Revolution Pilot

[Broomstick]

So what are the common weapons in this world?

[Ahriman238]

So what are the common weapons in this world?

Looks like mostly swords and knives. Mostly very large knives. The villagers at the beginning were hefting shovels and rakes speculatively when trouble was brewing. Some people have bows, a couple have crossbows. There are two men in the end fight with muskets. The main villain, a militia officer, has a shiny chrome hand cannon, and one village farmer has an illegally hoarded shotgun.

I (hope) the muskets are because of a need to save pre-blackout ammo that's suddenly become very hard to manufacture to precise specifications and tolerances. Then again, the villain fires off something like four warning shots at the village when everything went pear-shaped.

EDIT: fixed quote

[Kingmaker]

Those weren't warning shots.

[Ahriman238]

One of his men got shot, his men ventilated Matheson, the villagers were alternatively fleeing and preparing to charge, and he stopped it by firing into the air/dirt. What precisely do you call that, if not a warning shot?

[Kingmaker]

Maybe I'm misremembering, but looked to me like he broke up the fight by shooting several people.

[Knife]

Yeah, I watched it, I thought it was dumb. Like Tera Nova, I'll give it a couple episodes to get it's feet under it, but I'm not holding my breath for it. Looks like they are trying to cash in on the Hunger Games, with the chick. The world doesn't make much sense either. I would understand if, say, they had a 10 year long civil war or mass anarchy and mentioned that almost all ammo was used up, then muskets and home made swords make sense. A rare 'modern' gun would still be possible, with a couple shots left in it. But what ever it is that won't let electricity happen is dumb, 15 years is plenty of time to make/salvage enough gear to make steam engines and shit.

[Havok]

Wouldn't pretty much every human and animal on the planet be dead if they were out of bullets?

[amigocabal]

Yeah, I watched it, I thought it was dumb. Like Tera Nova, I'll give it a couple episodes to get it's feet under it, but I'm not holding my breath for it. Looks like they are trying to cash in on the Hunger Games, with the chick. The world doesn't make much sense either. I would understand if, say, they had a 10 year long civil war or mass anarchy and mentioned that almost all ammo was used up, then muskets and home made swords make sense. A rare 'modern' gun would still be possible, with a couple shots left in it. But what ever it is that won't let electricity happen is dumb, 15 years is plenty of time to make/salvage enough gear to make steam engines and shit.

It would take a lot of bad die rolls for the entire Midwest (instead of merely the area within one hundred miles of Chicago, which would have been devastated by starving hordes) to fall into mass anarchy.

It would require the complete incompetence of every state National Guard in the Midwest for there to be complete collapse over the entire Midwest.

Would not the Republic of Monroe have had, at the very least, trading contacts with the pre-Blackout Midwestern states if any of them survived intact? An intact, pre-Blackout state would provide a nucleus for a continuing social order. If any of them were in the Midwest, there would be at least some trade involving salvage from Chicago, if nothing else.

[Gunhead]

I don't even really care about the plausibility of the scenario really. Realism is all fine and good and keeping it two feet, or even 1.5 feet on the ground is desirable. But the thing is they already have gone overboard. Yea, super USMC sword fighting master I'm looking at you. That scene was just pure unadultered stupid. It was also one of the least bloody sword fights I've seen in ages. In itself it's a minor quibble and endemic to the whole "We must show how much of an utter badass he is", but in a scenario where society is still reeling from a massive disaster, violence should be ugly, nasty, brutal and short. This goes triple if the fight is done with long sharp objects.

-Gunhead

[Knife]

Wouldn't pretty much every human and animal on the planet be dead if they were out of bullets?

Nah, spray and pray would waste a lot of rounds.

[amigocabal]

Lowell, Indiana

‘Revolution’ – Episode 1×04 – “Lowell, Indiana” – Synopsis

As Charlie and Miles travel with Nora in hope of meeting up with Maggie and Aaron, Nate tracks their every move; unforeseeable challenges await the gang.

Lowell is located just outside the urban sprawl along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan.

I would be surprised if it turned out that the original inhabitants somehow repelled the starving hordes from Gary.

[Broomstick]

Lowell is actually rural. Even going down a paved road (it's pretty much a straight shot down Interstate 65) it's at least two days for someone very fit. It's 50 km from Gary to Lowell. Most people would take considerably more time to make that trip on foot which would be the case if the cars weren't running. At that distance the hordes will need to think about things like carrying water with them.

And they have LOTS of guns down there. No natural barriers between them and folks up north (and hordes from Chicago would also be a concern - most wouldn't get that far, but there are millions of people in Chicago so even a low percentage still means significant absolute numbers and those that did make it that far would be the meanest, toughest sons of bitches) but they would have some time to prepare/organize if anyone had even a few brain cells.

Hmm... interesting question. Would they be over run or not?

[Gunhead]

Lowell is actually rural. Even going down a paved road (it's pretty much a straight shot down Interstate 65) it's at least two days for someone very fit. It's 50 km from Gary to Lowell. Most people would take considerably more time to make that trip on foot which would be the case if the cars weren't running. At that distance the hordes will need to think about things like carrying water with them.

And they have LOTS of guns down there. No natural barriers between them and folks up north (and hordes from Chicago would also be a concern - most wouldn't get that far, but there are millions of people in Chicago so even a low percentage still means significant absolute numbers and those that did make it that far would be the meanest, toughest sons of bitches) but they would have some time to prepare/organize if anyone had even a few brain cells.

Hmm... interesting question. Would they be over run or not?

I would bet against it. If the horde is without a leader and it's more or less just dribbling in small packets southward. If the people in Lowell get organized, they can dissuade even large groups from staying. It's really a matter of who gets his group organized first and what with. People in Lowell have the decided advantage that they don't need to move. It could go either way really, but if the people of Lowell take the ultimate NIMBY attitude and shoot on sight, people will most likely keep moving past them. More desperate groups would not be dissuaded by this either, but without massive numbers or organization they have a low chance of success. It would probably take quite a bit of time for the mass exodus to happen from Chicago, people are reluctant to abandon their homes, many will have kids etc. I'd say it would take at least months before life in the city becomes untenable for most. This is plenty of time to prepare if you can get your act together. On the flip side, if the people in Lowell just start fighting each other rather than working together, they are easy picking for groups coming from the north who are organized, armed and already survival smart meaning they have survived this far and probably will survive in the future too.

-Gunhead

[Broomstick]

Given the number of multi-generational extended families in Lowell, the population (between 7 and 10 thousand) allowing for some decent manpower, and most people being under 50 I'm betting they'll self-organize rapidly and have sufficient able-bodied adults to form a town militia for defense. As already noted, gun ownership is common in the area, they'll be armed even before the shit hits the fan.

The land is flat all around, sneaking up on them would be difficult at best. Even if the prairie regrows (average prairie vegetation height around here reaches 2-3 meters) that's only a couple months of the year it would provide cover, and a large group sneaking through the tall grass is going to generate distinctive ripples. There are horses in the area, they'll have them for transportation whereas the city folks/refugees won't.

The downside of that is a possible purge of non-white, non-Christian members of the town as the place is 97% white and Protestant, with a definite streak of bigotry among some of them. Even if that happens, though, they'll still retain the bulk of their population.

ETA: I think I'll be able to catch up with the series tomorrow on Hulu. I'm intrigued if they'll actually have terrain resembling the larger Chicago area or it will be a case of what MST3K called "the mountains of Illinois" where obvious California lumpy scenery stands in for somewhere else but does it badly.