06-29-2021, 02:13 PM | #41 | |||
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Steam train
Seems to be the point of your suggestion.
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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). Quote:
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. |
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06-29-2021, 03:27 PM | #42 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Steam train
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You've got all your shooters covering it so that the train occupants can't simply detrain and clear the obstacle, and so that they can't defeat your force by attacking into the ambush. You only need to actually shoot them if they aren't dissuaded from doing so by the fact that they're on a stopped train surrounded by all your shooters. Criminal activities generally expect that NPCs won't act like suicidally aggressive dungeon mobs. And because there's no reason to have any shooters be elsewhere, I suppose, since there's not really another relevant location in this exercise. Quote:
Mining the tracks (let alone the bridge) was your suggestion, which would be significant destruction of the line as well as the train. No, it's not. It's an alternative answer to your question of why stop the train: because you need the train itself to use for some adventurous gambit.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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06-30-2021, 06:06 AM | #43 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Steam train
Another good reason to steal a train rather than destroy it and take what you need from the wreckage - trains can carry a lot of stuff fairly quickly and efficiently, which is kind of their whole point. If you're trying to steal a few gold ingots, sure, you can just blow it up, grab the loot, and go. If you're trying to steal a large shipment of iron, lumber, food, munitions, and/or whatever else the train is hauling, looting the train only lets you take whatever fraction of that you and your horses can safely carry ("safely" here also meaning you need to still be able to move quickly enough to get away), while stealing the train lets you take all of it. Do it right, and it can also prevent you from raising suspicions - a group of heavily-laden horses and riders showing up in town when a train that's supposed to pass through carrying a lot of goods is late draws more suspicion than that same train just passing on through (technically with a different crew - or perhaps the same crew, but with hidden hijackers training weapons on them - but you should be able to conceal that if anybody would notice in the first place).
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GURPS Overhaul |
06-30-2021, 06:29 AM | #44 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Steam train
Only to places that are warehouse-sized and very close to the train tracks. Few of these are likely to be good hiding places.
If you do have warehouse located on the tracks you'd probably be better off forging shipping orders and leaving the train alone. You're alos probably in a built-up area and not eyeing trains as they pass through thinly populated wildernesses.
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Fred Brackin |
06-30-2021, 06:57 AM | #45 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Steam train
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Or maybe you're not all that great at this "bandit" business and you have a plan that reads: 1) Setup temporary blockage 2) Steal train 3) ???? 4) Profit!
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GURPS Overhaul |
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06-30-2021, 12:28 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Steam train
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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06-30-2021, 12:45 PM | #47 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Steam train
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In the warlord-torn China of the same time it was tommy guns, C96 Mausers/he zi pao and swords. You could look into warlord-era China as a sort of guide but there was a surprising amount of production of knock-offs of Western guns and railroad guards ate up a lot of it.
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Fred Brackin |
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Tags |
old west, railroad |
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