Field Rations ?

[rust]

It seems that the current heatwave finally damaged my brain - despite
searching for more than an hour I am unable to find any information on
field rations, MREs or thelike in any of the Traveller books.

While I have used field rations in previous settings, I do not remember
where I took the informations from (did I make them up ?).

Perhaps someone could help me and tell me where to find the price and
volume / weight of such stuff ?

Thank you.

 

[DFW]

The only thing I can think of is the Protein Tap on pg. 98 of Mercenary.

 

[rust]

Thank you.

Well, then it is back to GURPS, where Survival Rations weigh 0.5 lb
and cost 5 $ per man-day.

 

[DFW]

Here's some ship side "survival" food. http://www.spacefoodsticks.com/

 

[rust]

This would be much too luxurious for my colonist characters, I do not want
to spoil them. The packaged rations have to be just as terrible as the real
world MREs to encourage the characters to go fishing or hunting for food
instead of sitting at their base and enjoying chocolate or peanut butter ... :twisted:

 

[DFW]

MRE are highly edible and tasty if prepared right:

+ Heat, preferably using a "borrowed" french/german/british cooking set
+ Add the secret incredient
+ Eat

If you want REALLY bad try the original Typ-I german EPA. The typical suggestion for preparing the main dish (Rice with Fruit) was

+ Dig hole, at least 1m deep
+ Put closed food package in there
+ Fill hole
+ Camouflage hole

At least the cookies where both edible AND a useful combat weapon (Throwing skill recommended)

:lol:

 

[rust]

If you want REALLY bad try the original Typ-I german EPA. The typical suggestion for preparing the main dish (Rice with Fruit) was

+ Dig hole, at least 1m deep
+ Put closed food package in there
+ Fill hole
+ Camouflage hole

Yep, they had to replace these EPAs when the first environmental protec-
tion laws were introduced, because it was no longer allowed to bury toxic
waste, and throwing it at the enemy was prohibited by the ban on the use
of chemical weapons. I think the only people who ever complained that
this stuff was phased out were the producers and the dentists.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Firefly also had their colonial food bricks...

One brick could feed a family of four for a month, longer if they didn't like the kids...

Maybe you could call it Lamnus bread...

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Wasn't it parodied by Terry Pratchett once, as 'dwarf bread'?

Dwarf bread -- keeps for ages. It's full of minerals. And gravel.
Useful for ballast, and -- inside a sock -- as a melee weapon.

As long as you have dwarf bread, you will find lots of other things more appealing to eat! Trees. Raw sheep. Your own feet.

That's the sort of 'foodstuff' we're talking about?

 

[rust]

That's the sort of 'foodstuff' we're talking about?

Yes, indeed. There are basically two versions of it, hard and soft. The
hard version is similar to a small adobe brick with some nutrients ad-
ded to it, the soft version is more like a small adobe brick that has al-
ready been digested several times.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Not forgetting the Marine version. Tastes of cardboard, chewy, full of what is needed to keep you functioning in the field for a week. Oh and that extra special additive take allows you to stay in battledress for that week without needing to visit the loo.
Of course at the end of the week the head in a marine base is declared a toxic disaster area and bombed from orbit but hey, its the marines :twisted:

 

[justacaveman]

Of course if you go to space with an Aslan, emergency rations won't be a problem (for the Aslan). :twisted:

 

[Baeron Gredlocke]

I believe there were some options in the Central Supply catalog, but I don't have it front of me right now, unfortunately. I know I saw the protein tap in there alongside a few other options.

If nothing else fits, I would handwave something like a calorie/nutrient dense packet of protein that could be reconstituted with whatever available source of potable liquid is available or just ingested dry in a survival context.

In MTU, reconstituted protein is the default foodstuff aboard their ship- it makes sense that it would also be the basis for survival rations.

 

[kristof65]

If you're trying to get the players motivated to use something other than crappy survival rations, you might have to make sure the players themselves are aware of how bad the rations are.

In my games, I can describe how bad a meal or something is till I'm blue in the face, yet some of my players will ignore the roleplaying aspect of it for some in game benefit like saving time or money. If I were in the same situation as you, I'd have to actually serve up a meal during one of my games to bring it home to the players how bad the stuff can taste. Then when a player said his PC was just "going to eat the MRE" instead of taking the more logical RP action, I'd remind them what it tasted like in real life.

 

[rust]

If I were in the same situation as you, I'd have to actually serve up a meal during one of my games to bring it home to the players how bad the stuff can taste.

Thank you, a good idea.

The local gas station sells a kind of "biological chocolate bar" that tastes
like a mixture of hamster feed and sawdust with a thin coating of rather
old chocolate - could be perfect for the job ... :lol:

 

[AndrewW]

In my games, I can describe how bad a meal or something is till I'm blue in the face, yet some of my players will ignore the roleplaying aspect of it for some in game benefit like saving time or money. If I were in the same situation as you, I'd have to actually serve up a meal during one of my games to bring it home to the players how bad the stuff can taste. Then when a player said his PC was just "going to eat the MRE" instead of taking the more logical RP action, I'd remind them what it tasted like in real life.

How about: If your character chooses to eat that that's what I'll serve you?

 

[kristof65]

You're welcome.

The local gas station sells a kind of "biological chocolate bar" that tastes like a mixture of hamster feed and sawdust with a thin coating of rather old chocolate - could be perfect for the job ... :lol:

There is, however, a catch. Some people rather like that sort of stuff, and if one or more of your players is one of them, it won't work.

If that doesn't do the trick, I've got a variation of a recipe I can send you - my wife accidently used the wrong ingredient once, and it was definitely an interesting experience. First bite was "hmm, this tastes odd", second bite was "what's wrong with this?" and by the third bite I was spitting it out. Took my wife two more bites to give up on it.

 

[rust]

If that doesn't do the trick, I've got a variation of a recipe I can send you ...

Thank you for the offer, but the usual results of my attempts at Indian
cuisine will doubtless do the trick, although I would feel much less guilty
for poisoning the players with the "biological chocolate bars" ... :lol:

 

[superc0ntra]

You could also politely inform the players of the rumour of field rations containing anti-erectile chemicals causing them to "malfunction" for an overseeable future.

 

[BP]

Or the other way around

(That is a -2 DM to all Dex related checks; +2 DM for End...)