Domestic food specifics.....

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I always thought of domestic food as something similar to what you might get at a field kitchen -- a sandwich or hot dog, A and B rations, a carton of milk or a can of soda, green eggs and ham, etc -- something like that.

But when doing salvage, most will be COTS items. This will be the case in "Armies of the Night" redux. In trading, like "The Free City of Krakow" it would be a mix, drawing rations from a depot would yield the above. It's mainly filler details, but I like that this has generated discussion, always useful stuff.

[Ancestor]

See, this is one of the most interesting yet least understood aspects of T2K. Sure, you have the MRE's but what of the human comforts of June 2000 Poland. Is it rotgut potato vodka or 1.5 bottle of Johnny Walker Red? Is it homebrewed crap or the latest incarnation of Warsteiner? My oldest son insisted that his PC rolled for a mountain bike, even though he rolled a "26" for a bicycle ( I made him spend 1000 xp for said bike, even though that could have bought him a generator with diesel). As much as we dispute the greater aspects of 20th/21st century Western War, the root of the game is surviving what happens after that, and that's why we love it!

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by Ancestor

See, this is one of the most interesting yet least understood aspects of T2K. Sure, you have the MRE's but what of the human comforts of June 2000 Poland. Is it rotgut potato vodka or 1.5 bottle of Johnny Walker Red? Is it homebrewed crap or the latest incarnation of Warsteiner? My oldest son insisted that his PC rolled for a mountain bike, even though he rolled a "26" for a bicycle ( I made him spend 1000 xp for said bike, even though that could have bought him a generator with diesel). As much as we dispute the greater aspects of 20th/21st century Western War, the root of the game is surviving what happens after that, and that's why we love it!

Plus MRE's are not survival rations, they're combat rations. That reminds me to look at the Mtn House weights. At Yokota AB, a case of Bud helped when dealing with the JN's more than correct paper work.

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by .45cultist

Plus MRE's are not survival rations, they're combat rations. That reminds me to look at the Mtn House weights. At Yokota AB, a case of Bud helped when dealing with the JN's more than correct paper work.

LOL, I cleared CIF at Taegu, ROK with two cartons of Marlboro Reds......

Missing items, dirt, unserviceable... all together unsat.

Korean Civilian takes one look, no, no, no. Lifts the waterproof bag. Two carton, stops. Hand carries my paperwork to the other end. Korean there stamps it and signs off..... out the door I went.

[pmulcahy11b]

At Ft Bragg, they unsatted my rucksack. My sergeant said, "Don't clean it, don't wash it, just throw it in your locker and forget about." Two days later, I turned it in and it passed.

[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

LOL, I cleared CIF at Taegu, ROK with two cartons of Marlboro Reds......

Missing items, dirt, unserviceable... all together unsat.

Korean Civilian takes one look, no, no, no. Lifts the waterproof bag. Two carton, stops. Hand carries my paperwork to the other end. Korean there stamps it and signs off..... out the door I went.

Back in the 70s as my wife tells it, Salems or other menthol cigarettes got you through customs in Egypt pretty easily.
<Customs Agent> Miss, you are only allowed to bring in one carton of cigarettes.
<Wife, in her young innocent college age woman mode> Oh, dear, I _really_ didn't know. I wasn't trying to break the rules. Here: you'll take care of the overage, won't you? ("wide-eyed face of a cherub" engaged).
<Agent> Of course, miss. (goes no further with examination of luggage, puts on appropriate tags and stickers). You may go on.

[pmulcahy11b]

[QUOTE=WallShadow;64790]Back in the 70s as my wife tells it, Salems or other menthol cigarettes got you through customs in Egypt pretty easily.
In Korea, if you went to the PX at Camp Casey and got a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label, you could get just about anything out of the Koreans -- from a special wash job on your TA-50 that would pass any inspection (including CIF) to deep discounts on brand-name electronics (including having them brought to your hooch so you didn't have to use your ration card). We used to bring a few bottles to the field and got all kinds of stuff on the local economy.

The locals could resell them for a fortune. I brought two bottles to a certain shop downrange and got a complete set of TA-50 plus other kit, and from that point on, I just put the stuff CIF issued me in a duffel bag and never used it.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

You know, it would probably be worthwhile compiling a list of typical packaged food weights from the various countries involved.
I'm thinking of this for the benefits of comparison as much as for the game mechanics so for example, what would be the typical size/weight of a tin of soup from the Canada, Germany, Poland, the UK, the USA, the USSR/Russia?
If they're exactly the same then great but if there is any difference in sizes, we can use that as another (no pun intended) flavour element for the game.

But I'm also thinking of the extra details like this, as far as I am aware, while you can buy cartons of beer in cans in Poland, in Germany they typically sell it in bottle in crates of 20.
The only problem I can see for this idea is whether the sizes/weights have remained constant from the 1990s to now or if there were different "typically" sizes/weights.



And for what it's worth, according to a friend who spent some time in Poland teaching English, the tobacco in Polish brand cigarettes (like many other Eastern European brands apparently) is rough at best and downright harsh at worst!

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

In Korea, if you went to the PX at Camp Casey and got a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label, you could get just about anything out of the Koreans -- from a special wash job on your TA-50 that would pass any inspection (including CIF) to deep discounts on brand-name electronics (including having them brought to your hooch so you didn't have to use your ration card). We used to bring a few bottles to the field and got all kinds of stuff on the local economy.

The locals could resell them for a fortune. I brought two bottles to a certain shop downrange and got a complete set of TA-50 plus other kit, and from that point on, I just put the stuff CIF issued me in a duffel bag and never used it.

I bought a taxi ride from Camp Carrol (Waegwan) to Camp Henry (Taegu) with the magnum bottle of Jack Daniels. I missed the train getting some round eye and had to get back before curfew.... $300.00 taxi ride for less than twenty.