The DEFCON levels in "Five".

[Scoldon]

I researched the DEFCON numbers and found something wierd. DEFCON 1 means basically Nuclear war. In Five we have to lower the DEFCON security level to DEFCON 5. And how do we do that? By activating four levers. So if I do my math right:5-4=1. So Five occurs at DEFCON 1 wich again, is Nuclear war. This also takes place after The Cuban Missile Crisis as one of the characters comments about it (don't remember who ). So a nuclear war was treated the same as the zombie breakout? Or did they plan blowing up the zombies? I'm just interested if anyone has the answer.

[InfestLithium]

During this time period, the Cuban Missile Crisis - which occurred in October 1962 - happened during the Kennedy administration. At the same time, we were actually in the Atomic Age as well as the Space Race with the USSR. Since we start off with no power in Five and the level automatically at DEFCON 1, it could have simply been in response to the missile crisis scare.

Zombies were very imminent, but just not in America (or so we believe). Nuclear warfare wouldn't be considered similar to a zombie outbreak; besides, wouldn't you increase the DEFCON level in-game instead of lowering it? Of course, that may be just to access the Situation Room, but it seems sensible to be set at Level 1 instead of Level 5.

[Scoldon]

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG! Just kidding you aren't wrong, It's just that this: Cubans established missile launch sites in Cuba 144 kilometers away from ze coasts of Florida and the launch sites would put many cities within the range of Soviet nuclear warheads. During that Fidel Castro basically spitted on American dictatorship in Cuba and mocked the CIA about the mission to kill him. Cuba was armored with turrets to defeat the CIA invasion while CIA had agents in Cuba to opress the Cubans. The invasion began on 1961 April the 15th when air raids sent by the CIA started bombarding the Cuban airfields. Castro on the other hand captured nearly 1,200 of the agents in Cuba and 100 of them got killed while some escaped to sea.later in July the 6th the USA placed medium-range Jupiter missiles

In Turkey to treathen the Soviets. Krushchev responded by persuading Castro to allow Soviet strategic nuclear weapons to be based in Cuba. US intelligence then discovered that the Soviets were sending A boat named Kasimov that was carrying IL-28 Beagle bombers capable of bearing nuclear warheads.In the end Faced with the threat of nuclear war, the two sides reached a compromise. In return for Kennedy's promise not to invade Cuba, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles. And in "Five" Kennedy quotes about the missile crisis. Fidel Castro is also there. Kennedy was assasinated at 22 november 1963. So "Five" happens shortly after the missile crisis. That is in 1962.So "Five" and Ascencion happens between December 1962- October 1963. Hope that this clears it out. :)

[InfestLithium]

You just proved my point even more.

I never questioned Five's place in the zombie timeline; I only made a point that Five occurs after the Cuban Missile Crisis and that the DEFCON level being at 1 was a result of that. I'm glad you strengthened the condition of Five's time and date, but I was answering your question about DEFCON.

[bagel_]

Uh, guys, aren't we forgetting the missile launched in Ascension was launched during the events of Five? I mean, if we do stick by history, the lowest DEFCON ever achieved was DEFCON 2, never actually at 1. We were in a Soviet Cosmodome when the missiles were launched, giving further evidence of Nuclear War. So, considering this supposedly happened during the Cold War, it was safe for Kennedy to say that we were at Nuclear War. Not to mention our somewhat ignorant O4 launched the rocket simply to gain access to the PaP. You can destroy the rocket in mid air at Ascension, and forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we can use this to confirm that we actually did destroy it in the storyline, considering it never hit America as far as we know, and Nuclear War didn't happen.

Now, is it possible that they turned it to 1 from the zombie attack? It's possible, but that isn't really the purpose of the DEFCON Levels.