Design Preferences

Racer · 10-15-2021, 04:14 PM

Barring X-Ray Lasers , use of normal optic Lasers in Arenas is practically non existent since mid 1990s . Laser Reflective Plastic Armour is dirt cheap - as are Hot Smoke Smokescreens , HDSSs , Hot Smoke Dischargers & Chemical Mines . Often completely derails Laser using Player's tactics - especially in tight Arenas .

Plasticores are ESPECIALLY usefully against single minded persistent Tire Shooters . Three linked VMGs , HD Ammo & HRSWC (plus good Gunner skills) , will shred a Solid Tire & 10pt Wheelguard if two or three of them hit well .
Fortunately 'some' of these focus only on your Tires & not at your (very) thinly Armoured sides . So the silly person is often trapped into shooting at your Plasticores , behind 10pt Wheel guards AND 10pt Wheel Hubs , through half an inch of Smoke - ignoring your 15-20pts of vulnerable Plastic Side Armour .

Then almost crying when you set them on fire , blow their Wheels off with TDX mines ... and then seeing the paper thin Armour on your designs after the game ...
( ... good times ... ;-) )

Any player can take you unawares by a Player using a Laser armed Design unexpectedly - once .
They will then face Anti-Laser vehicles for next 5 to 10 Games ... until they 'learn their lesson' ...

One weapon or linked set of weapons , made accurate with SWCs or better , one or a few light Drop Weapons & as much as possible wrapped in extensive Component Armour is almost standard in Divisions 7.5 to 30 . Div 5 budget vehicles can be very innovative . Div 40 and above can be ... strange , overpriced & very often not particularly effective .

Big Guns rarely rule in Arena Combats - unless two so armed vehicles gang up on you at once , and your unable to fight back properly due to HC & Targeting accumulated Damage Hazards etc .

Hope this helps .

Racer · 10-15-2021, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racer

Barring X-Ray Lasers , use of normal optic Lasers in Arenas is practically non existent since mid 1990s . Laser Reflective Plastic Armour is dirt cheap - as are Hot Smoke Smokescreens , HDSSs , Hot Smoke Dischargers & Chemical Mines . Often completely derails Laser using Player's tactics - especially in tight Arenas .

Plasticores are ESPECIALLY usefully against single minded persistent Tire Shooters . Three linked VMGs , HD Ammo & HRSWC (plus good Gunner skills) , will shred a Solid Tire & 10pt Wheelguard if two or three of them hit well .
Fortunately 'some' of these focus only on your Tires & not at your (very) thinly Armoured sides . So the silly person is often trapped into shooting at your Plasticores , behind 10pt Wheel guards AND 10pt Wheel Hubs , through half an inch of Smoke - ignoring your 15-20pts of vulnerable Plastic Side Armour .

Then almost crying when you set them on fire , blow their Wheels off with TDX mines ... and then seeing the paper thin Armour on your designs after the game ...
( ... good times ... ;-) )

Any player can take you unawares by a Player using a Laser armed Design unexpectedly - once .
They will then face Anti-Laser vehicles for next 5 to 10 Games ... until they 'learn their lesson' ...

One weapon or linked set of weapons , made accurate with SWCs or better , one or a few light Drop Weapons & as much as possible wrapped in extensive Component Armour is almost standard in Divisions 7.5 to 30 . Div 5 budget vehicles can be very innovative . Div 40 and above can be ... strange , overpriced & very often not particularly effective .

Big Guns rarely rule in Arena Combats - unless two so armed vehicles gang up on you at once , and your unable to fight back properly due to HC & Targeting accumulated Damage Hazards etc .

Hope this helps .

[Edit] Sportsmanship is also very important . One shotting a new Player's unprotected PR Trike Tire at Point Blank Range , causing him to crash is not going to encourage him to want to play again .
Weaving in & out of Road Combat & trading fire for six to eight seconds before you destroy his Power Plant is exciting & will certainly make said player want to play again .

Daimyo_Shi · 10-15-2021, 06:25 PM

I never said my love of lasers was a good thing. Other than being really compatible accuracy is king that is.

CA is very much something I can see with Metal Armour and I have at time put around drivers but having good real armour can mitigate that.

Again mostly arm chair

Racer · 10-16-2021, 03:04 AM

It's okay & I think we all got enamored with Lasers when we first started playing . Moggie & his Van armed with three Standard Lasers was infamous at our boarding school circa 1983 .

