one year to change the world

[bloomann]

They called it simply "The Beam", and every year, for the past three years, it would flash out of space and wash over an ordinary citizen someplace on the globe. That person would find themselves transformed with amazing superpowers, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, faster then speeding bullets, more powerful then the largest nuclear reactor. The person has become a Superperson, but only for one year, before the power vanishes only to reapear elswhere.

 

What would you do you recieved The Beam?

[svwerley]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Easy! I'd march into the UN and give them a good talking to. Then I'd take all the nuclear weapons in the world, put them in a big net and fly up and fling the net at the sun. Ultimately, I'd have to fight a clone of myself with fruity blonde hair, on the moon, but I'd defeat him by cutting off his access to the very sunlight which gave him his power.

[bloomann]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Easy! I'd march into the UN and give them a good talking to. Then I'd take all the nuclear weapons in the world' date=' put them in a big net and fly up and fling the net at the sun. Ultimately, I'd have to fight a clone of myself with fruity blonde hair, on the moon, but I'd defeat him by cutting off his access to the very sunlight which gave him his power.[/quote']

 

 

superman IV ? never saw it.

[svwerley]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Yes. One of the top 10 worst movies of all time. Up there with like Best of the Best 2, Leonard Part 6 and Star Trek 5.

[Murrkon5]

Re: one year to change the world

 

A year? Huh...luxury.

 

In the days of the early (or even pre-) Silver Age, there were potions and a few gizmos around the DC Universe that gave a normal human Super Powers (and in those days, "super powers" meant "powers like Superman") for 24 HOURS.

 

That's the mental munching we indulged in, usually waiting for the other gamers to show up.

 

24 hours means you better use that superspeed to good advantage.

 

After dumping a few old chests of seaweed-dripping antique pirate swag in my apartment (a man has to think to the future), I'd get busy.

 

Removing weapons and armaments doesn't work. It just gives fresh, new incentive to the evil military industrial complex to make new ones. Whether you have superpowers for a day or a year, you won't be around to police the release of the new product line.

 

For me, I'd construct the basic foundations and infrastructure for bases/cities on the Moon and Mars. Move in a couple of huge chunks of asteroid ice to supply them. Tell the U.N. they exist. If I have 24 hours, I bluff and warn them about getting too rough in a space race to occupy the bases. If I have a year, it's not a bluff.

 

One side question is what to use as a mask? A full costume would be fun, but concealing my identity seems crucial. Again, whether a day or a year later, I don't want the "men in black" knocking on my door when I'm back to being a mere mortal.

[McCoy]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Let's See.

 

1. Find Osama, bring him in, collect reward.

 

Humm, I'm sure I had a step 2.

[David Johnston]

Re: one year to change the world

 

 

Let's See.

 

1. Find Osama, bring him in, collect reward.

 

Humm, I'm sure I had a step 2.

 

You know, none of Superman's powers include great detective skills or even the ability to speak Arabic. If just being powerful was enough to do that job, it would have already been done.

[input.jack]

Re: one year to change the world

 

X-Ray vision to see thru cave walls, and near Flash-level superspeed help alot on that

[McCoy]

Re: one year to change the world

 

You know' date=' none of Superman's powers include great detective skills or even the ability to speak Arabic. If just being powerful was enough to do that job, it would have already been done.[/quote']

But it does include a bunch of enhanced senses. Fly to Afganistan, train X-ray vision on everything that sounds like a kidney machine.

[McCoy]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Let's See.

 

1. Find Osama, bring him in, collect reward.

 

Humm, I'm sure I had a step 2.

OH, now I remember.

 

2. Use the reward money to finance infrastructure for non-imported energy in the US. Start with a biodesel plant producing home heating oil in New England.

[incrdbil]

Re: one year to change the world

 

X-Ray vision to see thru cave walls' date=' and near Flash-level superspeed help alot on that[/quote']

 

Yep. It might take a half an hour or so.

