by Ken Scott
These guidelines should be used to define the parameters of
sanctioned AADA Tournaments. Areas covered by these rules;
include vehicles acceptable and prohibited in the arena number
and quality of crewmen, acceptable types of arenas, and scoring
of the arenas. These regulations will be used for all events
related to the AADA World Championships, and the AADA World
Racing Championships; specifically all club and regional
championships, as well as all qualifying and final rounds of the
championships themselves.
These regulations are the official tournament policy of the
American Autoduel Association and Steve Jackson Games.
All AADAsanctioned competitions will be run using the rules
found in the Car Wars Compendium, Second Edition (including
the errata sheet), and any official rule changes or errata
published in ADQ or the AADA Newsletter.
Rules and equipment unique to Car Wars Tanks, Aeroduel
and similar Car Wars supplements, and not found in the Car
Wars Compendium are not suitable for the arena and will not
be used. Rules published to Autoduel Quarterly articles
are considered optional, unless specifically identified as
official rules. Optional rules will not be used in the arena.
AADAsanctioned events should be limited to those vehicle
types found in the chapters on "Cars ... .. Cycles and
Trikes" and "Racing Bodies" in the Car Wars
Compendium, Second Edition. For most duelling (as
opposed to racing) arenas body types should be limited to Cycles,
Trikes, and all body types found in the chapter on Cars. In
general, vehicles should be of a standard nonoversized, wheeled
vehicle type without the capability for extended selfpropelled
flight, or the ability to operate on water. Unless otherwise
specified vehicles shall be limited to electric power plants. If
the arena is to be open to gasolinepowered vehicles this must
be specified.
All vehicles shall have a range of at least 150 miles at
cruising speed, as per Vehicle Range in the Car Wars
Compendium, Second Edition.
The total amount of money that each competitor may spend
building and equipping his vehicle (division) should be specified
before the event, with enough lead time for each competitor to
build and outfit an acceptable vehicle. The acceptable Divisions,
and the amount of money that each competitor will he allowed to
spend in each, for AADAsanctioned events shall be: Division 5
($5,000), Division 10 ($10,000), Division 15 ($15,000), Division
20 ($20,000), Division 25 ($25,000), and Division 30 ($30,000).
It is suggested that, in a multipleround tournament setting,
earlier or preliminary rounds be of a lower division than the
later rounds. Each Competitor should be limited to one vehicle of
an acceptable type, according to the restrictions included here,
any specific equipment restrictions of the arena, and the
division restriction of the arena.
Additional prohibitions may be made for specific arenas at the
discretion of the tournament officials, provided that the
competitors are given adequate notice of the prohibitions. It is
suggested that Racing Events prohibit or severely limit the use
of dropped weapons of may type, as these tend to destroy the
expensive track surface. Also, any regular dueling event which
has critical check points that vehicles must cross, either
because of arena design, or to satisfy victory conditions, should
consider restricting the use or availability of dropped weapons.
Not every item that's useful on the road will be acceptable in
tournament competition. In the interest of fair play and
sportsmanship, the AADA has declared several devices illegal in
the arena.
The following devices and accessories from Car Wars
Compendium, Second Edition are prohibited from use in
official AADAsanctioned competition, or have their use
restricted in some way. Page numbers and reason for the
prohibition or restriction are cited for each item.
Armored Beer Refrigerator (ABR) (p. 85), Armored Minifridge
(AMF (p. 85), Cargo Safe (p. 85), MiniSafe (p. 86), Bulk Ammo
Boxes (p. 88) These items represent "damage
sinks." That is, their sole purpose in a duelling vehicle
would be to soak up damage that would otherwise destroy more
necessary systems. Any item which possesses DP and is not
directly useful in an arena combat (spare tires, searchlights in
an illuminated arena weapons or accessories carried as cargo,
etc) will be considered illegal in AADAsanctioned events.
Component Armor (CA) (p. 85) component armor may
used normally, as specified in CWC2, unless it is used as
a damage sink (see above). Armoring an empty cargo space, or a
cargo space containing another damage sink, is not allowable.
Automatic Targeting and Acquisition Device (ATAD) (p. 87),
Bollix Co. 87), Computer GunnerlAutopilot Software (p. 88),
Computer Gunner Co. 88), Computer Navigator (P. 88), Identify
Friend or Foe (IFF) (p. 89), Remote Control Guidance System (p.
91) The American Autoduel Association promotes and
glorifies the skill, emitting, daring said resourcefulness of its
drivers and gunners in the arena, not the skill of their team
programmers. Therefore, these items are prohibited from use in
AADAsanctioned competition.
Plastique (p. 47), Kamibombs (p. 89) These items are
prohibited from use in AADAsanctioned events because of the
potential for abuse.
Gas Tanks (p. 52) No more than one gas tank may be
installed in a gaspowered vehicle. Using more than one gas tank
would create a damage sink situation as described above.
Electricallypowered vehicles may not mount gas tanks, for the
same reason, A gas tank may, however, be component armored
normally.
Vehicle crews for AADAsanctioned events will be limited to a
maximum of two crew members per vehicle. No vehicle in a
sanctioned event may carry passengers. Therefore, vehicles in a
sanctioned event will be either driver only, or driver and
gunner. All equipment supplied to crewmen will count toward the
Division limit, and against the weight limit of the vehicle, as
per the alternate encumbrance rules in the Car Wars Compendium,
Second Edition.
The number of skill points available to each crewman, as per
"Continuing Characters, " Car Wars Compendium,
Second Edition, shall be specified before the event. It is
suggested that no crewman in any event be allowed more than 50
skill points, with no more than 30 skill points to be spent on
any one skill. Skill points for each crewman must be allotted and
recorded on the vehicle record sheet before the beginning of the
event. It is also suggested that Reflex Rolls be fixed at 4 for
each driver. This is to reduce the possibility of some drivers
being irreparably advantaged or disadvantaged in an event by a
single random die roll.
