[PnP] Economic Project, Part 4

[Burton Choinski]

Yes, I'm putting off the Herding and hunting still, mostly because I want to get my thoughts in order properly. My sources have values in different directions, and the GURPS rules are not very clear (and seem to produce non-sensical results), so I'm pushing it off.  These occupations are primarily used for the production of meat and skins (for leather), and along with the mining stuff (for metals), we will be able to get into the Armory stuff.

For this issue I'm looking at other raw material gathering and use, leading up to the production of structures.
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TIMBERWRIGHT (2bb/day)
Timberwrights are skilled labor that bring down trees of useful height and width, producing usable the timber for construction or crafting. From GURPS Architecture:
	A team of foresters with axes and saws can produce an average of one
	square yard of board per man point of Carpentry skill per day.

This rate obviously assumes a team of at least 10 men to produce the above "per man" rate.  After the trees are felled and de-limbed, the trees are dragged to a sawing pit where men with whip saws would cut the logs into boards.  Assuming 1" boards as normal, we can derive the production rate.  Softwoods (Pine, Poplar, Birch) are used in construction, with some hardwoods (Oak, Ash, Maple) used for key structural parts.  Logs and beams can be produced at three times the rate, so assume that pure construction timber is produced at the average of the two.
	Softwood Timber:	0.00036666b/#	(7-1/2bb/ton)
	Hardwood Timber:	0.000419bb/#	(8-1/2bb/ton)
Crafting generally uses hardwoods of greater quality and grain, so production of such woods is a TENTH normal.
	Craft hardwoods:	0.004198bb/#


QUARRYMAN (2bb/day)
While general labor can be used to produce stone rubble, skilled labor is required to produce shaped stone Ashlar. From GURPS architecture:
	Workers with good tools can produce one and a quarter cubic yards of
	stone rubble per man per day without supervision.
Stone weighs about 150#/cubic foot, but reduced gravel (with all the air space is about 100#/cubic foot.  Gravel can be produced by unskilled labor, at a 1cy/day rate (rate reduced from GURPS to account for additional crushing)
	Stone Gravel:	0.00041bb/#		(5 tons for 4bb)
5 tons of gravel is enough to cover a 20' swath of Orange-quality road for 2000'


MORTARMAKERS (2bb/day) mine limestone and crushes it fine, baking the result in a kiln to remove what little water remains. GA states that starting from scratch, a skilled worker can produce 0.8cy of mortar per day (84#/cubic foot).  It requires DOUBLE the volume in firewood to do this (1.6cy, or 1944#).
	Mortar:	0.00261bb/#	(5-1/4bb per ton)

Shaped stone requires the use of quarrymen and takes longer to produce, a rate of 4 cubic feet per day. This is rough stone block suitable for walls, foundations and supports; highly polished stone suitable for facing public buildings or the floors of ornate ballrooms can be up to TEN times as expensive!
	Construction Stone:	0.003666bb/#	(14-3/4bb/ton)		-> 7.375 days/ton

Harder stones like granite take longer to produce (DOUBLE price), and ornate stone like marble costs FIVE times as much (hard and also rarer). DOUBLE the price or more if more ornate shapes (other than rectangular blocks) are required (i.e. curved stones for columns).

EXCAVATOR(1bb/day):
Unskilled labor used to excavate or level terrain. GURPS Low Tech notes excavation for normal soils at 10cy per man per day.  This is increased by 20% per story (10') of depth below 1 level of basement (to account for scaffolding and ramps to get the dirt out.  DOUBLE this cost (and time) for rocky soils.
	Excavation: 4bb/1000 cubic feet


MASON (5bb/day)
For common or poor quality construction, one can get by with 1 skilled carpenter or mason per 10 semi-skilled laborers (i.e. average cost 2.25bb per man). Good or Fine construction requires more carpenters per worker (+25% and +50% cost respectively). Higher quality construction requires greater supervision, and eventually master crafters (10bb/day, or +100% costs).  Stone construction requires mortar for 10% of the materials, with the other 90% being the stone.  A team of masons can create 1cy of stone structure per day.
	Masonry:		0.0076bb/#	(15-1/4bb/ton)		->  0.5 days per ton

A 10x10 Stone structure "panel", 6" thick, weighs 3.75 tons (See construction)
	Masonry panel:		57.187bb	(1.85 days)


CARPENTER (5bb/day)
For wood construction, its a matter of constructing a frame, then attaching boards to the inside and outside to complete the structure.  Roofs will use a frame plus thatch, or frame with shingled wood (no inside boards). For ships, assume that the outside has DOUBLE the material (with no boards on the inside).

The GURPS Architecture rules state that 1cy of wood (at 40#/cubic foot) is required per 100 square yards of wall.  Scaling down to a 10x10 foot section, this works out to 120# of wood (about 6 2x4's, 10' long). In my mind, this seems a bit low; I would go with 9, which allows for top, bottom and the sides, plus 4 internal struts and the last cut up for cross-bracing.  This works out to 5cf of softwood timber, or 200#.  The stated construction rate for frames (at skill 10) is 90sqft of frame per day for that 120#, so framing is 120# per day. For wood facing the stated rate is 25sqy per day, which is set at 8 for 1" boards.  This works out to 750# of wood per day for facing.
	Wood Framing:	0.0294bb/#	(58.895bb/ton)	-> 16.666 days/ton
	Wood Siding:	0.0078bb/# 	(15.583bb/ton)	-> 2.6666 days/ton

A 10x10 wood frame section, with 1" wood siding on both sides and 2x4 construction needs 200# of frame and 666# of siding.
	Wood sided panel:	11.078bb	(2.555 days)


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CONSTRUCTION:

This is the basics of my "Quick and Dirty" construction rules.  Construction is based on 10x10x10 structure "blocks" for the building itself plus 10x10 "areas" for roofs.  

