NEW Adventure Module!
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Glad to see the modules are still about half the size of the rules. Seriously, a 154 page module? Sounds more like a source book to me.
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I can't order it until paypal stop pissing around with my account, or it comes to amazon pod which I think Chris mentioned somewhere. I'd love fresh copies of all the old stuff too, some of mine are a little grubby.
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I got a PDF version of Operation: Daidalos (Recon Pack - 014), since the printed copies are gonna be delayed a few weeks. Quick summary:
Illustrations are nice looking, though there isn't a drawing of the new Morrow vehicle; and for some reason page 129 has a couple of nice drawings of an M88. Some more maps would have been nice. -- Michael B. |
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Keep in mind the outside cover mentions "the specifications, layout and personnel of Juliet Echo One." The Morrow Base
The Daidalos Community
Science
Production
Things I Do Like
I feel I will get my money's worth from this, and our players will enjoy it, but for our campaign a lot of reworking of the Morrow base will be needed. Robert O'Connor, listed a content contributer, is presumably the same guy who made the excellent "North American Target List" and "UK and Western European Target List" documents for "classic" MP. I'm pretty sure he's the one who described the effects of the San Onofre reactor being destroyed. -- Michael B. |
One other thing about the Daidalos scenario book: it seems to state that (at least) some members of the Morrow Project were able to bring their entire families along into cryosleep, in Project facilities.
An interesting facet, which the Project Director should think over carefully. -- Michael B. |
MILD SPOILERS
As far as I can tell, the town of Daidalos is roughly at Josephine Peak, a few miles northwest of the Mount Wilson observatory. A big weird "typo": there seem to be two maps of Daidalos "township" -- or a map of the town, and a map of the "facility" ...
The numbered guide to the structures is a bit "off" for the nice map, which doesn't entirely match the written description, either. The maps are entirely different in layout; I suspect the "nice" map of Daidalos was drawn after the book was written and submitted for editing. The nice one has 50 or 60 un-labeled buildings, presumably "homes"; the description of the town as having a population of only 110 residents (including 50 troops) seems way too low. The separate "facility" isn't easy to pin down; it's in a valley northeast of the Town. Its population is stated as being "two or three times that of the town". There's supposedly an airfield and "launch gantries". If there's a hydroelectric power generator, it's not on top of a mountain ... so ... Big Tujunga Dam? While not a power generating dam, it wouldn't be too hard to imagine a simple turbine installed post-boo-boo ... though the survival of the dam given the seismic changes described seems iffy. Page 78 has the map of level 1 of the Morrow base ... I think that the map of the Daidalos "facility" got mixed up. More reading to do. -- Michael B. |
I believe what you are reading will also go into print as well, I have found a few typos as well in my slow reading.
There could be a few re-prints in the future for this one. |
Just received the book in the mail today. The only thing I've noticed in the first few minutes: the nicely detailed maps on pages 147-148 are unreadable at the smallest font sizes, such as the town names. Otherwise it seems the same as the PDF; I doubt Timeline had enough time to fix any typos in the last few weeks!
-- Michael B. |
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I'll ask him what software and digital map source was used for those maps. |
I think this particular scenario sacrificed a lot of the charm of the old modules for what felt like an old Twilight 2000 scenario in a bad way.
Basically dozens of samey communities with similar aims and none of the quirkiness that gave the older scenarios both fun and menace. Also for such a large intact Morrow base it felt like it was a bit bland. |
I've been working on a "classic" setting version of the Maritime Base for our local campaign.
