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Old 04-22-2016, 09:51 AM   #31
tshiggins
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: [AtE] Condition of Highways

Quote:
Originally Posted by Warlockco View Post
Kinda depends on how badly you want things to degrade, just look at the Fallout series of games for how things look roughly 200 years later. Though I think they preserved things a fair bit better than what would realistically happen.
Another place to look is the first Mad Max movie, since they were still using the highways.
Just as a point of information, the first Mad Max movie took place while the world was in the process of ending. Max Rockatansky worked for the Main Force Patrol, which indicates that (regionally, at least) some governmental authority existed and very likely maintained the roads in the area.

That said, those roads were not superhighways. They were the equivalent of what would be state roads, in the United States.

The remaining films all take place within 20 years (or so) of Max's lifetime, out in the wastes, far from civilization. The best they had was a section of railroad that had been indifferently maintained. The rest of the roads hadn't had time to decay much, yet (The Road Warrior), or were maintained by the people who used them (Fury Road). Also, I don't think the deserts of central Australia see much frost-heave.

The basic assumption of AtE is that the collapse took place about two generations ago. In that case, I think the best you'd see is half-way decent road maintenance in areas where several interdependent communities lie in close proximity to one another.

Out in the wastelands, you'd see narrow tracks or dirt roads, at best. You'd definitely need a vehicle designed for off-road activity, and about 30 mph/50 kph is the best speed you'd get (which is still pretty awesome, compared to most historical travel times), for short stretches.

In my Facets campaign (I need to stop procrastinating and get the latest session written up...), the group just took some steam-buggies through to an area where the technology is fairly backwards.

They made the 170-mile trip from what would be southern Utah to the Grand Junction Area in about 14 hours, using reasonably maintained dirt roads that see reasonably frequent use by pack-trains and heavy wagons.

On modern highways, that trip takes about three hours.
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Last edited by tshiggins; 04-23-2016 at 01:55 PM.
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