The years & new Uncle Albert innovations from 1985 & beyond , made them much less effective later on .

Lasers are IMHO inline for a huge revamp in game post 2065 : lighter , cheaper , better sustained fire bonuses , options for more & variable damage , etc , etc .

Charged Particle Lasers (CPLs) from ADQ #10/2 went some of the way to address their fall in popularity , but I feel much more can be done considering our advances in real world use of Lasers in last 40 years .

Armour is king in Divisions 15 or higher , where you'll often face pairs of ATGs with APFSD Ammo on fairly regular basis .

Not getting hit is valid option for smaller vehicles in Divs 7.5 & 10 . A Light or Medium Trike , or Compact with Sloped Armour (frequently backed with Component Armour) is a pain to target at Point Blank Range even for VMGs .
I've seen ATG & RL armed Players resort to ramming in their non ram vehicles , after never gaining a single hit against such hard targets ! Viable against those Trikes - not so much against those brick Compacts over 4,000lbs ...

swordtart · 10-16-2021, 09:20 AM

Cheap. Really really cheap. Sub Div. 5 if possible.
Lots of them.

That tends to mean sub-compact as you get +1 HC for free.
Rockets - Heavy Rocket at point blank (or bumper trigger).
LR Metal armour (focussed on the front) backed with about the same weight in plastic.
Sloped armour. They can't kill what they can't hit.
FP CA round driver and preferably round front weapon too.
Cheap Std or HD. My tyres are -5 to hit from the front. If you can hit them you can probably destroy PR and down anyway.
Cheap gas plants (rear mounted).

Then zoom and boom attack closing from multiple vectors at speed and make them choose which one to go for.

Don't expect to win but do expect to have a blast (or be one).

43Supporter · 10-16-2021, 03:39 PM

Lasers: Except for the TL guiding rockets, I never saw them. And even the TL was rare -- not only did smoke render it ineffective; it cost *far* too much at $250/shot, plus the TL, and LGL.

Tire Shots: As noted, NOVA didn't allow aimed tire shots; there was still the chance of a Trike or Cycle tire being hit "indirectly" by the Cycle Targeting rules. (Another of those instances which led to my departure from NOVA -- Garrity brought a trike to a Div. 5 event, and forgot about the rule concerning the single-tire end of a trike; I got "lucky" with my HAVR *twice*.... :P )

beetle496 · 10-20-2021, 06:40 PM

The last vehicle I ever built seemed pretty perfect to me. I don’t recall most of the details, but it was a pickup truck, two linked HR in a turret with 3x reloads, so only the four shots — and that was pretty much it for the space. HR were laser guided, so they mostly hit, and four shots always ended up being enough. Armor for miles. I had one variant that qualified for Division 20, but I remember Division 30 being the sweet spot.

10-15-2021, 06:25 PM	#3
Daimyo_Shi Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: Calgary, Alberta	Re: Design Preferences I never said my love of lasers was a good thing. Other than being really compatible accuracy is king that is. CA is very much something I can see with Metal Armour and I have at time put around drivers but having good real armour can mitigate that. Again mostly arm chair __________________ CADA - Calgary "If designing a Monte Carlo clone and putting a Thundercat power plant is wrong I don't want to be Right!"

10-16-2021, 03:04 AM	#4
Racer Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, UK	Re: Design Preferences It's okay & I think we all got enamored with Lasers when we first started playing . Moggie & his Van armed with three Standard Lasers was infamous at our boarding school circa 1983 . The years & new *Uncle Albert* innovations from 1985 & beyond , made them much less effective later on . Lasers are IMHO inline for a huge revamp in game post 2065 : lighter , cheaper , better sustained fire bonuses , options for more & variable damage , etc , etc . Charged Particle Lasers (CPLs) from ADQ #10/2 went some of the way to address their fall in popularity , but I feel much more can be done considering our advances in real world use of Lasers in last 40 years . Armour is king in Divisions 15 or higher , where you'll often face pairs of ATGs with APFSD Ammo on fairly regular basis . Not getting hit is valid option for smaller vehicles in Divs 7.5 & 10 . A Light or Medium Trike , or Compact with Sloped Armour (frequently backed with Component Armour) is a pain to target at Point Blank Range even for VMGs . I've seen ATG & RL armed Players resort to ramming in their non ram vehicles , after never gaining a single hit against such hard targets ! Viable against those Trikes - not so much against those brick Compacts over 4,000lbs ... __________________ Five Gauss Guns on a Camper !!! The Resident Brit . Last edited by Racer; 10-16-2021 at 08:08 AM.

