[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

We have Prime base, Delta Base (Starnaman) , Commo base KA (Final Watch), VB-1 medical (Final Watch), Commo Base KE (American Outback), Agricultural base TA-14 (Fall Back), Power station TN-7, Water station TN-6 (Desert Search). All of them are well concealed and very far off from urban centers or .gov landmarks. The Ag base is the only one besides Prime with the ability to perform repairs on vehicles. Bases are small, typically unmanned and far, far from urban areas under the most orchestrated of deception projects.

We have a pretty small sample size to be declaring any certainty in canon. Yes, the bases avoided major targets - i.e., military bases and cities. But we don't really have a great idea how densely packed everything is in the "safe zones", and when you really come down to it, that is where the heart of the Project has to be. Can't do much more than recon Chicago until you have a logistics chain able to reach into the city.

And again, canon lets us down - I have absolutely no idea who the heck TN-7 and TN-6 were meant to serve. Their placement seems absolutely pointless.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Not at all. What even gives you that idea in the first place? This is specifically why the engineers are using the F550 as the platform for this vehicle……… Suspension, wheels, hubs, drivetrain, transmission, differentials, wiring components, seats, seatbelts, lighting…….. better than 50% of this vehicle (I’ll have to read their website again) is off the shelf to make it more attractive to the typical buyer.

Suspension, wheels, and hubs: I already mentioned as being reasonably compatible, but also the kind of thing where you could stock spares easily.

Drivetrain, transmission, differentials, wiring components: All are tossed when you talk about MPV's and other electric vehicles - something that the real world vehicle does not have to address!

Seatbelts and lighting: Absolutely compatible, but hardly mission critical. If you can't bodge up a replacement seat and a set of lights, then the problem isn't parts, it's know-how.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

City police departments and .gov agencies. The MP is going to swap the diesel motor for an electric one and a fusion plant of the same dimensions…… same transmission.

Don't need or want a transmission with an electric motor. Just one more thing to fail for no real advantage.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Not even the DoD tries to have parts exclusive only to one vehicle wherever possible…… Tail lights and headlights being something that is universal across all land platforms.

Sure, but the DoD doesn't demand compatibility with civilian platforms. They like it, but every RFP I have seen has placed such concerns secondary to a bunch of other factors.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Which however, is very MP…….. only Damocles and Lonestar starts with the PCs in more than one MPV.

I know - personal switch. The presumed size of the Project with the actual size of the US suggests that one MPV-teams are going to die at (to me) an unacceptable rate waiting for that other team a hundred miles away to get the message and get there. You won't have much time to wait if the reason for vehicle failure is "enemy fire".

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

It isn’t canon but, we speculate all the time who and what is the Council of Tomorrow. Where else did they ready for the War besides directly into boltholes and secret bases……… All the bases are far, far away from where things would be needed most in the 3-5 year plan. Owning a truck stop chain with multiple locations along primary and secondary routes always with 20 miles of a major city, large town, or important piece of infrastructure gives a group a level of support locally.

Great! So stash a cache in those facilities - why does that require compatibility with civilian vehicles?

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

You can’t burden the Team down with more equipment……. The vehicle load is already ridiculous with ammo and gear…… the most common “parts” in a cache are V-150 tires….. which is stupid…… These are the same size as 5 tons and dumptrucks.

So edit the gear. The lists in the books were made by, well, game designers. Real engineers and strategists would have an idea of how often parts would fail in combat and non-combat use, and would distribute spares accordingly. So adjust the caches. You don't have to give details - just list "MPV repair parts", and decide on a case-by-case basis if that should be there. And if that sounds arbitrary it is no more so than deciding that this truck mechanic happens to have a 2009 automatic 5-speed F550 transmission!

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

This is a civilian fleet. The MP project is a completely civilian venture……….. These people are not military or government; financed and run by altruistic businessmen…….. There is every indication it was run as they know how, like a corporation.

A civilian fleet with machineguns and anti-tank missiles and armored personnel carriers and with a high percentage of military veterans. Defense contractors are also completely civilian ventures run by businessmen... but if this is their job, they learn about it and listen to experts. This is literally a fate-of-the-world venture, why would there be any amateurism about it?

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

I discussed this with Richard Tucholka once via skype. The Morrow Project is one dimension of all the dimensions in games created by Richard and Tri Tac games……… Now, Richard will say that MP belongs to Timeline and Chris Garland (and has to me) but, when it was his………….. Bruce Morrow is a dimensional traveler, he doesn’t always get back to the correct dimension at the correct point in time…… So what he does in one, prevent the War, in another all is lost, another MP functions flawlessly, in another it is despotic…….. there is an infinite number of earths.

Okay... had not heard that before. Interesting variation which implies that Morrow appears only once? That is rather tragic, as it implies that everything is futile...

Regardless, certain trends would be safe and at least as consistent as the war itself - "this is a computer and the components - watch for these and invest heavily" or "these are some ideas that technology can enable - this thing called facebook makes a killing, so either invest in it, or start it!"

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

You would not be unless we are talking about the armor, bullet resistant glass, or NBC system……. Everything possible would be stock F550.

And I just don't think a stock F550 is going to be up to the demands of the Project. It's a cost-saving measure, not a performance measure. And with the Project, performance has to come first!

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

This is totally a strawman……. A stryker isn’t a tank even with a 105mm on top either.

No it isn't, but there is a reason it isn't built on an F550, either! Seriously, even mid-grade military components are built to performance standards that leave non-competitive civilian counterparts way behind. And the Stryker and Hummer are built on the assumption that one of the largest logistical operations in the history is maybe 10-20 miles away ready to offer a rescue and repairs. An F550 is built under even milder assumptions.

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Which isn’t consistent with 3rd edition and your own home brew……… Canon has teams and equipment begin being placed in boltholes in the 60s and 70s with an equipment update in 1985 for a war in 1989.

It actually IS consistent with my current homebrew - the only vehicles I use that are not current US inventory are the Science-One (because I couldn't figure out a replacement and wanted it in the game) and the JLTV, which I fudged as being "very-near-future" US inventory.

And canon makes no sense here*. Why waste resources building equipment that will never be used when you have a rough estimate of when the war happens? Build training mockups, build the actual vehicles later. The whole update plan is absurd. They can build freeze tubes and fusion reactors, but they can't build an MPV their first time around??

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

That gets tedious by the third session for me (the GM)…… have to form that connection with NPCs to get them out………. The woman screaming in the woods didn’t even work to lure them out and be heroes……. So the girl did get eaten by ritualistic cannibals versus being saved by the brave MP team.

I've never had this problem. I've always been able to get the characters out of the vehicles if I needed them out, and have always tried to give them realistic options and consequences of their behaviors, and if they didn't get it after a few tries I don't think I would keep going with that campaign. Not every group of players get every game, and if they really aren't getting it by the third session then this is not the game for them!

*: Or any other places, either. TMP was, IMO, a great idea, but it was poorly executed. More than any other game, this system and story leave me scratching my head. It exists solely as a puzzle, not for realism, and the problem with that is that puzzles are notoriously hard to expand on if they don't make sense!