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Old 11-07-2021, 01:57 AM   #31
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: Combat Showcase 2037

I love CW, but the more I play it, the less I like it :)

I tend to go to Traveller* when I want anything other than vehicular combat, but to be honest some of the vehicular combat in CW needs work too... and the design rules.

Example. Handweapon combat has each weapon having an effective range. Shots below 1/4 that are +1, shots at twice that range are -2 and shots at 4x that range are -4. If pistols had an effective range of 4" and rifles an effective range of 16" it allows a credible differentiation. Pistols are good enough in their own bailiwick but if you want long range you should need a rifle. In CW a +1 is basically a weapon with 4" extra range.

* You have to be careful which version e.g the GDW version combat matrix is a mess as bad as the 1ts edition AD&D one..
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Old 11-07-2021, 02:47 PM   #32
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Default Re: Combat Showcase 2037

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Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
I tend to go to Traveller* when I want anything other than vehicular combat, but to be honest some of the vehicular combat in CW needs work too... and the design rules.
[looks upward; whistles quietly] >:)

One big problem _CW_ has always faced is mentioned in the "_Dueltrack_ designer's notes" article in _ADQ_: To be blunt, the game's writers knew absolutely *nothing* about actual cars -- Haring's remarks about "to me, that's Greek" was a Big Red Flag. (This is why I'm so Annoyed with everything which has transpired since -- had I been a few years older, or been better-versed in BBSes, I could have become the "CW Car Guru", and all this could have been avoided.)
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Old 11-07-2021, 04:15 PM   #33
swordtart
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Default Re: Combat Showcase 2037

As a pocket box game (or mini car wars) it was fine. Unfortunately at some point it got too big and rather than accept that the rules weren't robust enough to support continual incoherent expansion it was just fudged. Then something else was added and another fudge bolted on... etc... etc.

To be fair again, this was not a uniquely Car Wars or SJG problem, it was happening all over the industry. Games took off and unlike Monopoly where there was no invitation to influence the rules, house periodicals encouraged people to add stuff - remember Citadel/GW having articles about scratch building :)

We were all coming from a positive place, enthusiastic and keen to improve the games we loved to play, but as we were the nerds we became fixated about some things and ignored others. You need a very steady hand on the wheel if you are to shepherd the rabid outpourings of yoof. Some games had a capo de tutti capi others... not so much so.

Ah well 's too late now :)
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Old 11-08-2021, 01:49 PM   #34
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Default Re: Combat Showcase 2037

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Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
As a pocket box game (or mini car wars) it was fine. Unfortunately at some point it got too big and rather than accept that the rules weren't robust enough to support continual incoherent expansion it was just fudged. Then something else was added and another fudge bolted on... etc... etc.
That's an example of the old Hollywood saying: "Movies are made -- or destroyed -- in the editing bay." Good editing -- good movie. (See "How to make Three Yellow Barrels utterly terrifying".)

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Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
Ah well 's too late now :)
[looks at _Pathfinder_]

Not necessarily.... >;)
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