How would the world react to this?

[Suzaku]

I was thinking of making some sort of game where US government had secret alien technology and was reverse engineering it. To the public everything is normal and same history as today, however one day aliens arrive and a battle begins in Los Vegas. After the battle large amount of collateral damage occurs and forces the president to make a presidential address. Now how would the world respond to the president claiming that the disaster in Los Vegas was caused by alien aggression and all United States members active, reserver/guard are to return to their duty stations and all inactive reserve troops are activated and head to towards nearest base for further instructions.

(Was in a rush to post this had to goto work)

[Telonius]

It depends on the political situation at the time. Are we at war? Peace? Some countries might want to try to ally with the aliens, others would want to trade; others would want to steal their technology. If the aliens start displaying hostilityto anybody besides one country they'd likely band together and repel the threat. (The US might try to engineer an "alien attack" on another country to give this impression). Blogosphere goes nuts about it. Charges of "conspiracy theorist" against anybody who suggests the US started it; "what are you hiding?" being the standard response.

[Inyssius Tor]

Telonius: "same history as today", Suzaku said.

Anyway, shock. "The President's flown off 'is gourd!", the world exclaims. Barring the sudden appearance of giant alien motherships: those branches of the Army which hadn't been cleared for the Truth will probably stage a military coup (with full support from the not-clued-in Congress). The extraterrestrial menace would probably sit back and watch, bemused, as the capital city of their enemy devolves into a warzone.

[Deuce]

The real answer is that you are creating the game world - so the world will react however you want it to. Really, it's a game, so you don't have to focus on making it real, but on making it work for yuor story. Want to add some tension, have Russia threaten to nuke the entire state of Nevada. You want some humor? Have the Swiss take sides, the Germans get all pacifist, and the Italians offer a giant pasta feed as a bribe to get them to back off. World reaction is just another tool you have as a writer to move the plot where you want it to go.

[Suzaku]

Well the history of the world is the same as it is today up until this point.

[Inyssius Tor]

Continued: our earthly enemies would probably attack us, sensing weakness. Once the President manages to convince Congress of the truth, the USA would be under full-fledged attack on three or four fronts. The only thing that protects the world from nuclear war is America's stolen extraterrestrial defense net. As Russian tanks and Iranian death-squads rampage throughout our coastlines, the aliens return in force.

[kellandros]

It all depends on communication. If the aliens can't be understood, no one knows their side. So the person loudly shouting that they attacked us will be believed. Other countries would probably stay the ^#%# away from the war zone, unless called in by military treaty. And they could just be out to conquer us, or out for revenge for their slain scouts, or going to simply steal all our cows.

And just because you have reverse engineered weapons doesn't necessarily imply that the invasion is your fault. You could have captured their advanced scoutship that crashed(Roswell, always classic excuse), and worked from that.

Can also have some UFO cults go crazy in support of the visitors. Could become a rebel army, run to meet them with open arms and get slaughtered, be the only hope for peace, or just confuse the aliens at these strange unarmed creatures coming up and waving their limbs in their general direction.

Well the history of the world is the same as it is today up until this point.

Public, known history yes. Secret history, no(those aliens had to have stopped by in the past for their secrets to be studied). Could always toss in small random changes/influences in the past- have fun with conspiracies.

[TSGames]

I was thinking of making some sort of game where US government had secret alien technology and was reverse engineering it. To the public everything is normal and same history as today, however one day aliens arrive and a battle begins in Los Vegas. After the battle large amount of collateral damage occurs and forces the president to make a presidential address. Now how would the world respond to the president claiming that the disaster in Los Vegas was caused by alien aggression and all United States members active, reserver/guard are to return to their duty stations and all inactive reserve troops are activated and head to towards nearest base for further instructions.

(Was in a rush to post this had to goto work)

Press if President=Conservative "OMGWTFBBQ!!!!IMPEACH!!!
Press if President=Liberal, "----"(silence)

The citizens would have a hard time dealing with it as a very large pecentage of Americans are REALLY stupid. When you force people of that mindset to confront a reality that they have already deemed impossible the most immediate is always anger. I think you could expect the president to be impeached, you could also expect the majority party in both the house and the senate to become the minority party in the next election(assuming they belong to the same party as The President). You could expect riots. You could expect internet comical videos making fun of the president within a week. The world? Well...I'm not so sure..Off topic: OMG!!!!WTF!!! Starcraft II is coming out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *COMMENCE IMPLOSION*

[Yahzi]

Continued: our earthly enemies would probably attack us, sensing weakness.

Um. Not unless the enemy had already made a deal with them.

