Pressed against the wall with nothing to lose, the Chinese finally launched a nuclear first strike on October 23, 2077, in a last-ditch effort to knock America out of the game. Six hours later, the Integrated Operational Nuclear Detection System detected the first four missile launches and the United States went to DEFCON 2. Four minutes later, NORAD confirmation sealed the fate of the world. The nuclear exchange continued for two hours, until silence fell across the land. The standard type of nuclear warhead used in the Great War would actually be far worse for the Earth than the initial blasts as they deposited more soil and debris into the lower atmosphere resulting in a much more concentrated fallout that would envelop the environment. The entire world had been blanketed with multiple nuclear strikes, most cities being hit multiple times, and the world and its entire ecosystem being irrevocably changed for centuries to come.