So what the heck is Amateur Night anyway?

[swordtart]

Slag town inhabitants note. A competent mechanic can jury rig the plant and MGs at no cost. Part damaged armour shells can be acquired for a song (with new armour costsing $11 and repairs costing $50 per hit once a shell has lost only 25% of it's integrity it is cheaper to replace than repair). You only need find some tires and some ammunition and you can rebuild your salvage prize to almost factory spec.

[Jeffr0]

Originally Posted by swordtart

Tiny Tot: Subcompact; CA Frame; Standard chassis; Improved suspension; Small PP w/HTMs; 4 PR tires. Driver w/BA+ABV. 2 x Linked Machine Gun w/40xTracer Front. 105 pts. Plastic (F: 30 R: 20 L: 20 B: 20 T: 5 U: 10). Cost: $8,780, Wgt: 2,290, HC: 3, Top Speed: 92.5 (67.5), Accel: 5 (10).

Twin machine guns keep the end game from dragging-- once a breach is made, it is much easier to finish off a car. Still... I would argue that the fighter-pilot tactics of a front MG type game are not natural to beginning players and they tend to get aggravated when someone tails them and destroys them with better maneuvering. That type of game is better than, say, Wings of War however!

I would keep Accel at least at 10 and add rocket boosters, 2 linked HR's left, a Flame Thrower right, and a Flame Cloud gas streamer back (to discourage the pivoter types.)

In addition to the usual salvage, keep track of all the kills and what was used to score it. Roll on 2d6 for each kill adding +2 for the event winner's rolls. On a 10 or better... you have landed a sponsorship from the company that makes the weapon! Your first sponsorship with that weapon gives you a free reload for all televised duels... the second of that type scores you two brand new and fully loaded weapons of that type... and the third grants you unlimited replacements for those weapons if they are damaged in a televised duel.

Your character's jumpsuit should look like the Nascar guys with loads of brands on them...! Also... whoever said wrestling... choosing a rasslin' type name and role playing the pre-game smack talk is always fun.

[swordtart]

Err Jeffr0, where can your source all this zero space weaponry ;)

I presume you are thinking of a bigger car ;)

[juris]

Swordtart - you are too kind - who cares if people can only salvage a Killer Kart for $800 (or better yet a flamethrower equipped subcompact) - all that means is you need to win multiple AN events ;).

AN vehicles should be cheap and unsafe - a mix of cars and cycles are fun too. A Shogun 100 is very competitive against a Killer Kart. If you want to liven things up give alternative ways to win - like an obstacle strewn race etc. Nothing like a high speed crash in a Killer Kart.

It should be hard to succeed - that's what make it rewarding. It's no great loss to lose a 30 skill point starter character. But you gain skill and prestige fast in AN - that's the real reward.

[Jeffr0]

Ah yes... skill and prestige.

Earlburt and I give the point for driving only if you make a control roll. You get a point in gunner only if you hit something. You get one skill point in gunner for killing with guns... and one skill point in driver for killing with a ram.

Character development as a result of actual in-game events is really fun. The sponsorship system would provide a further method of differentiating the characters. [I've long looked at all those non-combat skills as something that would be a neat way to add to that-- maybe have a company that does Microtraining sponsor the events... and you earn their sort of skill points as prizes...?? Your chances of landing a Journalism or Law job should be slim, though. But maybe with training... you could actually land a real job in society....]

The thing about the car design is... imagine if someone only plays CAR WARS once. Identical cars is good because it's fair and easy to teach.... But the design should produce a game that she'll want to play again. (As I've noted elsewhere... this is where 5th edition critically failed. The pairs of cars were usually imbalanced... and you generally had either to ram twice on the same side or shoot out tires to win-- often using the chintzyest tactics and most complex tempo-stopping rules in the process!)

The AADA divisional games should have hardly any chance of death... (10% at most maybe?) but skill points should be quartered for those... and prestige would generally just go to the winners. Road duels with 50% chance of death which get televised should earn skill and prestige as with the Amateur Night events.

[GrauGeist]

For Amateur Night, I'd want something simple and cheap, not too fancy (CA frame), but with some very simple 1-shot options that players can pick from.

A $9k Tiny Tot is expensive for that kind of thing.

Div 7.5 (5 if you can swing it) is more economical better.

5 mph accel from Mid-Engine layout and a Front MG are standard. Driver is unarmored and carries a Pistol.

Pick 1 Major Option:
a) add MG Magazine & Targeter
b) add Linked 2nd MG
c) replace MG with Rocket Launcher
d) add Ram Plate w/ triggered Heavy Rocket*
This represents a modular front end with a pod

Pick 1 Minor Option:
a) # Flame Cloud / Mine / Spike shots (rear)
b) Body Armor & Fire extinguisher
c) engine booster

Pick 1 set of Tires:
a) + HC (suspension cost, actually)
b) + DP

Identical armor (except Ram Plate) of strong Front, decent Rear, weak Sides & Under, paper Top makes it easier for players to formulate tactics because they know where the weak points are. They can shoot and slug behind the heavy Front; they can chase Rear (and hope against FCD/MD shots); they can try to go after the weak Sides.


Ram Plate is questionable for Amateur Night, unless you're looking for more of a Demolition Derby-type event.

[ak_aramis]

Keep in mind: the average slum is filled with people feeding vices on welfare... or on work income ... by living more cheaply than the "standard". And $150 a week is probably firmly lower-middle class.



For comparison, some data points from 1981 - data points that fit well with the prices in CW...
Minimum wage in 1981: $3.31/hr at end of year; at 40hr/week, that's $132/week... usually enough to afford an apartment and food, and keep a car running.
Average annual income: $21050/yr (approx $404/week)
Average rent on apartment: $315/mo
Average gallon of petrol: $1.25

[Jeffr0]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

And $150 a week is probably firmly lower-middle class.

I think it was $50 in pocket box. $150 came in with Deluxe for some reason. This may impact your analysis.

[swordtart]

GG:
The point about the Tiny Tot is that is designed to be recyclable. In the scenario I use where you don't get the car, just fixed prize money it can be re-used. The CA frame is entirely recoverable and therefore while an significant initial capital investment it is one ou only have to make once.

And extra 500lb of load on a subcompact is a significant benefit equivalent to 100 points of armour.

If you use a damaged plant with 1 DP you drop the price by $350. If you jury-rig a totally destroyed plant you save $500. If you use damaged MGs you can save $600, again juryrigged ones will save you $2000. If you accept that once damaged armour had dropped below the price of economic repair it becomes free, you can have 79 of the original 105 points of armour for free saving $1115.

On that basis you could drop the price to well under $5000. Of that $1800 is ammo and tires, often these maight be salvaged unused or in the case of tires still mostly undamaged.

Jeffr0:
I think Amateurs (and these will probably be new players in a rags to riches campaign) would be better served by gaining an understanding of the mechanics a chunk at a time. Throwing in a whole raft of different weapons with different rules all in the same bout is overload. A simple front firing design will get them familiar with maneuvreing and basic firing.

That doesn't mean the next bout can't replace or add another weapon type.

General:
Flamethrowers are a bad choice becuase a burning wreck is no use to anyone, keeping track of fire modifiers is hard work (and as Jeffr0 points out other fire rules might be better anyway) and the proliferation of smoke counters rapidly becomes a pain in the backside.

Single shot rockets are a bit too digital for learning players. Whoosh, ooh you miss, no effect or ooh oh you hit and completely destroyed the other vehicle. Better the MG where there will be lots of opportunities to hit and each one will nibble the enemy down a bit. This will force them to think about turning the damaged side away from you to protect it, which will force choices. You will be forced to maneuvre to keep on their tail and build up your sustained fire bonus.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Jeffr0

I think it was $50 in pocket box. $150 came in with Deluxe for some reason. This may impact your analysis.

Only by confirming $150 as firmly middle class, while $50 would be slums and weffies. But thanks, I'd forgotton that!