In a Box

[nduffy]

Has anyone ever seen https://morrowproject.wordpress.com/

They have a Farm in a Box idea that I find really interesting and fascinating
That lead me to other ideas, what about a communications set up in a box, Doc in a box, fusion power/ nuclear power/ NDB in a box, etc. I feel like these would be well within the line of the MP, a shipping container packed with everything you need to set up and started quickly and efficiently. These containers can easily be pulled by a heavy truck or tractor and could be towed to a predetermined location or where ever needed. These could be packed at a factory location then moved in plain site to their final destination with hardly a glance. Then when the team is woke up, they pull it out and get to work. Also these could be stored at PB or a regional storage facility in numbers stacked and marked to be distributed when called upon.
Just got my brain juices flowing. Might do this for a future game.

[dragoon500ly]

Something that I've used in most of my games is a radio relay rig that stores in a box (roughly the size of a footlocker), that includes a -292 antenna, a radio set for relay only, a battery pack, and a set of solar power panels. The recon team usually has several of these boxes and drops one off to allow retransmit capabilities within their AO. Another advantage is if any of these boxes go offline, it may indicate survivors scavaging tech...

[nduffy]

I was even thinking a cellular system. A set of relay and repeaters every few miles or so between areas of operations, towns, villages. Also backed up by either shortwave or even CB radios.. Also a way to secure encryption to keep others from ease dropping. Cellular would be easier to encrypt as well as Encrypted enabled radios. Also gives anyone in the MP an ability to share info digitally and fairly quickly depending on the speeds. Hell, even have the ability to set up an analog system for the locals for emergency communications. You can stuff a lot in a large high stack shipping container or two.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

There's already a precedent for small powerplants "in a box" with radio-thermal generators.
They've been used on satellites for some time and use a small amount of radioactive material to generate electricity via some effect that means they don't have to use moving parts.
A better explanation than mine can be found on the wiki page: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Although they aren't suited for generating large volumes of electricity, they are useful for powering small facilities (the Soviet Union used them to power unmanned lighthouses in remote locations) and because they can be portable, they might suit some Team needs but...
they tend to be expensive (although I think Morrow Industries could probably manufacture enough of them to offset the costs).

[nduffy]

There's already a precedent for small powerplants "in a box" with radio-thermal generators.
They've been used on satellites for some time and use a small amount of radioactive material to generate electricity via some effect that means they don't have to use moving parts.
A better explanation than mine can be found on the wiki page: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Although they aren't suited for generating large volumes of electricity, they are useful for powering small facilities (the Soviet Union used them to power unmanned lighthouses in remote locations) and because they can be portable, they might suit some Team needs but...
they tend to be expensive (although I think Morrow Industries could probably manufacture enough of them to offset the costs).


Now you got me jumping down rabbit holes again.....
We old schoolers need to get together and hash out a really good updated timeline/ universe, equipment, gear, etc.. I love playing the MP and even GMing it even more... There is so much more that could be introduced and added ......

[nduffy]

I was rethinking the Farm in a box and went back to the page. He said food for 1 year. I think that is way underestimated. If you plan out your growing space and practice good holistic gardening techniques you could keep that area growing almost indefinitely. By practicing crop rotation, cover crops, letting areas rest and good soil management there is no reason you couldn't keep a garden going for years. Yes you will have bad years, but with good planning you can mitigate those times and still have a decent yield. I think he also forgot about seed saving as well. you could have 2-3 years worth of seed as well packed into the container and preserved for long term storage and use.

[mmartin798]

I was rethinking the Farm in a box and went back to the page. He said food for 1 year.

I am not sure where he got that from. If you go to the source, they are much clearer as to the usability of the Farm in a Box.

https://farmfromabox.com/

[nduffy]

Well butter my biscuits! Very cool find!!!!

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I don't recall if this was something already covered in another post somewhere here, (I had posted these links to a Dark Conspiracy website some years ago so I could be misremembering things from that) but I found the following to be rather interesting in regard to small scale farming.

Youtube video: 337 lbs of Potatoes! NO digging, NO watering, and VERY LITTLE work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlratwBT5OI

Ruth Stout gardening method as mentioned in the YouTube vid
https://www.bigblogofgardening.com/growing-organic-food-with-the-ruth-stout-method/

That description of the Ruth Stout method was provided by a Romanian man who has a blog about homesteading that includes a fair bit about gardening and low scale farming that might also provide some food for thought.
https://lostinvalhalla.com/