SPOILERS BELOW http://asmrb.pbworks.com/w/page/1298...aritime%20Base Instead of the very modern landing craft in the published book, our base has an older style (late Fifties/early Sixties) of LST. The Newport-class were newer at the time (mid-Eighties), but waaaay too big to be hiding in a tunnel. Some notes:
Remember, all of this is for the "canonical" Atomic War date of 1989. Feel free to crib, copy, re-use, criticize, kvetch, etc.; attribution would be appreciated but isn't required! Tip o' the hat to Nathan VanDuser, Chris Morrell, and Rob O'Connor for the excellent, original "Daidalos" book! -- Michael B. |
I've been slowly going over sections in detail. A general problem: the table of contents isn't very good (and there's no Index). For example, the "survivor groups" (all the local nations and communities) fills pages 17 to 71 of 154 numbered pages (thus 1/3 of the book): but "survivor groups" (Chapter 2, second B) is as detailed as the table of contents gets for those pages.
Some puzzling decisions by the writers in regards to the nation-community of Amega S'hana: MANY SPOILERS Steven Baxter is an NPC Project member from a different team than the player-characters; he was captured 3 years (or not, see below) before the module date by the Coachella Valley community ("Amega S'hana", which isn't given a translation into the Cahuilla language); his team stumbled into a shootout with a patrol from one nation (the Nueva Republica, aka Mexicanos) and just as the bullets stopped flying the Amega S'hana army showed up. Six of his team members were killed in the continuous battle; he and one other survivor were captured, along with one remaining Morrow Project fusion-powered XR-311, and taken to the Coachella Valley (aka Palm Springs for the rest of you non-California). The two Project members were placed in a "prison camp" and kept there for a year (per page 73) or three years (per page 103) as convicted spies (despite their gear, language, etc. differences from the supposed enemy). Eventually the other Morrow prisoner died, and Baxter "pushed ... to his limit" escaped; he found a Project cache, resupplied himself a bit, and then spends two years eluding the Amegans, until he contacts the player-character team. None of the above are problems (though the date thing needs a fix); but:
It's still an interesting and informative module, and our local group is looking forward to playing through it. -- Michael B. |
Our local group will be starting on this scenario in a month or two, so I'm still plowing through the book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW I do wish the authors had included a page or so of well-presented arguments in favor of the "purge" alliance. There are some phrases and fragments, but no paragraphs of their beliefs in their own words. The people of Bernar have "... churchmen whose sole job is to make sure their folk are stayin' clear of El Maqina Diablo." What sort of church is this? A variety of Christianity doesn't seem likely, given the "sole job" of the churchmen. There's also a group of Amish who apparently share the anti-technology belief. Since the player-characters are hopefully going to be visiting possible allies in the area on diplomatic missions, having a taste of how the people of Bernar have convinced everyone about their crusade would be useful. -- Michael B. |
More reading of the Operation: Daidalos scenario.
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More thinkings needed ... -- Michael B. |
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I have been thinking about how the team gets into the base thou, as written I think there could be a problem with how it is done. |
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Yeah, I think the authors underestimate the size of the island, and the amount of 20th Century "stuff" on the island. "... a Morrow Project installation somewhere on Catalina Island ... In 2167 nothing remains of the facility, but careful searching with a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) or metal detector will locate the steel door ... buried under about five feet of soil, rock and vegetation ... " So we're to expect a team will search the entire island with a metal detector, and whenever they get a signal they'll dig at least five feet down? They'll be doing a lot of digging! Attached is an elevation view of the base for our (classic era) version. -- Michael B. |
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I have begun doing up stats for portable metal/mine detectors for the game. The elevator is what has me scratching my head. Overall I like the module. |
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"Feet" ... bah, mixing metric and Imperial units ... Quote:
-- Michael B. |
SPOILERS
Another issue -- the people of Daidalos happen to have a "mobile drill rig" that can make an 18" diameter hole thousands of feet deep, to fit their "tactical nuclear device"? That's a lot of drill casing, if nothing else. -- Michael B. |
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The magnetic sensor is not well defined in either 3rd or 4th edition. But the description fits fairly well with the airborne sensors I have researched. The only difference would be the way it is mounted. In the air, the sensor is either a unit suspended under a rotary wing aircraft or on a stinger-like boom off the tail of a fixed wing aircraft. If the sensor were mounted to a metal vehicle, then it would be safe to say the rules description of a dead zone would be quite fit. I would think the dead zone would be closer to the 15m in 3rd edition rather than the 1m in 4th edition. So to find this base, they just drive around and have the autonav marking the detected deposits and depths. Then look for the one that seems the most like an underground base, go to what looks like a hatch candidate and then start digging. What happens to the group as they drive all over the island is a different matter. Note: I don't have this module, so I am just basing this on the information in this thread. |
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-- Michael B. |
Here are a couple PDFs for your consideration on airborne magnetometer surveys:
https://www.geosci-instrum-method-da...5-181-2016.pdf https://www.geosoft.com/media/upload...vey_Reeves.pdf If there are enough other ferrous minerals in the area, that may help mask the location, but a solid steel door should still show if you take more passes closer together. |
Very interesting stuff!
