[4e] Autoduelling (also, my return to GURPS)

Chris Goodwin · 08-12-2022, 07:39 PM

I hope it's okay to necro my own thread. :)

I've been poking at this a bit more lately. I am finding the Size, Speed, and Range Table (SSRT) to be ridiculously useful, so much so that I'm wishing classic Car Wars had its own version.

I think I'm just going to go with multiplying all Car Wars weapon damage values by 7 to get GURPS values. That seems the most workable. I got in on the recent GURPS Bundles of Holding for Space and Fantasy, but not the base one that had the tech books! So I'm just going to limp along with those values.

The GURPS Basic Set has its own ways of handling high speed movement and maneuvering; entities, including vehicles, have a turning radius equal to current velocity divided by Basic Move. Except vehicles don't have a Basic Move; the suggestion in the Vehicles section is to use Acceleration in place of Basic Move, which doesn't quite work. I'm giving vehicles a Turning Radius Divisor, which I may need to call something else for abbreviation's sake, but it's going to be (8 - vehicle's SM) + Hnd. So a van (elongated box 5 yards long, so SM +3) with Hnd -1 would have a turning radius divisor of 4, while a sports car (same SM, Hnd +1) would have a divisor of 6. Higher numbers here mean quicker turns. And making a turn sooner than you "should" based on your turning radius calls for a Control Roll.

Slapping down turning keys and making maneuvers in 15 degree increments is more like Car Wars, but it's also more fiddly. Still I might do that. (When we played GURPS Autoduel back in 1986, we used phased movement and turning keys, which worked seamlessly.) A not-yet-abandoned idea is to consider 15 degrees of turning to be equivalent to a velocity change of 1/6 the vehicle's current velocity, and making a Driving Roll with penalty based on that net velocity change on the SSRT. (Seriously, is there a Cult of the SSRT, and if not how do I start it?) (As an example, a four wheeled passenger vehicle at 100mph, therefore 50 yards/second, attempts a 90 degree turn. This is the equivalent of a net 50 yards/second velocity change, so that would necessitate a Driving Roll at -8! Another example, a four wheeled passenger vehicle at 40mph, therefore 20 yards/second, attempts a 15 degree turn; this is 3 yards/second, or a Driving Roll at -1.) Note that the vehicle doesn't actually change velocity, it's just that velocity vectors mumble mumble high school trig and physics were more than 35 years ago.

For those who are curious, the document is here. Comments are greatly appreciated!

sparcipx · 08-13-2022, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

For those who are curious, the document is here. Comments are greatly appreciated!

Perfect timing! I'll show this to my group, as we're gaming tomorrow (coincidentally GURPS Autoduel).

08-12-2022, 07:39 PM	#1
Chris Goodwin Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, USA	Re: [4e] Autoduelling (also, my return to GURPS) I hope it's okay to necro my own thread. :) I've been poking at this a bit more lately. I am finding the Size, Speed, and Range Table (SSRT) to be ridiculously useful, so much so that I'm wishing classic Car Wars had its own version. I think I'm just going to go with multiplying all Car Wars weapon damage values by 7 to get GURPS values. That seems the most workable. I got in on the recent GURPS Bundles of Holding for Space and Fantasy, but not the base one that had the tech books! So I'm just going to limp along with those values. The GURPS Basic Set has its own ways of handling high speed movement and maneuvering; entities, including vehicles, have a turning radius equal to current velocity divided by Basic Move. Except vehicles don't have a Basic Move; the suggestion in the Vehicles section is to use Acceleration in place of Basic Move, which doesn't quite work. I'm giving vehicles a Turning Radius Divisor, which I may need to call something else for abbreviation's sake, but it's going to be (8 - vehicle's SM) + Hnd. So a van (elongated box 5 yards long, so SM +3) with Hnd -1 would have a turning radius divisor of 4, while a sports car (same SM, Hnd +1) would have a divisor of 6. Higher numbers here mean quicker turns. And making a turn sooner than you "should" based on your turning radius calls for a Control Roll. Slapping down turning keys and making maneuvers in 15 degree increments is more like Car Wars, but it's also more fiddly. Still I might do that. (When we played GURPS Autoduel back in 1986, we used phased movement and turning keys, which worked seamlessly.) A not-yet-abandoned idea is to consider 15 degrees of turning to be equivalent to a velocity change of 1/6 the vehicle's current velocity, and making a Driving Roll with penalty based on that net velocity change on the SSRT. (Seriously, is there a Cult of the SSRT, and if not how do I start it?) (As an example, a four wheeled passenger vehicle at 100mph, therefore 50 yards/second, attempts a 90 degree turn. This is the equivalent of a net 50 yards/second velocity change, so that would necessitate a Driving Roll at -8! Another example, a four wheeled passenger vehicle at 40mph, therefore 20 yards/second, attempts a 15 degree turn; this is 3 yards/second, or a Driving Roll at -1.) Note that the vehicle doesn't actually change velocity, it's just that velocity vectors mumble mumble high school trig and physics were more than 35 years ago. For those who are curious, the document is here. Comments are greatly appreciated! __________________ Chris Goodwin I've started a subreddit for discussion of INWO and Illuminati. Check it out! Last edited by Chris Goodwin; 08-12-2022 at 07:43 PM.