[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

First, the inability to be exact or even accurate does not mean you don't make an estimate. Second, you have control over your own stores, you don't have control over what survives on the surface, nor over what happens to those parts in the 5 years you're sleeping in the tubes.

True, to some extent. Heavy truck parts are not in common parts houses. You usually have to go to the dealer that specializes in heavy trucks and earthmoving equipment. If that is a corporate subsidiary that means it is a potential cache and/or the parts are in a supply system your team mechanic can reference.

More importantly it means there would have been mechanics and facilities around without electrical power miles from any nuclear target. The only threat to them is famine and plague.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

On pg 12, 3rd edition, it indicates an expectation that civilian vehicles and weapons will be largely nonfunctional because of a lack of parts and an inability to manufacture new ones... this flies in the face of the "we'll find parts" argument.

I interpret that as rough use and a lack of knowledge in how to maintain the equipment more than parts inavailable…… only 5% of the population is alive at War + one year roughly.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Only if you intend to turn MPV's over to civilian government.

Actually, I do….. the are police and fire models of the V-150, and I intend for Teams to release modified M151s and XR-311s.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I know this was addressed by someone already, but unless there is some reason to believe that Seattle was either over or under represented in assignment of teams, TMP should have field personnel in the low tens of thousands, NOT counting any assets not assigned at the "group" level.

Just to hard to recruit people to walk away from their lives completely.

When you wake your home is gone, your family is dead, your friends are dead. You can however save civilization…….. That kind of altruism isn’t common. There are people who do extraordinary things like soldiers but, they do expect to come home to their family someday.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Do you keep the exhaust system? Of course not! Why keep something that serves zero purpose and is dead weight? The transmission is even worse because it is not only useless but adds a point of failure in your drivetrain! You need the differentials and hubs, they serve a purpose in every vehicle, but with an electric motor you could literally replace the transmission with a straight rod and be far better off. And if you can build custom reactors and motors, that rod should be trivially easy.

For the 4x4, low gearing, and powering either axle.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

My comment about seats and lighting is that you can make do with stock, or commercial, or whatever, because that equipment is not only not mission critical, the way they interface with the rest of the vehicle gives you lots of latitude in field repairs.

ok, it wasn’t a good example for either of us. Conceded.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

If you are doing the conversion in your garage, yes, you do. If you are doing it as a proof of concept for a few vehicles, sure. If you are doing it large-scale, no, you don't - it's a handicap that is too cheap and easy to remedy.

You still need it for the transfer case and 4x4; plus, to take advantage of the power ranges, such as Low Low gear .

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

They're doing it for cost control, and only where they can still meet specifications. Often, they flow military to civilian as a way of spreading costs and also to provide an outlet for parts that don't meet milspec - just because the military thinks it inadequate doesn't mean that people won't buy the parts for less rigorous applications!

I think we agree here.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Sure... but they are still tremendously spread out, considering the treacherous nature of post-apocalypse travel and the lack of air support. While the teams are supposed to support each other, they aren't necessarily supposed to travel together, disregarding cases like linked MARS/Science teams (although even they have separate boltholes!). And if your vehicle goes down, rescue requires that there be a team near enough to help, able to reach the area (which might preclude SK-5 teams), and able to provide the military, mechanical, or transport assistance you need before you die. I consider that a big risk for teams, but as I said, not the biggest issue.

The impression I get from Desert Search is that everyone meets up, then become two vehicle teams at a minimum.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I still don't see any reason to believe that TMP was or should be cost constrained. Nor do I see how the V-150 is a superior choice.

Mostly, it is the cost effective choice….. I can be built using equipment and workers already on hand, plus new production can be explained away as repair parts for Singapore, Egypt, and U.S. police departments.

It is also cost effective when you need to field several hundred, have dozens for spares too.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

How about because sometimes, mechanics don't have your part in stock. Or how about because a ton of other F550's, operating under conditions they were never meant to handle, have used up all the parts you are looking for? Or how about because parts are so rare and valuable that they aren't giving them up for anything the team is able and willing to part with?

That is called and attack of life. Then you hunker down and wait for the part or parts to be delivered from the nearest base by some means. Sounds like a good chance to role play without the vehicles.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

If we take the listed odds and apply them to CG Seattle, I get a total of 26 veterans, 14 with combat experience. That assumes 8 MARS (6 vets, 4 combat), 19 recon (10 vets, 5 combat), and 52 "other" (10 vets, 5 combat). That isn't that rare. 33% of CG Seattle are vets, and 18% have seen combat. I think they would have an idea what they were doing.

According to “Fall Back” MARS is 25% military veterans and 75% law enforcement veterans…. Some being both.
That also has to take into account if their military experience as a veteran translates to the mission…….. A Navy veteran with experience as a signals guy on a AWACS may be no help at all in playing a ground attack…… except that he/she is more likely to keep their cool and follow through.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

He doesn't have much else to do, and regardless he doesn't need to have a ton of information for Morrow Industries to be wallowing in money. Nor is that information (even the generalities) hard to transport. Heck, even if the universes are pretty different, commercially lucrative inventions should still transfer with high fidelity - in other words, if Morrow Industries has Apple's OS and Google's algorithms and Facebook's idea, they can make a killing.

Not all of it can be spent on the Project…….. Morrow Industries still has to spend billions and trillions on the legitimate business to maintain the deception.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

And the vehicles referenced here rely on mechanics as well, and operate under far, far gentler expectations. Police specs are usually in-between civilian and military specs. And Morrow is not the DoD - they don't have to buy shoddy parts either, especially since they are more likely to be making them.

The Project is funded and staffed by civilians, as a purely civilian enterprise outside of government oversight or cooperation……. I expect a corporate mentality and not a military one…….. logistics more akin to Fedex than DoD.
Besides, no one has post apocalypse experience…….. it is all an educated guess.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

In my version (set a few years from now), they are building them in tandem with the official military vehicles - they wouldn't be secret. If I was setting the TMP in the 90's, then there would be extra Hummers being shipped around, which would be a heck of a lot less strange than a bunch of vehicles which have no business on US roads in the first place, like XR311's and V-150's.

I typically play 3rd with the 89 war date as a preference…. If I was moving the date back then, I would add Humvees and some other things…… but, I would keep the V-150S….. those are still in service overseas.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I don't recall where it said that the rough date of the war was unknown.

19 November, 1989 catches everyone by surprise even Prime Base…… Literally Bruce knows…… Morrow Project materials are on the CD with the game setting “Rogue 417” by Tri Tac games. It is a short story and worth the read for 3rd edition fans. Bruce seems to spend the day of the War saying good bye to the old world.

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

There are lots of reasons why the popularity was not high - a clunky system, a setting that didn't make a lot of sense to many people, etc. From what I have seen, the 4th edition does not really improve on this.

I am not going to vent my frustrations about the 4th here….. See the economics thread for that. There was a deluge of games of all sorts and Morrow Project wasn’t as fancy as some of the others. It really is a niche player game though.