"The airframes of modern aircraft are primarily constructed from aluminium alloys which are non-magnetic; the main potential magnetic sources are the engines. As a first approach, then, magnetometer sensors have always been mounted as far away as possible from the aircraft engines."In an armored car the whole vehicle is a magnetic source, alas. "Permanent magnetisation of the aircraft which will be unchanging unless engines are changed or magnetic objects (such as toolboxes) are brought on board."Not sure how the Project avoids that. Careful with re-arranging your machine guns! Finding the base itself (which has thousands of tons of rebar and structural steel) will make finding the actual entrance much easier. Keep in mind that whatever capabilities you describe for the Project magnetic sensor will be brought up again by your teams! -- Michael B. |
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I don't have the module so am not party to all of the details of available equipment, etc. But I do work for an engineering consulting company that conducts this type of survey for civil and archeology applications.
There are other options for this type of survey (this includes magnetic, GPR and LIDAR). For those difficult to access areas, we've used a mountain bike. More recently, the use of drones has saved massive amounts of time and money for surveys. |
Venting shouldn't be that much of a problem, Morrow normally just use Nitrogen to store their bases. So to make it breathable you just have to add Oxygen to make a 80(nitrogen)/20(oxygen) mix
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The base might have an "oxygen remover" as part of the environmental system -- it can thus "self-store", instead of requiring vast amounts of nitrogen to be provided every time it's opened for re-stocking. Perhaps before the Atomic War there was a terminal connection aboveground, as part of the now-missing elevator, to suppress the "pump in oxygen" reflex. I was more impressed/concerned about the speed with which the base transformed from "static/inactive" to "ready to walk around in". SPOILER I suppose the excess nitrogen could be vented underwater (it is a coastal base, after all). -- Michael B. |
https://soundcloud.com/user-494087291
I mentioned this excellent resource else where, but there's a few episodes on the UK's plan to use converted car ferries as floating bunkers. I wonder if the project would think of something similar? Would this be a logical extension of some of the elements in Daedolos? https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...lear-planning/ |
Floating bases were talked about in a different thread. There is a company that will make a luxury yacht that is basically an artificial island build on a SWATH style hull. I don't think any consensus was reached.
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http://www.shipbucket.com/drawings/7048 The old Shipbucket forum had a detailed description of the crew, weapons, sensors, etc. ... they're recently re-mixed everything and the old forum pages don't seem to be around. Our Classic-era campaign has quick-and-easy conversions of T-2 tankers (they were turbine-electric vessels, and low cost in the early 1980s) rather than a built-from-the-ground-up design. http://asmrb.pbworks.com/w/page/5264...uction%20Fleet The tanker conversion description is based on the vehicle transport vessels built for the government in the late 1960s (from earlier conversions to railcar carriers). https://www.t2tanker.org/ships/t2active.html https://www.t2tanker.org/ships/t2convstory.html The "Lewis B. Puller" is sorta similar, though perhaps a bit too blatant for the Morrow Project to get away with: https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/ho...pte-1658743256 -- Michael B. |
I was fascinated by what a simple idea it was, like Airforce 1 but a fraction of the cost and you could stay at see for weeks (well years with a fusion drive). In the UK it seemed to have beaten this whole fear following the Nuclear Scientists debacle that all of the ROTOR shelters would have been anhiliated on day one. And as such three converted car ferries became the biggest secret in the Nuclear War plan.