 

 

Let see conceal identity. Obtain funds. (Treasure recovery, or the sudden immediiately loss of all cash reserves by all major crug lords.) Oasama--well heck, capture him, and about every other wanted terrorist figure, and use the reward money for charity. Get a top notch think tank on analyzing and prioritizing problems I can fix. (Heck, I'll need all the advice I could get). Hire a top notch PR firm.

 

I tell my family the secret though, and give them my love, and explain that they just wont see much of my for a year. I come home, sleep, take my meals at home when I can, but it will be a hard year because I'll be around a lot less.

 

I do a little unilateral disarming of certain countries. Let them contemplate rebuilding, then tear it down again. Wth superman like abilities, I can probably deprive at least some of them ore needed that they are currently exploiting. A few countries would be bereft of their warlords, leaders. some get special treatment--Iran, North Korea, Syria a few others no longer have viable military equipment, military airfields, military aircraft, or the in country factories that produce them. Again, they can rebuild, but they are at least going to be well behaved during MY year.

 

The PR firm is to handle the fact that I'm not a Democracy, but an opinionated force of nature. Granted, more dictators/terrorist scum might reappear, but it would be a rough year for would be dictators. Crucial construction projects would be prioritized, reclamation and clean up taken care of. All identified (by me and what my research gusy dig up)nuclear waste/toxic waste on earth gets a one way trip to the sun. Super perception powers track down and map all major reserves of precious materials, oil, etc. Tell the world they have one year of free launches of research sattelites, ships into space. Clean up all of the man made space junk. Identify all in solar System asteroids on the dangerously close list, and so somethiing about them. Drop off probes on every planet in system.

 

Oh, and for fun, life gets miserable for criminals, everywhere. Whenever I have a spare moment. Get ahold of all democratic coutnries most wanted lists, have my people research why they are really wanted, and see what I can do. Living overseas on a non extradition country? Life sucks for you, because I didn;t sign any treaty. I destroy the large drug crops of the world. From orbit. The little ones--well heck, I only have a year. I build the flipping US/Mexico wall border using all the steel I recover from wreckage on the ocean. At the end, secure honestly a good amount of money to live comfortably, but not noticeably.

[David Johnston]

Re: one year to change the world

 

X-Ray vision to see thru cave walls' date=' and near Flash-level superspeed help alot on that[/quote']

 

Not as much as you might think. Consider that Superman has to set a specific depth for his X-Ray vision (otherwise it would be useless) and the world's pretty much a blur to him when he moves at superspeed. Why do you think that street criminals can still operate in Metropolis? He just can't keep track of it all.

[garou]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Not as much as you might think. Consider that Superman has to set a specific depth for his X-Ray vision (otherwise it would be useless) and the world's pretty much a blur to him when he moves at superspeed. Why do you think that street criminals can still operate in Metropolis? He just can't keep track of it all.

Actually, he probably could, but there would be problems in doing so. Consider:

 

Metropolis is a large city, and crimes occur throughout. Some areas will have greater concentration than others, but we can safely assume that no area is crime-free.

 

For Superman to go around, preventing all crimes that occur within the city (or the greater Metropolis area), then he would have to move quite quickly - maybe not so fast as to cause a sonic boom, but certainly at hundreds of miles per hour. Through city streets. Near lots of normal people - who would certainly be affected by the wind rush. Minor accidents occur, possibly serious ones, as people are toppled into traffic, into each other, etc.

 

Superman would also have to resolve each crime quickly - taking only seconds to do so. He rushes in, incapacitates the criminal, and then must either arrange for the perp to be taken into custody or do so himself (with another high-speed trip, though not nearly as fast, since they cannot withstand the speed). While it is possible to stop a mugging in only a second or two, it's rough (very rough) on the mugger. Perhaps he doesn't have to do more than break fingers as he pulls the gun out of their hand at superspeed.

 

Running around the city, constantly preventing every single crime also wreaks havok on the whole secret identity thing. And, it means that his attention is diverted, possibly allowing Braniac/Lex/Doomsday/et al a head-start on some nefarious plan. Heck, Supes might miss that one critical second in which he could prevent Braniac from vaporizing some mid-American city, because he is saving Miss Polly Pureheart from a random mugging.

