Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20190126081959/@comment-25936766-20190204010706

MetallicArcher wrote: 1) Yeah, but what is worst? Atlas landing on the ground, where it is sure to take Mantle and a good chunk of Solitas with it? Or landing on the ocean, where it will cause a tsunami that won't necessarily reach Mantle?

2) Also, momentum depends on speed. If it goes through the portal when the speed is close to zero and the other portal is close enough to the surface it will land on, the momentum might be more manageable. 1) Depends on what you care about more, and whether you're thinking short-term or long-term. If it falls on Mantle, it will just leave a giant crater and cause a short-lived earthquake. If it falls on the ocean the tsunami could hit Argus.

Mantle is practically forgotten by Atlas, as was mentioned by the businessman talking to Jacques at the party and supported by the WoR; the Kingdom focused on the academy and grew around it, at the expense of Mantle.

Argus, on the other hand, is Atlas's last remaining active territory out of Solitas (that we know at least), not to mention their most direct and safest line of connection to Mistral. Living in a frozen wasteland, Argus's mere existence is necesary to get food from Mistral, unless they want to eat nothing but shaved ice for the next quarter of the year.

Both cases can potentially have a high amount of casualties, and both will heavily hurt Atlas's economy. Comparatively however, falling on Mantle kills more people, falling on Argus affects the economy harder, which in itself can cause more casualties since negativity brings Grimm.

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2) Momentum also depends on mass: The more massive, the harder to stop. And your idea in the rest of that paragraph would maybe decrease damage and make the fall more manageable, but it will still hit the ground quite hard and even if it didn't, Atlas itself will be hit hard.

Let's say the portal is placed at the bottom of Atlas. The tip passes through and inmediately touches the ground below. It would be safe and not really damaging.....Except Atlas is a huge chunk of rock, and the rest of that rock would continue to fall.

As that happens more and more of it passes through and ends up on the ground, and because pressure and weight is a thing, this means that the portions that had already crosses the portal would be pushing down on the earth harder and harder every passing moment. Which, naturally, means all those structures on the underside of Atlas will be crushed to dust.

And that rock Atlas is in is not really something that would be stable on the ground. The underside isn't flat or even spherical, even with the under-buildings included; it would tilt in some direction even if it landed 100% safely on the ground, because of the distribution of weight between the underside's surface and the actual city it's supporting.

And more internally, the people would likely lift off the ground as Atlas falls, even if the fall is shortened by the portal. Then they would hit the floor hard once it finishes landing. And then you add all the panic that would cause. There's also the fact that Atlas has a long elevator connecting both cities. If the portal idea is used, that thing will have to go.

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Now, I'm 100% certain Atlas would do a good job of evacuating the people if Atlas falls...but if something can even cause it to fall it most likely will also interfere with the evacuation.