Good Ideas in this thread so far.
There are, in my experience, two ways to look at MP logistics (LOLgistics) and Supply Caches:
As written, which I have played, they are part of MP canonical lore. As a player and collector of everything MP my take is that all of the module authors had a common goal/theme that they developed. Mind you, I don't believe that they did this in concert or planned it out, but it was consistently developed across the various modules
The modules used elements like "don't underestimate the locals" and "let your players think they are invulnerable and then teach them a lesson" frequently. Even finding a supply cache was supposed to be difficult with the Project Director being encouraged to allow players to find the cache location on their AutoNavs and then forcing the players at the table to look around or use their metal detectors to try and find the entry point to the cache. Dig it up and then figure out how to open it. Make it hard to get things out of the hole in the ground. Have it be raining or have them be under fire or being chased while they try to find it.
Frankly I always got a feeling that the authors were telling the players, "good luck punks!" And I think this was because the PCs were SUPPOSED to have it tough. This was not meant to be a gonzo Gamma World type of TEOTWAWKI, with high tech glossed over top of a fantasy world. It was supposed to make the PCs really have to do without, improvise, adapt and rebuild (not overcome, that is for Twilight 2K).
To that end, why make LOLgistics easy? Give them a handful of supply caches, let them struggle to find them, make it hard for them to move the stuff out of there, make it so they routinely lose their toys, make them sorry they ever went into the freeze tubes, don't even give them a home to go back to! Think about a one use, can't close the door hole in the ground that says GET OUT. Think about the modules or adventures start with the bolt hole already compromised.
This is really useful from a PD/GM/DM perspective: they HAVE to leave the bolt hole and go find adventure, they HAVE to make friends locally for the sake of eating more than 3-months out of the hole (add up how many rations are actually in a standard loadout), and one good firefight against the Imps/Slavers/Krell Scouts etc. later they HAVE to go find a cache to top off their magazines and replace the NVGs. MP modules are what D&D gamers would call a "killer dungeon." Not just because of the danger offered by the opposition but also the risk from the environment and the constant admonishment from the authors to not let the players off the hook for bad choices.
From my personal observations of groups that have played MP using the original modules some start off as "we come from the past with boom sticks-bow before my might!" and don't really try to get into the rebuilding mission. For those groups that do start the rebuilding mission the job is hard but do-able if they enlist the help of the locals.
Again, MP LOLgistics as written are a tool for the PD to create adventure and keep the PCs on a leash. If you are feeling generous you can let them find a cache with a minimum of difficulty, but ambush them on the way back to Riverton with their haul. That is an easy day in MP.
The second way to look at MP LOLgistics is what is done on this and other discussion boards; the "real world" way.
- How would we do this if we knew we only had 25 years to prepare.
- What kind of efficiencies would we use?
- How would we plan for recon and rebuild knowing almost everything else was destroyed?
Frankly, salting small teams all over the country with no secure rebuilding base doesn't make as much sense as a moderate number of regional bases with large stocks of supplies and a wealth of expert and specialist staff that can be well defended and act as a hub for rebuilding. IMHO of course.
This thread makes sense, and other than the timeline issues with when CONEX containers became ubiquitous, and if the XR311 should actually be the HMMWV (which evolved from the XR311) it makes sense to suit the MP LOLgistics to your style of play. In the "real world" MP absolutely would use CONEX containers, cargo trucks, multiple bases for PCs to go to or come from, etc. But, it will be a different game to some degree.