Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

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Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:12 pm

Obviously, the amount of water used depends heavily on so many factors that it becomes very difficult to tell. However, out of slight concern for the house's water bill, I'm going to go ahead and try to make estimates for my own wars. Perhaps the easiest way to save water is to de-nozzle the VHS, but that takes away an interesting water weapon that influences the dynamics of the game. Most others here seem to war away from neighborhoods with reliable access to hoses, forcing water conservation. In any case, I may have to look into just that; to pack up the guns and go to the park again.

For a 4-player war consisting of 5-10 relatively short games (10 minutes each perhaps), I'd make a wild estimate of usage being up to perhaps 20 gallons. I may work up a better way to estimate later, who knows.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by wetmonkey442 » Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:23 am

I suppose that depends on how you define a "war". I don't play more than one or two games at a time, but these games might take a little bit longer with less frequent encounters, so water usage is much less. Keep in mind that 20 gallons is not bad compared to the average daily consumption of a 4 person family in the US. If I remember correctly, I believe shower heads run at around 3 gallons a minute, which adds up really quickly!
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by isoaker » Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:24 am

This is actually probably a good thing to try to calculate a bit or at least provide some ranges of amounts likely used. There will likely be significant differences between soakfests and organized games as well as games that allow use of a hose or whether it is blasters/balloons only.

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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by atvan » Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:38 am

I hope DX replies to this thread. :p

My wars are often very short. The last war I had, we used less than 660 mL, the combined reservoir capacities of a the MD3k and the Bottle Blitz. Neither me nor my brother used our whole reservoir. Refilling in duels doesn't really work, and my brother always gets bored after one round.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by isoaker » Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:38 am

My guess is that DX only needs ~1oz/30mL per opponent; just enough for one fist-sized splotch. :goofy:

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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by atvan » Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:15 am

Lol, yeah.
DX wrote:In the neanderthal days of K-modding, people would lop off the whole PRV
Well, not that much soakage.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:34 am

A "war" is just as vaguely defined as a "game". A game could be 5 rounds of elimination or 2-hour objective based games. A war can be 2-4 games or one long continuous game. Obviously, we have to break down what we're going by before making an estimation, and perhaps the best way to do so is to make individual estimates for your own wars; define the typical war you play and give an estimate from there I guess?

In comparison, I'll start looking up data on how much water it takes to keep a swimming pool running, as well as household usages of water. As a water warrior, I get the "water wasting" talk sometimes and it's good to get some actual numbers on things. However, so far I don't recall anyone who was a swimmer dare attempt to compare water usage of water warfare to that of a pool. =p

DX has ran entire games or wars on one tank of CPS2k. In contrast, yesterday I found myself having to constantly refill my 12k; we were playing an assault game that I drafted up almost at the last minute.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by DX » Tue Jun 28, 2011 2:18 pm

It depends on how trigger-happy you are, as well as how much fighting takes place in each engagement. I had to switch my shooting style for each gun - a 12K user is expected to lay down liberal skirmishing and covering fire, while a 2000 user is expected to hold back for sure hits. A 2000 can't go all war without a refill, but a 2500 could, with more than 80 5x tap shots.

In Ridgewood wars, a good estimate would be 2 refills per 3 hour game, including the extra shot trick, which is easy to forget about, but vital for extending field life. Only the first set of water was tap water and sometimes guns were filled at the war venue before the battle rather than at home out of laziness. Empty guns are easier to toss in the trunk and you don't have to worry about leakage. In those few wars, all the ammo was freely provided by the Goffle or Ho-Ho-Kus Brooks.

Soakfests, games with multiple rounds, and any game using a hose would consume a ton more water. I've never really given a thought to consumption before, as 50% of more of my water used was always free.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by marauder » Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:33 pm

Wow, very good subject that I have never thought of before. As all have said, it depends on the battle (or are we just speaking of Wars?)

The amount of water used in the Vermin Wars was insane. Here's some rough estimates from Vermin War 1:

Our armament: Hose with stream nozzle, CPS 1000, SS 100 a2, Speed Loader 1500, SC 500, SC 400, 2 squirt pistols (can you believe we had those as main weapons?), and 50 or so waterballoons. We also had 2 qfds and a horse troth full of water.
223 oz (we filled up our firing chambers too) plus the squirt pistols, waterballoons, speed loader, horse troth, hose, and amount we refilled.

Enemy armament: CPS 2000, 2 CPS 1000s, XP 110, 2 XP 85s, SC 600, SC 500, 4 squirt pistols, ~50 water balloons.
465 oz (assuming SCs were filled with QFD) plus 4 squirt pistols and ~50 waterballoons

*edit* after rereading the war story, I now remember dumping a 1 gallon bucket on this guy's head. He was wearing a Darth Vader helmet and had a CPS 1000. hahaha. Add 133 oz so

822 oz or ~24 liters. Plus refills (I refilled the Speed Loader 1500 3x) etc.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by marauder » Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:10 pm

isoaker wrote:My guess is that DX only needs ~1oz/30mL per opponent; just enough for one fist-sized splotch. :goofy:

:cool:
lol the correct answer would be a question: How many enemies am I facing? # of enemies = # of oz
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:14 pm

Sometimes I skip overloading for two reasons. One, it takes up more time while others are waiting to refill, and two, it makes your load-up heavier. Of course, I still fully pressurize before beginning a match (exceptions to this are rare and depend on the situation), but sometimes the time it takes to overload is not worth it depending on the situation. I would say it's not that easy to forget about though, at least when one has used their blaster numerous times and is familiar with every nook and cranny of how it works.

