ARCHIE and Titan Industries

Background and Problems

ARCHIE 3 and his side kick Hagan Lonovich, described initially in Rifts Source book 2 and expanded upon in Mechanoids, make an interesting pair of villans. As initially explained ARCHIE3/Cyberworks are actually the owning/manufacturing force behind Titan Industries. Unbeknownst to all buyers of Titan Industries robots and pover armour they are actully buying a piece of intelligence gathering equipment and adding to ARCHIE's growning intelligence network.
The main thrust of ARCHIE's plan for Titan Industries is to antagonize and bait the Coalition. To this end he has laid an elaborate false trail to place Titan Industries manufacturing base somewhere in the Mid-West (I'm assuming East of the Rockies and Grand Canyon, close to what used to be Cheyenne).
It's at this point the whole ARCHIE concept collapses like a house of cards when you remove the centre card. To sustain the deception, at least 70% of Titan goods must ship-out of a point in the mid-west, but ARCHIE is in Maryland with CHI-Town between him and the viable source point. With the volumes of traffic necessary and the distance involved this becomes a collossal logistics nightmare.
Looking at the problem manufactured products would need to leave Maryland and arrive at the mythical manufacturing centre undetected by the Coalition (or for that matter by anyone who would be tempted to sell them information regarding the true manufacturing location).
A West coast origin could be conceived if Sea transport via the Gulf Of Mexico, Panama Canal, and Pacific were possible but with Atlantis and a very active Bermuda Triangle situated off the Florida Coast this becomes rather impractical.
A North USA/Southern Canada source could be achieved via use of the Great Lakes but Quebec controls the St Lawerence Sea Way and its 4 locks, and the Niagra Ladder is under a mix of Chi-Town and independant control. The alternative access into the Great Lakes via the xxxxx canal is also currently (Late 101PA) unfeasible as most of the Locks beyond Shiftsville and what used to be Lake xxxx are out of commission.
A central Great Plains location could be achieved via the Mississipi, other than the fact it would be too close to the Coalition and the fact that entrance to the Mississipi can only be gained from the Gulf (Atlantis again). There is also the problem that the Coalition are starting to take control of the river.
This leaves two possible options to achieve a Mid-West location air-transport and land-transport. Air transport is unfeasible for two reasons, the location of Finton so close to ARCHIE's base and Coalition Air patrols and Air Defenses around their borders. This leaves Land transport which with the volume of traffic required would be too noticable and subject to raid and ambush from too many sources.
There is one last option which because of the distance involved is inherently ludicrous - an underground rail road! We're now left with a really interesting idea but no means of substantiating it.
 

A Solution in parts

As the title suggests the solution to the problem is in parts. The solution itself has many parts and relies on shipping the robots and armour as kits of parts. The first part of the solution is a concealed distribution centre in the Mid-West - in this case what used to be Tinker Airforce Base, near the Pre-Rifts City Oklahoma City. Convoys of parts arrive here from Maryland via a combination of undersea,over-land, underground, and in-river transport. The parts are assembled into finished robots and armour and shipped North, South, West, and East (but only as far as the Chi-Town borders). The few dealers that exist East of Chi-Town and in Old Bones are supplied direct from the Maryland base.

Convoy Routes

The convoys leave the Aberdeen Complex via an undersea annex on Submersible Haulers. The Submersibles travel down the Eastern Seaboard to an undersea staging facility built into the submerged remains of what used to be Port Royale Naval Base (Southern Carolina).
They are then transfered to ATV Haulers for the journey up the Savannah River to the ruins of Augusta where they pick up their Lopit Escort, and turn West along what used to be route 20 to the ruins of Atlanta. They then turn North along what used to be route 75 until they hit the Tennessee River. Entering the river they follow it west, then south,via Guntersville Lake, then West again passing the ruins of Decatut and Florence, until they hit the Pickwich Dam.
The next stretch of the journey is most hazzardous and exposed. From the Dam the convoy heads West, overland, to the ruins of Mephis where they cross the Mississippi and pick up the old route 40 West bound again.
Upon reaching the ruins of Little Rock on the Arkansas River the convoy turns North (up-river) following the river into Oklahoma. After passing through both the Robert.S.Kerr Lake and Eufaula Lake the convoy takes the Canadian River until its junction with the 'Little' river (just North of where Calvin once stood).
The convoy follows the river North via Thunderbird Lake to its source in Lake Stanley. Once in Lake Stanley the convoy effectively disappears as it uses the newly constructed (operational in 98PA) underwater entrance to the assembly plant.

Convoy Security

The problem of running convoys of vehicles is how do you ensure that security is 100% not only within the convoy but about where the convoy comes from and is going next. Part of the soultion lies in avoiding towns and villages, and part in leaving no witnesses. The major part however involves using people with 100% loyalty or in ARCHIEs case robots (See ARCHIE's Robot Minions).
Infact the convoy consists entirely of robots, the vehicles are robots, the guards are robots, and all the ancilliary staff are robots. This also means that the convoy can travel 24 hours a day without stopping.

Convoy Composition

The Assembly Plant

The Other Problem

• He imports them from Europe/Africa
• He has additional areas he can scavenge/mine that are undetectable
• He buys or acquires them from other sources