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Old 08-05-2019, 02:35 PM   #481
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Oooh I can short cut the Sedan designs at least.

Take any of the options at #384 of this thread

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=384

Pull the Sport plant, PC's HDHTMs and Overdrive. Replace with regular Medium plant and HD Transmission. You save $6000 (coincidentally the cost of an unmodified Sport Plant).

Apart from the reduced performance everything else remains the same. I can see this as a logical development for the cash strapped. You get most of the car, you just make a compromise on the plant.

When you become successful you can always fit the sport plant, if you live that long.

But.... for only an extra $800 you could fit a Large PP instead and gain an extra 100lb capacity, a space and 5/10 acceleration (you only need HTMs as HDHTMs don't help if you ACC is only 5). On a vehicle costing over $20K a $800 saving is cheese paring.
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Old 08-05-2019, 03:11 PM   #482
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Mum's Taxi by Swordtart:
Station Wagon; Extra Heavy chassis; Heavy suspension;
Medium PP w/HD Trans.;
4 PR Radial tires, HD Shocks, HD Brakes, ABS; 2x10 pt. Plastic Hubs F; 2x10 pt. Plastic Guards B.
Driver, Gunner, 3 Passenger;
1s Turret T with Heavy Machine Gun w/20xHD;
Paint Spray w/25xPaint;
4 pts. Sloped Metal and 170 pts. Sloped Plastic (F: 0/40 R: 0/35 L: 0/35 B: 0/30 T: 4/20 U: 0/10);
Hi-Res Single Weapon Computer;
Cargo 55lb 4 Spc;
Cost: $22,410, Wgt: 6,600;
HC: 4, Top Speed: 62.5, Accel: 2.5/5


Any number of manufacturers have produced "Family" Station wagons. The design standard called for Mom and Pop Driver and Gunner combo and 3 full sized adults in the passenger compartment (all capable of lending hand weapon fire to the deterrent weapon in the turret). Most had capacious cargo compartments for shopping (in this case 55lb and 4 spaces). Smart commuters filled the cargo bay with Bulk Ammo boxes to protect their groceries.

The name "Mom's Taxi" was an attempt at humour to evoke homely feelings from the manufacturer about a fairly lack-lustre utility vehicle. Sadly the biggest joke was the puny plant married to HD Transmission, presumably on the logic that intra-city vehicles didn't need much performance and that cost was king. The public were not convinced and the vehicle was withdraw for redesign.

After a few months a new design was unveiled replacing the HDT combo with a large plant with super conductors that was lighter and more spacious for only an extra $400. Unfortunately without the HTMs and Overdrive that were becoming standard and with an already tarnished name pre-sales were poor and the model never reached full production.


It works thematically, is probably adequate for jaunts to the shops and back but it is still a lemon (though less of a death trap than the Shirukens and the like). Even on these big heavy machines that might benefit form lots of power a large plant with SC's is the way to go. This allows you to add HTMs and Overdrive, making them fly compared to the "tractors".

Last edited by swordtart; 08-05-2019 at 03:21 PM.
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Old 08-05-2019, 03:20 PM   #483
43Supporter
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
Apart from the reduced performance everything else remains the same. I can see this as a logical development for the cash strapped. You get most of the car, you just make a compromise on the plant.
Funny you mention this: One of the arguments back-when against allowing HD Trans in arenas, full-stop, was: "The acceleration penalty only kicks in at 25 MPH or under; most arena events use a starting speed of 30 MPH or higher, so there's no actual penalty".

Then _ADQ 6/1_ rolled around, with PCs and SCs; and HD Trans essentially vanished from arenas.
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Old 08-05-2019, 03:31 PM   #484
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

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Originally Posted by 43Supporter View Post
Funny you mention this: One of the arguments back-when against allowing HD Trans in arenas, full-stop, was: "The acceleration penalty only kicks in at 25 MPH or under; most arena events use a starting speed of 30 MPH or higher, so there's no actual penalty".

Then _ADQ 6/1_ rolled around, with PCs and SCs; and HD Trans essentially vanished from arenas.
The incompatibility of HDT with HTMs (and logically overdrive) is probably the killer element for me. They are the go to performance enhancers and not being able to use them with an already poor performance plant is a double whammy.

WRT arenas though, I found a lot of bouts descended into a lot of low speed manoeuvring once HS dropped into the negatives (lots of pivots basically). Once you dropped down to 5 mph, recovering to attack speed was going to take aaaaaaaaaaages and your chance to dodge a ram was greatly diminished.
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Old 08-06-2019, 01:23 AM   #485
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

I had a look at some of the stock designs and HDT could be logically put into some of those to make them a bit more... suburban.

Any XHvy Lux with a Super plant (e.g. the classic Hotshot) can save 100 lb and $400 by going HDT. The Hotshot is a great candidate as it was pre-HTM and the like and so doesn't actually lose that much performance.

This change isn't brilliant by itself, but if you add a hitch you can pull a mini-van trailer. Not much use in combat perhaps (especially as it fouls your rear fire arcs), but it will allow you to use the car for more than just combat (trips to the shops etc.).