Most people - even the Chinese - are likely to prefer Americans running America than aliens running America.

[Lemur]

I'm inclined to say, "however is most convenient for purposes of the campaign." Depending on what you want the PCs to do, the nations of the world could unite, fracture, or try as hard as possible to deny and ignore the incoming threat. The PCs may need to work to get evidence into the open if countries try to ignore the threat. Riots could break out if you want the PCs to deal with widespread chaos.

If you're not sure that a given reaction would ordinarily occur, put alien agents working undercover to sow disorder, such as instigating riots, or infiltrating governments to alter policy/delay reaction.

[Suzaku]

Well here is the game world if people wants to know more about it.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43833

[Yechezkiel]

Eden Studios has a game called Conspiracy X, that might give you some ideas. Under Cell Support and Background they have a cool timeline of their story http://www.edenstudios.net/games.html.

I haven't played this one but they have a lot of great games.

[LoopyZebra]

My Stargate sense is tingling...

May I draw your attention to Episode 5 of Season 8 of Stargate SG-1. Therein, SG-1 travels to another world which is in the midst of a cold war (much like Earth's). Their appearance causes massive unrest, leading to riots and revolution. Country A is forced to declare martial law, and Country B fall apart into civil war. As revolutionaries take control of Country B, nukes are fired, cities are destroyed, and there's essentially two dictatorships in place. Another episode, from Season 9, has the sequel to the aforementioned episode.

There are certain factors which make the exact turnout of events implausible for Earth, but I think the focus on the early part is substantial. There's massive unrest, possibly rioting, which may result in martial law. Depending on how dramatic the alien invasion is, the government may become more and more authoritarian. I'm compelled to reference a recent episode, where General Landry becomes Dictator-President in an alternate timeline due to the overwhelming Ori threat. Here it is. I thought it was Season 11, though. Odd.

As to world reaction, I have another episode to reference, but it may not be that relevant, as it's not a public disclosure. The episode from Season 11 also deals with this, resulting in a worldwide diplomatic fallout. It depends on how eminent the alien threat is. There's going to be some ties broken and some political structures shattered because of the alien invasion. However, a major enough threat might force the world to work together to fight them off, even if they don't like it, much like the US and the USSR working together to fight off the Germans.

Well, I hope the specific examples will help. But then again, they're in context, with a different world, so it may or may not be applicable to your world's situation. Honestly, I think they do provide some ideas.

EDIT: One or two of the episodes involving Kewlona might provide some material, but everyday I live is but another chance to forget Jonas Quinn.

[Truwar]

Nobody would attack the US, if current events are any judge several nations would jam their collective heads up their collective bottoms while perhaps calling the US insensitive to the Aliens point of view or perhaps intimating that is what the US’ fault that the Aliens were attacking them.

That being said, most countries would recognize the threat of an extra-terrestrial enemy. That would probably be the single most powerful influence for world unity that has ever existed. Enemies of the US would probably either sit tight or offer aid, the US can get pretty dang nasty when properly riled.

You would see the US government fall COMPLETELY in line behind the President. 9/11 caused the same effect and it would be even more intense in this situation. Liberal or Conservative, when an outside threat comes at the US politicians know that the “Really Stupid Americans” have very little patience with partisanship when the country is under external threat.

BTW try living somewhere besides the US before you condemn a “Very Large Percentage” of Americans as less than intelligent.

[Emperor Tippy]

A very large percentage of humanity is stupid. Not just Americans.

But to the OP's question: The American people woudl fall in line behind the president and be out for blood. Public support would be higher than it was in WW2.

The rest of the world would get in line behind America. None of the are stupid enough to attack the US.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Yeah, think about it- we're talking about an intergalactic threat that's very clearly against humanity. Most nations are going to want to repel this since we're all human. Some nations may hold deep grudges against America that may limit their involvement, but at the very least they'll send a few supplies to prevent an impending global takeover.

The US government, if it had the alien's tech, would probably either disavow knowledge of having it early and just start handing it out to their branches as the war starts, explaining that they "just got it working as fast as we could", or limit it to elite strike forces that aren't meant to be seen by the public so as to not raise suspicions. If there's a leak, they'll just deny it. There will be some civil unrest over those that realize the government's lying, and though rather unlikely, maybe a coup attempt, but no one's going to try and disassemble their greatest strength in combatting the alien menace out of anger over being lied to. Threat of annihilation is sort of a lot higher on the totem pole.

