tsofian
12-06-2018, 04:25 PM
When I first started playing TMP i questioned a group rebuilding civilization needing military grade weapons. But being a prolific reader of science-fiction and a variety of "After whatever" books, I've come to the conclusion that the Project does indeed need military grade weapons, not only to protect themselves, but the survivors who need protection from those who are willing to do anything and everything to anybody who has what they want.
This is where TM1-1's shortfalls start to read its ugly head. From a logistical standpoint alone, the Project is doomed to failure.
Assigning six small caches, whose humanitarian supplies amount to a few sacks of seed, a box of two of books and tools, simply isn't going to work. In order to provide for any meaningful level of support until survivors can become self-sustaining averages some 25 pounds per person, per day for anywhere up to six months. In other words one person for six months requires 4,500lbs of supplies...if your survivor community numbers, say 300 peple, for the same period of time, we are now looking at 405 tons. What the Project needs are lots of 5-ton and 10-ton trucks, not V-150s!
This brings up some interesting points. I think there is a couple of things here that are worth noting. First, the 3-5 year period is going to mean lots of people who survived the initial few days of war are going to succumb to all sorts of things. The folks the characters encounter will already be making it on their own, they don't need to be spoon fed for six months. They do need to be brought back to a higher level of social organization and technological sophistication, not be coached through basic survival issues.
Second, the 3-5 year period means a ton of supplies will be still laying around from the prewar days. In my idea of the backstory, the Project Planners did a maxi-min study to see when population would start to stabilize and the remains of material civilization would decay and tried to find a sweet spot where people were starting to do better and lots of stuff still survives.
This is where TM1-1's shortfalls start to read its ugly head. From a logistical standpoint alone, the Project is doomed to failure.
Assigning six small caches, whose humanitarian supplies amount to a few sacks of seed, a box of two of books and tools, simply isn't going to work. In order to provide for any meaningful level of support until survivors can become self-sustaining averages some 25 pounds per person, per day for anywhere up to six months. In other words one person for six months requires 4,500lbs of supplies...if your survivor community numbers, say 300 peple, for the same period of time, we are now looking at 405 tons. What the Project needs are lots of 5-ton and 10-ton trucks, not V-150s!
This brings up some interesting points. I think there is a couple of things here that are worth noting. First, the 3-5 year period is going to mean lots of people who survived the initial few days of war are going to succumb to all sorts of things. The folks the characters encounter will already be making it on their own, they don't need to be spoon fed for six months. They do need to be brought back to a higher level of social organization and technological sophistication, not be coached through basic survival issues.
Second, the 3-5 year period means a ton of supplies will be still laying around from the prewar days. In my idea of the backstory, the Project Planners did a maxi-min study to see when population would start to stabilize and the remains of material civilization would decay and tried to find a sweet spot where people were starting to do better and lots of stuff still survives.