Dead Reign 'vehicle annex'

[azazel1024]

I am putting together some optional stuff on vehicle modification for dead reign, for exmple adding push bars, welding on armor, mounting weapons, etc. In addition to this I am putting together a guide for rolling up random towns and pit-stops small to large. A little sample text that I've pulled together.

"From: Major Rick Burton
To: 1st Carlisle Volunteer Officers
CC: Soldiers of the 1st Volunteers and other interested parties

If you have the time, resources and skills you can modify even the most pedestrian of vehicles in to an armored zombie destroying tank. Currently there are a few larger safe haven communities that specialize in vehicle modifications, typically these are Reaper run towns and communities. Some will only modify their own vehicles, but in a lot of cases they are willing to accept barter for the modifications or even donate to a worthy cause such as other Reapers or apocalyptic soldiers with a good cause.

One of the largest communities that I know of in the area for vehicle modification is our free town of Carlisle. I’ll give a brief history for those new members of the 1st who may not be aware of our town’s history and how we’ve gotten to be one of the largest safe haven communities around. Starting with the outbreak the 108th field artillery battalion based out of Carlisle was ordered mobilized by the state governor. Before the battalion could muster fully for the crises people began to die everywhere and then rise from the dead. When this happened the 108th was disorganized and only a small portion of the battalion had mustered. I am the executive officer of the battalion and I was the senior most officer to muster. The officers and staff at the war college had been mobilized earlier and reported to their units, or at least attempted to. I quickly organized support for the community when we realized what was happening. Unfortunately we were too late to help a lot of the residents. The few members of the battalion gathered up and began helping local law enforcement, fire fighters and volunteers to rescue people from the risen dead, what we now know to be zombies. By the time the dust had settled a week later less then 2,000 of the nearly 18,000 residents of Carlisle had either died or been turned. Of the almost 150 members of the battalion less then 50 of us made it through. Since then we’ve organized the survivors to protect the town, gather other survivors, tackle the undead and provide what we can for wandering survivors. The surviving elements of the 108th have formed the 1st volunteer carlisle defenders along with some of the survivors, passing reapers and what's left of the police and firefighters.

We’ve been lucky in that the recently completed battalion maintenance and supply depot was fully stocked when the outbreak occurred and the hospital near the center of town was largely unharmed. Since the outbreak we’ve been pretty self sufficient between some of the local farms, the supplies left in town and raiding the outskirts of Harrisburg for additional supplies and search and rescue operations. Some of the trade with passing survivors also helps."

[azazel1024]

Another excerpt.

"Vehicle combat rules
Vehicles are one of the great equalizers against a zombie swarm. They aren’t perfect and they aren’t the end-all be-all, but they can help, a lot. A vehicle, especially an armored one is generally proof against a zombie trying to get in at the occupants. If there are any thinkers around and especially a tank or two things could get ugly though. A few shamblers with pipes or rocks can quickly skin your average automobile, even one with armored shutters and slats and that is one of the first things a thinker is going to get them do use. A tank or a couple of tanks can be problematic because they are so incredibly strong they are likely to overturn any kind of smaller car or truck leaving you stranded.

The best kind of vehicle for tackling a swarm of zombies is an armored, all wheel drive large SUV, pickup truck or van. They’ve got the traction and the power to plow through a large crowd of zombies and the armoring and large size is going to keep them from getting in. They are also going to be too heavy for the swarm to over turn the truck or van.

Overturning a vehicle
A zombie swarm is not going to try to overturn a vehicle in a coordinated manner unless there is a thinker there, so you’re pretty safe unless one shows up. A couple of tanks might do it by accident though by pushing the vehicle around. Use the following table to determine how many zombies are needed to overturn a vehicle and the likelihood of accidentally flipping the vehicle if there is no thinker present. One tank equals 3 shamblers or runners. If a thinker is present and there are enough shamblers, then the vehicle is going over no matter what unless it is moving.

Small car – 6 shamlbers, 0-24%
Medium car – 8 shamblers, 0-22%
Large car – 10 shamblers, 0-19%
Small SUV – 8 shamblers, 0-31% (high center of gravity)
Medium SUV – 12 shamblers, 0-25%
Large SUV – 16 shamblers, 0-20%
Small pickup – 7 shamblers, 0-30%
Medium pickup – 10 shamblers, 0-22%
Large pickup – 14 shamlbers, 0-18%
Full size Van – 12 shamblers, 0-20%
Box truck – 20 shamblers, 0-25%
Semi truck – 30 shamblers, 0-10%
Semi truck with trailer – 50 shamblers, 0-15%

If the vehicle stays moving then there aren’t enough zombies who can push against it to knock it over. Also for every additional 400lbs of weight added to the vehicle by passengers or modifications then increase the number of shamblers needed to flip it by 2 and reduce the likelihood of accidentally flipping the vehicle by -3%. For box trucks and semi trucks it is for every 1,000lbs. This presents another issue, not getting stopped by a large swarm of zombies."

