by Tim Ray
The art of car design for the arena has changed quite a bit in
the last year or so, for a number of reasons. Chief among these
is the release of the Car Wars Compendium, Second Edition.
Despite my initial misgivings about the fivephase movement
chart, I now believe it's a good rules change. In addition, the
new rulebook organizes the numerous interesting gadgets published
in the Uncle Albert's catalogs and ADQ, making it easier for the
duelist to find the right tool for the job in any arena. For many
of us Alpha Gainers, Car Wars is first and foremost a boardgame
with a nearly infinite number of tactical options. Some options
arc more effective than others in the arena, and those are the
options I want to discuss. I'll try to cover the tactical
implications of CWC2, without rehashing old ideas, but a few
general pointers on basic tactics are in order first.
When you walk into a Car Wars tournament, you need to do
certain things in order to win, and to make the game fun for
everybody involved. First, don't pester the referee. Some of you
who have played me before won't believe I wrote that, but
seriously, if you get under the ref's skin, the game won't be
much fun You may win a stressful, Pyrrhic victory, but try to
have fun instead. We had a rules debate over jump jets at the
last World Championships that went on for hours. Perhaps
"debate" is too weak a term; "shouting match"
describes the scene best. Jump jets are now outlawed in AADA
events as a direct result of that dispute (they're no longer
outlawed, as of the new jump jet rules on pp. 34 of this issue
Ed.). Second, find out as much as you legally can about the
rules and layout of the arena, before the event (as long as you
don't violate the first principle). Thankfully, "blind"
arenas where the competitors don't see the board before the event
are on the way out. Third, design your car for that arena and no
other. Threetime world champion Mike Montgomery mastered this
concept, and look where it got him (retired, ha ha). It is easier
to come away from a loss in the arena knowing your car was the
best it could be, rather than lamenting a loss because you
overlooked something you should have fixed in the design.
So you are on good terms with the ref, you saw the arena, and
it's start engines minus 30 minutes and counting. Which car do
you use? In my club, several players use predesigned cars
designs that worked well for them in other arenas. Many are still
viable under the new rules, but some aren't. Such
"stock" vehicles can usually be optimized to fit the
current arena.
In arenas that allow them, gas engines are becoming the norm.
Their top speed is inferior to electric plants while acceleration
is better, and they cost more, but the weight and space they save
is worth it. The top speed problem is cured with nitrous oxide
and overdrive. You need the extra weight to carry the heavier
armor required in today's arena. Don't be daunted by the vast
array of engines and accessories. The 100 cid and its "big
brother," the 150, are usually the only ones you need for
arena duels. The advantages of electric power are cost, fire
safety and top speed. If you desperately need those advantages,
go electric. If not, spool up that turbo and bum rubber!
Tactics and weapon choice are closely related. You need to
make a basic tactical choice before you pick your design; will
you be a lion, a vulture or a rabbit? The lion makes kills; he
mounts heavy weapons (ATGs, BCs, big lasers, ACs, HDFTs) and
medium armor, possibly a ramplate The lion's best defense is
blowing away his enemy fast. Speed is a secondary concern for the
king of the jungle, unless you build a dedicated ram car. The
vulture waits around for the lion to wound some poor unfortunate
(even another vulture survival of the fittest!) and then
swoops in for the kill. Since lions strenuously object to anyone
stealing their meat, the vulture should mount heavy armor,
lighter weapons (VMGs, RLs, OGs, lasers, spike guns, turreted
weapons) and have enough speed (and/or dropped weapons) to get
away from the lions. The vulture can get kills with tire shots,
but with a lowdamage weapon that can be a long, nervewracking
process. The rabbit is speed, speed and more speed. Weapons are
mostly defensive; dropped or hand weapons. Armor is usually
heavy. If the arena is a race, or if checkpoints are worth as
much as kills, consider the rabbit as a viable design strategy.
Of course, some rabbits mount ramplates, making them vorpal
bunnies ... At the higher divisions, the lines between design
"species" begin to blur; a lion with a heavy xray
laser is a fine scavenger. Enough. Let's lay a little rubber.