Some small communities may try to ally with the aliens, but I can't see this happening with entire nations due to the loss of control and stability this would result in, plus the fact that they'd suddenly have enemies all around them from the rest of humanity. These people that join the extraterrestrials will be despised as traitors of the entire planet and likely killed on sight, so their actions will likely be limited to espionage since a standing army is completely out of the question (attracts too much attention from the missile equipped and very tense world). These traitors could make wonderful plot points.

There will be a sudden race to develop spaceborn ships equipped for combat that will inevitably encompass the entire world's resources. We'll likely take scientific ideas from our invaders in order to build quick engines and any sort of defensive or offensive gear the enemies might be using, plus every couple of them will likely be home to some of the thousands of nukes we've all been stockpiling over the years. Using them on Earth would be too risky, but space? Let 'em eat uranium.

Towards the end of the war, humanity's climate will change dramatically. Governments may be entirely decentralized and conjoined to form a human initiate. We may not entirely dissolve all of our seperate governments, but most will certainly form together to make super powers. Our resources are just too damnably small compared to an extraterrestrial threat to function seperated out as we are, and it'll be the smaller nations that realize this first (since it may not take more then a few hours for some of them to be entirely subjugated).

Finally, if there's an end to the war that results in a human victory, it's going to require something drastic. All things considered, we should inevitably lose a war like that. We just don't have the resources and our tech's too new. Either we develop enough to start assaulting smaller planets and stations owned by the aliens in order to begin conquering the known universe bit by bit until we can match them (like how Alexander the Great defeated Persia), or we discover a way to commit mass genocide through igniting a catastrophe, along the lines of pushing a moon into their home planet or something else about as horrifying. Either way, our victory will not come easy and it won't be pretty.

[Cyborg Pirate]

A very large percentage of humanity is stupid. Not just Americans.

- it's just that the most of em seem to come from the US.



As I see it, while the american goverment would rally behind the president in this case, the rest of the world would sit and wait. Knowing politics as it is, unless the aliens attacked other countries then the US, the whole world would just kinda go "hmmm, that's an interesting problem you guys are having. If you don't mind, we'll just sit back and see how you deal with it".

Keep in mind guys, that the US is hardly one of the most popular countries in the world these days. Unless the aliens actually hit other countries, the other countries will Not be rushing to help. Once the aliens do hit other places then the US, expect the earth to rally vs the menace from outer space (ofcourse, with still a mass of political fighting going on behind the scenes. Each country will want to come out in the most advantageous position possible in the event that they did defeat the aliens).

[Suzaku]

As for matching them I was thinking of having the the aliens already engage in a galactic war about the size of World War II if it was a galactic war.

[TheOtherMC]

I was thinking of making some sort of game where US government had secret alien technology and was reverse engineering it. To the public everything is normal and same history as today, however one day aliens arrive and a battle begins in Los Vegas. After the battle large amount of collateral damage occurs and forces the president to make a presidential address. Now how would the world respond to the president claiming that the disaster in Los Vegas was caused by alien aggression and all United States members active, reserver/guard are to return to their duty stations and all inactive reserve troops are activated and head to towards nearest base for further instructions.

(Was in a rush to post this had to goto work)

MACROSS!!!!

[Viscount Einstrauss]

EDIT: I listed the likely aid we'd receive according to modern politics, but I just realized that this breaks forum rules. I'll sum it up as saying, when you think about it, the United States would probably get a lot more aid then you'd think in such a scenario. Also, who's to say the aliens strike at nothing but the US when they come? That seems silly.

[Cyborg Pirate]

MACROSS!!!!

*Has an attack of nostalgia*

Actually, America does have quite a few powerful allies that would more then certainly help out in a situation like this. The UN would likewise follow suit. The rest of the America and UN-hating world may sit on their hands for a little while, but why would the aliens strike only America? That one hit in Las Vegas is pretty much random chance. I can think of no reason for the aliens to centralize their entire attack within the United States alone, especially since our allies would be feeding us more equipment and troops and thus would need to be handled.

To give a few of the big names, we'd most certainly see help from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. We'd then very likely see at least a little aid from Russia, practically the rest of Europe, China, India, Australia, much of South and Central America (way, way too close for comfort), South Africa, many of the northeastern African countries, Israel, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The big questionable ends are the Middle East, much of Eastern Asia, and over half of Africa. We have some great allies out there. The United States might look a lot like the bad guys right now in the world climate, but we've both looked worse and elicited help anyway in times of need. Vietnam and Korea, anyone?

Good Lord you are optimistic! If you live in america - have you been abroad lately? Even if the goverments of those countries were to want to help america, the populations would protest instantly.

