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What if Pittsburgh was destroyed instead of Detroit?


Mark Rand

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Hi all,

 

In the Champions Universe, Dr. Destroyer destroyed Detroit.

 

What if his base was under Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by the southern end of the West End Bridge and he fired his orbital bombardment cannon from there, and, by the time the heroes stopped it, most, if not all, of Alleghny County was destroyed?

Would it be rebuilt? If so, would the layout look much like it once was? Would the city's name be changed? Where would The Champions, the hero team that formed after the city's rebirth, be based? Assuming PRIMUS would put a base here, where would it go?

 

For my fellow Pittsburghers, I add this question: What is lower, the subway tracks under downtown or the surface of the rivers under normal conditions?

 

Yours,

 

Mark Rand

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I would think that all the things which happened to Detroit would have happened to Pittsburgh. Millennium City was created over the wreckage of a supervillain-destroyed city. This would have been no different if the city was Detroit, Pittsburg, or St. Louis. In this case the important fact is that good prevails and cannot be put down be the actions of evil men. Millennium City would be sitting over the wreckage of Pittsburgh.

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In a more, rather than less, realistic universe the supply lines, adjacent resources etc. might determine what kind of city you'll see built.

 

 

1.) After the city is gone, what resources does the site have left?

 

Pittsburgh had/has aging, outmoded steel factorys, coal mines and agriculture while Detroit had/has several means of transporting materials in and out. The advantage to redeveloping a new industrial base is more evident in Detroit what with highways, the great lacks connecting Chicago and Canada.

 

Maybee Pitt 2 goes into a different set of sciences like Genetic engineering, super genes etc. If the area doesn't have any significant advantages it will have to attract business with low taxes, promises of noninterferance. Viper and everyother shady organization will want to get in on this from the beginning. It might be a new utopia on the outside but corrupt inside from the beginning

 

2.) Insurance is a huge burden of high technology firms experimenting with anything destructive. Maybe the city planners set aside a specially zoned area away from living areas and makes insurance available to various supers and corporations. This is handy as it alowes you to have a several difernt city types in one. The high tech sector, the ruins, the bright shiny city center etc...

 

Is it an area with an antiquated power grid? If so it might be built energy independant by use of a massive reactor, zero point energy tap, em field collecters, solar plants etc. Super technology could be employed in abig way with who knows what tech in place.

 

 

Just some thoughts

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Why knock off Pittsburgh ? That was done in the Marvel Alternate Universe leaving a huge pit.

 

And in reality, Chicago was burned down and San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake. Then there is the earthquake that is supposed to destroy Los Angeles. A hurricane destroyed Galveston at the turn of the century.

 

So couple of questions

 

Have any other American cities been destroyed (in reality) ?

And has Los Angeles ever been destroyed before ?

 

I seem to recall that Alaska was hit by a big earthquake in the 1950s.

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Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

There was a Marvel Graphic Novel where they destroyed Pittsburg (called "the Pitt"). Was set in a Marvel spinoff Universe, so the charaters were somewhat interesting.

 

Left a big whole in the ground where Pittsburg was (About a mile deep), so I don't think there would be any rebuilding in that book...:)

Jim Shooter's New Universe -- you know, DP7 an so on....
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Originally posted by death tribble

And in reality, Chicago was burned down and San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake.

 

I seem to recall that Alaska was hit by a big earthquake in the 1950s.

To be nitpicky, more of SF was destroyed by the resulting fire than the original earthquake. Some city redesign was done at the time.

 

The Alaskan earthquake was March 27, 1964. Info

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Originally posted by death tribble

Why knock off Pittsburgh ? That was done in the Marvel Alternate Universe leaving a huge pit.

 

And in reality, Chicago was burned down and San Francisco was destroyed by an earthquake. Then there is the earthquake that is supposed to destroy Los Angeles. A hurricane destroyed Galveston at the turn of the century.

 

So couple of questions

 

Have any other American cities been destroyed (in reality) ?

And has Los Angeles ever been destroyed before ?

 

I seem to recall that Alaska was hit by a big earthquake in the 1950s.

 

Seattle burned to the ground in the opening decade of the 20th century (hence we have "underground seattle")

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Originally posted by D-Man

Seattle burned to the ground in the opening decade of the 20th century (hence we have "underground seattle")

Yeh, I saw that episode of The Night Stalker where Karl Kolchak is trying to track down someone who has been living below ground since the turn of the century.