Building spaces are abstracted as "Tight", "Normal", "Open" and "Grand".  For normal we figure this as a virtual 20x20 room, composed of 8 panels, plus 4 panels to make up the floor. This produces an average of 3 panels per block of structure.  Most normal buildings will use this value, so this is the norm.

"Tight" construction is used to represent an area with lots of tiny rooms or hallways and is imagined as a 10x10 area, needing about 5 panels per block. Tight construction has a cost/time modifier of x1.6.

"Open" construction is used for larger spaces such as dining halls or entry ways, envisioned as a 30x30 space.  This takes 21 panels of material, or 2.3333 per block.  The cost modifier for open is x0.8.

"Grand" construction is used for wide spaces, such as grand ballrooms or cathedrals and is envisioned as a 40x40 space, needing 32 panels of material, or 2 per block.  The cost modifier for grand is x0.7.
 
When you design a structure, choose the openness modifier that best fits the layout.  This could be per building, or per floor if you want to be detailed about it (i.e. A manor may be "Open" on the ground floor for ease of entertainment, and "Normal" on the upper floor for rooms; A keep may be normal throughout, but "Tight" down in the dungeons).

For roofs, assume 1.5 panels (roof section) per 10x10 area of maximum floor plan to account for roof pitch and supporting structures. In areas with no snow you can probably get away with shallower pitched roofs, at 1.25 panels per 10x10 area (can get by with flatter roofs).

In any construction, increase total costs and times by 10% for every story above one. If the structure has a basement (must be stone), the basement cost is increased by 20% for every level below 1 to account for scaffolding and ramps.  Obviously, any basement requires excavation time first, and must be produced before the above-ground structure

	Stone Roof: 		5.625 tons; 9CC (3 days build, 83 days quarry)
	Stone Structure:       11.25 tons; 18CC (6 days build, 165 days quarry)

	Wood Roof:		0.65 tons; 17bb (4 days build, 5 days gather)
	Wood Structure: 	1.3 tons; 28bb (8 days build, 10 days gather)

The gathering time applies if the construction materials are not at hand, which will be the norm except for small projects (like a single house in a city) — if players head out to a site and want to start building their keep, factor in gathering time as well as construction.  All times are in man-days.  Obviously, having more workers will speed it up (cost is the same).  However, a project cannot have more than 5 men per block of structure, and it is a minimum of 1 day per story for stone construction (to allow mortar to set).

Other than construction, common finish work (painting, trim, etc) assumes 10bb per structure block and per roof section (5bb/day labor and 5bb in materials); for poor finish use 5bb per block or area; Good finish uses 20bb/block or area; Fine uses 50bb/block or area, Opulent uses 100bb/block or area and Regal uses 200bb/block or area.

All costs assume local materials; beyond a mile or so transportation costs will start to mount up REAL fast…building a small keep a day or more from the quarry will drastically increase costs!


Example Construction:  Ye-olde Peasant House

The Standard peasant house is 15x20, at 1.5 stories (upper loft), using common wood construction and a normal floor-plan, with a common finish.  This works out to 4.5 blocks of structure (126bb/36 days, +13bb/4 days due to the extra story) and 3 areas of roof (51bb/12d). The total is 19CC/48 days.  The family may have to wait up to 65 days for the lumber to be gathered, but assuming logging teams of 10 it's likely only 7 days.  A construction team of 10 can put it up in 5 days.

Finish adds another 75bb, for a grand total of 265bb, rounded to 26CC.  A little more reasonable than 3GC.



For military walls, a 10x10 section, 1 foot thick is the base — add thickness and height to suit.  The 10% premium per 10' story above the first still applies (to handle bracing).
	Military Wall:	12CC	7.5 tons	(4 days build, 110 days gather)

For walls, limit workers to 5 per section.  As before, lower levels must be built first.


Roads:
While not shown on the map book, there are many "Grey" roads that link towns and villages to the cities.  These roads are simply cleared dirt roads and likely full of potholes and muddy in the rainy season.  Travel is only increased by 25% on these roads (i.e. 12.5 miles per day walking, 8 days to go 5 hexes instead of 10 days; mounted travel is 4 days for 5 hexes).

Converting a "Grey" road to "Orange" requires laborers to lay out and pack down 3" of gravel over the 20' wide roadbed. It takes 185 man-days to lay out 1 mile of gravel at this thickness and width (1250 tons) at a total cost of 12SC per mile.  gathering up the required gravel will take another 925 man-days per mile.  Travel on an orange road grants you a doubling of movement;  1 day per hex (walking) and 2 hexes per day mounted.

"Red" quality roads are orange roads with a top layer of mortared stone. This also requires 1250 tons of stone block (2" thick) over the same 20' wide per mile, costing 19GC and taking 625 days per mile.  Cutting the stone for this project will take 18,332 man-days per mile.  Red roads allow for a movement rate of 250% for wagons and mounted travel.


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http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/density-solids-d_1265.html
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/H20.pdf