Re: (TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #654

["Charles Gadda" <cgadda@earthlink.net>]

> > From: Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>
>
> > Am I reading this that it takes 100 ST of damage to
> > advance the whole face of a tunnel (say 1 m x 2 m )
> > one cm? That's removing, um... 2 million cc's of
> > stone.
>
> Ummmm ... I get 20,000cc.

Per ITL, the basic tunneling rate in "average" stone is 2cm/per hour per
point of ST. Thus, a 10 ST man will remove 20cm x 100cm x 200cm=400,000cc or
.5232 cubic yards

>From War Department manual TR 195-25 Fortification "Protected Shelters"
dated 1 Dec 1927:

a. Inclines and passages:
1 man picking
1 man filling sandbags
1 man carrying for each 10 feet of entrance
1 relief

=0.6 cubic yards per hour (but this is in *soil* not rock!)

Obviously, TFT is off, but perhaps not horribly so. I would suggest that the
rate be reduced to 1 cm/per point ST for relatively soft rock; doubled for
soil; and perhaps some fraction thereof for harder rock. And this would be
with at least one additional man clearing spoilage; perhaps more depending
on circumstances.

Of course, much depends on what you are trying to mine through - a single
layer brick wall is relatively easy but the same bricks 20 layers deep will
present quite a challenge.

> > No, tunneling (with picks) isn't too easy. Remember .
> > It takes a while. Months, even for just a few rooms.
>
> I don't think I agree with this.  I think skilled
> tunnellers can probably clear a respectable area in a
> surprisingly short amount of time.  Tunnellers would be
> more likely to cut the stone into the largest size
> blocks that they can carry away instead of smashing it
> to pieces.

Just gonna "cut" the stone,eh? I doubt its that simple - they probably will
just chip chunks of it away, as best they can. There is nothing neat and
tidy about tunneling.

> If there's wood available, they can heat the stone to amplify cracks.

Or use a Fire spell.

And tunnels rarely go
> through homogenious material.  And unless you're deadset
> on a floorplan, you can follow fissures in the rock or
> better yet, natural caves.

When available, absolutely.

As for spell use, I think the rules are wrong, here. It's not as if a Magic
Fist or even a lighting bolt is just going to disingtegrate and vapourise
the rock - at the least someone is going to have to remove the spoilage.
Personally, I don't think they would be very effective at all - especially
fireball given that it is more of an instantaneous flash rather than a
sustained heat. Here is what I would suggest:

Each *die* of Lighting damage removes 1cm of rock (and requires 2 minutes/cm
to remove spoilage). (BTW, this represents, on average, a 1:35 reduction in
mining rate) Each die of Magic Fist removes 1/2cm of rock, with same
spoilage removal requirements. A Wizard's Wrath removes 1.5cm of rock per
die (assuming lighting bolt form).

This should lower the rate to a more believable level, while still making it
a viable strategy.

For the slower approach, the Fire spell might help, as well. In this case it
enhances the miner's ability to cut stone - each Fire spell will increase
the miner's effective ST by 1. All else in terms of time remains the same.
Not sure how to treat multi-hex fires, though.
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