From: dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Movement Rates
Date: 26 Aug 92 12:28:13 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: A.R.M. Ltd, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambs, UK

In article <1992Aug18.125626.17265@watson.ibm.com>
royle@highland.manassas.ibm.com (Matthew Royle x4553 highland) writes:

>Hmmm. Well, why dont we do a little calculating here.... These numbers
>are by no means fact, but only rough guesses by myself... Feel free to
>correct me if I am wrong:
>
>  Walking man travels at about 5mph, and one could probably travel about 6 to
>   10 hours a day depending on how desperate he is. So, that makes between
>   30 and 50 miles a day.

Some real figures:

The Olympic 20km walk was won in somewhere around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
That's about 13km/hour, or 8 miles/hour. On the other hand, this is sport
walking, which doesn't have much to do with normal walking. Normal walking
is basically concerned with travelling long distances in a reasonably
energy-efficient manner; sport walking with travelling long distances as
fast as possible without ever being out of contact with the ground.

A normal person's fast walk is about 4 miles/hour - if you're moving much
faster than that, it generally feels more comfortable to jog instead.

Walking at 4 miles/hour tends to be quite tiring in the long run: if you're
walking a very long distance, 3 miles/hour or even a bit slower is more
efficient. This can be sustained for 10 hours or more, making 30 miles in a
day reasonably possible. (Some friends of mine do this fairly regularly.
I've joined them on occasions, usually having to give up around the 15-20
mile mark - not because of tiredness, but because of blisters: I don't do it
often enough to be properly hardened to walking...)

All this assumes:
  * that the characters are reasonably fit;
  * that the characters have good footwear and are reasonably hardened to
    walking, or are barefoot and very hardened to walking barefoot -
    otherwise, blisters and other injuries are likely to cause major
    problems;
  * that the ground is just about ideal - level, flat and reasonably hard. A
    road going in the right direction is ideal!
  * that the characters are not heavily laden.
  * that if the characters are going to do this day after day, they are
    somewhat fitter and more hardened to walking than if it's just a
    one-off.

If any of these isn't the case, you can cut down the distance travelled
significantly; conversely, if they are very much the case, you can increase
the distance. I believe for instance that some African plains tribesmen can
travel 40 miles or more per day at a lope: they have the advantages of good
ground and being very accustomed indeed to such travel.

In the standard AD&D campaign, you can probably assume that people are
reasonably fit by modern day standards, and very much more accustomed to
walking than we are. 30 miles per day should be reasonably easy, assuming
light loads and good roads or very good ground. If I remember the AD&D rule
correctly, it's that you're capable of travelling your movement rate in
miles per *half-day* of travel: this would come out at 24 miles/day for
lightly laden travellers on good ground. Maybe a bit on the low side, but
the way to deal with that would probably be to give a bonus for travelling
on roads or very good ground.

Going much beyond 30 miles per day would probably be very difficult without
living a life of almost constant walking. Equally, poor conditions should
cut the rate down: in extreme cases (e.g. dense jungle), making a mile or
two per day is a major achievement! This is probably well-simulated by AD&D
movement rates - the dense jungle example corresponds to a movement of 1" or
less.

>  Riding horse... Well, they move, walking pace, maybe around 6 or 7 miles
>   an hour, and riding pace of up to 25 miles an hour (assumed to be loaded
>   with rider and equipment), so, they can probably travel that way for
>   5 to 12 hours, (5 hours of hard riding, if that) So, 5*25=125 miles, and
>   7*12=84 miles...

Probably possible as a one-off - quite literally so in some cases: remember
that it is possible to ride a horse to death. It's possible to travel quite
fast by horse, but only if you have changes of horse set up in advance -
e.g. the way stagecoaches and fast despatch riders worked. If you're relying
on your own horse and don't have stables available along the way, I believe
the sustainable rate isn't a great deal higher than walking - maybe 40
miles/day on good ground. The reason is that, while the horse can walk
significantly faster than a man, it also needs to spend a lot more time
grazing than the man needs to eat, and if anything has *less* endurance than
a man.

>  Wagon... Hmm.. Generally two horses on a wagon, traveling around walking
>  speed or a little faster, say 7 miles an hour, and they can usually go
>  for 8 hours, maybe 12 if you pushed it.  So, 56 to 84 miles in a day.

For a lightly laden wagon on a good road. Heavier loads or poorer ground
will slow this down significantly - I've seen references to very heavy wagon
loads being moved at 1 mile/hour or less, even on a good road.

>  Ships... Well... I have little idea here... There are some fast fast
>   ships these days (non motor powered) but I have no idea how fast they
>   can travel... Anyone have any ideas?

Depends a great deal on the type of ship and how it is powered. Sailing
ships can often manage quite large distances in a day, assuming there's a
good wind. This is partyly because they can achieve quite reasonable speeds,
but mostly due to the fact that the wind doesn't get tired: in suitable
conditions (in particular, knowing that you're a long way from land and
other hazards), a sailing ship can travel 24 hours/day. This can make 200 or
more miles per day possible. On the other hand, you don't get very far if
the wind is against you (whether you make any progress at all depends on the
design of the ship), and if the wind dies, you're at the mercy of the
currents. Also, if you're near land without the benefit of modern
navigational aids and not wanting to travel directly away from the land,
only a fool would sail at night...

Galleys are restricted to the endurance of the rowers. If I remember the
experiments with the reconstructed Greek trireme (which is probably just
about as fast as a galley can get) correctly, for example, a sustained speed
of something like 7 knots should be possible for an 8-hour day, using
experienced oarsmen. This would be 56 nautical miles/day, which I think is
about 65-70 normal miles/day. A "forced row" could probably achieve quite a
lot more as a one-off.

Most galleys would have a sail as well, though I'm not certain how good they
are unless sailing directly downwind. The same characteristics that make a
ship a good galley (being long, narrow and lightweight) would I suspect also
make it fairly poor at sailing at an angle to the wind.

>   And again, all the above distances/times are sheer guesses and approximations by me, and they could be vastly wrong, but they seem reasonable enough.

I can say more-or-less the same, though I'm fairly certain of my facts about
the walking speeds.

David Seal
dseal@armltd.co.uk

All opinions are mine only...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd