Good Vehicles to introduced new Players to the Game . Thoughts ?

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by kjamma4

I'm sure it blows their mind when you tell them:


Difficulty of maneuver or hazard: The difficulty of the maneuver (or
hazard) that caused the loss of control plays an important part in
determining a crash result. Take the modified Difficulty rating of the
hazard or maneuver, subtract 3, and add the result (negative or
positive) to the Crash Table roll. Thus, a D4 maneuver gives a +1 to the
roll, while a D1 maneuver gives a -2.


This is a great rule but poorly executed. They should have modified the table results by three and then just had you add the Difficulty rating to the roll.

FWIW, after playing at GenCon last year, I'd have no doubt that your players were able to pick up the game quickly with your explanations.

I gloss over the crash tables until we need them. When someone is making a crash table roll, I'll just tell them to roll two dice and whatever the total modifier is.
Also, as I'm refereeing, there are a few things I handle, with moving out of control cars being one. :)

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

...but to use that for an intro game I'd cut the armor by 1/2 or 3/5 [8-10 points per facing] everywhere except top and under, ditch the MG front for a LLas Turret, ditch the radials for regular PR tires, then fiddle with the build to keep the acceleration at 10.

Subcompacts can only mount 0-sp. Turrets.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by 43Supporter

Subcompacts can only mount 0-sp. Turrets.

Nice catch...yeah, that would be a problem. Would have to give up the HC and To-hit bonuses, but could also replicate it on a larger chassis.

Compact, Std Chassis, Hvy Suspension, Large power, 4 Steelbelt PR Radial, Driver with TC / PFE / BA, LLas in Turret, Roll Cage, 8pts Armor all around. Accel 10, speed 130, HC4. $12924

I'd rather have another 1-2pts of armor, but then the top speed isn't a multiple of 10.

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

Nice catch...yeah, that would be a problem. Would have to give up the HC and To-hit bonuses, but could also replicate it on a larger chassis.

Sad to say, but: Subs are pretty-much worthless -- unless one is building a gasburner, they can only be built as 2-weapon-space "hammer on an eggshell", or 1-weapon-space "speed freak" designs. I have in my notes a program for dropping Sub body mass to 750 lbs. (to bring it in line with the other bodies), and allowing 1-sp. Turrets (with Compacts returning to 2-sp Tu. maximum), to give Subs a bit more flexibility in design.

On that: I don't agree with your assessment of the _Micro-Mouse_ -- the HD ammo means an average of 4.5 damage per shot; given the armor, the L & R are penetrated about the 3rd or 4th shot, the B 4th or 5th. That should be fast enough to keep the players engaged (excuse the pun).

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by 43Supporter

Sad to say, but: Subs are pretty-much worthless -- unless one is building a gasburner, they can only be built as 2-weapon-space "hammer on an eggshell", or 1-weapon-space "speed freak" designs. I have in my notes a program for dropping Sub body mass to 750 lbs. (to bring it in line with the other bodies), and allowing 1-sp. Turrets (with Compacts returning to 2-sp Tu. maximum), to give Subs a bit more flexibility in design.

On that: I don't agree with your assessment of the _Micro-Mouse_ -- the HD ammo means an average of 4.5 damage per shot; given the armor, the L & R are penetrated about the 3rd or 4th shot, the B 4th or 5th. That should be fast enough to keep the players engaged (excuse the pun).

Was I off by one? Cripes, this has just not been my week. I stand corrected.

Those numbers are better, yeah...I'd still be leery, if only because of the nose mount. Given that it's named "Micro Mouse (road)", somehow I get the feeling it's meant for highway battles, and I'm speaking from the perspective of arena battles...where it's a lot harder to get a quality shot against the same side of the same vehicle turn in and turn out.

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

Was I off by one? Cripes, this has just not been my week. I stand corrected.

One of the reasons I do my "paragraph" writeups as I do: It makes it harder to miss details like "ammo type". :)

Originally Posted by TheAmishStig

Those numbers are better, yeah...I'd still be leery, if only because of the nose mount. Given that it's named "Micro Mouse (road)", somehow I get the feeling it's meant for highway battles, and I'm speaking from the perspective of arena battles...where it's a lot harder to get a quality shot against the same side of the same vehicle turn in and turn out.

I suppose this might be a problem in "open-floor" arenas (like the Chris French Memorial ;) ); but in a more-channelized arena like Rainbow Bay, the opposite should be the case.

[swordtart]

I would point you here:

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...68&postcount=6

The rational is explained there. Basically few exceptions to rules to remember, fewer rules to exercise. Plenty of scope for dog fighting.

As a side benefit it tends to result in parent friendly fights as the chances of death are low. Some parents are bothered by violent games (kids of course want all the gore).

It works best in a small arena (which makes it easier to scale to 3x for the visual spectacle) as you don't want to spend most of the game accelerating to attack speed. We used it very successfully on an A4 arena (allowing the players to enter at any speed from the entrance ramps.

Record keeping could be done fairly simply with a write-on / wipe-off laminated card.

My 5 years old is still a bit young to play, but I might try it with my 8 year old this year.

[Fred Skin]

I just played a quick road duel with a couple Applauses from the first AADA guide. Not too bad for beginners

[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by Fred Skin

I just played a quick road duel with a couple Applauses from the first AADA guide. Not too bad for beginners

I imagine with _Applause_s, it was *very* quick.... :)

Speaking of _VG1_: One prospect for this thread is from the "Late Arrivals" section in _ADQ 2/3_ -- the Samson _Bastille_. Division 10; accel. 10; armor's decent; has a TC to make up for the RL's to-hit.

[Racer]

Thanks for posts - sorry I've not back sooner but been extremely unwell .

One thing is that new players who've actually played vehicular combat games online , very few let you actually target anything bar your opponent's vehicle itself rather than tires etc .
We aimed for 10 Turn slugfests , instead of 2 Turn games where players get a lucky hit on a Tire & target gets wrecked ...

AND we were extremely lenient with cars rolling , as we've found nothing really frustrates new/young players than being stuck in an almost intact Div 15 Car ... on it's roof . Most older players would suck it up .. not so much 13 year olds with attention spans of nano seconds ...

In the end we went with a Midsize , Super PP w/SCs & PCs , PR Racing Slicks , 3 MGs Front , SWC , SD Back to discourage tailgating . We decided that Spikes were 'practice' versions & only did standard 1d Damage to the Slicks . 10 Acceleration , Armour F55, R40, L40, B45 & a few T and U , all for under $20K .

Had three games : ones I supervised had six players in one Arena & four in the other . Lowdecker took part in his event - he had three older players in his - as one had to drop out .
Overwhelming positive feedback and a number of happy parents ( I explained the maths side of the game ) and we'll be going back to the Scout Hut in two weekends time .

Table Tennis tables make excellent gaming stands & even half a table is good for younger children to 'race' around the edges using Car Wars counters & dice rolls to see how far each moved ! A little imagination goes a long way ;-)