Of course the other thing is the amount of work that went into these floating bunkers was pretty minimal. So it's not impossible another corporation or even national guard could have done their own conversions. Now I think about it Russia has some truly monsterous nuclear powered ice breakers and their fuel would last for decades. So maybe out there is the remenants of the Russian Navy prowling the Atlantic? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclea...red_icebreaker |
More reading of the "Operation: Daidalos" book.
SPOILERS FOLLOW Chapter Six, "Enemy Troop Deployments", goes on for five pages in detail about all the presumed opponent nations, with information about troop numbers, weapon types, morale ratings, etc. There are also two pages giving game mechanics for the enemies' weapons. However, the Daidalos city-state doesn't have anything like this amount of detail provided: (pg. 76-77): "Stored in the armory is an extensive collection of well-maintained 21st Century vintage weapons as well as weapons of Daidalos manufacture. The vehicles consist mainly of alcohol-fueled jeeps armed with pintlemounted .50 caliber machine guns. One jeep sports a Mk 19 40mm grenade launcher." That's pretty much it for information about their equipment. It's implied that Daildalos has at least two hundred soldiers (based on a statement of barracks size); and apparently everyone serves for 5 years in the military after high school or college (pg. 92, "... completed their schooling and are both currently serving their compulsory five-year terms in the [Diadalos Defense Force]" (though a character description elsewhere implies that the compulsory service was once only two years). That brings me to another issue: the stated scientific and technical capacity seems very "off" for a 6,000 person community (including children). We are told there are seismologists, geologists, astronomers, mathematicians, botanists, agronomists, chemists, rocket scientists, at least five grades of military officers up to the rank of general, a hospital "... as advanced as any pre-war hospital" and "Discoveries in botany and agronomy rival advances made just before the War." Based on circa-1900 American population, you'd have age groups:
The "five years" compulsory service would give a military of 472 persons (if nobody's exempt) plus "lifers": say 500 total. That's pretty close to the level of militia to population in the United States during the War of 1812. In comparison, Israel required military service of 3 years for men and 2 years for women from 1968 to 2015, starting at age 18, with about a 26% exemption/refusal rate. There's also some form of reserve service obligation.From the 1940 U.S. Census, the work force consisted of 79.1% of the males age 14 or more, and 25.8% of the females 14 years of age or more. For Daidalos, that gives 2,372 males and 774 females in the work force, a total of 3,146 workers.
I have trouble believing this community can educate and support multiple seismologists and geophysicists, for example. Also, if their military of 500 persons with "well-maintained 21st Century vintage weapons" has a good supply of ammunition (and they've had decades of knowledge about the threat of the Purge to prepare), defeating in defensive battles an enemy of 6,000 (mostly armed with bows, swords, spears, and some muskets) should be quite possible. Daidalos is mentioned to have used booby traps and land mines in previous wars. I wonder if a short chapter about the Daidalosi military got misplaced or cut for space? -- Michael B. |
I only have one question about your analysis. If Daidalos is more or less a late 20th/early 21st century city-state, then why are you using 1940 census data? It is likely they have additional occupations that didn't exist in 1940. The 2000 census includes information workers and would include effects that has on the other occupations. For example:
Occupation / 2000 data / 1940 dataBoth of these examples were greatly affected by technological advances in the latter half of the 20th century. Though you will have to take some care, as the 2000 census data only includes civilians, so you will have to pull the military out of the population total before doing the break down. |
