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Old 10-05-2022, 03:07 PM   #1
TechOgre
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Default Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

So, I recall from the kickstarter days that the game is designed for 4 players. How would you run a convention game with more than 4 players?
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Old 10-05-2022, 03:18 PM   #2
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

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So, I recall from the kickstarter days that the game is designed for 4 players. How would you run a convention game with more than 4 players?
Seems to me it would be run same as a 4-player; it would just take longer to wrap back around to whoever went first on Turn 1.
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Old 10-05-2022, 03:55 PM   #3
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

I would personally run multiple 3-4 player games, rather than combining them. If you have the huge Double Drum mat, you could run its scenario where you run two separate games until there are only 4 players left and then open up the gates.

You might be able to slide by at a 5 player game, but it really does start to bog down after 4, and you start to have balance issues with too many attacks happening on a single target in a turn, especially if someone has gone out of control. They won't have the ace tokens or defense to manage it.

Running it that way, especially for new players, doesn't give the best experience for the game.
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Old 10-05-2022, 03:56 PM   #4
HeatDeath
 
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

You'd need extra bases, and either extra dashboards [or homebrew equivalents].

Be aware, the more players you add the longer everyone is sitting between moving and firing.

More importantly, the more players you have the more turn order can make a big difference. Whoever is unfortunate enough to be going last on a given turn can't usually get into too much trouble with only 3 opponents who are serving as distractions for each other, but could easily get shredded before they get to their next turn with 5-7.

You probably want to think about this carefully and adjust your victory conditions accordingly.
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Old 10-05-2022, 05:42 PM   #5
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

I'd do what they suggest with Double Drum: split up the group into tables of no more than 4. Then have the survivors enter the same area and shoot each other.

Even just playing myself with 3 bot cars against a car designed to take them on and bots not shooting each other, the game is slower. With live opponents, each person added really adds more time to the game.

Though having played the original Talisman and Civilization board games, well, if you want to spend all day on one event, go ahead. Just understand that the current edition of Car Wars is designed to play at about a half an hour per player and finish in 2 hours. . .
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Old 10-05-2022, 06:54 PM   #6
Sam Mitschke
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

Definitely split it into smaller games. As soon as you add more than four players, the strategy changes to "Everyone to attack the last player in turn order," because the additional damage on the table creates a legitimate chance of eliminating that player before they get to their combat phase...and that's a quick way to ruin someone's Car Wars experience.

(And the game length increases dramatically, as well.)
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Old 10-06-2022, 03:02 AM   #7
philreed
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

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Originally Posted by TechOgre View Post
So, I recall from the kickstarter days that the game is designed for 4 players. How would you run a convention game with more than 4 players?
Multiple tables, with no more than four to a table.
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Old 10-06-2022, 07:03 AM   #8
Magesmiley
 
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

It can get very slow with more than 4.

What I did at the last convention was to have 2 four-player games that ran simultaneously side-by-side. When both games got down to 1 player, a divider was removed and the last two players continued the battle using the combined field for the overall victory using their already badly mauled cars and the mess leftover from the earlier battles.

If, despite all the warnings, you decide that you are going to play with more than 4, you probably want to have some sort of cover between the vehicles to reduce the pile-on tendency. I used a central tower and a series of short walls that could be fired over, but which gave targets on the far side a single shield, with the effect being cumulative. The effect was that it made attacking more effective against nearby players, as they received fewer defensive shields.
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Old 10-06-2022, 09:05 AM   #9
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

Ever since the four player limit in the base set was announced, people used to the enormous convention free-for-alls of yester-version have called loudly for options for massively multiplayer scenarios. Despite all this, SJG have consistently held their ground on "four players is the effective limit - the game begins to distort in bad ways beyond that."

SJG /know/ that they could sell a very significant number of "extra player kits" consisting of a dashboard and a base. They're, truth be told, leaving a fair bit of money on the table by not doing this.

If they're leaving money on the table intentionally, you can take that as /very/ compelling evidence of the deep sincerity of their claim, informed by literally years of testing and development, that going beyond four players in a single furball at once does noticeable damage to the play experience.

As noted above, Double Drum's structure represents the well-tested and official compromise and happy medium here - up to eight players can be made to work, and indeed work very well, as long as the arena structure ensures that you have no more than 4 players in a single furball at any one time.

Last edited by HeatDeath; 10-06-2022 at 02:55 PM.
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Old 10-06-2022, 02:29 PM   #10
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Default Re: Running an Arena with more than 4 cars

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Originally Posted by Magesmiley View Post
If, despite all the warnings, you decide that you are going to play with more than 4, you probably want to have some sort of cover between the vehicles to reduce the pile-on tendency.
I wonder how 6E would work with the old "Circle Of Fire" format.

COF: For [n] players, each car is numbered 1 through [n]. Each player has as his "designated target" the car one number higher than his own; the highest-numbered car's target is Car #1. When a player eliminates his target, he receives his target's target as his new target.

(In OG _CW_, this was used to ID "sandbaggers" -- everyone knows who's supposed to be shooting at whom, so if someone is hanging back, it becomes painfully obvious; and the referee can "paint the big red X" on the malefactor.)
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