What skill(s) would best capture Logistics?

[Celjabba]

The movie Operation Petticoat show a remarkable military procurement / scrounging expert ...

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

The movie Operation Petticoat show a remarkable military procurement / scrounging expert ...

That was Tony Curtis (Jamie Lee's dad, JLC later played one of the nurses in the short lived Operation Petticoat TV Series) as the actor playing the officer whose main talent was acquisition.

One of my favorite scenes of the movie has the commander of the (forward) naval base (Cavu in the Philippines IIRC) come down to the dock to 'discuss' the aggressive nature of his acquisitions. When said commander returns to his office he finds it totally acquired including one entire metal wall; 'I am a victim of Sherman's March to the Sea!' Cary Grant as the sub skipper, Sherman; is a performance I always enjoy.

[Polydamas]

The MacGuyver, Nog, or Radar O'Reilly type of scrounging is also a tactical-level skill. It lets you repair your quantum conveyor but not feed 15,000 horses for a month or install a rolling belt on your beachhead. A character who convinces the US military to adopt shipping containers is different than one who wheels and deals and bodges whatever is needed.

I believe that GURPS Mass Combat briefly discusses logistics.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

The MacGuyver, Nog, or Radar O'Reilly type of scrounging is also a tactical-level skill.

Given that, upthread, Kromm has semi-canonically blessed Expert Skill (Business Logistics/Military Logistics) as valid skills, which subsume the Administration skill, perhaps Small Unit/Retail versions of those skills would also be valid.

For example:

Expert Skill (Fixer/Purchasing Agent) acts as Administration, Law, Merchant, Scrounging, Streetwise, etc. for purposes of finding scarce civilian goods and determining the best means of acquiring them.

Expert Skill (Supply Officer) is the military equivalent.

FWIW, Area Knowledge (Business/Warehouse) skill might be valid for the sort of inventory clerk or sales representative who knows where everything is kept within a large building crammed with supplies.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

FWIW, Area Knowledge (Business/Warehouse) skill might be valid for the sort of inventory clerk or sales representative who knows where everything is kept within a large building crammed with supplies.

Area Knowledge would definitely be a complimentary skill for both Scrounging and working a supply system whatever skills that involves in GURPS. It could even substitute in the case of commercially available goods and services ("what car mechanic in this dump is open at 5.30 pm Sunday?") whereas you need Scrounging to search the unknown scrap yard, dungeon, etc.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

FWIW, Area Knowledge (Business/Warehouse) skill might be valid for the sort of inventory clerk or sales representative who knows where everything is kept within a large building crammed with supplies.

"This place is big enough to need its own Area Knowledge skill!" was a running joke in one of my fantasy campaigns. It was mainly in reference to castle complexes (which are functionally villages, towns, or even cities) and megadungeons (which are the de facto counties of creepy underworld nobility).

To convince me in the real world, I'd insist on a structure at least as big as the finest canonical distinction for Area Knowledge: "a few city blocks" (call it 6-7 acres) or "a few hundred acres" (so, about 40-50 times that, but mostly empty). Which is a low bar! There are several 80-120 acre warehouses in the world, and so many 20+ acre ones that they don't make Top X Warehouses lists any more. For that matter, a skyscraper (10 acres for a mere high rise, going up to well past 200 acres for the biggest) or an aircraft carrier (easily 50+ acres all decks) would also qualify, and probably at the "village or town" level. Army bases, at thousands to hundreds of thousands of acres, would certainly pass the test, potentially at the "barony, county, duchy, or small nation" level, implying the possible existence of warehousing that's it's own specialty a level or three down from that . . .

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Kromm

To convince me in the real world, I'd insist on a structure at least as big as the finest canonical distinction for Area Knowledge: "a few city blocks" (call it 6-7 acres) or "a few hundred acres" (so, about 40-50 times that, but mostly empty). Which is a low bar! There are several 80-120 acre warehouses in the world, and so many 20+ acre ones that they don't make Top X Warehouses lists any more. For that matter, a skyscraper (10 acres for a mere high rise, going up to well past 200 acres for the biggest) or an aircraft carrier (easily 50+ acres all decks) would also qualify, and probably at the "village or town" level. Army bases, at thousands to hundreds of thousands of acres, would certainly pass the test, potentially at the "barony, county, duchy, or small nation" level, implying the possible existence of warehousing that's it's own specialty a level or three down from that . . .

That is a good way to handle Contacts for a large base or work complex, on an AK roll you know who you need to talk to get something. Then apply your Social Influence skills to make the deal or whatever is needed.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Refplace

That is a good way to handle Contacts for a large base or work complex, on an AK roll you know who you need to talk to get something. Then apply your Social Influence skills to make the deal or whatever is needed.

A Perk level Contact could let you have someone who lets you know when the good stuff comes in, 'loses' things you want when you can't get there right away and someone else wants them, etc.

[jason taylor]

Bookkeeping.

A lot of physical advantages and skills will do. Endurance for handling large loads. Animal empathy might not (from what I read of camels, "empathy" does not describe their masters very well). Skill in the use of whatever vehicle. Area Knowledge (area of operations whereever that is). Shiphandling and whatever equiv for fresh water vehicles.

Logistics is surprisingly one of the most romantic subjects and one of the more campaignible. A game based on Over the Hump flights, or the Shetland Bus for instance. I long thought supply to the Resistance in Greece had a LOT of good possibilities because of the primitive craft used for that and the contrast between occupied Greece and the exoticism of neutral Turkey.

[Shimmin Beg]

Originally Posted by Kromm

"This place is big enough to need its own Area Knowledge skill!" was a running joke in one of my fantasy campaigns. To convince me in the real world, I'd insist on a structure at least as big as the finest canonical distinction for Area Knowledge: "a few city blocks" (call it 6-7 acres) or "a few hundred acres" (so, about 40-50 times that, but mostly empty). Which is a low bar!

I've applied it to universities, and I'd be fine with a particular department (or a college, in Oxbridge-style collegiate universities) as a lower-level specialty. Especially for commuting staff, in my experience it's easy to have a detailed knowledge of the university but not know much about the surrounding town.