Rebuilding America: Industry Priorities

[kalos72]

So reading through the GPS/Satellite conversation I realized that maybe my campaigns "outlook" on industry and what we would or would not be able to reproduce might be off.

I read back through my original rule book for MP and tried to see if they indicated a priority the teams would use to rebuild the country.

Obviously basic food/water/shelter/security would be the most basic...

But after that, assume a town/region organizes and gets those basics covered, whats next

And perhaps those are still in progress but that wont mean people cant multitask right Yes, security might always be a risk but it wont mean you dont try and secure a source of iron to get some craftsmen going to replace tractor parts or something.

My campaign is Texas. Simultaneously, my group is working oil production and refining, coal mining, salt mining, concrete production, etc...

If you had to give your top 10 list of specific industries your group would focus on, what would they be

[bobcat]

depending on the size and resources of the area:

1. Chemical production
2. Metal refining/production
3. Salt mining
4. Fuel production
5. Medicine production
6. Arms manufacture
7. Coffee/Tea substitute
8. Machinery production
9. Agricultural cash crops
10. Vehicle production

obviously trade would be important for any of these and some of these are specifically for supporting trade. you can even bypass some of these if you have neighbors willing to trade some of their production for something you have a better supply of.

[RN7]

1) Clean Water Supply
2) Food Production
3) Electricity Production
4) Fuel Production
5) Sanitation
6) Machinery and Tool Production
7) Ammunition Production
8) Long Range Radio
9) Metals
10) Chemicals/Salt

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I'm pretty much in agreement with RN7 except that I'd place sanitation at position 3.

For most of us in the Western world, we are so used to clean water that any minor contaminants quickly make us sick. Sick people might only be ill for a few days or a week from bad water but that's days when they can't work and somebody has to care for them (so you're losing two people from the potential workforce).
Therefore I'd argue that clean water should always be priority number one but to keep it there, sanitation should be pretty high on the priority list as well.

Crops can grow with dirty water, some farm animals can deal with dirty water but put a dead sheep in the water supply and us Westerners will be getting the "stomach rumbles" in pretty short order.

[kalos72]

I put clean usable water and a decent food supply as top priorities for sure. But I honestly dont see food/water as being too hard to come by if your not going with the Howling Wilderness version of a dead America. Yes it would take effort and organization but it wouldn't be some Herculean effort...in my world anyways.

Fuel because you cant clear your land of marauders and Mexicans if you dont have fuel to run your Army on.

Coal for power, steam power, heating fuel, metal refining/forging.

Salt for food preservation primarily.

Concrete, block or brick production for new building construction.

Electronics repair/long range radio comms would probably be next. I do have two nuclear plants in my region after all.

Then ammo/weapon production to keep the Army "fed" if you will.

I do think it will be possible to keep modern aircraft flying, taking it to a one by one manufacturing process or perhaps like the DC Groups work on "US Recovery Plan" where you make two of each item to start to built a stock.

But I do like the idea of starting to build new P-51's and Flying Boxcar tech level airplanes like KFS did in the MP.

Railway clear/maintenance and repair.

Sailing Ship construction for world trade and exploration.

And all the while, Salvage. The world will have tons and tons of it...you just have to be the first to get at it.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Food Maybe not.
But I think clean water for drinking and cooking will be much harder to come by. For several generations most Westerners have grown up with water from either a mains water supply or from bottled mineral/spring water. Once the supply stops, many people won't know where to look to replenish their supply.
Once the mains water supply stops due to lack of personnel, damaged infrastructure, lack of power etc. etc., most city folk are going to stress about where to get more.

While digging a well is (relatively) easy enough, most city folk don't know the first thing about where to dig a well or how to do even rudimentary cleaning of water other than boiling it. Now boiling is going to take care of a lot of the nasties in water but most individuals will never be able to clean large quantities in a short period of time, certainly not enough to keep a small community going at anything more than a subsistence level or water production.