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The use of 1940 data seemed a better fit to a community of only 6,000 persons that can't import technical goods (I thought about using 1930, but that would be skewed by the Great Depression). I doubt they can build (or import from China) lots of combine harvesters or other mechanized farm equipment (horses are mentioned as the usual form of transport); and I don't see them as benefiting from online tech support and other 'information technology" very much. 21st Century America (the nation covered by the 2010 census) depends heavily on foreign nations (outside of the census) for manufacturing: steel, electronics, merchant ships (and shipping), heavy machinery, etc. An independent nation is going to have to shift to self-sufficiency (at least for technical goods); they mention (pg 76) that the Daidalosi "own very little that an average person of the late 20th Century would have"; and even within Daidalos barter is still commonly used. So I chose 1940 U.S. as an example of a nation not-very-dependent on foreign manufactures or mass production of every convenience. One of my issues with the book is the lack of information on how this tiny nation constructs things, feeds itself, educates an amazing number of college students, etc. ... quadrupling the number of professionals (college instructors, medical specialists, web application designers, seismologists, etc.) to a 21st Century America level would come at the expense of farmers, laborers, and factory workers. Another military note: the Daidalos Defense Force has claymore mines, also. -- Michael B. |
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So, if you want to present Daidalos as having the same occupation patterns as 2017 America: 153.3 million employed (age 16 or more) out of 327 million (thus excluding military in both cases) translates to 2,812 persons employed out of 6,000 in Daidalos. Thus:
For Daidalos, you can then add about 500 persons on active military duty to that. Thus 22 farmers, fishermen and forestry workers support the community (and produce a marketable surplus). -- Michael B. |
22 farmers is a bit on the light side. In 2010, 1 farmer could feed 155 people which would mean 22 farmers could feed 3410 people. A rate of 1 farmer to 100 people is probably closer to what Daidalos could do assuming methods approximating 1980-1990 agriculture, so you would need 60 farmers.
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That low number of farmers (in 21st Century U.S.A.) is related to global trade and industry. Daidalos has developed high-yield crop species in several areas, it seems. The community will have to produce machines locally, however (there's no hint of trade for such things).
In 2015 United States there were 1.25 hectares of agricultural land per person; so for 6,000 persons it's 7,500 hectares. FERTILIZERS, PESTICIDES, ETC. A hectare of 2015 American agriculture gets an average of 137 kg of fertilizers (phosphates, nitrates, and potash); and a few kg per hectare of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Daidalos clearly has a very active chemical industry (especially for a nation with one working oil well). In the 21st Century6, phosphate rock is the raw material for most commercial phosphate fertilizers. Hydrogen from natural gas is a major component of ammonia production (which in turn feeds nitrogen production); nitric acid production also limits this. Potassium chloride is the usual source for making potash fertilizer; for the U.S., it mostly comes from Saskatchewan. PHOSPHORUSFARM EQUIPMENT Tractors, planters and harvesters are an important part of modern farm efficiency (both in terms of yield per acre and number of persons required). In 2007 the number of wheel and crawler tractors (excluding garden tractors) in use by agriculture in the U.S. was very close to 1 per square kilometer of agricultural land. An example of an Iowa corn and soybean farmer (the farm is operated by the owner, his son and one employee): they need a semi-truck, a tractor, a planter, and a harvester, along with various towed or attached items, all to deal with 1400 hectares of land. These vehicles have to be replaced every ten or fifteen years; some are shared with other farms, but other vehicles not listed are leased or borrowed temporarily.So, it's pretty much one "big equipment item" per farm industry person (which sort of matches the whole "mechanized farming" concept); so you need 60 to 75 large motorized vehicles. Combine harvesters weigh from 1.5 to 25 tons usually; so these are "car or truck" size vehicles. If they're replaced every 12 years, they need to make 5 or 6 per year. Thus there needs to be several assembly lines (for tractors, combines, planters, and trucks); a steel mill to produce tubing, sheet, structural, etc. steel; a source for rubber tires; fuel (methanol or whatever); lubricants; glass; wire; batteries; etc. LOCATION The scenario sort of implies that all this high-yield agriculture is in the San Gabriel Mountains, which is a little odd. Clearly the environment has changed (there are redwood forests everywhere). It's unclear how much the Daidalos community makes use of the flat land between the mountains and La Crescenta (probably Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, etc.). -- Michael B. |
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