November: The Able Archer Wargames take place in Belgium
April 26, 2015 10:51 AM Subscribe
ICBM is a game that allows you to take on the role of a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander. Set in November 1983, during the Able Archer war games, it aims to accurately simulate shifts at a bunker beneath Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.
Sam Myatt describes a playthrough and their reactions to what happened within the game.
The Most Realistic Cold War Game Is a Boredom Simulator
Sam Myatt describes a playthrough and their reactions to what happened within the game.
The Most Realistic Cold War Game Is a Boredom Simulator
...When humanity finally decides to burn this mother down, Evans and three of his comrades will be the ones who simultaneously turn the keys that launch the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with W78 thermonuclear warheads that will end the world.
For now, though, nothing is happening. Evans has a cold cup of coffee and orders to stand by. He watches the digital clock tick away in front of him while he waits for his eight hour shift to end.
Background that is probably in the links: Able Archer almost precipitated an actual, non-simulated nuclear war, because Soviet command elements couldn't figure out what all the activity was for.
posted by grobstein at 11:15 AM on April 26, 2015
"because Soviet command elements couldn't figure out what"
Operation RYAN was set up in order for the soviets to ascertain if the the U.S. might go FS. It is not that so much what they could not figure out (Andropov got sick in September, disappearing from public) as to what to look for. During AA, a lot of new protocols were set up, bases going quiet, etc. all pointed towards a possible strike under the guise of military exercises. As an aside, the Able Archer link is pretty good. Gordievsky gives an interesting account. I actually remember these times, esp KAL 007.
posted by clavdivs at 11:58 AM on April 26, 2015
Operation RYAN was set up in order for the soviets to ascertain if the the U.S. might go FS. It is not that so much what they could not figure out (Andropov got sick in September, disappearing from public) as to what to look for. During AA, a lot of new protocols were set up, bases going quiet, etc. all pointed towards a possible strike under the guise of military exercises. As an aside, the Able Archer link is pretty good. Gordievsky gives an interesting account. I actually remember these times, esp KAL 007.
posted by clavdivs at 11:58 AM on April 26, 2015
This: Boredom Simulator and the important lesson taught by Matthew Broderick to Joshua means I will be moving to another FPP.
posted by biffa at 12:21 PM on April 26, 2015
posted by biffa at 12:21 PM on April 26, 2015
Lesser trolls should pack it in. Davis has won.
posted by ob1quixote at 1:02 PM on April 26, 2015
posted by ob1quixote at 1:02 PM on April 26, 2015
The best thing about Able Archer, KAL 007, and that general period of the Cold War was the practice of sending American military assets screaming at the Soviet border, only to veer off at the last second. y'know, to see how the Soviets would react.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:44 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:44 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ray Walston, Luck Dragon: “The best thing about Able Archer, KAL 007, and that general period of the Cold War[…]”Which reminds me, no study of this era is complete without mentioning History's Greatest Hero: Stanislav Petrov.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:57 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ever notice that it always seems to be the Russians who saved our bacon numerous times during the Cols War? They knew what 20 million deaths looked like in 1945- a perspective we lack.
posted by pjern at 4:41 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by pjern at 4:41 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hi, I played computer games in the 1980s and I'm getting a kick out of these replies suggesting some games were not about ICBMs (and other Cold War gear) in the 80s.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:02 PM on April 26, 2015
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:02 PM on April 26, 2015
DEFCON is also a pretty great cold-war nuke game. Less of a boredom simulator.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:38 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by craven_morhead at 8:38 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'd argue that Abel Archer is probably the most poorly-understood major event of the Cold War. Public (official) sources are incredibly sketchy and circumspect about the actual events.
The National Security Archive on Abel Archer 83: Part I, Part II, Part III.
posted by kiltedtaco at 2:23 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
The National Security Archive on Abel Archer 83: Part I, Part II, Part III.
posted by kiltedtaco at 2:23 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Most Realistic Cold War Game Is a Boredom Simulator
The only way to make the Dakotas, eastern Wyoming and Montana more boring was to sit 100' underground on the off chance you need to turn a key that destroys the world.
posted by nathan_teske at 4:18 PM on April 27, 2015
The only way to make the Dakotas, eastern Wyoming and Montana more boring was to sit 100' underground on the off chance you need to turn a key that destroys the world.
posted by nathan_teske at 4:18 PM on April 27, 2015
SKYBIRD, this is DROPKICK with RED-ALPHA message in two parts. BREAK BREAK
posted by Sunburnt at 5:51 PM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Sunburnt at 5:51 PM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Wikipedia, even when sourced OK, sometimes exaggerates for effect but based on this article the 1995 Black Brant scare seems more frightening than the 1983 Able Archer scare - didn't happen during a war-game or military exercise, happened after the Cold War was over, happened even though the Norwegian scientists notified the right authorities in advance, led to reportedly (I feel this especially needs more sourcing than Wikipedia has right now) to the closest moment push-the-button decision point a nuclear power has got.
Yeah, hard to evaluate based on what Wikipedia has. One fact they give is that the 1995 incident is the only time that a head of state activated the nuclear football in anticipation of a launch order. Which is scary!
But a launch by a head of state using a nuclear football is not the only scenario for nuclear war, obviously. The Soviets didn't adopt their nuclear football till 1985. And commanders below the level of head of state have sometimes had the authority (and the power) to initiate nuclear launches. (The Soviets apparently had an automated Doomsday machine that could launch the arsenal without a human trigger -- a fact they kept secret from the Americans, even though they presumably built it for its deterrent value. You may remember this as a plot point from Dr. Strangelove.)
posted by grobstein at 10:45 AM on May 2, 2015
Yeah, hard to evaluate based on what Wikipedia has. One fact they give is that the 1995 incident is the only time that a head of state activated the nuclear football in anticipation of a launch order. Which is scary!
But a launch by a head of state using a nuclear football is not the only scenario for nuclear war, obviously. The Soviets didn't adopt their nuclear football till 1985. And commanders below the level of head of state have sometimes had the authority (and the power) to initiate nuclear launches. (The Soviets apparently had an automated Doomsday machine that could launch the arsenal without a human trigger -- a fact they kept secret from the Americans, even though they presumably built it for its deterrent value. You may remember this as a plot point from Dr. Strangelove.)
posted by grobstein at 10:45 AM on May 2, 2015
The Soviets never quite activated Dead Hand, their fully-automated system, but they did have a command-system called Perimeter, which had some relatively junior human controllers in remote bunkers who could launch in the event of a loss of communication with Moscow (and other circumstances), presuming a decapitation strike.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:57 AM on May 8, 2015
posted by Sunburnt at 10:57 AM on May 8, 2015
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