Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

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I believe a Roman soldier was expected to be able to do 20 Roman miles (just under 30km) in a 5 hour marching day. However I suspect that rate would be reduced for a long distance march like this and they would probably need to take say one day in ten (?) resting. So say 20km a day with a rest day every 10. That said the larger the army the less they will do each day. No mater how well organised the army is minor incidents in the middle of the column will tend to spread the column out and the front must slow down to prevent that happening (and the column becoming too vulnerable). The same is actually true of modern motorised army columns. The front vehicle will do a nice steady 40 mph say but the poor back vehicles will be doing 60mph one minute and 20mph the next. Excatly the same as what happens in a traffic jam and exactly the same thing happens with a large army on foot.

Just a thought - it might be worth messaging The Ace (in case he dosen't look in on this particular thread) as I believe he is in a Roman Reenactment society/club and can probably give you a much better answer!
 
springs1971 said:
the norm for a roman army would be 15-20 miles per day, so suppose you halved this given the situation and terrain, if would sit anywhere between 320-425 days; erring towards the latter. If there is an urgency I would have thought they may have sent what they could spare ahead, and just kept enough able bodied with the slower contingent to protect them, rather than hold up the whole army. If you want to keep them together then I think you have to allow for at least a half speed; they'll need more time to set up camp in the evening, as well as the slower terrain coverage.
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Thanks Springs. A little over year, maybe more sounds pretty good for the story I want to write.
They dont really have much in the way of supplies to start with. Their ships were fired before they reached shore so they had to swim. Only 3000 made it and they have to work with whatever drifts to shore. They are expert survivors, and despite their current state they are tough enough to take some of what they need from some of the smaller surrounding towns and villages where they start off (something which goes against their beliefs). Without spoiling it i can say that less than a thousand actually make it home.
 
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Vertigo is right on the distances and The Ace as a source of knowledge on this subject.

In terms of marching, historically any army was looking at a distance of 15km per day. Not because of their speed or fitness, but because of the 'train', i.e. the supplies, the specialist tradesmen, such as carpenters, smiths etc., their wagons and oxen, or in later times horses, and the camp followers, such as the women and children.

This would vary for light infantry types, which the Romans had, who could surge on with little support - indeed that was often their role.

Terrain was a definite factor, as was weather. There are tales of some armies only making four or five km in a day. For that, check out information on Napoleon's armies and the WWII Eastern Front in Russia, relevant if Kyrgyzstan is involved. One thing that should also be remembered is that campaigning was largely not done in the winter pre-modern age, due to travelling difficulties.

Morale and health would also be a significant factor.
 
Vertigo said:
I believe a Roman soldier was expected to be able to do 20 Roman miles (just under 30km) in a 5 hour marching day. However I suspect that rate would be reduced for a long distance march like this and they would probably need to take say one day in ten (?) resting. So say 20km a day with a rest day every 10. That said the larger the army the less they will do each day. No mater how well organised the army is minor incidents in the middle of the column will tend to spread the column out and the front must slow down to prevent that happening (and the column becoming too vulnerable). The same is actually true of modern motorised army columns. The front vehicle will do a nice steady 40 mph say but the poor back vehicles will be doing 60mph one minute and 20mph the next. Excatly the same as what happens in a traffic jam and exactly the same thing happens with a large army on foot.

Just a thought - it might be worth messaging The Ace (in case he dosen't look in on this particular thread) as I believe he is in a Roman Reenactment society/club and can probably give you a much better answer!
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The army thins out the longer the journey takes, so perhaps I can have them going a bit faster as the story goes on. With the low moral, low supplies and general chaotic state i could start them out with 10 miles per day and the more supplies they gather and the thinner their company gets move them up to 20.
The 5 our marching day sounds good, 6 or 7 when desperate. When they make it to 20 miles per day I'll maybe (because of their lower numbers) increase their marching days from ten to 12.

EDIT: If The Ace doesn't pop by I may message him and ask.
 
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Abernovo said:
Vertigo is right on the distances and The Ace as a source of knowledge on this subject.

In terms of marching, historically any army was looking at a distance of 15km per day. Not because of their speed or fitness, but because of the 'train', i.e. the supplies, the specialist tradesmen, such as carpenters, smiths etc., their wagons and oxen, or in later times horses, and the camp followers, such as the women and children.

This would vary for light infantry types, which the Romans had, who could surge on with little support - indeed that was often their role.

