Average amount?

[Commandingtripod]

Sorry if I'm digging on old dirt but I've been thinking.
I don't think that Wells ever stated the exact amount of Martians and their machines that invaded - please correct me if I'm wrong.

What would the average amount of machines per cylinder be?
Would some cylinders have been bigger than others?

[Poyks]

I recall there being 5 machines per cylinder, and they would be the same size for the cylinder 'gun'.
The journey times were the same for each cylinder, on the same trajectory, so mass and size would have to be the same.

[Lensman]

"The authorities had reason to suppose, from the size of the cylinders, that at the outside there could not be more than five in each cylinder..." --I-14

In "Dead London" (II-8) the Narrator sees "Here and there they [Martians' bodies] were scattered, nearly fifty altogether..."

Ten cylinders were launched (altho only seven documented as landing in England), and at five Tripods per cylinder that's 50, so that suggests to me Wells was thinking the number 50 both for the number of Martians and Fighting- Machines. Of course, there does not have to be a Fighting Machine for each Martian, but there's not much point to having *more* Tripods than Martians, other than perhaps a very few replacements in case of damage. Surely a few of the Martians must remain behind in the camp/pits to direct operations and run the handling-machines, so it seems unlikely that *all* the Martians would be in their individual Tripods at any time.

Anyway, it sounds like there were probably 50 tripods. Perhaps there were more Martians; three or four were killed in battle, and if the Narrator counted nearly 50 that he saw, likely there were at least a few he didn't. It seems almost certain that each cylinder had the same number of Tripods and Martians in it-- remember, the Martians act like ants or bees, so very likely each cylinder was exactly the same as the others. Perhaps each cylinder had 6-7 Martians, for a total of 60-70, but only 5 Tripods apiece. We don't know how many handling-machines there were, but there must have been at least one per cylinder. So if enuff Martians were sent to man all their machines at once, there must have been at least 60 Martians-- and even more if you assume there was more than one handling-machine per cylinder.

Contrariwise, perhaps the "nearly fifty" Martians was from the official body count taken later after a search was done, and since that's the only number Wells gave, you can't be faulted for using it. Of course it would be "nearly" because at least three bodies are missing, from the Tripods which were destroyed onstage during the events described. There was another Tripod destroyed offstage, but its Martian might have survived, so we don't know whether or not that Martian returned to the camp or not.

Anyway, I think one could reasonably argue either 50 Martians, or 60/70 Martians.

[Commandingtripod]

I see what you're saying Lensman.
Maybe perhaps we should reduce the number of tripods down to about 40 to allow for Digging and Handling Machines?

[Lensman]

Frankly I hadn't even thought of that. Assume there were 40 Tripods, 10 Handling Machines, and 50 Martians-- one for each machine. Darn, that works just as well.

*Sigh* Bloody Narrator! All my beautiful logic gone in a puff of Black Smoke. ;D