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Worldbuilding

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  • $\begingroup$ Nuclear programs were so expensive because it took a lot of trial and error, but what if you just get really lucky in your trying? What if your scientists just happen to come up with the right theory (repeatedly), dodging the costly dead ends that everyone else went through. Of course, by now it's getting implausible, but not impossible. Switzerland was within a year of getting a nuke and while their engineering is on point, their industrial capacity definitely isn't (though also only with lessons from decades more of nuclear research) $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 17, 2025 at 13:16
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    $\begingroup$ Japan wasn't just after territory; they were after resources. Japan being a volcanic island doesn't have supplies of oil and the US putting an embargo on oil to Japan was a major problem. Thus, their initial attack included getting the Dutch East Indies which had oil. If there was a third power seeking resources, that would have caused even more problems. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 17, 2025 at 16:30
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    $\begingroup$ @QuestionablePresence Succinctly, Switzerland was able to become a nuclear threshold state because the nuclear bomb was an existing, proven technology and because nuclear power was known and well-developed. In the 30s, neither was true; no small country would gamble on it short of a time traveler spilling nuclear secrets from the future to them. That might be an interesting story! $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 23, 2025 at 21:27
  • $\begingroup$ @rartorata or one highly delusional, politically connected nuclear scientist that just continues to get lucky experiment after experiment. Which is why they think it'll be easy enough to risk it, convincing clueless politicians with the quick progress, don't forget that a country risking anything isn't necessarily tied to realistic assessments, that's just how we all hope the world works. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 5 at 13:08
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    $\begingroup$ @QuestionablePresence I was operating under the assumption that it was a realistic country in the South Pacific (typical populations in the tens of thousands). And even successful experiments aren't cheap or easy; miraculously avoiding any false starts would have made the Manhattan Project faster and cheaper, but not by as much as you'd like. And the difficulty of convincing higher-ups that these experiments really will be miraculously successful every single time will make getting the project off the ground all but impossible. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 16 at 22:50