Steam train

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

First, why would you shoot everyone?

Seems to be the point of your suggestion.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

set up all your shooters to cover where the target will have to stop.

Presumably these shooters have been instructed to shoot some people, and "all your shooters" sounds like a fair number. Perhaps they're only there to fire a couple of warning shots and intimidate others, not that you'd need to many for a few demonstration shots *shrug*

Second, why would you destroy the track? Blocking it will do.

You were supporting Luke in saying that simply preventing the line from being in use was going to draw much more ire than stealing the train. "Blocking" as opposed to "destroying" doesn't make a lot of difference here. Sure, those rails are still intact under the landslide and rubble you brought down in the canyon... But carrying a few more segments of rail to replace
the twisted ones isn't the hard part of repairing that track.

A simple blockage that can be easily cleared is the same as just cutting a rail that can be easily replaced, when it comes to disrupting the rail line for other transport. Neither one is hugely economically threating -- which was the original suggestion (damage to the track being considered far more destructive than theft or robbery of the train, and prohibitively more so when it came to PC planning).

Different subject there. That was a suggestion as to why the PCs might actually be wanting to capture the train, again as the OP specifies, rather than just rob it and then release it.

It's the same subject, since it's follow-on actions to the same attack on the train. Now you're suggesting destroying a railroad terminal in addition to the other damage caused by the crime. It seems to me that you're claiming that (1) track damage plus (2) murder plus (3) train theft plus (4) terminal destruction is less offensive to the powers that be than just (1) track damage plus (2) murder plus (3) train theft.

No doubt you can assume some scenario where track damage is so high, enough bridges destroyed and miles of track uprooted, that it outweighs destruction of the railroad terminal facilities, and all those buildings, supplies, and facilities. Or you could assume the opposite. But at that point, the discussion is off in the weeds of detail, and the conclusion depends on the assumptions the table wants to make, so it's really up the OP anyway.

It was a fairly minor point to begin with, so I don't see much reason to continue beating the dead iron horse to the detriment of the thread.