Ask Lemmy

I've played enough RimWorld to know I wouldn't be totally ok in any of these scenarios.

All it takes is a random bug bite or infection and home meds just won't be enough.

A. Dead. It's freaking Peru and I'm a tubby weakling from the swamps. The elements will strike me down.

B. Fine. I got an alpaca wool poncho so I won't be that out of place. I'll bring some survival books and a bug out bag.

C. New World Order. "Ok fellas you see all these funky looking codices on multiple shelves? Some of them have your future and the future of the peoples living on the continent north of you. See these maps, accurate to the finger length. All yours for the price of making friends with the altepeme around Lake Texcoco and killing anyone with my skin color immediately for the rest of time."

A) totally fucked

B) pretty fucked, but if the wildlife doesn't get me I might stand a chance

C) gonna be a learning curve but should be good to go really

The world is littered with the unmarked graves of explorers from the Age of Exploration who had: D) every piece of equipment that money could buy and experience could suggest.

The ones who survived being stranded in remote environments did so not by virtue of their possessions or preparations, but by throwing themselves on the mercy of the local inhabitants.

If I have the contents of my home, then I probably have enough scientific knowledge in the form of books to start my own scientific revolution provided I can get enough people to listen to me.

Dead Dead Dead

I have a kidney transplant and require medication to live.

A) I'm very resourceful and have formal wilderness training, but naked and completely foreign environs... Probably not going to do so well, especially if the weather is harsh.

B) Pretty well. My backpack is my bag of tricks and my daily loadout includes my multitool, an IFAK, some clothing layers, and two water bottles. But it's still going to be a challenge because of completely foreign environs.

C) Perfectly awesome, living my best life. My home is my sailboat with solar, 40000Wh battery storage, water makers, extensive first aid, dried food and spices, and more books, movies, and video games than I could possibly finish in my remaining years.

A) Dead by dawn B) Dead in a month, probably from malaria or other local fauna, maybe from indigenous people C) Probably still dead by the end of the year from disease, but I do have a stockpile of food.

I'm not a survivalist, but I'm also not a meal planner, so having a bunch of canned and dried food makes throwing together meals easier. I have guns. A .308, and a guide gun, some handguns, which will be mostly useless. And a bunch of ammo, because for a few years I'd buy boxes of .308 on sales and bought way more than I shot; and I have everything needed to reload the guide gun because 45-70 ammo is damned expensive. So I could hunt and defend the house reasonably well, although indigenous peoples would still get me in the jungle if I left the house.

But, honestly, disease or wildlife would almost certainly get me sooner rather than later. No penicillin. Limited supply of pain medication, flouride. No knowledge of Peruvian wildlife outside of knowing that there are venemous animals and predators capable of taking humans. I don't speak native Peruvian, whatever the languages were 720 years ago, so I can't communicate with the natives. I don't know what's edible and what's poisonous, so unless I go full Keto, I'm going hungry. It would be absurdly presumptuous to believe I could last any amount of time.

A) totally fucked

B) totally fucked but I might live through the day

C) still totally fucked but I might become a hermit or something if I get really lucky.

I'd be fucked, I don't know how to camp and I don't speak any language that would be spoken then and there.

A) No, I like my jacket too much. Also I'd just die.

B) Also no. All I carry with me is phone, keys, wallet - all of which are useless on their own.

C) I think I'd like to give this a go. I have a couple of weeks of food in the house, I've got all my books. Kinda sucks not having electric once the batteries die - we have solar panels but they're on a shed roof so all I'd get to take is the batteries and inverter! I'd expect to find potatoes in Peru which I could recognise and know how to turn into food, plus I know (in theory) how to test which plants are edible. My main concerns would be not speaking the language and not having the right skin colour. But I often think about whether it would be fun to live in the wilderness in prehistoric times (or I guess 1300s Peru..) and if I get to keep my books too, that sounds great! I'd probably die in a couple of years, especially if I try to stay alone, but why not try it?

If I survive, can I finally get the title of Eagle Scout?

To all the people in here saying "I could warn them and help them prepare to take on the conquistadores" while the sentiment is good, the conquistadores weren't the ones that wiped them out, it was smallpox and other diseases. So unless you can synthesize a vaccine, or just expose them to it then so they can recover population in a couple centuries, they're doomed no matter what.

A) Probably okay-ish? I was in the scouts and I'm not completely incompetent at being outdoorsy.

B) Overnight bag probably isn't much help. At least my breath will be minty.

C) Enjoy the new timeline bitches, because I am now the 14th century's most powerful military.

I'll be okay with it. Dead soon obviously, but I wouldn't be too bummed.

A. Dead within a day unless helped by a stranger

B. Probably still dead soon but at least I have clothes, I normally carry nothing of use

C. There is a chance I live long enough to learn how to survive with knives, a handgun, and some amount of food and drink. If I get the tools from my garage I guess I can build a makeshift shelter. Probably still a betting favorite to die within a week unless I can find and somehow ingratiate myself to some locals by giving them cool stuff.

