There are five significant skills for a character: Driver, Cyclist, Gunner, Trucker, and Mechanic. A character's ability in each skill is measured in "levels." If a character has no training in a certain skill, he does not have that skill at all. A character who has average ability in a skill is at "Level 0." A more experienced character will reach Level 1, 2, 3, and so on, by gaining "skill points." Ten skill points allow a character to increase one level in that skill.
When you first create a character, you start with 30 skill points which may be assigned to one, two, or three different skills, as you choose. Your character may start out with ten points (one level) in each of three skills - for instance, he could start as a Level 0 gunner, driver, and cyclist; this is a basic Car Wars character. He has average competence in those three skills, but does not know how to drive a truck, or fix anything.
A character could also take only two skills, (or even one) in order to get greater ability
in those skills. For instance, he could take two levels in Trucker and one in Gunner. This
would make him an average gunner, but a Level 1 truck driver - better than average. He would not know
how to drive a car, ride a cycle, or repair any sort of vehicle. An even more specialized
character might be one who put all 30 skill points in Gunner - making him a Level 2 gunner.
This fellow is a dead shot with any vehicle weapon, but not good for much else.
A newly-created character can never have more than 3 skills. If he wants to add any of the other
skills, he can try to earn them in the usual way. This can be risky; for instance, a character
without Gunner skill will probably get killed before he learns it in combat. The alternative
is to take six months off (game campaign time) and go through a training course! This will cost
$1000 for the skill of your choice. At the end of that time, the character will have the skill
at level 0. Further levels may only be attained through combat experience. Courses are
available for Driver, Gunner, Cyclist, and Trucker. A character who wants to learn Mechanic will
take longer, but can get paid for his time - see below under "Mechanic."
DRIVER: This is the ability to drive a standard car, pickup, etc. - anything with 3 or 6 wheels. A character without this skill may attempt to drive such a vehicle, but always subtracts 2 from his handling class. At Level 0 a character is an average driver. Each level of skill added after that (as per Car Wars) improves his reflex roll (but not necessarily his HC). This skill does not help a character ride a cycle or drive an oversized vehicle.
TRUCKER: This is the ability to drive an oversized vehicle: a bus, RV, or tractor-trailer rig. A non-Trucker subtracts 2 from handling class when trying to drive an oversized vehicle. Skill is gained in Trucker, as for Driver, but only experience gained behind the wheel of an oversized vehicle counts. Each level of Trucker skill past Level 0 improves a trucker's reflex roll by 1. This skill does not help drive smaller vehicles or ride cycles; some truckers really don't know how to drive a four-wheeler!
CYCLIST: Just like the above two skills, but dealing with cycles (two- and three- wheeled vehicles). Only experience gained while on a cycle counts for this skill. It does not help a character drive a car or oversized vehicles. Anyone without this skill will have a -3 on handling class of any cycle he tries to ride.
GUNNER: The ability to use vehicle mounted weapons, as per Car Wars. A character without this skill will be at -3 to hit with any vehicle mounted weapon. At Level 0, there are no bonuses or penalties. At Level 1 or above, a gunner gets a "to hit" bonus equal to his level number. Note that experience firing any vehicle mounted weapon, either while driving or while serving as gunner, contributes to Gunner skill.
MECHANIC: The ability to repair vehicles an components. The time it takes to repair something
(if it can be repaired at all) is a function of the character's Mechanic skill, as well as the
difficulty of the job and the tools that are available.
None M-0 M-1 M-2 M-3 Trivial 2 1 1 1 1 Easy 11 9 7 5 3 Medium X 11 9 7 5 Hard X 12 11 9 7 Very Hard X X 13 11 11
To perform a given repair job, a Mechanic must roll two dice and get the number shown on the chart (or higher). He may try once per hour (30 minutes for a Mech-3). An "X" means the job is impossible at his skill level. These numbers assume the Mechanic has a hand tool kit. If he is working with improvised tools (pocket knife, chewing gum, etc.), subtract 2 from all rolls. If he has a portable shop but no garage, add 2. A successful roll repairs one point of damage on the item in question (3 points if armor is being repaired), or installs/dismounts it.
Any number of mechanics can work on the same vehicle, but no more than three can work on the same item at once. Each one rolls separately for success.
Repair is the process of fixing a damaged part. Each time the appropriate roll is made from the table above, one DP is repaired (or three points of armor restored). If a component is totally destroyed (no damage points left) it cannot be repaired - only jury-rigged (below).
Jury-rigging is a temporary repair job. By making his roll, a mechanic can perform a "jury-rig" on some kinds of totally wrecked vehicle components. This gives the jury-rigged component one DP, putting it temporarily back into service. It can never be properly repaired and if it is damaged again it cannot be jury-rigged a second time. A referee, at his discretion, may declare any item so badly smashed that it cannot be jury-rigged - e.g., anything on a steamrollered cycle.
Salvage is the removal of a part from a wreck. A mechanic needs to make the appropriate repair roll once to salvage any given part.
Install is the opposite of salvage - putting a new part in to replace a destroyed one. The old part must first be "salvaged" (that is, removed), even if it was totally destroyed. The roll to install any part is the same as the roll to repair it - see chart, above. When the roll is successfully made once, the part is installed.
If a character wants to learn this skill (or improve it if he started with it) the only way is to spend game time as a full-time mechanic at a duel arena, truck stop, or garage. Since this is not especially exciting, most high-level mechanics will be the referee's characters, or player-characters that started by taking Mechanic at Level 2 or 3. If a character decides to drop out of duelling to become a mechanic, it takes one year (during which he also earns $6,000 above living expenses) to get to Level 0. It takes two more years (clearing $8,000 per year) to get to Level 1, three more years (clearing $10,000 per year) to Level 2, and five more years (clearing $15,000 per year) to get to Level 3. A Level 3 mechanic has a fairly safe life and earns $20,000 per year. Other skills can reach any level, but Mechanics do not progress past Level 3.