Terrain was a definite factor, as was weather. There are tales of some armies only making four or five km in a day. For that, check out information on Napoleon's armies and the WWII Eastern Front in Russia, relevant if Kyrgyzstan is involved. One thing that should also be remembered is that campaigning was largely not done in the winter pre-modern age, due to travelling difficulties.

Morale and health would also be a significant factor.
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Whether or not they take horses, have camp followers like women and children depends on where in my world they are fighting, and who. Unluckily for my gang they went to the aid of friends who were literally at the opposite end of the world. So no horses or followers. They went in ships, hugging the coast of the western continent. But on arriving their ships were fired and they became trapped on the eastern continent.

The southern part of that continent is hilly (some mountains) and heavily forested, contains two large inland seas many rivers and a little east opens up into plains, further north there is a mountain range beyond which begins the great desert.
 
Another one from me:

If you were a scientific type (lab-based, biology stuff) and you were trying to calm yourself down by -- let's say -- reciting something very dull and routine to yourself, what might it be?

I have a sentence written that says: "I closed my eyes, breathed slowly and recited the names of the Noble Gases, the chemical composition of [???]."

Any ideas gratefully received.
 
I was vaguely remembering that there are things with long chemical formulae. I think. But then I'm not sure what that would be. Or how long 'long' is.

Edited to say: it should be something vaguely realistic for the 1920s, too.
 
Does the reader have to read it as they say it? Or is it just a throwaway this is what they were thinking of? It's just if they do you might want to go not top long; you know, chemists, rest of the population ;):)
 
Hey, I know this one. You did say biological stuff, be warned.;)

When it all goes wrong, instead of counting to a hundred, you can recite species and their Latin names.

Flowers:
Greater Periwinkle - Vinca major
Lesser Periwinkle - Vinca minor
Herbaceous Periwinkle - Vinca herbacea

and so on for animals, fungi etc. As if lab work wasn't boring enough.:)
 
Well, I'm not at all scientific, but I have been known to talk myself through the first part of the periodic table -- "Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen..." has a wonderfully soothing rhythm to it (though after that I come unstuck very rapidly...). But it doesn't need much mental effort, so might it be better if he/she had to do something which requires a little concentration? If I'm feeling nauseous or faint I count, eg "2+2=4, 4+4=8, 8+8=16..." getting as high as I can, as the effort involved stops me thinking sicky thoughts.


EDIT: for chemical formulae this might help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_chemical_formulas
 
How about the [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]physiological properties of insulin? (I've no idea what that means, I just Googled 1920s biology! Apparently it was a big thing in 1921.) [/FONT]
 
The Judge said:
eg "2+2=4, 4+4=8, 8+8=16..." getting as high as I can, as the effort involved stops me thinking sicky thoughts.
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I leave out the pluses and just go through, the sequence: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64... (and much further, one of the perils of having to know certain binary numbers in decimal).

But if you want to keep the process in there, isn't there a song involving, I think, marigolds and an inchworm, that goes up to thirty-two?


And the US States**, in strict alphabetical order. (And I used to be able recall all 24 oblasts, plus one republic) of Ukraina. :eek:


** Eight each beginning with M and N (two Norths and four News).
 
Here are the perils of trying to write about a character with a background I know nothing of... (I have a vague idea what a lab coat looks like and I could probably work out how a bunsen burner worked, but that's about it).

She's meant to be a bit of a lab geek -- the sort of person who doesn't know the rest of the world exists, and wouldn't know how to name a flower because it's not pinned to a board. I might go with the numbers -- good plan -- but I was looking for something a little more... specific.

Insulin was a good idea -- I just tried to read about it, but none of it makes any sense to me :|

Animals might work. She could list the species of rats.

TJ -- thanks for the link. Hmm. Barium bromate monohydrate, eh? Looks promising. Thank you.
 
How about the marvellous calming properties of ethyl chloride --C2H5Cl Not very long, but at least I know it was around in the 1920s :s
 
Oops, yes, you are quite correct, Mouse. Typing with my brain in neutral and before double-checking, for which there is no excuse. There's two in Europe.

I will go off and write twenty times: I am a numpty. Do not type when tired.

Many apologies.:eek::eek::eek:,
 
Heh! No worries... I knew there were more than two (I'm a huge rat fan) but didn't realise there were quite that many!
 
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