Everything I said before about tires still holds true. The new
standard tire for me is the steelbelted solid (16 DP), or the
plasticore, in really tough arenas. In the upper divisions, where
highdamage weapons with low tohit rolls are common,
plasticore tires are really the only options. The racing slick is
now official, and is a viable choice as long as there are no
dropped weapons out there. Make them steelbelted slicks if you
have the money. Fireproofing your tires is a good option in some
divisions, but a tire fire isn't nearly as serious as a vehicular
fire.
Once you have the basic design in mind, and if you didn't pick
a flatout, uncompromising ram car, give a little thought to
weapons and weapon placement. Time and time again I play in
arenas with guys who frontmount weapons. Front mounts are not
intrinsically bad, and are perfect for some linear arenas, but in
general sidemounted weapons are a better choice. The main
reason for this is buried in the history of naval warfare. Arrr,
mateys; a free historical tactic! The old sailors used to try
like mad to "cross the tee" on their adversaries.
Crossing the tee means giving them a shot on your side with their
front or rear guns, while you unleash the broadside. It worked on
the old wooden ships because their guns didn't bear forward very
well, but it works in Car Wars because of speed modifiers. With a
side mount, firing at the front of another vehicle, you get the
full benefit of your speed mods. Of course, turret weapons can
bear in any direction, but usually don't have enough punch to
kill a healthy vehicle.
As I said, weapons determine tactics and vice versa. Several
weapons have been the subject of rules changes since my last
article. The VFRP has mutated drastically, as it now fires 6 Id
rockets instead of 3 2d rockets. This rules change relegates the
weapon to the role of expensive, laserguided tire destroyer.
It's good in that capacity, but it's no longer the weapon it once
was. If you choose not to laser guide it, you have a decent
shortrange weapon, but beware of metal armor. Metal in any
useful amount will render the VFRP ineffective. The ATG, on the
other hand, has come into its own because of APFSDS ammunition. I
like this weapon, because the prodigious damage (3d + 6) is
balanced by the high tohit roll. It punches through most metal
armor very well. A pair of these backed up by a SWC is a popular
combination. The spike gun now fires only a halfinch counter,
another good change. This is still a good weapon in divisions 5
and 10. With the addition of new ammo types and the rotary
magazine, the RL and the oil gun have become the most versatile
weapons in the game. Note that any singleshot rocket can be
made armor piercing or incendiary now. The line between personal
and vehicular weapons has blurred. The time when vehicles could
ignore dismounted drivers is over; the gyroslugger, bazooka,
laser LAW and even the lowly pistol (with the right ammo) can do
significant damage in the arena. A serious loophole in the flame
cloud gas streamer rules has been plugged before I had the chance
to truly exploit it. Oh well. Since the hang time rules were
adopted, and the burst radius was reduced, frag grenades are not
really viable in the arena anymore. Plastique is not legal in the
arena, thank goodness. IR lasers do full damage now, and xray
lasers are sure to get popular in the higher divisions, since
laserreflective armor doesn't reduce the damage. In the lower
divisions, the HD flamethrower is hard to beat, especially with
hightemperature ammo. The low tohit roll means you don't need
a computer, but if you do get a SWC tire shots are easy and fun.
Fire and explosion remain two of the major causes of death in the
arena, with the proliferation of gas engines and explosive,
highdamage weapons.
Because average weapon damage is higher under the new rules,
you need to carry heavy armor to survive in the arena. The ATG
with sabot armor does 17 points on the average. You need 34 armor
to stop two shots from this weapon. A 10/10 metal/plastic armor
composite, proof against Bud weapons, is easily penetrated by the
ATG or the HD flamethrower with HT ammo. The days of symmetrical
armor protection, with equal or nearly equal armor on all four
sides, are over. Nowadays the side with the weapon on it should
carry 40 + points of plastic, or better yet, 1518 points of
metal. The other sides should carry enough defense to stop one
shot from the nastiest weapon you expect to see in the arena, and
have a few points left over to stop the vultures. The major
reason to use metal armor is cost. Metal is fireproof and can be
made laser reflective for a song. LRFP armor is about five times
more expensive than the same weight of LR metal. I'd rather spend
my money on noisy things that hurt my opponent than on defense.
Most arenas are won on kills, not survival. In the higher
divisions, where the xray lasers live, plastic is better than
metal. In fact, in the upper divisions plain old plastic armor
can be great, since laser-reflective armor is ineffective vs.
xray lasers. Furthermore, FP armor is only cost effective vs.
flame weapons, and if all prospective pyromaniacs know the money
is available for complete fireproofing, the primary advantage of
the flame weapons is lost. Double thinking is common in the
higher divisions, as is gibbering mania in bigmoney car
designers. In divisions 5 and 10, where money and weight capacity
are both tight, you may not be able to mount sufficient armor to
stop heavy hitters like the ATG. I guess that explains why the
low divisions get good TV ratings. Top and underbody armor should
probably not exceed 10 or 15 points per position, unless the
arena is very short on maneuvering room. You can generally drive
around dropped weapons, and the odd flame cloud is just a
nuisance to the properlybuilt car.
I've said it before, but now more than ever, accessories make the car. A car without a spoiler and airdam is at a real disadvantage under the new rules. I used to get by with just a spoiler, but under the new rules the pair is basically standard equipment. The weight and cost of these items is now proportional to the armor weight and cost of the vehicle, so sedans and smaller cars don't get stuck with spoilers built for luxs anymore. CA frames are a good buy if you plan on driving a vehicle that will die on the first ram anyway. Crushed or confettied, dead is dead after all. The roll cage/safety seat combination is a viable option if you lean the other way, and want to survive the first ram. My car from the last Worlds could take a 150 mph tbone (or more, head on) and drive away with no damage to the internal stuff, due to a roll cage and extensive component armor. A roll cage and safety seat are also useful if you plan on ramming anyone, because of the ram concussion rules. Nothing is worse than making confetti of your target and then driving through it unconscious. The rotary magazine lends new flexibility to many weapons with lots of amnio types. The possible combinations are too numerous to mention here, but look carefully at this gadget to see if it would help your car.
I never realized before CWC came out how many "fake" items are available. Fake weapons, ramplates, wheelguards, turrets, popup turrets; the list is finite, but the potential for deception is nearly limitless. If you have the money, you can make adedicated vulture look just like a lion. Weapon concealment further complicates the situation. At the low end cost wise, a fake weapon mounted on the side opposite the real one will keep your opponents guessing until you fire. At the extreme, you could design two or more cars to look exactly the same, yet have totally different weapons rigs. Every time you roll into the arena your foes will wonder, "What's he up to this time?" Because the ramplate is a potent psychological weapon, the fake ramplate is particularly effective. Fake wheeIguards and hubs on every tire can be a serious deterrent to tire shots.
I could do an exhaustive breakdown of the most effective car concepts by division, but it's easier and more concise to define design strategies into three categories: Low budget (Div. 5 and 10), middle class (Div. 1525) and "It's only money" (Div. 30+). The lowbudget cars are usually subcompacts, compacts, bikes or trikes. Flame weapons are popular, as are ram cars, spike guns, ATGs, APRLs and other cheap, highdamage weapons. Everybody is a lion in the lowbudget arenas. The middleclass font size="2">divisions are the hardest to design for, because so many designs are effective. Just about any body type can be found, except the van bike and subcompact. Good vultures are found here, as are ram cars, pyros (flame weapon cars), ATGs, BCs and laserguided rockets. These are the most challenging divisions. The high divisions are not exactly anything goes. Most cars will be luxs or bigger. Vans are still rare. Armor will be fairly heavy to extreme, and the pure ram car is not seen as much. Flame weapons decline in popularity as cars get more fireproof. Laserguided rockets are common, but are a vulture's weapon up here. Normal lasers are a gamble, since LR armor is cheap and common. The xray laser is the weapon of choice. Extensive use of fake accessories is common, and often the cars are not at all what they appear to be.