10-16-2021, 09:20 AM	#5
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Re: Design Preferences Cheap. Really really cheap. Sub Div. 5 if possible. Lots of them. That tends to mean sub-compact as you get +1 HC for free. Rockets - Heavy Rocket at point blank (or bumper trigger). LR Metal armour (focussed on the front) backed with about the same weight in plastic. Sloped armour. They can't kill what they can't hit. FP CA round driver and preferably round front weapon too. Cheap Std or HD. My tyres are -5 to hit from the front. If you can hit them you can probably destroy PR and down anyway. Cheap gas plants (rear mounted). Then zoom and boom attack closing from multiple vectors at speed and make them choose which one to go for. Don't expect to win but do expect to have a blast (or be one).

10-16-2021, 03:39 PM	#6
43Supporter Join Date: Dec 2007	Re: Design Preferences Lasers: Except for the TL guiding rockets, I never saw them. And even the TL was rare -- not only did smoke render it ineffective; it cost far too much at $250/shot, plus the TL, and LGL. Tire Shots: As noted, NOVA didn't allow aimed tire shots; there was still the chance of a Trike or Cycle tire being hit "indirectly" by the Cycle Targeting rules. (Another of those instances which led to my departure from NOVA -- Garrity brought a trike to a Div. 5 event, and forgot about the rule concerning the single-tire end of a trike; I got "lucky" with my HAVR twice.... :P ) __________________ "Dale who?" 79er The Jeremy Clarkson Debate Course: 1) I'm Right. 2) You're Wrong. 3) The End.

10-20-2021, 06:40 PM	#7
beetle496 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Frederick, MD	Re: Design Preferences The last vehicle I ever built seemed pretty perfect to me. I don’t recall most of the details, but it was a pickup truck, two linked HR in a turret with 3x reloads, so only the four shots — and that was pretty much it for the space. HR were laser guided, so they mostly hit, and four shots always ended up being enough. Armor for miles. I had one variant that qualified for Division 20, but I remember Division 30 being the sweet spot.

10-15-2021, 04:14 PM	#1
Racer Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, UK	Re: Design Preferences Barring X-Ray Lasers , use of normal optic Lasers in Arenas is practically non existent since mid 1990s . Laser Reflective Plastic Armour is dirt cheap - as are Hot Smoke Smokescreens , HDSSs , Hot Smoke Dischargers & Chemical Mines . Often completely derails Laser using Player's tactics - especially in tight Arenas . Plasticores are ESPECIALLY usefully against single minded persistent Tire Shooters . Three linked VMGs , HD Ammo & HRSWC (plus good Gunner skills) , will shred a Solid Tire & 10pt Wheelguard if two or three of them hit well . Fortunately 'some' of these focus only on your Tires & not at your (very) thinly Armoured sides . So the silly person is often trapped into shooting at your Plasticores , behind 10pt Wheel guards AND 10pt Wheel Hubs , through half an inch of Smoke - ignoring your 15-20pts of vulnerable Plastic Side Armour . Then almost crying when you set them on fire , blow their Wheels off with TDX mines ... and then seeing the paper thin Armour on your designs after the game ... ( ... good times ... ;-) ) Any player can take you unawares by a Player using a Laser armed Design unexpectedly - once . They will then face Anti-Laser vehicles for next 5 to 10 Games ... until they 'learn their lesson' ... One weapon or linked set of weapons , made accurate with SWCs or better , one or a few light Drop Weapons & as much as possible wrapped in extensive Component Armour is almost standard in Divisions 7.5 to 30 . Div 5 budget vehicles can be very innovative . Div 40 and above can be ... strange , overpriced & very often not particularly effective . Big Guns rarely rule in Arena Combats - unless two so armed vehicles gang up on you at once , and your unable to fight back properly due to HC & Targeting accumulated Damage Hazards etc . Hope this helps . __________________ Five Gauss Guns on a Camper !!! The Resident Brit . Last edited by Racer; 10-15-2021 at 05:41 PM.