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Old 06-14-2017, 05:39 PM   #151
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: Armored Ford pick-up truck

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Will any of this technological gear be bulky enough to affect the stats of the car? Will it be visible from outside the truck to savvy people?
You can't hide antennae.

Bulletproof glass is obvious if you look up close (refraction effects) but generally not from a distance.

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And, PCs being PCs, we're looking at a lot of luggage. If we're packing the truck bed full of motorcycles, what are good solutions for packing along some 100 gallons of water, 100 gallons of fuel and about 200 lbs. of various tools, camping gear, clothing and other personal stuff?
200 gallons in 2 foot high containers would take up a space nearly 4 feet × 4 feet. Normal people would do this in a trailer, but that's perhaps not compatible with the off-roading. A second vehicle might be less conspicuous than loading this one down. I don't know the details of the truck but it seems to me that loading it with maybe half a ton of armour and over a ton of motorcycles and random cargo… may well break the back axle.
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Old 06-14-2017, 05:48 PM   #152
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Default Re: Armored Ford pick-up truck

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You can't hide antennae.
Can you use a regular car antenna for daily use, with longer and more powerful ones that can be stored inside it and mounted if and only if the truck is set up as a surveillance control station?

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Bulletproof glass is obvious if you look up close (refraction effects) but generally not from a distance.
Well, that actually fits the cover, so it's no big deal if someone can tell that the glass is bulletproof.

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200 gallons in 2 foot high containers would take up a space nearly 4 feet × 4 feet. Normal people would do this in a trailer, but that's perhaps not compatible with the off-roading. A second vehicle might be less conspicuous than loading this one down. I don't know the details of the truck but it seems to me that loading it with maybe half a ton of armour and over a ton of motorcycles and random cargo… may well break the back axle.
Well, the GM has not officially determined the model of car, just that it is a newish Ford F-series, with luxury modifications, with a truck bed as large as possible and any modifications to wheels, axles and suspension that this, combined with off-road capacity, would make necessary.

I'm actually looking for suggestions from people who know cars what kind of Ford truck could handle this and/or what exotic modificatins would be necessary to accomplish it.

If absolutely necessary, some of the extra fuel and water may (very reluctantly) be scaled down. Or some of it stored on the floor of the rear end of the cab, as only one person should sit there under ordinary circumstances.

As it turns out, despite the preference of the former Green Beret, it is not actually comtemplated that the team should establish several camouflaged OPs near our targets and use the truck as a mothership to resupply us from a remote desert base.

Even though that would obviously be much safer than the mundane alternative of staying with a federal informant. But someone had to be a whining baby, wanting running water instead of camp showers and bathrooms instead of chemical toilets. Well, actually, everyone else wanted that. Spoilt millenial brats. Even though you could have had private camp showers. And maybe even two chemical toilets, one for each sex!

We could have cooked sausages and beans at a camp fire!!!*

*Well, as long as we were really far away from all intelligent life, the camp fire was really small and hidden well. All right, I'll concede there were some flaws in The Camp-Out Alternative as regards creature comforts, but overall, it's a much safer plan.
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Old 06-14-2017, 06:28 PM   #153
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

2 7ft long bikes will fit in a 8ft long full length truck bed, and then a third bike will ride nicely on a hitch rack, so 3 bikes is no problem

You can add a frame to your bed that will also extend over your cab, and have jerry cans and ammo boxes and rolls tied to it, piled atop it, hanging off the sides, front bumper and so forth

Also the motorcycles don't take the entire bed, can have stuff stashed amongst them
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Old 06-14-2017, 06:58 PM   #154
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

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2 7ft long bikes will fit in a 8ft long full length truck bed, and then a third bike will ride nicely on a hitch rack, so 3 bikes is no problem
Wunderschön!

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You can add a frame to your bed that will also extend over your cab, and have jerry cans and ammo boxes and rolls tied to it, piled atop it, hanging off the sides, front bumper and so forth
You see, this is exactly the kind of thing that will cause Dr. Anderson to start clucking regretfully, Cherry Bell to turn up her nose and refer to the proposed alteratioms in unflattering teen speak from the 90s and Agent Rubio to 'reluctantly' veto sensible safety precautions like packing a few more jerry cans because 'it doesn't fit our cover' (because it looks butt-ugly).

Cover? Who the heck do these people reckon we are? Secret agents? We're an undercover cop, a desk jockey cop, a lady who hasn't yet decided what she'll do with the rest o' her life, a head doc with eclectic hobbies an' a former Green Beret who certainly never got no Jason Bourne training. You'll note that only one of these has any experience or training in living a cover persona. Taylor ain't much good at math, but even he can figure that doesn't amount to more than one in five who have any idea what they're doing.

Well, Agent O'Toole claims he been trained for undercover work, but it'll be his maiden run. That there jes' fills Taylor with a warm sense o' safety an' wellbeing. One out o' five knows what we're doing an' one o' the rest a greenhorn ain't even got the sense to know he don't know nothing!

As you can probably tell, Taylor's military training has not prepared him for clandestine intelligence work. He would much prefer to do things in the way he is used to, has trained for and understands. Such as using Camouflage, Navigation, Observation, Stealth, Survival, Tactics and Tracking in preference to Acting, Disguise, Fast-Talk, Merchant, Mimicry, Savoir-Faire and Streetwise... not to mention having to rely on other people's alleged Allies, Contacts or Favors.