A) Depends entirely on how long the locals put up with my uselessness. I might just die of diarrhea too, considering I have nil immunity to local germs and there's no sanitation.

B) My clothes are now the finest textiles on earth, and I carry a multitool. In some ways, it might actually be better if I was naked and pitiful. Maybe they'll take me seriously long enough that I can build something for them, or find a kind of type clerical work that they actually need. Or, maybe they immediately rob me, kill me and dispose of the body before the other pale giants show up.

C) Hmm, more interesting in a sense, although in many ways it's just a bigger version of the clothes problem. I couldn't really defend my house if they decide not to respect my ownership (and why would they? it was feudal times). And a whole building appearing from thing air is pretty much proof magic is afoot, which can go multiple ways.

If they decide to humour me, I could do serious work for them pretty much immediately. These are people who still do a lot of things with stone tools. I can also introduce them to some new crops.

Totally fucked on all counts. I hope the indigenous Peruvians take me in as some kind of oddity. Although I don't want to start the spread of New World diseases early so maybe I'll go find a cliff or something. It'll be less painful.

I would travel as far and as long as I could before I died, exposing people to my germs and viruses so they have a stronger immunity when the Spanish arrive.

Dead you introduce diseases and they introduce diseases from each other and you can't give them immunity. Almost like time travel is just 1/4 of time travel

I speak Spanish so I would be fine

I have a high-end compound bow, arrows, a few firewood axes, a hatchet, a european style two-handed sword (a proper, functional one), a proper battle axe (both are wall decorations), heaps of rice, canned foods, winter and summer clothing, backcountry gear for traversing and climbing, fishing gear, and a boatload of other useful things for outdoor survival. I even have flint and steel.

I also built and lived in a tiny home on the side of a mountain for 5 years. I chopped wood every day for 5 years and used that to keep myself warm in the winters. While I'm no longer living like that, it taught me that I could hack it (pun intended).

If going for option two and I had 30 minutes to prep before teleport, I'd grab a large bag, fill it with some summer and winter clothes, wool socks, a few bags of rice, a metal water bottle and a filter, a pan to boil water, two camp knives, a hatchet, axe. I'd sling my bow, make sure I was wearing good shoes, pants, and outerwear, a hat, and glasses.

If I got teleported right now? I'm barefoot wearing board shorts, a light linen shirt, and my skivvies. I'd be fucked.

With all of them I'm at a real disadvantage due to not speaking any local languages, considering you basically need the locals for long term survival that puts one on the wrong foot to start off with.

Surviving A would require a lot of luck, B would be a bit more achievable as that would give me some clothes and a multitool but still very hard going as I know nothing substantial about the local bush food and dangers.

C is where I might actually have a chance as I have a lot of tools, camping gear, some food, and some books which might help (albeit nothing specifically on Peru except whatever's in the Encyclopaedia Britannica). Given luck I could probably manage solo for a while with this. What'd probably happen is the locals come along and make off with everything though so I wouldn't give good odds on long term survival.

For C are the belongings in a cave or hut or just left outside in the rain?

I have a lot of books, clothes and things to cook with so that would be nice.

A) Probably dead of heat or dead as I couldn't communicate with anyone B) I would have a translator and some clothes, books ,pen but nothing that useful C) I have a way to charge my devices and have the resources to become a magician.

Hmm.

1. Absolutely fucked

2. Still absolutely fucked

3. Ok for awhile I think. Until I was captured and killed for being some sort of impossible demon, or sacrificed as a prize because of unusual looks. Knives, tools to barter, rope, food. Nothing particularly good for hunting with.

At least with C I have a bunch of hand tools, camping gear, rope, life straws, water filters, medical kits, and alcohol. So I could feasibly live life as a hermit in a self built cabin.

A & B I’m totally fucked. I’ve watched all of Alone, I think I starve to death in weeks.

In all those situations I don’t speak any of their languages to defend or explain myself, so I’m fairly sure the locals will murder me.

A) Assimilate with the local people and probably be fine. Eventually use my wide, but mostly shallow knowledge on many subjects to start a scientific revolution and try to repel the Spanish-colonial shithead christo-fascists.

B) Assimilate with the local people and probably be fine. With the help of my smartphone and multi-tool; use my wide, but mostly shallow knowledge on many subjects to start a scientific revolution that will hopefully help repel the Spanish-colonial shithead christo-fascists.

C) Assimilate with the local people and probably be fine. With the help of my smartphone, multi-tool, and various technology examples of the common era, start a scientific revolution that will likely help repel the Spanish-colonial shithead christo-fascists.

In any of these scenarios, I would try to warn people about the Spanish-colonial shithead christo-fascists that are coming to fuck their shit.