[Encrypted] Revitalising Gotham

[PotatoJedi]

This may be a harebrained idea but hear me out.

With the recent nuking of Cyberpunk we are left with no real technologically-inclined zones. Alien Takeover is one that still exists, yes, but there is barely any infrastructure there and the whole "blue flame" thing is a bit troublesome. What if we attempted to alter one of the zones ourselves? They seem to "change" when certain events take place, such as when Batman took over Gotham, over a period of time. This brings me onto my idea…

Since Gotham is currently in the 50s-60s, what if we introduced technology to them? With the whole superhero thing going on there, I think it would be reasonable for a "Techno-Hero" to emerge with the gift of, say, mobile communications (cellphones). They and their budding superhero Allies would approach an entrepreneur and pitch their idea, hoping for an investment, after which they'll receive royalties. Or something. Basically they'll make money. Look I ain't the businessman over here. Not only would this have the benefit of a potential steady income, but it would also mean the zone might change over time which is what I- er I mean we want.

… So anyone familiar with business and shit like that? I can build a simple mobile phone and show it off as a prototype (assuming I can get the parts), but I'd need to do a bit more research on telecommunications as I'm not an expert on how cellphone towers and all that works… I just need someone who knows how to pitch an idea to them businesspeople with a proper proposal. Otherwise they might just think I'm a loony.

So yeah that's my idea.

[Fantômas]

Having a better understanding as to what caused the world to devolve to the 50/60's may be worth looking into. Batman was more the modern version. He wasn't the 60's version. The world did not change until after his death. I think there are other factors. eg the removal of White and Brown changing.

As to someone with business acumen, I don't know of anyone in our group. You may need to see if you can find someone in Gotham who is trustworthy. And get someone else to look over the contracts etc before you sign them.

[Fantômas]

Also keep in mind that while Night City appears to have been nuked, we can still get to the rest of the world in that zone - assuming it was not a world wide nuclear holocaust. There is also Shermer, which is 2002, so while not as tech advanced os Red Carpet was, was not that far away. Then there is the likelihood of other 'modern' time zones out there. We just need to find them.

[PotatoJedi]

Shermer crossed my mind but the lack of a Clem's or gate put me off. Unless somebody wants to look for a gate.

[Fantômas]

You have the ability to travel there without a gate now. It is not instantaneous like Clems, but quite doable if you are not on a tight schedule.

[PotatoJedi]

Yes, doable. Just a little time-consuming. As for the business side of things, we might just have to get a local from Gotham if none of us are skilled enough. Someone trustworthy. And skilled. A business partner, so to speak. Anyone know of someone like that by chance? "Businessman" would be an interesting superhero. The power to strike any deal!

[Fantômas]

The main issue I see is that the components you would need to build a mobile phone don't exist. The technology to build those components does not exist. And while I believe you could cobble together stuff from existing components I'm not sure you or anyone in our group has the skills needed to design/build new components.

For example in 1969 the computer on the spaceship that went to the moon only had 2K of memory. And the computers that were in NASA for it were reel to reel.

[Fantômas]

Having said all that, don't stop with coming up with ideas or trying to do stuff

[PotatoJedi]

I'm sure I can find the components I need in Alien Takeover. After all, it only has to be a demonstration phone. Assuming the guards are still doing their job, the workshop should still be up as well.

… Or I can just travel to Shermer Illinois and buy 2 phones from there. The only thing I would then need to do is build a miniature cellphone tower as a proof of concept.

If you can design a water desalinisation system in Beastkin, anything is possible!

The main issue I see is that the components you would need to build a mobile phone don't exist. The technology to build those components does not exist.

I'm wondering if they would be able to use the components I provide them as blueprints. Yes, they didn't have sophisticated batteries and microchips and what have you, but if one was to show them that technology, with enough time they may be able to reverse engineer the components and start producing them themselves. With enough guidance from our tech savvy DORAs, I think it's possible.

Step 1: Get phones.
Step 2: Build miniature cellphone tower/signal transmitter.
Step 3: Get a business savvy partner willing to invest in our idea and market it etc.
Step 4: Negotiate business deal.
Step 5: Get patent and license the technology out to companies.
Step 6: Help build necessary components.

Profit.

Ambitious, yes. But should this work, it would mean a steady income potentially for ever.

[PotatoJedi]

Alternatively…

We can bring in an early version of the Game Boy/handheld gaming consoles. No need for sophisticated cellphone towers and the games themselves have already been developed. We would just need to head over to Shermer, get several games (and obviously the console itself), hack the games' code in order for us to produce them ourselves (the earlier games are not that difficult to do this with) and then go through a similar process as above.

As you rightly mentioned however, the biggest problem would be developing the necessary components. It's a case of knowing how to create something but not having the right tools.

Perhaps that may be a wiser course of action to take first: giving them the tools needed in order for them to do the things we want them to do. We would basically be trying to propel them forward 40 years or so in a much shorter span of time.

This whole idea has been rather interesting for me to play with as a thought experiment (and this is still only a rough idea. I realise it has many, many things that need to be ironed out). We are all in a unique position to see how a civilisation develops if technology from the future is introduced to them. How would they react? Would they be excited? Afraid? Confused? The fact that we are in some weird pocket zone with several different realities layered is still baffling to me.

[Scott]

It would be a huge effort, but it seems like we could probably change a zone on the scale that you are talking about; however, we don't really have any reason to believe that it would change back to the way it was before as opposed to something else.