Car Wars 6th Ed.

Magesmiley · 05-22-2015, 12:52 PM

I've raised the targeting modifiers issue before. It is one of the top three items that slows 4th edition Car Wars down. And despite some threads to try to come up with solutions, a silver bullet seems to still be elusive. (And yes, it isn't one that slows me down - I have the modifiers memorized, but my observation is that it slows down anyone who doesn't have it memorized).

One small improvement that I've thought of to help is to make paint/smoke counters 1/2" x 1/2" and count how many you go through for the penalty rather than measuring (obviously not as precise, but close enough - Scott, feel free to steal this idea for 6th edition). You'd just lay down two counters instead of one when firing (or more for HD versions).

Killing the range modifier entirely is another thought. Car Wars weapons are ridiculously short-ranged. A more realistic modifier might be per mapsheet rather than per 4," effectively eliminating it.

Speed. Ugh. The chart is realistic and works right but painful. I've gone through this from a bunch of angles and maybe a flat speed modifier is the best plan.

Specific Targets have a lot of good justification. But it is a long list.

Other thoughts:

Maybe the things would be better going to a roll needed and an attack bonus system (essentially changing weapons to granting an attack bonus and incorporating the specific target modifiers into the hit roll needed). An advantage of this is that it lets some fixed modifiers be precalculated (i.e. I need to roll a 10 to hit your compact, I'm firing an MG which gives me a +2 to hit). A secondary benefit is that you could make everything bonuses - the defender counts defensive effects and raises the to hit number and the attacker counts offensive bonuses and raises his/her attack bonus (the compact is going 60 mph and you're firing through 2 paint counters, so the hit roll is 14, and a computer and me being stationary raises my attack bonus to +4). Separating things out lets two people figure out their set of modifiers at the same time, which is probably faster. Also, most people can do addition faster than any other sort of math. And finally, this sort of system is fairly familiar to most folks who play RPGs.

05-22-2015, 12:52 PM	#21
Magesmiley Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Snohomish, WA	Re: Car Wars 6th Ed. I've raised the targeting modifiers issue before. It is one of the top three items that slows 4th edition Car Wars down. And despite some threads to try to come up with solutions, a silver bullet seems to still be elusive. (And yes, it isn't one that slows me down - I have the modifiers memorized, but my observation is that it slows down anyone who doesn't have it memorized). One small improvement that I've thought of to help is to make paint/smoke counters 1/2" x 1/2" and count how many you go through for the penalty rather than measuring (obviously not as precise, but close enough - Scott, feel free to steal this idea for 6th edition). You'd just lay down two counters instead of one when firing (or more for HD versions). Killing the range modifier entirely is another thought. Car Wars weapons are ridiculously short-ranged. A more realistic modifier might be per mapsheet rather than per 4," effectively eliminating it. Speed. Ugh. The chart is realistic and works right but painful. I've gone through this from a bunch of angles and maybe a flat speed modifier is the best plan. Specific Targets have a lot of good justification. But it is a long list. Other thoughts: Maybe the things would be better going to a roll needed and an attack bonus system (essentially changing weapons to granting an attack bonus and incorporating the specific target modifiers into the hit roll needed). An advantage of this is that it lets some fixed modifiers be precalculated (i.e. I need to roll a 10 to hit your compact, I'm firing an MG which gives me a +2 to hit). A secondary benefit is that you could make everything bonuses - the defender counts defensive effects and raises the to hit number and the attacker counts offensive bonuses and raises his/her attack bonus (the compact is going 60 mph and you're firing through 2 paint counters, so the hit roll is 14, and a computer and me being stationary raises my attack bonus to +4). Separating things out lets two people figure out their set of modifiers at the same time, which is probably faster. Also, most people can do addition faster than any other sort of math. And finally, this sort of system is fairly familiar to most folks who play RPGs. __________________ Dynamax Designs, Designing quality since 2035. Watch your handling and remember to Drive Offensively!