 

Plus, if Supes went around, stopping every crime, Metropolis could fire 75% of the police force, possibly more. This causes employment problems throughout the city. The fire department starts demanding help with fires - or, alternatively, demands that supers not help with fires. Supes would also have to testify in many cases - after all, he is taking the place of the arresting officer.

 

He could do it - but it is unfeasible, not impossible. It's a waste of resources, really.

 

And the world had better be more than a blur when he is tooling around at superspeed (ditto for the Flash). Otherwise, it's only a matter of time before Supes is flying along, moving at full superspeed toward a nasty villain rampaging through downtown Metropolis, when he plows through (and I do mean through) a crowd of people, killing dozens because he couldn't perceive them.

[Blue]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Why, I'd conquer the earth of course.

 

Barring that, I'd fly around the earth so fast I'd go back in time and cause a time paradox, effectively ending the universe.

 

Hey, you gotta chose your path. I'll tell ya right now, mine is evil.

 

Well, okay, maybe not. I just couldn't think of anything better to do right now.

[Pyre-Archer]

Re: one year to change the world

 

What would you do you recieved The Beam?

Hmm...only one year...?

 

Well, using my newfound super-intelligence to make my powers permanent would be near the top of my to do list.

 

Actually, if a massive INT boost is included, I'd just spend the year making cool new stuff, and getting rich off of it. New fuel source, more efficient engines, one person flyers, simplified taxation system, working idiot detectors, moral compasses aligned to ethical north, the list goes on and on.

 

Other powers? Not a clue. Change my name to Buster and be a Myth-tern for a year? The X-men had it all wrong, brother. Private sector, that's where it is...

[DEFCON Clown]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Well first I'd disguise myself so no one would recognize me after my year was up.

 

Then I'd take out North Korea's nukes, then all their military equipment, then all government run research labs, and then I'd gift wrap Kim Jong Ill and leave him on the lawn of the CIA. Then I'd let South Korea know that get to expand.

Same basic treatment for Syria and Iran. I would build the damn wall between Mexico and the US (out of metal I'd get from the Dangerously Close Asteroids) I'd make it 80' tall and 15' wide with four big giant gates.

Before my powers faded I'd help NASA by dropping off probes on each planet and moon as well as bringing them whatever samples they want. Any asteroids that are dangerous would be crushed into dust by me. Then I'd get myself a couple hundred million dollars to live off of when my powers are gone.

[Marketeer]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Things to do:

 

1) Find out who is guiding/controlling/whatever The Beam.

 

2) Figure out how to take out the next Beam-powered dude if he or she proves to be dangerous.

 

3) Discover if there is a) habitable planets Life or c) Intelligent Life out there in this big darned universe, help scientists get proof, figure out how we can get there without my superpowered deus ex machina, and/or set up colonies/contact.

 

4) Near-space exploration? Deep-sea exploration? Yup.

 

Basically, I'd want to focus on stuff we simply cannot do at our current levels of technology and understanding, and go from there.

[Chimpira]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Probably spend the first six months destroying the regime that was set up by the guy before me. Track down the people behind The Beam and try to convince them to stop doing this as everyone on my planet has their own sense of what is right and what is wrong which does not mesh well with someone elses sense of right and wrong. All the constant switch does is screw up my world. First a damn wall gets put up between America and Mexico and then the next year it is torn down. Then North Korea loses all it's Nuclear weapons and then next year they are replaced by all of America's nuclear weaponry. Clearly this chaos has to stop. If I can not convince them then I would have to try everything to stop this from continuing. Hopefully I will make it back to Earth alive.

[Lumbering Ox]

Re: one year to change the world

 

I think I would start a thread on Herogames.com

Perhaps call it "one year to change the world" and get some ideas

Then.... oh crap.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Save / disarm / take over the world? No way!

 

I'd fly my suddenly incredibly hunky self to Hawaii and superbonk bikini-clad goddesses for a year. Put on the freak show for the tourist moolah and then siesta afternoons until it was time to party! Yeah!

 

Um, my superpowers make me immune to the effects of alcohol, right?

