[d20 Modern] Wild West Shenanigans

[GreenSerpent]

Greetings, fellow adventurers!

I have a problem. I need to find a way, using legitimate mechanics in d20 Modern to build two certain items.

The setting:

Year is 1870s.
Current technology is appropriate for the real-world year. We'll say the year is 1870.
The current setting is Western Tennessee, USA.
The current party location is a small town.
The current world setting is assumed to be the same as the current USA.


The party:

A set of triplets who use a gigantic cannon together as one. They are particularly important, as they have some basic mechanics skill.
A twin pistol-wielding gentleman thief.
A rifle-wielding gunman.
Me, who hasn't got a fixed character yet. My current one is a Fast character, who specialises in using a Buffalo rifle. However, he is being recalled to serve as the deputy sheriff of a town and as such I shall need to create a new character.


The first task I would like you, the Playground, to provide me with guides to sourcing the materials for and constructing in a period-appropriate manner is:

The construction of a oil-powered, heavily-armed TANK - not necessarily a proper World War style, but a serviceable tank. Yes, you read that right. My group is trying to invent the tank in the Wild West.

We are allowed to do anything as long as we can devise a valid IC reason for it. This includes motivation (e.g we have to have a valid IC reason for inventing the tank).

I'd like a list of tasks that I would need to complete in order to construct the tank. A list of parts and how I would obtain them would be useful, as would a guide to how to construct the tank.

I know this is a large undertaking, but I need your assistance - the more detail the better. We are limited to period-appropriate travel, so we can't fly or drive - the fastest technology is the locomotive.

Any assistance would be welcome! And if this is completed, I have a second challenge - I need to be able to construct Doc Brown's time-travelling steam train from Back to the Future Part III. But first the tank!

Our DM has mentioned that he was going to restart the Civil War anyway - but we might be forcing it early. We need this tank to have the tactical advantage.

The more detailed the guide, the better! Thank you in advance, adventurers!

May your swords stay sharp!

[Treblain]

Why not just build the time train first, then go forward in time to steal a tank?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Take one of those roofed wagons/carts/caravans/whatever, carve out a few holes in the sides, bolt some steel plates over the wood, and mount some guns through the holes somehow? Or maybe don't mount any guns, just use them like arrow slits?

[GreenSerpent]

Problems with obtaining the plutonium without sufficient firepower.

Also, there's going to be a war on!

[Hiro Protagonest]

I hate when I ninja the people I'm trying to get the attention of...

Look at the post above yours.

[That_guy_there]

Here's how I would do it (a lot of this is RP heavy I guess):

1- Make your character in the Smart class (And techie if so desired) and focus in mechanics and Technology/ Physical Sciences.
2- Aquire a 4-4-0 Steam Engine and Coal Car (or power it by FX if possible) these were the standard Steam engines of the 1860s and beyond. (IC reasons could range from the triplets needing an easier way to move their cannon and the theif wanting to be able to see if he could steal/ gamble-win one)
3- Using you're Technology/ Physical Sciences check draw up plans to reinforce the Engine, Coal car and firing turret. Armor and modifications can be found in D20 Apocalypse. Make liberal use of the armor modifications. Also see if you can weasle your way into getting the Off road Suspension.
4- Spend however long it takes to build said device with the appropriately high Craft Check (Should be about a DC30).

Ample info Here:
http://www.firstmdus.net/Rail%20cars.htm
http://www.paradesquare.ca/railway/us_civil_war.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0
And the D20 Modern books

Good Luck :smallbiggrin:

[CheshireCatAW]

Something to consider about "inventing" the tank; A modified train might be the most logical springboard for it. It fits the "pre-tank tank" mold by having a lot of limiting factors, primary amongst them being the need to ride on rails (at least to start with). It's also quite useful because trains can be so heavy and pull such weight, they could make a tank with a lounge in it.

Just a thought.

[Ashtagon]

Eh. Just build a giant mechanical spider.

[RandomLunatic]

Motivation is the easy part-the first ironclad warship was launched in 1859, and in the Civil War, both Union and Confederate ironclads proved near impossible to sink with gunfire. The advantage of being able to bring that level of bulletproofness inland should be self-evident.

I would recommend using wood-fired steam propulsion over oil, simply because the fuel will be so much easier to procure in 1870. If you do make it with an internal combustion engine, most of the technical details will be unchanged, you just get better performance.

Railroad rolling stock is definitely a good starting point. I recommend looking into Shay-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shay_locomotive) locomotives, which were designed to produce massive tractive effort and high torque at low speeds, and would be far less likely to bog down on loose ground than a more conventional setup. Additionally, if you run each wheel on an independent axle, instead of each pair on a straight axle, you can install a gear system on each side and run both at separate speeds, allowing turning. Otherwise, you would most likely have to recourse to some external set of wheels for steering, like some early British tanks, which proved highly vulnerable to enemy fire. If you are unwilling to wait for at least 1877, you will have to invent the Shay locomotive yourself.

Now that you got it to move, you need it to fight. For the weight, the best way to go is probably the build an oaken casemate over the boiler, then layer metal armor over that, sorta like the CSS Virginia. Kinda like this (http://www.theuniversalfoundation.com/images/MMCSSV01.gif), only on tracks. Depending on how big you make it, you will probably lose most of the broadside battery simply because the boiler, fuel bunker, and other machinery is going to take up most of the internal volume. And since turning it will be a major pain, I would try replacing the fore and after guns with a partial turret arrangement so it is not necessary to turn the entire contraption to aim. And for bonus points, add rifle ports all over. Maybe some gatling guns

Finally, I am not quite sure why you are building this. If you are being commissioned to build it for the Army, US or any other, the most likely use for these things is cracking enemy lines. Which means that you will want a bunch of firepower up front. And you will need the tracks to be very long, with the front up really high, traits which are necessary to permit it to cross trenches.

Time travel is easier. All you need to do is get the thing up to exactly 88 miles per hour and add 1.21 gigawatts.:smalltongue:

[That_guy_there]

Time travel is easier. All you need to do is get the thing up to exactly 88 miles per hour and add 1.21 gigawatts.:smalltongue:


Yeah, its only that easy if you don't have to invent your own Flux Capacitor! :smallbiggrin:

Again the in game stuff boils down to "fairly simple" mechanics (Skill Rolls). IN the time travel train case i'd guess you'd need massive ranks in Repair, Knowledge (Technology), Knowlede (Physical Sciences), Craft (Electrical), Craft Mechanical), Craft (MacGuffin).

[GreenSerpent]

Our DM is sadistic in the nice way.

He will make me invent the Flux Capacitor, we'll have to find and refine the plutonium, etc etc. He's not evil... he will allow us to... but he wants reasons.


A modified train will be a good starting point. Wood-or-coal-fired propulsion will be better unitl we can construct an oil refinery.

As for "Are we commissioned to build it?"
Nope. We're doing it for fun, however we're doing it seriously.