Coal Vs Alcohol

[Legbreaker]

Coal every time provided you can get it. Failing that, wood will do.

Why? Well basically because there's less effort required to obtain the solid fuel and boats etc can, or should, be able to handle the heavier load.

[Adm.Lee]

Coal. Ethanol has too many uses (vehicles, drinking, antiseptic), coal only burns. Plus, for the Wisla Krolowa, there may be a source over in the Liga Handlowy to the west-- they mined coal, IIRC. As for storage, what do you think that barge did before the PCs moved their vehicles and tents onto it?

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Coal. Ethanol has too many uses (vehicles, drinking, antiseptic), coal only burns. Plus, for the Wisla Krolowa, there may be a source over in the Liga Handlowy to the west-- they mined coal, IIRC. As for storage, what do you think that barge did before the PCs moved their vehicles and tents onto it?

solid fuel and old tech engine is the best way to go - its more reliable than many more "modern apparatuses" like a diesel or an alco conversion gasoliner.

Also lots of places on land will have the odd chance of having a cache.

As I recall the Poles shut down all nuclear power plants to minimize risks during the war .This means that a country like Poland would revert to using the traditional coal ( and wood ) for fuel for everything from running a steam generator to heating peoples domiciles,cooking etc etc .

It would be one of the things a band of marauders travelling light and fast would leave behind after raiding a farm or a small hamlet - it weighs and takes up space and has to be traded -it cant be consumed right away like the grain alcohol,the food cache or the unfortunate farmers daughters..Scrounging for it when you set ashore could mean getting some.

Everyone would want coal ,every village would have stacks of it as a necsessary commodity . ( Poland has extensive mining operations /know how in regards to coal and fairly large deposits) .

Well, not everyone would have it .Those who cant get it or afford it - no .But it would be a stock commodity inmyHUMBLEopininon , and in common usage.

Coal can be mined in primitive shafts and with hand tools in many places ( thats why there is always a mining disaster in China - there are 10 000 mines from 10 -10 000 workers ) ,and more than likely many places in Poland will have such operations .I think especially in the south - south east - Silesia.

And not to forget - there are ways to convert coal into synthetic petrol that can run fairly advanced engines-like some turbojets etc .

The energy tables in the core rules needs a serious amount of work .This board shoul set down a voluntary commitee to amend them and then present their findings in final draft . ( For everyone to consider using/not using ) .

As a GM I know I would love a scientific and comprehensive document on this .


All of course - IMHO .

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The other benefit for using a coal burning engine is that you can burn wood (as mentioned previously by Legbreaker), peat or even some forms of solid waste material like dried cow dung. Plus it isn't as likely to burst into flame when exposed to an ignition source.
There's also the advantage that it can be stacked in the open whereas any liquid by necessity must be stored in some sort of tank, typically sealed to prevent evaporation. Even if coal is wet, it can still be burnt (as long as a good fire is burning to help dry it out) but once ethanol gets too much water in it, it's almost useless.

[Slappy]

I think the big vote for coal is that it is what was actually used the last time society had the choice between the two. Before refined petroleum products the world had a choice between alcohol and coal. Both were readily available and the industrial revolution was clearly coal powered.

[kalos72]

Some good answers there...it was bigger question then I had thought tbh. Thanks for all the great insight.

[WallShadow]

Biomass, Municipal Solid Waste, or Trash, it all burns; many towns and cities have power-generating plants dedicated to consuming solid waste. One website dedicated to Biomass fuel technologies shows four, count 'em, _four_ Biomass burning power plants within a few miles of each other in central Long Island! Now, that would make a heck of a power base (pun not intended) for the US Gov't to try to influence back into the national fold. Considering how slowly paper and other "brown" carbon wastes decompose in dark, anaerobic, low-moisture conditions like landfills, it would behoove the neighbors of these landfills to start mining the erstwhile trash back into the energy cycle.