tibet, assuming they were in Tibet in the first place).
Death toll? Fairly high, especially in the war zones, but still not at WWII levels. More like Korea and Vietnam combined. Bloody and horrific, but the planet isn't a radioactive crater.
http://koreanwarstuff.com/korean-war-death-tollhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/vietnam-war-statistics/http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm
And in case it matters, I release any and all rights to these ideas to Bob Schroeck, and expect no remuneration of any sort.
----------------------------------------------------
"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV