Talking Car Wars Classic Live!

[sdharing]

In a couple of hours (6 pm Central, Tuesday Sept. 30), I will be live on the internets talking about The brand-new Car Wars Classic. Check it out!

[Magesmiley]

Since the link indicates that you're accepting questions I thought I'd throw a few to you in advance before you're on the spot. :)

1. I managed to snag one of the CWC copies at PAX and have had a chance to take a look. There are places in the rules where CWC, the latest Compendium and UACFH conflict with one another, particularly when it comes to the descriptions of weapons and accessories. Which one should be considered the authoritative version for Car Wars when there are conflicts?
Examples: Ram Plate, ATG

2. As Car Wars is going to be back in print, are we going to get an official Net Rep for Car Wars to answer rules questions?

3. Sustained Fire Bonus. The last guy who put answers up made a mess of this. For the record, what is a target for the purposes of gaining a sustained fire bonus? The same vehicle/building/pedestrian/whatever as outlined in the original Pocket Box edition (the section for which is not present in CWC or the Compendium) or is it the specific armor facing/component (i.e. tire, turret, etc.) being shot at ugliness as described here? (This disagreement has come up numerous times at conventions I've been at where Car Wars was played.)

4. Support for Convention Events. Since the game is back in print, will SJG be offering any sort of support for Car Wars events at conventions?

[Parody]

Any question about rules immediately requires you to define the ruleset you're using; if you're using the Classic box alone don't consider other items. If you're using the CWC2.5+UACFH (a ruleset that invalidates much of the Classic box ruleset) then don't use the Classic box ruleset. Also remember that the rules in the new Classic box are virtually unchanged from the ones in the 1990 version of the same product.

Thus some guesses:

1. If you're using the Car Wars Classic box, ignore the CWC2.5 and UACFH. If you're using the CWC2.5 and UACFH, don't use the rules from the Classic box.

2. Maybe once 6e is out.

3. Pick for your games and say beforehand. Our group generally uses the CWRQ/ODQ resolutions, so no moving from a side to a tire. But we're also using the CWC2.5+UACFH, not the Classic box.

4. Maybe once 6e is out. Unofficially, our con events have occasionally attracted MiBs who give us old Car Wars products to give out. (Thanks, folks!)

[ElLoboGordo]

Originally Posted by Magesmiley

4. Support for Convention Events. Since the game is back in print, will SJG be offering any sort of support for Car Wars events at conventions?

Speaking from experience, Car Wars remains supported at conventions. I got sent some really fun SJG swag for my super-scale event last March, and I'm getting ready to register next March's event with the con people.

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by ElLoboGordo

Speaking from experience, Car Wars remains supported at conventions. I got sent some really fun SJG swag for my super-scale event last March, and I'm getting ready to register next March's event with the con people.

The MiB I inquired with told me that it wasn't being supported when I ran a tournament back in August. However, he and a couple of the other MiBs scrounged up some stuff that they had.

Judging from Parody's response, his experience was similar to mine. And different from yours.

Which is why I'm asking. :)

My other questions are more about short circuiting rules disagreements. It's always nice to be able to have a definitive answer when you're playing against folks outside your normal group. I usually ref at conventions rather than play, so it is often me giving the answers, which I prefer to be standard ones rather than my interpretation (which I seem to end up giving too often).

[Magesmiley]

Thanks for answering my first question Scott!

For those who didn't catch it, Where the rules conflict, CWC is going to be considered the authoritative version (as it is in print).

The ram plate (damage is back to x2 and x 1/2) and ATG (no D hazard for firing) are the two items I know of that this significantly affects.

I'd still love answers to the other questions :)

[Parody]

Originally Posted by Magesmiley

Judging from Parody's response, his experience was similar to mine. And different from yours.

It really depends on three things:

1. Who else goes to your convention? If there aren't any MiBs, or if it's the same MiBs you've seen for the last 10 years (and thus you've used up the Car Wars product they might have had sitting around) you're less likely to get random SJG prize support.

2. How is the convention organized? Some conventions like doing prize support themselves, while others would rather leave that up to the individual EOs/GMs. Con of the North, the local game convention for which I volunteer, is one of the ones that doesn't want to deal with prize support. We found it too annoying to try to solicit prizes from our vendors and other sponsors (often not received until the convention has started) and then hand them out to the GMs (who often didn't like dealing with prizes) to hand out to their players.

And the most important:
3. As the Event Organizer and/or Game Master, did you do anything to get prize support? I don't. If some appears, that's great! If not, then one less thing to deal with at the con. Many years I buy some medals or trophies to hand out for my convention events, but if I don't get to it that's OK. The fun for most players is getting to play a game they haven't played in years and years, even if the rules might be adjudicated slightly differently than they remember and there's no prize for winning.

Originally Posted by Magesmiley

My other questions are more about short circuiting rules disagreements. It's always nice to be able to have a definitive answer when you're playing against folks outside your normal group. I usually ref at conventions rather than play, so it is often me giving the answers, which I prefer to be standard ones rather than my interpretation (which I seem to end up giving too often).

Unfortunately, you're playing a game that has been out of print for so long that it's a waste of developer time to try to give definitive answers vs. working on a new version of the game (or on a Munchkin expansion or whatever).

My advice: when you give a ruling write it down and come up with your own rulings document for your group's games, something you can post on the web. I'm not as active on doing this myself as I should be for our games, but what we do have has been a big help.

[sdharing]

Thanks for sending the questions! To answer the ones I didn't get to on the chat:

2. I'm going to wait until we see how many questions the new Car Wars Classic actually generates before committing. And I think we'd only be interested in answering questions about Classic, and not revisit questions from earlier editions. Car Wars 6e, when it comes out, will probably also be supported by a netrep.

3. I think we should keep this as simple as possible. As long as you're shooting at the same general target, you get the sustained fire bonus. Examples:

• You fire at a vehicle's front. Next turn, it swerves and you can only get line-of-sight on the vehicle's side. You still get the bonus.
• You fire at a vehicle's front. Next turn, you have LOS on both the front and side of the target, and you decide to go for the side. Still the same car and general target, so you still get the bonus.
• You fire at a vehicle's front. Next turn, you try to target the tire. That's a shift in targets, no bonus.

If you have more questions, let's take it to a separate thread on this board and we can hash it out.

4. Not my call, but I don't see why not.

[kjamma4]

Originally Posted by sdharing

[*]You fire at a vehicle's front. Next turn, you try to target the tire. That's a shift in targets, no bonus.

This is one that always has bothered me. In my mind, you start by firing at the general to establish a target, see where the rounds hit, and then start "walking them in" to get to the specific target.