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Old 06-03-2015, 10:47 AM   #31
kjamma4
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Chicagoland Area, Illinois
Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
If nothing else I guess I'll throw it on BoardGameGeek's files section, though it doesn't seem like that's very well used.
I use it all the time - especially since I cannot access dropbox.
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Old 06-03-2015, 11:08 AM   #32
Hawke
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by kjamma4 View Post
I use it all the time - especially since I cannot access dropbox.
Hmm. Am I looking in the wrong place? The last file posting I see there is from back in 2012...

Edit: Obviously (?) I am talking about the BGG Car Wars files section; BGG in general is a great resource, but it seems that it is not a major destination for Car Wars files.

Last edited by Hawke; 06-03-2015 at 11:55 AM.
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Old 06-03-2015, 01:44 PM   #33
Parody
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
Loosely-related: Is there any better place than this to toss player aid files like this? If nothing else I guess I'll throw it on BoardGameGeek's files section, though it doesn't seem like that's very well used.
You're talking about files for a game that was out of print for 15 years, from a company that had a very non-permissive game aids policy for the first half of that time (up until late 2006). Not many people have been making files for Car Wars.

I recommend making your own website for writing about and hosting files. I don't post anything on BGG; all of our Car Wars stuff is on the SPARK website and all of my other game aids are on my personal website, esglabs.com. Both are hosted at a hosting service for which I pay about a $100 a year. The service includes many choices for site software if you don't want to write everything yourself.

As far as the files themselves, there's a bunch of free and paid file sharing services out there. A personal Dropbox works fine for low numbers of downloads, but if you want more suggestions Wikipedia has a category for them.


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Originally Posted by kjamma4 View Post
I use it all the time - especially since I cannot access dropbox.
Why not?


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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
Comments/suggestions/criticism welcome of course.
It's hard to comment on a new player aid, being a relatively old Car Wars player, but I'll try. It seems fiddly, switching out cards every turn (until you reach your favorite speed, if you get to stay there) and keeping track of handling using physical implements vs. writing it on your sheet. It would work better as a booklet than a bunch of cards, which has already been mentioned.

We talk though movement and targeting/handling/crash table rolls, so even if you don't have that stuff memorized or have a chart right in front of you it'll be announced for everyone to double-check. Different cultures.

Regardless, if it helps your players then I'm glad.
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Old 06-03-2015, 02:33 PM   #34
kjamma4
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
Hmm. Am I looking in the wrong place? The last file posting I see there is from back in 2012...

Edit: Obviously (?) I am talking about the BGG Car Wars files section; BGG in general is a great resource, but it seems that it is not a major destination for Car Wars files.
True, but I'd be hard pressed to think of another public website that has more than that. :(

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Originally Posted by Parody View Post
You're talking about files for a game that was out of print for 15 years, from a company that had a very non-permissive game aids policy for the first half of that time (up until late 2006). Not many people have been making files for Car Wars.
Correct. Additionally, these things have a way of snowballing so your file may be the vanguard of an army of files.

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Why not?
Work.
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Old 06-03-2015, 02:51 PM   #35
Hawke
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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As far as the files themselves, there's a bunch of free and paid file sharing services out there. A personal Dropbox works fine for low numbers of downloads, but if you want more suggestions Wikipedia has a category for them.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm really (really really!) not interested in setting up Yet Another Fan Website. I was just hoping that there was already a go-to place for Car Wars related documents (much like the Combat Garage seems to be clearly the go-to place for fan-made vehicle designs).

The boardgamegeek CW page seems to be pretty dead, but it will do the job if there is nothing better out there.

Quote:
It's hard to comment on a new player aid, being a relatively old Car Wars player. It seems fiddly, switching out cards every turn (until you reach your favorite speed, if you get to stay there) and keeping track of handling using physical implements vs. writing it on your sheet. We talk though movement and targeting/handling/crash table rolls. Different cultures, I think.
No fair memorizing the tables! ;-)

But seriously, it seems to me that even experienced CW players don't have much interest in following some of the more esoteric charts (especially the movement/arcs section of the targeting modifiers), given the existence of stuff like the "miles messervy speed modifiers" from your own website, and Jeffr0's "The official speed and range modifiers should not be used. A GURPS, Fourth Edition style combined speed/range modifier should be used instead. We have a chart for this." (sadly, no chart provided) and several mentions on these forums along the lines of " flat -1 per 30 mph speed mod" or "straight out of the book and not taking arcs into account"
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Old 06-03-2015, 02:57 PM   #36
Chris Goodwin
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by Parody View Post
It's hard to comment on a new player aid, being a relatively old Car Wars player, but I'll try. It seems fiddly, switching out cards every turn (until you reach your favorite speed, if you get to stay there) and keeping track of handling using physical implements vs. writing it on your sheet. It would work better as a booklet than a bunch of cards, which has already been mentioned.
I too am an old Car Wars player. It was a little fiddly, but a lot less fiddly than, let's say, what we did in 1983, which was move the pink "Car 3" counter (unless we were lucky enough to have one of the sets with the mini car counters!) on the speed chart, then move the "SPEED" and "HANDLING" counters on our car record sheet to the right values, and hope nobody sneezed...

It would work better as a booklet, but it worked exceedingly well as a bunch of cards.

Edit: No one ever had to ask "How fast is Bob going?" I swear, half of our table talk back in the day was just asking how fast someone was going. (Sometimes it was "Oh crap. How fast was I going again?")

Edit edit: To put it another way. Any fiddliness it brought, it more than paid for by eliminating any need to look up the control table chart, ever, because you always had it right in front of you.
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Last edited by Chris Goodwin; 06-03-2015 at 03:09 PM.
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Old 06-03-2015, 03:03 PM   #37
Hawke
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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True, but I'd be hard pressed to think of another public website that has more than that. Additionally, these things have a way of snowballing so your file may be the vanguard of an army of files.
Here's hoping. I've uploaded it and hopefully it'll be approved soonish.
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Old 06-03-2015, 03:42 PM   #38
Parody
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Originally Posted by kjamma4 View Post
Work.
I hear Internet's available at home too. Heck, some people have it on their phones! ;)

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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm really (really really!) not interested in setting up Yet Another Fan Website.
The main reason I suggest this is because you have (much more) control over the content of your website. For example, if you had your own website it'd be posted already instead of waiting for BGG Approval, whatever that entails.


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I was just hoping that there was already a go-to place for Car Wars related documents
Yeah, not really. I don't think there's been enough call for one. Maybe when CW6 comes out.

If you want I could host it on the SPARK site. You're probably better off using something you can update yourself though. ::shrug::


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(much like the Combat Garage seems to be clearly the go-to place for fan-made vehicle designs).
Well...there are a lot of designs on there. That can be a hindrance as much as a benefit, depending on what you need. At least the filters have gotten better.


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Originally Posted by Hawke View Post
But seriously, it seems to me that even experienced CW players don't have much interest in following some of the more esoteric charts....
I originally added the MMSM marks to turning keys because I thought it would be an interesting way to add speed modifiers to CW5 and it was easy to add to the turning key files I'd made. SPARK doesn't actually use it; we use the bog-standard ones out of the CWC2.5.

I don't think any of us have the Control Table memorized, but knowing that the last safe Handling Status from 60-80 is -1 handles an awful lot of Control Table needs. (We also have handouts so we don't have to look everything up in a book or PDF.)


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Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin View Post
...then move the "SPEED" and "HANDLING" counters on our car record sheet to the right values, and hope nobody sneezed...
I've never used those. Even kid me thought that was annoying and used scratch paper to record my current speed and HS and looked up movement phases on the chart.

Then again, our favorite vehicle combat game in those days was Circvs Maximvs.
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Last edited by Parody; 06-03-2015 at 04:57 PM. Reason: Added note on why I suggest having your own site.
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Old 06-04-2015, 09:12 AM   #39
Hawke
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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Here's hoping. I've uploaded it and hopefully it'll be approved soonish.
And it is now approved. Link to BGG file page.
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Old 06-04-2015, 12:41 PM   #40
brionl
 
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Default Re: Targeting modifiers

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I've never used those. Even kid me thought that was annoying and used scratch paper to record my current speed and HS and looked up movement phases on the chart.
These days, I print out the vehicle sheets from the Combat Garage, a copy of the "official" Car Wars record sheet and put them in plastic sheet protector back to back. Then I write all over them with wet erase markers. Can't use dry erase markers, they rub off too easily.
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