Paper tires and infinite range

[Jumpster]

Just finished a game in a large-ish arena (using all 18 road tiles) and ran into a couple of idiosyncrasies.
One was that I was tooling around the road at moderate speed and practically blew out my tires on unlucky D1 maneuvers. Ouch!
The other was that my opponent lost controls about 7 tiles away and I just pummeled him relentlessly. Since he didn't have any defense dice for speed and none based on upgrades so there were no dice to reroll for defense. He could have been 80 tiles away and the result would have been the same.
Q: any opinions on this? Understand the balance between quick play and reality, but some outcomes seem to be a bit extreme

[beetle496]

I was going to ask about range re-rolls — but I guess those are only for the defensive dice the defender gets for their speed. Out of control, and no defensive dice from speed, so no defensive rolls at all (except maybe Accessory or Crew), seems to work pretty well at modest (arena) ranges. But out of control and far away, results are the same? I agree, something seems off. Should range be adding defensive dice rather than just providing re-rolls? Cover helps even when defender is out of control. Should not range be similar?

[Magesmiley]

That seems like a very big arena to use. Try going down to a much smaller battlefield, you'll be fighting before your tires are shredded.

There's also the airless tires card. And other cards that help protect you. Pick your equipment to match the battlefield that you're playing on.

[Sam Mitschke]

The game is weighted toward the attacker to prevent a bunch of stalemate dead rounds...but you were also playing on a HUGE map, especially for two only players, so before I try to answer, I'm compelled to ask:

Was the goal of your game something other than eliminating your opponent? If you DID intend to attack your opponent, why were y'all so far apart?

[beetle496]

Originally Posted by Jumpster

The other was that my opponent lost controls about 7 tiles away and I just pummeled him relentlessly.

I assumed you put the 18 tiles into some kind of figure 8 or oval, and you meant 7 turning keys here. (Still far, but not unreasonable for an a race track style arena.)

He could have been 80 tiles away and the result would have been the same.

@Sam_Mitschke — is this technically correct? Is that not a gap with the rules? I have been looking forward to a race track duel myself. Should we all give up that idea?

Originally Posted by Magesmiley

There's also the airless tires card. And other cards that help protect you.

Airless lets you keep your speed up. Other cards help with control. What protects against tire damage from Wrench rolls with unlucky D1s? I like that nothing protects against Wrenches from Shred weapons, but Wrenches from D1s seems harsh.

[Sam Mitschke]

We built the base game so that going out of control makes you a sitting duck. Losing control should be terrifying and something you constantly try to avoid.

[Jumpster]

Actually I just took the tiles and laid them out #1-18 and we started at opposite ends with two pre-built cars. I had the Goblin and my opponent had one that started with 'B' (at a restaurant and don't remember). The Goblins best weapons are on the rear so I ended up racing away and we had that situation.

[Sam Mitschke]

Wow! So it was long a long, winding road? That's not a large-ish arena — that's absolutely enormous! That explains somewhat how you made do many D1s to totally eat up your tires, which is otherwise abnormal. And it's a cool idea, but, as you experienced, getting so far apart makes things get wonky. Obviously we provided the tools to do otherwise, but the game was really designed to keep the cars battling within roughly 3 feet of one another (hence the suggested arena size). I hope you still had fun, though!

[Jumpster]

I guess it was 3x6. I happened to roll the gear on the green die on every D1 on the A side of the tiles while staying on the road. That's around the double barrel arena no? Didn't seem too big.

[Jumpster]

Also we did have fun! Everyone I've played with so far has agreed that this version captures the feel without the complexity. I've been Autodeuling since the 80's, and my kids have picked it up through conventions. We did think the infinite range weapons is something we'll have to figure out somehow though.