Drones and UAVs in T2K

[Southernap]

Originally Posted by Olefin

No the books never said that.

Actually Howling Wilderness does say that. See the attached pic from my scanned copy of said supplement.

Originally Posted by CDAT

And yet per the rule book, you can have refrigerators (unshielded), Night Vision (very unshielded), and many other things that if that was truly the case you could not have at the start of the game. So that makes it not as clear as you think, and very open to interpretation.

That is one of the major disconnects between what the rule books have said and what the supplements have followed up on with regards to what is and isn't there for the players and the GM to use. That is why some hand waving or going with some "Wizards did it" is required and it all depends on how hardcore you want to follow the rules and the canonical setting.

I mean most of my games, unless it was a major plot point in the campaign. We didn't think much about crunchier parts of the rule book about supplies or even survival since the rules crunching and book keeping can get complicated that way. Most of the TTRPGS that I have played, depending on the feel of the crowd and the attitude of the DM/GM, keep some or toss other rules unless it becomes a plot point to have dice thrown and the book keeping completed.

Originally Posted by Olefin

FYI that is being done - that is one thing that is in the books that while there is oil still being refined a lot of it has to go for lubrication and oil - and where you have military units intact - especially around Colorado Springs - you will have refining going on - the Robinson refinery only recently in the game had an accident that reduced its refining capability - but until then it would have been producing POL and other fluids - and thats just one refinery - they never said 100% of the refining capability was destroyed

Granted that, still 1% of that will be going MilGov unless the GM in your game decides to have the 194th mutiny and go either independent or go CivGov. Still the prioritization list will be fuel to the food and to the tech that works (i.e trucks, jeeps, and farm vehicles) that guarantee that unit food and survival. A fanciful idea of getting a drone to work may not pay off or even if it does, the weighing of what percentage of POL produced will go to that project versus what is actually usable on the field. Yet, what is interesting is that the US Army Vehicle Guide which was published two years before Howling Wilderness, doesn't make mention of the refinery being in possession of the 194th and that its in Cairo. See the attached Google Map showing the current distance using the Interstate 57 is about 283 miles, using the older US Highway 45 is a straighter shot of about 184 miles. That is still a bunch of miles to try and travel. Which source is correct and accurate? That sort of question leads me on a tangent about GDW and their inability to have a canon bible for their products. So you will have to decide which is accurate or that the core of the 194th is in Cairo holding the river junction, while an element is holding the refinery and deciding whether to mutiny or is it the core is at the refinery and only an element is in cantonment at Cairo, IL.

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At this point the discussion really seems to be about the fact that if your GM and your party want to have a drone. It should be allowed with the applicable hand waving of how to get the parts, fuel, maintenance items around. Recognizing that the Tw2K world isn't the same one we saw in the real life. The Tw2K timeline has allowed for technology that was just on paper when it was written or was just starting to enter prototype, but didn't make it past that point to enter full service in real life. With the respect to drones, they weren't popular in the 1980s except for targets and selected recon efforts by three letter intelligence agencies. It wasn't until post Kosovo where drones and the talk of them being used and the advances in the technology as we see now in the current wars overseas.