Aside from public tap sources, it's difficult to find free water sources that are suitable. Maybe I'm too picky, but I'm paranoid and will avoid natural sources unless absolutely necessary.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by atvan » Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:55 pm

CA99, I'm sure that DX is more used to his guns and is pretty well versed in how his guns work. :p
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Well, not that much soakage.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by DX » Thu Jul 07, 2011 2:20 am

Refilling time should not be a concern, that's one of the advantages to natural sources. Your whole team can fill simultaneously in a couple minutes, there's no waiting for anyone. Added weight is a valid issue that can be addressed by increasing user strength and/or stamina. As a sprinter-type, I'm not one who enjoys carrying weight around for a long battle. However, the weight room did away with much of that disadvantage. I gain power without gaining visible mass though, so running around with heavier guns is always going to be somewhat of an issue. The added field life you get from that extra shot trick is usually worth the tradeoff though...especially with guns like the 2000, 2100, and 1000. They don't tend to last very long, but the extra water can pull them through extended engagements. I don't forget to do it, but my players would often.

As discussed somewhere before, much of what we do and prefer in fighting is dependent upon our local rules, venues, bodies, and available guns. Everyone is going to have a different set of ideas, even when handed the same gun under the same rules. One guy might use their 2000 for suppression given its superior range, while another might hold back and only fire to ice a kill. How long the gun lasts on the field, how much water is consumed in a war, and how the water is obtained is going to vary considerably.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by the oncoming storm » Wed Apr 17, 2013 1:13 pm

Surprised that I never posted here.

My estamates say that a single player in a 1HK or 1HS battle on a large field should use around a 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon per hour and 1 to 1.5 gallon per hour in small fields

Soakfests are by far the most ammo hungry game type a single player should go use around 2-3 gallons per hour in small playing fields where 95% are held.

So factoring in water bills a 3 day vermin war would cost around $6-10 in ammunition Including water balloons and only using tap water.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:38 pm

To get more into the environmental aspects of things, I think that we could make a case that water warfare is the most eco-friendly of everything else, provided tap water and water balloons are used minimally, and no littering (i.e. plastic refill bottles/containers) occurs. Nerfers leave darts, laser tag uses batteries, and paintball requires a ton of CO2/HPA. Don't even get started with Airsoft. :goofy:

Unfortunately for me, water warfare is not all that eco-friendly since I know I've lost one or two water bottle caps before and don't always clean up balloons unless a lot of them are used. (Plus most of my wars only use tap water.)

That said, at least we know that the "it wastes water" argument doesn't, well, hold any water compared to other activities lol.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by DX » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:37 pm

Most water balloons are now biodegradable, so I don't feel as bad leaving the pieces in the woods. Water from natural sources is free and pre-existing, making it the most eco-friendly of all.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:02 pm

Water balloons have always been bio-degradable; natural latex rubber decomposes at least as quickly as leaves, if not faster. The problem is that during that time, they might post a risk to wildlife, but I don't think it's an issue except in large-scale water balloon games involving hundreds of balloons.

Of course, if you're not using "real" water balloons (latex rubber), they likely won't decompose and leaving them out would be littering. (Although I doubt any sane person would choose something like mylar over latex rubber for water balloons anyway.)
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by scottthewaterwarrior » Mon May 06, 2013 6:46 pm

I remember long ago (I was probably like 10), someone got mad at me and my friends for having a water war at the park during a drought. What's really funny is they had just had their swimming pool filled a few days ago! I didn't think water wars used much water, and this all proves it. If you use streams and such to refill, it is very Eco-friendly. I can't really do it around here though, the rivers have tons of dirt/fertilizer runoff in them and many of the streams come from the storm drains!

As far as overloading goes, I usually do it. My 2500 is actually a bit too heavy for me overloaded. I can run around with it fine, but the extra weight makes bringing it to bear quickly difficult. That is why I normally use one to one in a half full PCs in the first few minutes of battle. I could just not fill it as much, but even if I use the whole PC up in the first 10 seconds, that is 10 seconds of field life I wouldn't get otherwise.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by HBWW » Mon May 06, 2013 7:20 pm

I ended up wasting a lot of water at my last war from unnecessarily filling blasters I didn't need to use. (Friends filled and tested them.) However, still doesn't hold up to other uses of water. Lots of people who would complain about water usage of our hobby probably have nice, big, good old American lawns to keep green in the summer, using lots of water from sprinkler systems and having pesticide/fertilizer runoff to keep the grass green. I won't go into my usual rant on our home lawns just yet though, but the fact that growing food probably violates a bunch of neighborhood committee regulations (and probably city code as well) tells a lot about what I'd have to say.
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Re: Estimations on the amount of water used in a war

Post by Nemesis » Mon May 06, 2013 8:34 pm

Water wars don't "waste" water, and it dosn't harm the environment to put water on the ground anyway. I rest mah case!:p
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