[kalos72]

While I agree its a concern, there are many ways to provide clean water for a community.

If you have a fuel source, oil, coal, wood, methane, NG, you can run a simple desalination plant or just boil fresh water to clean it. If you have any chemical production chlorine will do wonderfully.

Rain catchment is also going to be a normal thing.

Simple sand bio filters would be common place as well. Plus some simple charcoal production and your set...



Today water is "hard to get" because there are 1000 laws and regulations about the process. If you simplify it to just, safe to drink, its much easier.

All that said, it would require an organized and intelligent central group/body to guide that development as the common person wont know about those methods much less to scale.

[bobcat]

remember this is after food, clean water, and some security are provided per the OP. now i did forget a few key concerns so allow me to adjust my list.

1. Chemical/Salt production
2. Metal refining/production
3. Fuel production
4. Electricity production
5. Medicine production/Sanitation
6. Arms manufacture
7. Coffee/Tea substitute
8. Machinery production
9. Agricultural cash crops
10. Trade/Commerce Infrastructure

[kalos72]

One question I have always had on the electricity, would you want to rebuild the typical "grid" type electrical infrastructure or perhaps something more local

My guys seem to think the "grid" thing is probably too much to deal with and would want local power generation and distribution. Even to the point of each home generating its own by various methods.

Perhaps a local county seat with a decent size generating facility and power distribution from there.

[bobcat]

with Morrow Project my guys normally keep it local but build in the ability to become a bigger grid. after all that watermill power plant in Bobcatsville isn't going to meet everyone's needs by itself.

[kalos72]

Mt group seems to lead towards a new county level organization as a primary structure. Government, LE, militia, food/water supply all provided or at least organized by a county government first.

County has to be able to support its own population otherwise, people are moved around. There should be NO dependence on food from another region. Not able to grow enough food in your county, dont live there.

Each County, must be able to build and support a full size active duty rifle company with a support platoon, medical platoon and engineering platoon.

Based on the Countys population, some might be required to add more rifle companies to meet minimal security needs, typically 1 additional active duty rifle company to every 5000 people located in the County.

County populations are limited to the number of people the County can safely and effectively support. Food, water and security are required to effectively support a happy population.

A County can oeofficially sustain 1000 people per oeCounty Farms they can establish - similar to the TMP Manor program - i.e. 25000 people would require the County to establish and maintain 25 working oeCounty Farms. A "County Farm" being something around 1 square mile in size.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I think about this every know and then. What do you get started on first It ends up being a mind boggling enterprise. Modern society has an incredibly complex supply chain. Out here in Silicon Valley where it doesn't rain 8 months of the year getting water flowing from the reservoir systems is mandatory in my opinion if your going to support anything over a tiny population. So that means you also need power to work all the pumps, gates, etc. Power is going to need coal or gas which isn't located in Silicon Valley (assuming we use a local water supply). So moving coal probably needs a functioning railroad. See where this is going Everything is so intertwined.

[kalos72]

Too true, I tend to get bogged down in the details myself.

But then you are going with a continuation of a community's dependency on a public utility system Not trying to make each town/community more independent by digging wells, setting up rain water catchment and then creating a water filtration system to clean it

On a larger scale, the dependence on these larger utility systems is, IMHO, the reason something like T2K could cause so much chaos in the first place. Loss of the power grid, public water and grocery store killed whatever was left after the bombs fell.

We are working on a "county model" that would help guide a community back from the chaos...

[mikeo80]

IMHO, It really depends on where your game is based. That will tell you what kind of raw materials might be available.

In my games, The priorities have been.

Water
Food
Medical
Shelter
Security

My $0.02

Mike

[WallShadow]

In parallel to the _needs_ of the community, it is essential to inventory its assets, physical and knowledge-based. What natural resources, remaining industrial capacities, raw materials, energy/fuel supplies, trained technicians and skilled mechanics can you find to implement your area's recovery
And a third factor, implementation/administration, will decide how efficiently you match up your resources with your needs.