Now the Mini-Van itself isn't an ideal platform stock, but as the chassis is so cheap upgrading it to XHvy is also cheap. Now I also note that Carbon-Aluminium descriptions says "ANY vehicle body". If you allow trailers this mod then the weight to load ratio of the minivan becomes even better at comparatively low cost.
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Old 08-06-2019, 03:25 PM   #486
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Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
The incompatibility of HDT with HTMs (and logically overdrive) is probably the killer element for me. They are the go to performance enhancers and not being able to use them with an already poor performance plant is a double whammy.
Indeed -- HD Trans locks one into a particular accel. envelope; HTM and OD -- one could argue "one has just invented the three-speed manual transmission" (1st Gear: HTMs; 2nd: normal; 3rd: O-drive). (If one is like me, and is Really Creative: Add one Link each between HTMs and the car's speedometer, and O-drive and the speedo; and BOOM -- Three-Speed Automatic Transmission. :) )

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
WRT arenas though, I found a lot of bouts descended into a lot of low speed manoeuvring once HS dropped into the negatives (lots of pivots basically). Once you dropped down to 5 mph, recovering to attack speed was going to take aaaaaaaaaaages and your chance to dodge a ram was greatly diminished.
Never saw that, myself -- at around 60 MPH, esp. with the 5-phase maneuver chart and "one maneuver per phase only", one never quite maneuvered enough to get to the bad end of the Handling Chart; it took the D5-hazard volleys of main weapons to force a Control Roll, and at those speeds, one roll was usually enough to settle the issue (if the car didn't get gutted in the process).

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
I had a look at some of the stock designs and HDT could be logically put into some of those to make them a bit more... suburban.

Any XHvy Lux with a Super plant (e.g. the classic Hotshot) can save 100 lb and $400 by going HDT. The Hotshot is a great candidate as it was pre-HTM and the like and so doesn't actually lose that much performance.
Unfortunately, 100 lbs. isn't going to save a _Hotshot_ from itself; 10 pts. armor isn't much when one is staring down the barrels of massed RRs or MGs, and the best one can respond with is 1d6 of flame. (I have a "Hotshot" mod which is the MD option taken to its logical extreme: L, R, and one B FT each replaced with MD-with-Napalm-loads-and-30-pts.-armor; in confined arenas, or as a convoy rearguard, it is a nasty customer.)

[QUOTE=swordtart;2277963Now the Mini-Van itself isn't an ideal platform stock, but as the chassis is so cheap upgrading it to XHvy is also cheap. Now I also note that Carbon-Aluminium descriptions says "ANY vehicle body". If you allow trailers this mod then the weight to load ratio of the minivan becomes even better at comparatively low cost.[/QUOTE]

The _Bulldog_ m-v trailer from _Combat Showcase_ p. 47 -- a Mini-Safe, and a Passenger with hand weapons. P. 44 of _CS_ has the _Pillbox_: Flatbed trailer, with an armored "weapons box" containing, among other things, a Passenger with a Tripod Light Laser. If one is willing to risk it: Use FCEs on the hauler; by the time they detonate, the trailer has already passed through.... (Your Passenger will *NOT* be happy, but he knew the job was dangerous when he took it. :) )
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Old 08-06-2019, 11:54 PM   #487
Kitsunet
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Hi friends, amateur duelist here! I haven't had much time to play the game, but that hasn't stopped me from making my fair share of vehicles. Of course, I don't have much driving time, so my experience is questionable at best, but here it is anyway.

ICBM Mobile: Mid-sized|Std Chassis|Hvy Suspension|Large Power Plant|Heavy-Duty Tires|Armor F15,R10,L10,B15,T5,U5|Driver Only|No Cargo|2 Linked Front Rocket Launchers, 10 Shots ea|Rear Machine gun, 20 Shots|HC3|Acceleration 10mph|Top Speed 100mph|Weight 4,000 lbs|Cost $10,360

While I must admit that I may have made some errors in my design, this vehicle is based on the first edition plastic bag version of the game (errors and all :D). So if you're wondering why the top speed is so weird, that's why.

As for the concept, here you go. This vehicle was designed for road duels, and is intended to be modeled after a rear engine sports car (which was previously scrapped for its chassis). Driver sits on the left, power plant in rear.

This design is by no means perfect, so please let me know what you think I should do better. Of course, I have many other designs to share later, but this should be fine for now. Happy Dueling!
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Old 08-07-2019, 11:45 AM   #488
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Hi Kitsunet. Welcome to the forum ;) Nice to see something retro.

I ran your design through CWVD (an excellent free tool that will give you hours of tinkering joy) and got a few discrepancies. I am not sure if these are just typos, or whether the very early editions of the game are 100% forward compatible.

ICBM Mobile by Kitsunet:
Mid-Sized; Standard chassis; Heavy suspension;
Large PP;
4 Hvy Duty tires;
Driver.
2 x Linked Rocket Launcher w/10xStandard each (F);
Machine Gun w/20xStandard (B).
60 pts. Plastic (F: 15 R: 10 L: 10 B: 15 T: 5 U: 5).
Cost: $9,110, Wgt: 3,990,
HC: 3, Top Speed: 120, Accel: 10.

It looks to be 10lb and $1250 under your values.

Even though you are not noting it in your description it is worth remembering that you have 1 space free and your chassis can take another 810 lb (or 800 if your numbers are correct) If you use this your top speed would drop to 105 and your acceleration to 5, but it might be worth it to take a special friend to the movies every once in a while ;)

If you prefer not use that full capacity, later rules allow chassis modification in this case taking a light chassis (80% cost, 90% max load) would reduce your cost to $8990 (and still allow you 330lb for emergencies).

Last edited by swordtart; 08-07-2019 at 12:40 PM.
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Old 08-07-2019, 03:13 PM   #489
Kitsunet
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

I'm not too worried about my top speed getting lowered, since in the book I have, top speed is determined entirely by the power plant, with a large power plant giving a fixed max speed of 100mph. Once I have some time later, i'll type up my planning sheet and check to see if I got my math right, or if something changed in later editions. Thanks for the advice. I'll have to add a passenger seat, since I can't think of a better car to take to a drive-in (at least when they're playing Death Race 2000)
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Old 08-07-2019, 06:40 PM   #490
Kitsunet
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Default Re: The Unoffial 2056 Vehicle Guide

Actually, just looked over it again, and I purchased a targeting computer and body armor, both of which I forgot to add to the description.
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