Of course, Taylor's lowest skill of the first 7 skills (military recon) is Navigation at 17 and his average skill at them is ca 20. For the second 7 skill list (undercover work), he'll be at default for a number of skills, has no skill over 12 and averages ca skill 10. So his preference is understandable.

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Also the motorcycles don't take the entire bed, can have stuff stashed amongst them
Naturlich.
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Old 06-14-2017, 07:17 PM   #155
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Your cover is someone who likes motored toys. Including off road bikes and an off road truck. This is exactly the sort of person who when heading into the badlands of Mexico should have his truck festooned with enough gas, water, and spare parts and tools to join the Afrika Corps

If your going to be going bombing around having a whee of a time in the boonies you want to make sure to have plenty of gas and stuff for field repairs you can actually make it back

Also a Satellite phone would be handy
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Old 06-14-2017, 07:59 PM   #156
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

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Your cover is someone who likes motored toys. Including off road bikes and an off road truck. This is exactly the sort of person who when heading into the badlands of Mexico should have his truck festooned with enough gas, water, and spare parts and tools to join the Afrika Corps

If your going to be going bombing around having a whee of a time in the boonies you want to make sure to have plenty of gas and stuff for field repairs you can actually make it back
Well, that's what Taylor will argue.

On the other hand, in all things, there must be moderation. Agent Rubio will be perfectly willing to allow Taylor to buy and pack any survival gear and supplies that aren't expensive enough to bring the rage of Onyx Rain Comptroller Bev Dixon onto her head.

She will, however, draw the line at anything she feels mars the lines of 'her' shiny truck or that will make it look silly. She will be supported in this by Dr. Anderson, who already sees no need for all these bulky motorcycles when they've got a perfectly fine truck (and argued that the truck interior should come in black-and-white faux leopard print*), and by Cherry Bell, whose views may justly be summarised as anti-camping and pro-ostentation. O'Toole, the tool, will obviously support his new boss, his voice muffled due to the location of his thick head far up Special Agent Rubio's posterior (which is at least a change from keeping it up his own fundament).

All in all, apart from Taylor, it seems it seems that ornamentation, preferably of the MTV 'Pimp my Ride' school of chrome, glitter and bedazzling, trumps extra cargo space with everybody.

And, of couse, for all that the USA is a democracy, the federal government very much isn't. Dr. Anderson is a respected consultant and gets some deference on minor matters, but legally as well as practically, Agent Rubio, as the senior federal law enforcement officer, is in charge. Taylor and Bell don't even rate, unless Agent Rubio decides to allow them input. Which she sometimes does, she's a very easy going boss, generally, but some lines have to be drawn. Having aesthetics be one of them seems to be a popular decision.

To summarise, yay to any and all camping supplies discreetly stored somewhere they don't ruin the clean lines of the truck. Ix-nay to any externally stored cargo that makes the truck look rustic and hillbilly (fortunately, Rubio pretty much has to allow storing a bike externally, as she's bringing her own).

*Which the GM has not officially ruled out. After all, the original owner is quite likely to have shared the tastes of Dr. Anderson's player for retro-70s cocaine-fuelled Miami Vice chic.

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YAlso a Satellite phone would be handy
Aside from the sat comms in the truck, Agents Rubio and O'Toole both carry Homeland Security issue encrypted Iridium 9505A satellite phones.
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Old 06-14-2017, 08:12 PM   #157
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Considering how expensive this truck already is couldn't they spring for real leopard skins?
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Old 06-14-2017, 08:16 PM   #158
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Also, it appears that for 2015 models that cooling seats may be an option!

If I was going to be a super rich criminal in Mexico I would totally want that option
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Old 06-14-2017, 08:33 PM   #159
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

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Considering how expensive this truck already is couldn't they spring for real leopard skins?
Real leopards have the bad taste not to come in black and white. Dr. Anderson wants the furnishings to match his suit.

Note that the PCs only get what the truck already came with when seized by the federal government. Their discretionary budget, as opposed to their ability to obtain gear already in federal stores, is not that large.

The negotiation with the GM was OOC, in that the GM said Rubio's and Anderson's characters could describe the car and Rubio could roll Administration, Savoir-Faire (Police) or use Pulling Rank if the player wanted anything that actually had any adventuring use beyond what had been established.

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Also, it appears that for 2015 models that cooling seats may be an option!

If I was going to be a super rich criminal in Mexico I would totally want that option
No doubt.

Note that even if the truck has them, the fact that it was the beginning of February when our heroes were last on screen means that it is unlikely they'd be used. Temperatures in the Juarez Valley are unlikely to get very high even in the noon sunlight and night frosts are moderately likely. Expect 40-66 degrees (Fahrenheit).
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Old 06-14-2017, 08:35 PM   #160
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Default Re: [Modern Firepower] Technothriller gear for secret DHS team in 2017

Adding grip heaters can be an excellent upgrades for bikes then!

I have a Tusk grip heater kit on my scooter personally and it is wonderful in cool weather

The model I have is no longer on Amazon sadly

This model looks very very similar and is same company, but obviously the only person to review it hates it

https://www.amazon.com/Tusk-Grip-Hea...sk+grip+heater

Also I can really recommend the Fly Racing Aurora glove for cold weather biking
http://www.flyracing.com/product/sno...love/724/black
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