 

Matt "Leave-that-saving-the-world-stuff-to-the-other-clowns" Frisbee

[GoldenAge]

Re: one year to change the world

 

I'd blast off into space, find an incredibly advanced and benign alien regime, and sell them the Earth. My price would be an intergalactic passport and legalization in their galactic milieu including enough negotiable funds to live incredibly well until the end of my (obviously technologically augmented) days. ( For Sale - CHEAP: )

 

It'd be fun to watch earthling paradigms crumble under the weight of a greater wisdom.

 

As long as I remained super powered (during the wonderful yet assuredly frightening alien assimilation) I'd try to advance Earth's social awareness across all divides.

 

---------------------

 

Okay... maybe I'd just institute a global socio-republic revolution under the sway of my incredible power. Then I’d live it up… and hope that the world would see the benefits of a unified representational republic... until I loose the power and am immediately assassinated.

[bloomann]

Re: one year to change the world

 

Seems everyone is altruistic enough to at least try and "save" the world, (Matt Frisbee aside ), having a secret identity would be paramount, because with all that power you're bound to piss somebody off the wrong way, and besides after the year is over there will inevitably be the "men in black" who come to kidnapp you (you're family, your nieghbors) to try and analyse why frumpy middle aged men with gaming hobbies have recieved The Beam... I like the idea about hiring a team of PR people and think tank people to help you decide which way is best but that cost money, do you become spokes man for McDo to finance your endeavers? I also like the ideas that some of you would head off into space to try and figure out where it comes from, how to keep it, although if you are caught on the other side of the solar system when your year is up:idjit:

You could go after rogue states, destroy cocaine fields, hunt down known criminals, build the mexico wall (?!?) (that sounds paranoid to me, sorry, don't take offense, I live in Europe where the borders between rich and poor nations have totally come down and there hasn't been that much of a change)

Or try to help the environment, rid the world of nuclear waste, help install alternative power sources on a global scale

Nobody mentioned trying to stop world hunger, or help build schools in third world countries...not that I thought of that at first either.

When I came up with the thread, I thought about what I would do, my first reaction would be to go and hunt down all the known terrorist, then rid North Korea and Iran of it's nuclear capabilities, (afterwards I would do the same throughout the world), but this seems very short term. Like somebody said they would just be rebuilt and it would be worse then before.

It would probably be best to find the top thinkers of the world, come up with an enduring plan, try to impliment that plan while trying to figure out where the beam comes from and why...

 

Aww heck forget it I would just go to a topless beach in the South of France and just get all funky with some Mediterranean chicks, see ya:rockon:

[dbsousa]

Re: one year to change the world

 

January, Become billionaire by launching satellites into space

 

February, Spend billions on land grants in remote areas of the world (Australian outback, Siberia, etc.)

 

March-Build enough Solar Chimneys in remote areas of the world to sustain all the world's refugees in non-polluting industrial/agricultural communities. Build cities around chimneys.

 

April-Transport all willing refugees to inhabit Solar Communities, plus all the professional people willing to help refugees

 

May-Jumpstart new non-polluting technologies by using enormous power to bridge the gaps (Example: we could have efficient hydrogen cells in every car if only we had enough platinum? I would scour the asteroid belt, until I came back with ten times the platinum needed to jumpstart hydrogen cells. We could build safe fusion reactors if only we had enough energy to prime the pumps? Give me a crank, and I'll generate that power)

 

June-Establish Solar communities as chief sources of new technology and industry.

 

July-Vacation

 

August- Work with scientists to determine best way to stop global warming. Do so at superspeed

 

September- Offer to dismantle nuclear weapons and dispose of nuclear waste in all countries of the world. Explain to those that refuse that I already have, and was just offering them a way to save face.

 

October- Do definitive search for life on Mars. If none exists, begin terraforming. Inject molten iron at core if neccesary to create magnetic field, and throw enough H2O and O2 at the red planet to create a permanent atmosphere.

 

November- Build space elevators on every continent. Use techniques from May to power through any hurdles

 

December-Retire to Solar Community in semi tropical area, pray that the next Beam recipient doesn't undo everything I did.