Arenas in sanctioned events will fall into one of two general
categories, Duelling or Racing. Duelling arenas are the most
common and can be further divided into two subdivisions, Survivor
and Points arenas.
Survivor arenas are those where the last operational vehicle wins. The physical layout of these arenas should be kept simple. Armadillo (if there are a large number of competitors), and Double Drum (or even half of the drum if there are a small number of competitors) are examples of arenas which are good for such events. In general, arenas for survivor events should be kept on the small side for the number of competitors involved, with few, if any, obstacles, to encourage participants to engage in combat and limit the ability of drivers to avoid combat and thereby survive through inaction.
Points arenas are those where points are scored by each vehicle for completing specific objectives (driving specific circuits, making jumps, shooting targets, crossing checkpoints, mobility and/or firepower killing opponents, etc.). These arenas may be larger, especially if there are checkpoints which drivers must cross to score points, as this will tend to draw vehicles together, and be more complex, since the complexity will provide the officials with more challenges to put the competitors through and award points for. Hammer Downs and New Boston are good arenas for points events. Duelling events should be limited to the standard body types, with racing body types being prohibited.
Racing Events can also be broken down into two general categories, Simple Races and Dueltracks. Simple races are somewhat equivalent to the survivor events, above, in that the first one to cross the finish line wins. Race tracks should, however, be complex, providing the competitors with driving challenges. Weapons should be prohibited in simple races.
Dueltracks are those races where, though the object of the race is still to cross the finish line first, there is also combat involved. Dueltracks should be simpler in layout, since the attrition due to weapon fire should make up for the attrition due to loss of control found in simple races. Dropped weapons should be heavily restricted in my dueltrack, and it is suggested that intentional tire shots be prohibited entirely. Body type may be limited to Racing Bodies only, or left open to all body types allowed in other AADAsanctioned events. All restrictions shall be announced to competitors before the beginning of the event, with sufficient lead time to allow competitors to design an appropriate, legal vehicle.
Any of the events above may be fought offroad. If an event is to be fought off road, this must he announced to competitors before the beginning of the event with sufficient lead time.
All restrictions on any event, above and beyond those required
by these guidelines, must be announced to competitors before the
beginning of die event. The type of event should be announced
(survivor, point, race or dueltrack) and which arena or track (if
a previously published arena is to be used).
Scoring, awarding points or determining kills, is necessarily
largely at the discretion of the reform. These regulations will
define how points should be awarded or kills determined to a
large degree, but situations will arise which must be adjudicated
by the referee.
In points arenas the specific tasks and the number of points
to be awarded for the completion of each task must be specified
and announced before the beginning of the arena, but may be
announced after vehicles have been designed and approved.
Awarding points for completion of these tasks should, in most
cases ' be self evident and not require adjudication by the
referee. Points gained through completion of these tasks should
not be great enough to discourage competitors from trying to gain
vehicular kills (i.e., vehicular kills should be worth enough
points to encourage combat).
Points should be awarded separately for mobility and firepower
kills. A vehicle is declared a mobility kill when it has lost the
ability to move or maneuver under its own power a vehicle on
its roof is a mobility kill. A vehicle on its roof with unfired
rocket boosters with sufficient thrust to slide it along the
arena floor is still a mobility kill, since that vehicle cannot
maneuver.
Firepower kills are more at the discretion of the referee. Any
vehicle which cannot significantly effect the outcome of an arena
with its weaponry, or a vehicle which has no weapons, shall be
declared a firepower kill. A mobilitykilled vehicle with its
weapons against a wall or other obstacle is a firepower kill,
even though its weapons may still be functional. A vehicle which
has been mobility killed, and has no direct fire weapons (ram
car, vehicle with dropped weapons only, etc.) will usually be a
firepower kill. An abandoned vehicle is both a mobility and
firepower kill.
There should always be a point penalty for having your own
vehicle killed, either mobility or firepower, and the penalty
should be great enough to discourage competitors from killing
their own vehicles to gain points.
Under no circumstances are points to be awarded specifically
for killing the crew of other vehicles. If a driver dies, and
thus becomes a mobility and firepower kill (assuming a
driveronly vehicle), those are the fortunes of an autoduellist.
However, no points above and beyond those given for the vehicular
kill will be awarded for casualties in my sanctioned event.
Surviving crew of a vehicle that has been firepower and
mobilitykilled are not to be fired upon, and shall take no
action against my vehicle still active in the arena. Once a crew
has abandoned the vehicle, that vehicle is considered killed, and
the crew may not remount their vehicle and resume combat,
even if the vehicle is still operational.
Points for kills scored after the vehicle has been eliminated
(for example, a mobility kill scored by a mine dropped by the
eliminated vehicle) should be awarded to that vehicle.
Awarding points for kills is entirely at the discretion of the
referee. Normally, it should be clear who the points should be
awarded to the car that shot the tire off, the car that laid
the mine, the car that rammed. In some cases, however, the
determination may be nuclear two vehicles fire simultaneously
at the same vehicle and that vehicle loses control and rolls. In
such cases awarding points is at the referee's discretion. In the
specific case above, points should be split between each
attacker.
The referee is the final and only arbiter of any dispute that
arises at a sanctioned event. Excessive arguing of any rules
point, especially after the referee has made his ruling,
is grounds for disqualification.
These regulations are intended to bring some parity to the AADA events held at cons and by clubs across the country. The use of these regulations will allow participants be able to know what to expect when they show up at a con or a regional championship, or the World Championships. These Rules and Regulations are official AADA policy unless altered or amended in Autoduel Quarterly or The AADA Newsletter.
