How dark is the future of the Morrow Project

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I like it. Unlike the last offering, this is being marketed towards a military market which suggests that it is better suited to the Morrow mission. The only problem I would have with this beasty would be coming up with a cover story for why you are transporting hundreds or thousands of these around the US pre-war.

Hundreds, Yes; thousands, No.

Typically, rail to a depot with a railyard. Then under canvas to the bolt hole.

For inspection purposes, there is a data plate on the driver side door jamb and a VIN plate like any other vehicle. These identifiers are listed with the DMV and titled as demonstration units for sale purposes.

Cops and DOT inspector would look for those and wouldn't be looking for serial numbers anywhere else.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Hundreds, Yes; thousands, No.

Depending on the size of the Project, there might be thousands!

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Typically, rail to a depot with a railyard. Then under canvas to the bolt hole.

For inspection purposes, there is a data plate on the driver side door jamb and a VIN plate like any other vehicle. These identifiers are listed with the DMV and titled as demonstration units for sale purposes.

Cops and DOT inspector would look for those and wouldn't be looking for serial numbers anywhere else.

Sure, but it is going to be next to impossible to keep eyes off of these vehicles - they are just too bulky and conspicuous, and orchestrating the movement of all these vehicles is going to be tricky. Of course, we already know that the existence of the Project was already compromised by the time of the war, perhaps this is how!

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Depending on the size of the Project, there might be thousands!

I am in the camp that the Project only has a few hundred personnel. Due to all the security constraints and that people accepted would have to give up their lives and family, worse without warning them or aiding them for the impending, inevitable war. I do think that CG Seattle is indicative of a Combined Group. I don't think the Project would bother half staffing anywhere. I think the will fill a region at a time, starting with regions with the highest probability of recovery according to the plan.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Sure, but it is going to be next to impossible to keep eyes off of these vehicles - they are just too bulky and conspicuous, and orchestrating the movement of all these vehicles is going to be tricky. Of course, we already know that the existence of the Project was already compromised by the time of the war, perhaps this is how!

I don't think so...... Your average civilian has no idea what they are looking at. Any thing with tracks is a tank, for example.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

I am in the camp that the Project only has a few hundred personnel. Due to all the security constraints and that people accepted would have to give up their lives and family, worse without warning them or aiding them for the impending, inevitable war.

I agree that those are serious issues, but I do not think that it is an impossible challenge considering the sheer population of the country and the time scale of recruiting. I also think that the recruiting process is likely to be in stages that allow the Project to not only identify but actively groom and indoctrinate prospective members.

Importantly, I just do not see a Project of a few hundred or even a few thousand making any real dent in the post-war problems. There are just too few of them, spread too thin. Even if nothing goes wrong, they are going to have a heck of a time providing any level of service, and being so few they would be tremendously vulnerable to any number of problems. It's just a bad bet. With a few hundred people, think of how few experts in any given field you really have, and think about how easy it is then to lose entire disciplines (as an example).

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

I do think that CG Seattle is indicative of a Combined Group. I don't think the Project would bother half staffing anywhere. I think the will fill a region at a time, starting with regions with the highest probability of recovery according to the plan.

I am not sure how this works then - if CG Seattle is typical for the population it serves, are you saying that the Project is only distributed across portions of the country? If CG Seattle was serving a pre-war population of 1.4 million (King County, in 1987) then 10 such combined groups (790 field staff) would serve only 5.8% of the 1987 US population of 242.3 million.

It is hard for me to believe that Morrow hoped to have any real impact with such a low level of coverage.

[ArmySGT.]

In all these cases I expect the Project to be heavily recruiting from the survivors to fill out the thousands of jobs that are not highly skilled or needed a someone frozen before the War.

I expect the Project to move into an area, establish a refugee camp from pre-positioned supplies, recruit from the refugees persons with competent skills or abilities. Then expect them to depart to start another camp somewhere else. This with detachments moving about trying to get essential service like water treatment and sewerage operational, to establish a clinic and staff this with surviving medical personnel. Etc.

I don't expect them to do it. I expect them to provide the materials and a kick in the ass to get it started.

Then I expect them to protect said from marauders and politicians both most likely to plunder a recovery effort.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

In all these cases I expect the Project to be heavily recruiting from the survivors to fill out the thousands of jobs that are not highly skilled or needed a someone frozen before the War.

I expect that too, but it is like the F550 parts issue - if you are expecting 98% of the population to die in the war, how much can you depend on finding experts to recruit in any given area? Especially if, as you mention below, you are taking your time getting to that area?

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

I expect the Project to move into an area, establish a refugee camp from pre-positioned supplies, recruit from the refugees persons with competent skills or abilities. Then expect them to depart to start another camp somewhere else. This with detachments moving about trying to get essential service like water treatment and sewerage operational, to establish a clinic and staff this with surviving medical personnel. Etc.

How long do you expect them to spend in each area? Realistically, even if you work every Project member for the rest of their lives (hard for recruiting) you won't have much time with any one population before you would have to either move on or abandon your goal of covering the US. And incidentally, you have every reason to expect that areas waiting on Morrow teams to arrive are going to see ongoing deaths and loss of resources - take too long to get to an area and there might not be anyone left to help!

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Then I expect them to protect said from marauders and politicians both most likely to plunder a recovery effort.

I think this is the biggest issue I have. If you assume a surviving population of just 1%, you have 2,423,000 survivors. If just 1%* of those are problematic, then you have TMP dealing with 24,230 "problem" people. The game provides numerous examples of large groups 150 years post-war who still have significant military hardware, I cannot imagine how the Project would deal with a dispersed array of military forces 20+ times their own number. Even with Phoenix that is a tall order, and considering that they are likely only supported by maybe 80** MARS teamers and 200*** Recon teamers, they are really outnumbered more like 80 to one, combatant-to-combatant. And no one knows about Phoenix.

Plus remember that you have to deal with protecting your entire force, which is going to rapidly become publicly known and spread across 3.8 million square miles. With the few aircraft available, you are spread too thin to protect anyone, and we've already seen how quickly people will turn to tyrants who provide security over good people who can't.

Going back to the recruiting problem, I would think this to be one of the biggest issues - recruiting people to save the world is hard enough without one of them doing the math and realizing that it is a suicide mission.


*: Personally, I would expect a lot more than 1% to be problematic - murderers and militants have pretty good survival instincts.

**: Based on CG Seattle. And remember that half will be tasked as protective details for Science teams.

***: Also based on CG Seattle.