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Originally Posted by weswood
The Tugboat- yes, I've seen pictures of pointy bowed tugs.
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I have nothing on this. The nearest tugs to me are on the Ohio, and most of those have flat bows, and are called towboats, even though they push their barges. I suppose some research could turn up what Vistula boats look like. I figure this is a case of "everyone knows what a tugboat looks like, it has a pointy bow and a big stack aft."
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Another thing about the Vistula Queen is it being a diesel tug converted to steam. Okay, I realize it's a game....
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Me, too. I know a tiny bit about steam locomotives, and their boilers look nothing like marine diesels. Now, if the VQ had a electric drive, I suppose you could remove the diesel power plant and swap in a wood-fired boiler to power the generators. It would be a s***-ton of work, and would wreck the boat's balance and deck strength, but you could do it. Or, you could just hand-wave it and say she had a steam powerplant all along.
EDIT: Or add a 2nd barge, holding the boiler and generator, wired to the drive motors still in the VQ, with the diesels disabled.
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Then there's the mission. ... So they're taking a tugboat that doesn't have enough cabin space for the characters, plus a half decked barge?
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I never had a problem with this-- my PCs moved their vehicles onto the barge and set up tents or shanties on the half-deck. The refugees could set up on the deck, too. What's the problem? OK, maybe they would need to pick up another barge for the trip home.
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My idea is dump the tug/barge and have Adam captain a restored paddle-boat steamer, similar to what cruised the Mississippi in Mark Twain's time. Already steam powered, plenty of cabin space, easier to repair a wooden hulled vessel than a steel hulled vessel.
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That could work, too, provided there was a tourist-style steamer on the Vistula. Not something I could see the communist Polish government spending money on, but stranger things have happened.
Now I'm kinda jonesing to take this adventure and run it again. Especially the return trip, I never did that. I think my first group took off overland to start Going Home from near Warsaw, and my second just ended after the Warsaw battle.