October 17, 2003: Failed the Reality Check . . .

Faithful fan Francis K. Lalumière sent us this true story:

A friend of mine got rammed in the side of his car by a deer in Wisconsin (and paid a hefty fee to get the car repaired). We're both big Car Wars fans and I thought you'd enjoy this snippet of conversation.

Must be a Car Wars deer . . . They all know that a T-bone is the best way to damage the other vehicle while sparing yours.

Well, let's look at it:

Deer weighs less than 2,000 pounds. That's a damage modifier of 1/3. (Car Wars Compendium, p. 13)

Sprinting deer travels at about 20 mph. (GURPS Basic Set, p. 142) That's 1d6 collision damage. (CWC, p. 4)

1d6 x 1/3 means the damage is 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, 4/3, 5/3, or 6/3 (0, 1, 1, 1, 2, or 2) points.

Now, one point of metal armor serves as three points of armor for purposes of collisions (CWC, p. 31), and one point of metal armor is destroyed for every three points of damage taken (round up) (ibid.).

Thus, the deer must have rolled a 5 or 6 for damage, as he would have required to do at least 2 to my car in order to inflict any damage.

Now, if I did take just that one point of metal armor damage, it should only cost $125 to repair. (CWC, pg. 55). Steve Jackson can kiss my ass on that one.

***

The only flaw in the logic is the assumption that this poor guy's car has one point of metal armor, and I'm not sure that's true of today's vehicles. And sure, the repair costs in the rules have no relation to the real world of 2003 -- none of the costs in the entire game do. But they are internally consistent and balanced, and that's good enough for us.

-- Scott Haring