[azazel1024]

Vehicle capacities
The following is a lose chart of the capacities of different vehicles for towing and cargo respectively.

Small car – 1,300/700lbs
Medium car – 1,700/1,000lbs
Large car – 2,000/1,200lbs
Small SUV – 1,500/1,000lbs
Medium SUV – 2,000/1,500lbs
Large SUV – 3,000/2,000lbs
Small pickup – 1,500/1,000lbs
Medium pickup – 2,500/1,500lbs
Large pickup – 5,000/2,500lbs
Box truck – 6,000/4,000lbs
Semi – 50,000/8,000lbs (typical semi trailer weighs 10,000lbs and can carry 40,000lbs on it)

Vehicle modifications
The sky is nearly the limit for what you can do for modifying a vehicle. There are certain limitations though. The chassis of a vehicle can only hold so much weight before it breaks or bends and practical considerations apply, like how much room is inside of the vehicle and how much strain can the vehicle engine take before overheating. Prices vary from place to place and could be as much as 500% higher or not even be available. Parts are scarce and there is no distribution network like there used to be. Prices are listed in equivalent trade goods, though if an area is low on ammunition a few boxes of bullets could be worth x10 what they would normally be worth, just like vehicle modifications can be more expensive in some locations then in others. Times listed are for a competent mechanic and a well supplied shop. A rush could get it done in half the time with twice the cost most places and if limited tools are available then it could take two or three times as long or not even be possible. Raw materials cost half if you are doing it yourself, but you may need to scrounge your own parts, etc while scavenging.

[azazel1024]

Supped up engine or transmission
There are several modifications you can do to an engine.

Extra power: You can modify the engine either with a supercharger, a turbocharger or if one already exists swap it for a more powerful one. Other parts of the engine also need to be modified to accept the extra power. The final result is increasing the top speed of the vehicle by 20% the downside is that fuel consumption also goes up by 20%.
Time: 5 days
Weight: 100lbs
Cost: $3,000

Engine swap V8: There are two general reasons for swapping an engine, either you want more power or you want to use less fuel. The first option is generally dropping in a large V8 engine, the most common of which is the Chevy 350 or else a turbocharged or supercharged engine. The engine is generally tweaked a bit for some extra power when it’s dropped in. This increases the top speed of the vehicle by 20% with the same increase in fuel consumption of 20% as supping up the engine for extra power. Sports cars, large pickups and SUVs already have V8 engines in them. This also increases the tow and carrying capacity of the vehicle by 30%.
Time: 3 days
Weight: 400lbs
Cost: $4,000

Engine swap Diesel: Alternately if you are looking for better range a turbo diesel engine can be swapped in to the car. Diesel engines use less fuel then an equivalent gasoline powered engine. The downside is that diesel fuel isn’t as common at gas stations. An upside is that diesel engines can be modified to run on vegetable oil and bio diesel isn’t to hard to brew if you have some supplies and know what you are doing. The swap increases vehicle range by 20% with no impact on top speed. Semis, busses and box trucks already have a diesel engine in them as do a large number of big pickup trucks, so no effect swapping one in.
Time: 3 days
Weight: 100lbs
Cost: $5,000

Diesel conversion to vegetable oil: This conversion allows a diesel engine to run on straight vegetable oil. This is important in the post apocalyptic world as diesel isn’t always common and it is also fairly easy to make your own vegetable oil. In addition many super markets, homes, fast food restaurants, etc have stocks of cooking oils. This conversion adds a secondary fuel system and tank just for vegetable oil, the existing diesel system remains and a flick of the switch changes the engine from one to the other. The conversion adds a 10 gallon vegetable oil tank in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The mileage of the vehicle is the same on vegetable oil or on diesel.
Time: 1 week
Weight: 100lbs
Cost: $2,000