 

Not aware of any cities that have been levelled in this day and age. Every few years Miami & the Carolinas see some hurricanes. California catches some nasty quakes (San Francisco, Northridge).

 

As for Pittsburgh, there would be a lot of happy Browns and Bengals fans.

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Hi all,

 

Since I wanted the crater to take up as much room on my 1-inch = 4-miles scale map. I gave it a 4-inch radius. That's 16-miles in each direction from ground zero, or 803.84 square miles. The rivers would also flood the area, and there would be broken utility lines everywhere.

 

Yours,

 

Mark Rand

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Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Jim Shooter's New Universe -- you know, DP7 an so on....

 

All one big "Whoops!" by the Starbrand, Kenneth Connell. Cosmic power at its most powerful, given to a typical screwup. Poor Debbie! And poor Jenny Swenson and her MAX.

 

I loved that comic line!

 

Kimberly, who would love to have a Starbrand of her own.

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So DC has never been destroyed. Mind you the British burned down the White House in the war of 1812.....

 

And Boston. Boston has not been destroyed.....

 

Saw a documentary about the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

And that sent Pyroclastic flows which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum.

So aside from Mount St Helens, are there any volcanoes near American cities and which cities ?

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Originally posted by death tribble

S

Saw a documentary about the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

And that sent Pyroclastic flows which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum.

So aside from Mount St Helens, are there any volcanoes near American cities and which cities ?

Seattle has a great view of Mt. Rainier.

 

I think if Pittsburgh was destroyed and rebuilt it would probably shift away from the steel industry and probably encourage the get rich quick science of the hour. There would still be some heavy industry and steel industry simply because it is logistically well placed to receive iron and coal from the Appalachians.

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Originally posted by death tribble

So aside from Mount St Helens, are there any volcanoes near American cities and which cities ?

 

Mt. Rainier is semi-close to Seattle, but probably won't cause much damage.

 

Mount Hood is an hour from Portland. I think most of the damage would be from the glacial melting. Estimates are from 50 - 300 years.

 

Of course, Portland is built on an old volcano. Mt. Tabor. I live less than five miles from it, but it's supposed to be inactive.

 

Mt. Lassen (in Northen Califonia) is predicted to be the next Mainland US volcano to go off. (I'm not sure of my sources on that one) It's not really near any large cities, but it's surrounded by a lot of small ones. That and it's right on I-5 and some raillines. That would be inconvienent!

 

Alaska & Hawaii have plenty of volcanic activity. Hawaii tends to have the slow bubbly type which is easier to get away from.

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Originally posted by lemming

Mt. Rainier is semi-close to Seattle, but probably won't cause much damage.

 

 

Seattle is ~100+ miles from Mt. Ranier. Projections call for the complete decimation of its immediate vicinity (the park is estimated to be under 100 feet of boiling mud in less than 3 minutes), but nothing more than mild tremors and an annoying coating of ash in Seattle itself.

 

One of the reasons major cities in America haven't suffered these catastrophes in the last 75 years or so is that we had so many of them in the past. Catastrophes lead to public outrage, which leads to improved emergency services, building codes, and fire codes - which severely curtail the likelyhood and impact of catastophes.

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Hi all,

 

Thought I'd let you know where the edges of the area that had to be rebuilt are.

 

North: in Butler County, near Seven Fields

 

Northeast: between Russellton and Tarentum

 

East: Monroeville area, near where state route 286 joins I 376 (U.S. 22 East)

 

Southeast: Youghiogheny River between Boston and Shaner

 

South: in Washington County, between Venetia and Ginger Hill

 

Southwest: in Washington County, between Hickory and Westland

 

West: on the Washington County line between U.S. 22 West and Murdocksville

 

Northwest: in Bever County, near Aliquippa

 

Yours,

 

Mark Rand

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Hi all,

 

A quick question. Since, in this campaign, Bush Jr. isn't President, who is? Here are the choices.

 

James Collingsworth (who I created for I story I'm writing)

 

Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet (Martin Sheen from The West Wing .

 

Jonathan Hayes (Gregory Harrison) from First Daughter, First Target & First Shot all shown on TBS

 

James Marshall (Harrison Ford) from Air Force One

 

Yours,

 

Mark Rand

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