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Old 03-30-2019, 07:17 PM
Vespers War Vespers War is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by therantingsavant View Post
Thanks Vespers for the feedback and suggestions.

The mule's load always seemed off to me and I think it should be swapped with that of the horse but was writing RAW (rules as written) - I may add an edit in suggesting this "House Rule" quoting you however as it makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I saw that you were working off the data cards, which was why I made sure to caveat it as a criticism of the rules, not the article.

Quote:
Hadn't thought of dogs actually, probably a whole separate post/article on the use of trained animals would be warranted if it's not been done before.
I'm not aware of any, and it would be a useful thing. I thought of it because I've talked with a couple Iditarod mushers about their experiences, and a Canadian exhibit on mail sleds mentioned the load limits for pack dogs.

Quote:
As for Conestogas, I'd always assumed the cart and wagon were the basic ones - heavier capacity rail-car wagons of 5 tons are briefly mentioned in Going Home which would not be dissimilar except the low friction of the rails allows less horses. I'd wonder if oxen would be more appropriate for the heavier wagons however. Maybe it needs a vehicle card actually.
I agree that the existing carts are more similar to regular farm carts or the Escort Wagon. I just figure someone in PA would try to bring Conestogas back at some point. I also had the information for them since the Army Transportation Museum has one as an example of Revolutionary War transport.

Oxen will pull around their own body weight at a speed of roughly 2 miles per hour for about 5 hours per day. A draft horse pulls basically the same amount, but for up to 8 hours, and is slightly faster at around 3 miles per hour. So an ox cart will cover about 10 miles per day in one period of travel, while a horse cart will be around 24 miles per day in two periods of travel. However, the horses are less sturdy and require more care, and most of them will be slightly smaller than an ox (although Shires are right up there with cattle in size).
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