Gasoline conversion to alcohol: A gasoline engine can be converted in a similar manner to a diesel engine to run on ethanol or other alcohols instead of gasoline. This conversion is typically done as a secondary fuel system just like the vegetable oil conversion is done for diesels. This allows a gasoline powered vehicle to run on both gasoline and on ethanol. Highly distilled alcohol has a bit of water left in it and cannot be mixed directly with gasoline, but it can still run an engine on its own. The conversion installs a 10 gallon tank in the passenger compartment or trunk and the secondary fuel system. The conversion tank can only run on one type of alcohol at a time, they cannot be mixed. So isopropyl alcohol cannot be mixed with ethanol or with methanol, etc. When running on alcohol the mileage of the vehicle is reduced by 30%. A note, liquor is not high enough in ethanol to work. Rubbing/denatured alcohol will work, pure methanol will work and highly distilled ethanol will work (generally ‘home distilled), but it has to be at least 95% pure alcohol.
Time: 1 week
Weight: 100lbs
Cost: $3,000

Tow package: This is a bit of a misnomer, it isn’t really adding a tow hitch, but it is modifying the engine, cooling system, etc to enable the vehicle to tow heavy weights or to take the strain of all that armor plating you are planning on adding. An auxiliary oil and transmission cooler is added and a larger radiator is swapped out for the existing one. This allows the vehicle to tow and carry 50% more weight then it would be able to otherwise.
Time: 2 days
Cost: $1,000

AWD or 4WD: This is a modification to a vehicle to add 4WD or AWD if it didn’t have it already. It is pretty expensive and labor intensive to do. Generally it’s a better idea just to grab a vehicle that is already 4WD or AWD. Adds a +5% bonus to plow through a zombie swarm and can off-road much better.
Time: 2 weeks
Weight: 100lbs
Cost: $5,000

[azazel1024]

I'll see what I can find. I did write quite a bit more about it, but I never quite finished it. I can maybe see about wrapping it up some time this week/next week.
-Matt

[Razzinold]

I think your ideas are cool and would use them in my game,l but you made need to tweak the build times a little bit there, they seem kind of high. If someone with limited skill is attempting it then I could see it, but you wrote that the time is based on a competent mechanic with a fully supplied shop. Now depending on your definition of mechanic (is it some guy just reading the shop manual on how to do it [kind of like reading a new recipe to try when cooking], self taught back yard mechanic who used to fix his/wife's/buddies car out of his garage because he has some skill/natural talent for mechanics, but never formally schooled [side note not saying these type of people don't do good work just saying no formal training] had partial training as an apprentice and never finished the course, or was a fully trained and licensed mechanic before the zombie wave) that would change the argument, but I will assume that by competent, you mean fully trained but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that assumption.

So back to my point, I have a friend who is a fully trained mechanic, took him 5 years to do his schooling/apprenticeship to get his hours, he did an engine swap on his Chevy cavalier in a few hours. Now I know that because the engine size stayed the same there was less work involved, he only had to disconnect everything and hook it back up to the new one, whereas swapping to a V8, you might have to swap the transmission and possibly the rear end (for different gear ratios) but he didn't even do the work in a fully equipped professional shop either, so in my opinion 3 days seems excessive, unless that was meant to include, having to find the parts, as opposed to having them on hand, or having to fight off zombies during the work.

Seems harsh and sorry if it comes off that way, if I pissed you off then please refer to the top of the post where I mentioned at the beginning that I like your ideas before possibly insulting you on my different opinions of an engine swap time frame:ok:

In the wise words of Ricky Bobby "I said with all due respect!"

[azazel1024]

Its based upon having to do a lot of fabrication, bodging and probably having some existing workload.

Having no other work and having the necessary parts on hand can reduce the time by up to 80%.
-Matt

PS I am not a trained mechanic, but I've done my fair share of engine swaps, transmission tear downs, cylinder liner replacements, etc. So I am pretty well versed in what it takes. Having to fabricate the parts or make do takes a lot, a lot longer than a formal job with the parts on hand would.

[Arnie100]

Very nice! What about weapon modifications?

[Tearstone]

Its based upon having to do a lot of fabrication, bodging and probably having some existing workload.

Having no other work and having the necessary parts on hand can reduce the time by up to 80%.
-Matt

PS I am not a trained mechanic, but I've done my fair share of engine swaps, transmission tear downs, cylinder liner replacements, etc. So I am pretty well versed in what it takes. Having to fabricate the parts or make do takes a lot, a lot longer than a formal job with the parts on hand would.

Hey Matt, what about if you have a skilled machinist/fabricator on site to help?

[azazel1024]

A well skilled one with all the right tools and all the raw stock, you could maybe manage it in half the time or somewhat less than that for what I posted...assuming they don't have any other jobs.
-Matt

[Tearstone]

Cool. Course, if you've got a machinist on site, they probably would be busy as hell building other stuff too... but meh.