Convoy (split from Pocket Box thread)

[Tom H.]

I'd like to hear about your experiences with Convoy if you want to post them.

I played it in the 80's with friends, and it was exciting.

After I get and play the new 6e Kickstarter, I would really like to see the company expand into some little adventures and light role-playing scenarios for the new game.

[Fred Skin]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

I'd like to hear about your experiences with Convoy if you want to post them.

I got started this weekend, but i spent a few hours getting ready to play, which isn't as fun as it used to be. Granted alot of it is reading rules, but there is filling out the car sheets and all that. I didn't even build my own cars, i'm using the Vehicle Guide for that. So, NEXT weekend I'll start actually playing.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by Fred Skin

So, NEXT weekend I'll start actually playing.

No problem, take your time, and keep us posted.

I don't prepare very quickly myself, but when I played Convoy back in the '80s, my high school buddy was great at propelling games to the table quickly.

I think it started with four friends in the evening. Only two of us lasted to 5 AM.

The funniest thing I still remember is one friend falling asleep on the dining room floor with a pillow from the couch. Well, the pillow had these decorative buttons sown into it. Our friend eventually woke up in a stupor, jumped up, didn't know where he was, but his face was red with impressed button marks on one side. It was great.

[swordtart]

When you do play make sure to checkpoint the numbered paragraphs (i.e. write them down). It's very easy to misread the number, go to the wrong paragraph and not be able to find your way back. I can't remember if there is a cheat sheet on the back of the map, or if that was on the ADQ version.

When a paragraph was a result of combat, I often forgot whether I had marked off the mileage, as well. Keeping track of the relevant paragraph on the same sheet you mark off power units and time helped a lot.

It is good you are using the VG for vehicles. The baddies in Convoy do not benefit from equipment introduced in later supplements and it can unbalance the encounters if you have access to stuff they do not.

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by swordtart

It is good you are using the VG for vehicles. The baddies in Convoy do not benefit from equipment introduced in later supplements and it can unbalance the encounters if you have access to stuff they do not.

FWIW, laser-reflective metal armor is probably one of the most unbalancing things you can add to a vehicle.

[swordtart]

How so?

If your enemy doesn't use a laser then it's just marginally more expensive metal (but very chrome chummer).

Of course if your players have decided that twin linked IR heavy pulse lasers are the bomb, they may be in for a shock when a 15 points of LR metal just shrug it off to no effect ;)

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by swordtart

How so?

If your enemy doesn't use a laser then it's just marginally more expensive metal (but very chrome chummer).

Of course if your players have decided that twin linked IR heavy pulse lasers are the bomb, they may be in for a shock when a 15 points of LR metal just shrug it off to no effect ;)

I was referring to the designs in Convoy and the other older adventures. There were only a small number of big weapons (3d+), so metal to shrug off those 2d weapons works really well. Polishing it to be LR deals with lasers, which is the majority of the other 3d+ weapons. Slightly weak against ATGs and heavy rockets, but those aren't terribly accurate to start with.

[swordtart]

Maybe...

To be invulnerable to a 2d weapon you need 12 points of metal, which is the same weight as 60 points of plastic. A 60 point plastic vehicle is also pretty safe against 2d6 weapons for quite a few turns.

There is the counter case of course, someone had a Luxury with 6 linked MGs front in one game. Now that 60 point vehicle is looking very vulnerable. Assuming everything hit it could be stripped in as little as 2 salvos, on average it will take just 3 salvos for internal hits and in 6 salvos, you would be very lucky to survive. Since on average we strip 1 points of metal per salvo the metal only car would on average still be invulnerable after 6 salvos. But if they had 3 Vulcans instead, suddenly the metal is looking a bit more shaky. A pair of ACs and he's going to start feeling it very soon.

It was always a point of debate. It all depended on if your opponent had many small weapons or few big ones. With many of the original scenarios, vehicles often had few little weapons and on that basis metal was overkill (we would often default to at most a 25:75 metal to plastic composite).

A $20 smoke grenade could also invalidate lasers, they were always a bit of a crap shoot.

Of course that truck can target the top armour as well, how much metal did you put up there ;)

[juris]

Yeah you definitely need to restrict yourself to 'Classic' vehicles like the 'black' VG. Convoy is very low-tech.

Originally Posted by swordtart

It is good you are using the VG for vehicles. The baddies in Convoy do not benefit from equipment introduced in later supplements and it can unbalance the encounters if you have access to stuff they do not.

[43Supporter]

Reminds: A couple of the vehicle designs in _Convoy_ are Illegal; I have corrected versions if anyone is interested.