This idea gets kicked around every few years. Each plan gets about halfway there before it runs into a giant, unforeseen obstacle.

Fixed that for you.

I'm not convinced "investors fail to show much interest" can really be classified as unforeseen, particularly in an age when the economy is in freefall, cruise ships are in disrepute, and there's been very little call for ocean liners (n.b. which are not the same thing as cruise ships) since 1958.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Yeah, these crazy nutters always pop up just as the economy is either on the precipice or in the process of mimicking the Titanic's death plunge, when investors are keeping a stranglehold on their money, and trying to sell folks on the idea of recreating one of the world's greatest maritime disasters.

Oh the other hand, there apparently is nobody in a rush to rebuild the Hindenburg.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Shark Bait

Your economy's in trouble, but we survived the GFC pretty well (thanks largely, as alluded to below, to some incredibly profitable mining ventures, of which Clive Palmer is a major beneficiary). And China, who are building the thing, are doing pretty nicely as well.

Basically we have the resources, we have the technology...

This version's the brainchild of Clive Palmer, an Australian mining magnate whose other claims to fame include public ally accusing one of our political parties of being run by the CIA, attempting to line his golf course with 150 life-size animatronic dinosaurs and being rich as fuck. My girlfriend's got an interest in mining and thinks he won't go through with it, but I'm not sure.

Hopefully, he won't go so far into 'accuracy uber alles' that it doesn't comply with modern safety standards, like watertight compartments that aren't water tight, or only having enough life boats for a fraction of the crew and passengers... if it gets built at all.

"They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid piece of harness. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot; and went on."
-- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington

Unlike the original, however, Titanic II will feature a modern hospital, a helicopter landing pad, full air-conditioning and access to high-speed internet. Also, unlike the first ship, it has more than enough lifeboats and evacuation equipment for all passengers and crew should the unthinkable happen and history repeat itself. It was a point that Palmer was careful to dwell on. “They are very safe,” he said of the fleet of lifeboats that Titanic II will carry. “They are modernised. They are enclosed. You could go around the world in them,” he said.

...

But Palmer, a jovial and brash mogul who likes to style himself "professor", refused to be drawn into predicting that his new boat would be “unsinkable” – and thus avoided repeating an act of hubris that the backers of the first Titanic famously made. “Anything will sink if you put a hole in it,” Palmer admitted of Titanic II. But he joked that due to global warming the risks of travelling through the waters near the Arctic circle had lessened considerably. “There are not so many icebergs in the North Atlantic these days,” he said.

A bit rich coming from a coal baron, but fair point I suppose.

Man, that's what was missing from NXE: no batshit-crazy Australians. Then again, is Australia even there any more after Second Impact? I'd have to dig up some figures and do the math...

>My girlfriend's got an interest in mining

... wait, as in she's invested in some mining companies, or as in she thinks mineral extraction is cool? If the former, OK, fair enough, but if the latter, awesome.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Thankfully, past-you already gave this some thought...

The United States of Australia and New Zealand
Though badly battered by their proximity to the Second Impact, and thus slower to recover than any other major industrialised nation, Australia-New Zealand is a firm supporter of the X-COM/NERV alliance and has supplied considerable manpower for X-COM's emergency military build-up.

Better than I could have hoped for, to be honest. I expect what with rising sea levels and all that most of our capital cities would be flooded, but Canberra and the other inland centres will probably be safe.

>>My girlfriend's got an interest in mining
>
>... wait, as in she's invested in some mining companies, or as in she
>thinks mineral extraction is cool? If the former, OK, fair enough,
>but if the latter, awesome.

She's more interested in taxing the shit out of some of our larger mining companies. I have a friend who does archeology for one of the big mining companies up in the Pilbera (north of Perth) if that's more up your alley.