Originally posted to the Juhlin.com Twilight: 2000 fan forum.
Once every 1d6 months or so, I’ll raise periscope over on RPG.net to see if anything of interest is being discussed. Back in November, I noticed this thread on running a tank-focused campaign in a post-apoc world. This prompted some thoughts on the viability of such a campaign in Twilight: 2000.
Long-time denizens of the usual fora and mailings lists, or capable search engine operators, will no doubt recall or find several threads on this topic from previous editions. The fan base has generally concluded that running a tank is a loser’s game for PCs due to the logistical issues of fuel, parts, and main gun ammo, as well as the tactical issue of being a huge effing target. However, I don’t think we’ve taken a detailed look at the issue in the light of the game’s fourth edition, so let’s see if the dead horse has a few more resonant thumps left in it.
With a limited selection of tanks available in the 4e core rules, I chose to focus my initial work on the T-72.
Fuel Economy
… so, in terms of fuel economy, the 4e rules give us roughly equivalent fuel economy over distance when running on diesel, but are much more favorable if we retain the conceit of diesel engines being converted to alcohol fuel. Interestingly, 4e’s road movement speed is significantly lower than 2e’s.
Fuel Production
But what about those stills? Well, let’s look at the means of alcohol fuel production in 2e and 4e:
Again, 4e is considerably more generous/forgiving, assuming both a 2e party and a 4e party are using mobile facilities. What becomes a crushing logistical impossibility in 2e is actually kind of feasible in 4e… at least, from a strict numbers perspective.
Edited 02 Jan 2024: Part 2 of this post is now up here.