[Suzaku]

The fact that Aurora Fighters are capable of transforming into giant robots and gerwalk modes, I would say I was inspired by Macross

[LoopyZebra]

There's a certain difference between wars in the Middle East and world-threatening alien invasions. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and all that.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Gah, I edited that out myself due to forum rules, but I'll stand by it. Our current political mess has just stirred up the common anti-American sentiment that's existed for at least the past century. It's mostly because of the United States' perceived arrogance and expansionist tendancies- which while arguably true, is blown out of proportion. I was only called a no-good American once while touring through Europe these past few years :P

[Rasumichin]

The public will be divided between a "rally round the flag"-effect and complete, the-end-is-near-bring-out-your-dead-terror, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Imagine 9/11 multiplied by tenthousand.

As far as political leaders are concerned, the U.S. will definitely call for help from everyone who is "willing to prevent the complete and utter destruction of humanity".

NATO-members will almost certainly heed this call, since, in case of an alien invasion, it is a rational choice to side with the strongest military force on the planet.

However, they will be faced with the tough decission wether to use full force to halt the invasion as long as it only affects the U.S. or to keep as many troops as possible in the homeland, in case that the aliens should attack elsewhere.

Germany will most likely be eager to offer help, but will try to restrict it to a couple of KSK-members (SpecOps) and otherwise noncombatant units, btw.
France will limit assistance to a symbolic amount if possible.
Australia, several eastern European states, Denmark and the UK will presumably side closely with the U.S., Canada and Mexico will do as much as possible, since the invasion is practically happening next door (even though one might also consider the entire planet to be "next door" in a scenario like this).

Third world nations will be unable to help, lacking the possibility for fast troop deployment.
For similar reasons, the People's Republic of China could, even if it wanted to, not even send a part of their vast, but technologically disadvantaged army.

Japan will most likely assist the USA, assuming that interior opposition to military engagement abroad has diminished in recent years.
However, their behaviour might resemble that of Germany, given the sceptic view of the public towards military engagement in both countries.

The U.S. might also almost certainly be forced to retreat massive amounts of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.


Joining forces with the invaders might be a rare case, given the cataclysmic scope of the event (remember that practically every state in the world at least acted solidaricly immediately after 9/11- and an alien invasion is much worse), but could, allthough mostly for purposes of plot, incur among several states with a rather opportunist or openly antiamerican foreign policy, such as Iran.

[TheOtherMC]

Joining forces with the invaders might be a rare case, given the cataclysmic scope of the event (remember that practically every state in the world at least acted solidaricly immediately after 9/11- and an alien invasion is much worse), but could, allthough mostly for purposes of plot, incur among several states with a rather opportunist or openly antiamerican foreign policy, such as Iran.

"I for one welcome out new alien overlords."

[Cyborg Pirate]

There's a certain difference between wars in the Middle East and world-threatening alien invasions. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and all that.

Rule 29: "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, no more, no less."

I was only called a no-good American once while touring through Europe these past few years :P

We europeans tend to be friendly to single tourists. But being friendly and assisting in a war we didn't start and are not hit by are two different things.

[Rasumichin]

"I for one welcome out new alien overlords."

As i wrote, possible, if not required, by plot necessities, but not likely under plausibility aspects.

However, i do not want to test if application of social sciences also kills catgirls.

[Demented]

Representing an alien race, I just have to ask...

Why would we bother forging an alliance with one of your countries? You make terrible slaves. You're weak, disobedient and unreliable. You make terrible allies. You're untrustworthy, hostile, and self-interested. You make even worse pets, for all the above-mentioned reasons. Lastly, you stink.

As an aside: We would suggest that you learn hygiene, but it's likely beyond your primitive vesicles to succeed in anything more advanced than the scraping and rubbing you so repeatedly require. At least, doing so would be impossible without some ages of evolution, which, need it be said, we won't be giving you.

In the short term, an alliance may lower resistance and allow the immediate creation of facilities on uncontested ground, but in the long term we're just going to have to stab you in the back before you do the same to us. Even besides that, we'll need advance bases in more and better locations than the few countries that do capitulate to our rule. The continuing pressure and discord we could apply by overwhelmingly advancing on your home territory would also outweigh any advantage gained from being able to establish a foothold peacefully in surrendered territory. We are every bit as self-serving as you are, just more intelligent; we have no need for your alliances. In fact, given that we have the resources provided by several planets, technology refined with aeons of precision, as well as a general detest of your species, wiping you out is easier and more fulfilling.

Have a nice day.

P.S.
By the way, we will be taking your naked blonde women anyway. It's in the instruction manual.

[Pirate_King]

Am I the only one who sees this and thinks "Independence Day" at first glance?