Fantasy Travel Question

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

To keep things simple our house rule was that a horse could comfortably travel as many miles per day as their con score [that was assuming a normal weight load' date= and was the reason people tried to buy healthy horses]. For every mile past con it cost the horse 1 LTE up to double con distance. For every mile after double con it cost the horse 1 body. Each +2" of running added 1 mile to the distance. So a 20 con horse can comfortably travel 20 miles per day and can burn 20 LTE to travel 40 miles. If a horse had a 15 body it could travel up to 55 miles before dying from exhaustion.

 

Nice. Unfortunately, I seem to have repped you recently...

 

You know, I just thought of something...there was some Hero supplement from ages past that had overland travel rates, based on REC I believe. Something like 1 hex = so many km and a character can travel his REC in hexes per day. Anyone remember this?

[phookz]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

The world record is 6.2 miles in 42 minutes - for an average speed of 6.8 miles an hour. That's the world's fastest walker on a perfect surface, carrying nothing but ultra-thin clothing.

 

I agree with you that 8 mph is very fast, but I thought I'd point out you have a math problem you calculation above: 6.2 miles in 42 minutes would equal 8.9 miles in an hour.

 

That being said, I completely agree with the sentiment that this is the speed for a world class athlete, completely unencumbered, on good terrain with good equipment (modern walking shoes must be better than medieval leather boots), and not representative of what an average character should be able to do.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

I agree with you that 8 mph is very fast, but I thought I'd point out you have a math problem you calculation above: 6.2 miles in 42 minutes would equal 8.9 miles in an hour.

 

That being said, I completely agree with the sentiment that this is the speed for a world class athlete, completely unencumbered, on good terrain with good equipment (modern walking shoes must be better than medieval leather boots), and not representative of what an average character should be able to do.

 

A close real world analog to your runner in a more "Fantasy" mode would be the speed some of the Great Plains Native Americans could travel. Anyone got any good Indian Wars data? Should give a good benchmark for the speed of "Barbarian infantry".

[LordGhee]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

speaking for the Great plains Indians (not really family history is that my 4th removed Great grandfather married an Indian when he was with the army in Arkansans)

 

They rode horses, the west is big.

 

So you would not find any data on foot travel. The plains Indians as in the greatest light Cavalry in the world (sounds better than the local stone age guys kick our . . . ) so mounted movement would be found.

 

hum need to look up undaunted courage for the Lewis and Clark expedition for there movement rates.

 

 

 

Now I will look up some references on Movement, humm where are my books on Custer.

 

Now out east when Rebbecca Boone was captured and her pa pursued the war party both groups covered 100 miles in about 4 days. They travel on foot.

 

 

Lord Ghee

El Paso TX

were Wyatt Eurp got off the train for he was to interview as Sheriff and saw a shooting and two stabbings in 30 minutes and got back on the train to go to tombstone . (truth).

[Kristopher]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

speaking for the Great plains Indians (not really family history is that my 4th removed Great grandfather married an Indian when he was with the army in Arkansans)

 

They rode horses, the west is big.

 

So you would not find any data on foot travel. The plains Indians as in the greatest light Cavalry in the world (sounds better than the local stone age guys kick our . . . ) so mounted movement would be found.

 

IIRC, there were no horses in the Americas from the time the native megafauna died out at the end of the last ice age, until the Spanish reintroduced them in the 1500s.

 

So...there was a long time when the Plains Indians were not riding horses.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

hum need to look up undaunted courage for the Lewis and Clark expedition for there movement rates.

 

The Lewis and Clark expedition were mostly in boats themselves. And by the time they got out west, the Mandans, Crows, et al already had horses and were experienced riders. Not likely to find any useful dismounted movement data there.

[Markdoc]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

I agree with you that 8 mph is very fast' date=' but I thought I'd point out you have a math problem you calculation above: 6.2 miles in 42 minutes would equal 8.9 miles in an hour.[/quote']

 

Oops! My bad - teach me to do it in my head!

 

cheers, Mark

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

What seems weird is your standard vehicle starts with 6" Run which works out to 4 MPH (walking pace, we're not talking non-combat) and will keep pace with just about anything except a marathon runner or a very fast horse in short distances. (assuming the vehicle is magical and never needs to rest or recharge)

 

If it needs to outdistance anything, going 8 MPH (non-combat speed) will allow it to go a day's travel (20 miles) in 3 hours.

 

Anybody find this non-intuitive?

[Markdoc]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

What seems weird is your standard vehicle starts with 6" Run which works out to 4 MPH (walking pace, we're not talking non-combat) and will keep pace with just about anything except a marathon runner or a very fast horse in short distances. (assuming the vehicle is magical and never needs to rest or recharge)

 

If it needs to outdistance anything, going 8 MPH (non-combat speed) will allow it to go a day's travel (20 miles) in 3 hours.

 

Anybody find this non-intuitive?

 

No - that's why people *use* vehicles. Because they don't get tired. In real life, a fit walker can cover several miles at 4 MPH, but if he tries to hold that pace, by the end of the day, he's likely to be doing 2 MPH or less. Try it for several days on end and he'll be lucky to be doing 1 MPH by the end of the second day. If you look at the modern marching tables on the last link Lord Ghee gave you can see this: in real life, a unit force-marching covers progressively less distance each day as their reserves shrink.

 

A more realistic walking speed is 3 MPH, and at that speed you'll cover a day's march in bit less than 7 hours of solid walking. Throw in time to get pack up your gear, prepare and eat food, then pack your gear out again and you're looking at 8-9 hours solid activity. That's a pretty full day. Push it out to a full 12 hours - say 10 hours solid walking - and you might make 30 miles, but now you're exhausted. Keep it up for 16 hours (18 hours total exertion) and you can cover nearly 50 miles - but that's the kind of exertion that historically destroyed armies if they kept it up, due to loss from exhaustion, men who can no longer walk because they have no skin left on their feet, men who simply desert rather than put up with the pain and so on.

 

It's why ships were the main method of travel where practical, because their average speed is less than that of a cantering horse, but they can keep it up all day and all night if the wind blows, allowing them to outpace anything on its own legs.

 

cheers, Mark

[LordGhee]

Re: Fantasy Travel Question

 

Just for comment, when the Spanish lead by Coronado travel up through New Mexico and across Oklahoma and Texas the Indians where not living on the Plains (the Lokoda lived in Ohio in the woods for example). The Tribes lived along the rivers (red river, north and south Canadian), the great plains where empty for there was not a way to make a living. luckily the Spanish brought Horses and the rest is History.

 

Lord Ghee