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CAR WARS MAILING LIST VERSION : 1.3             1 - DEC - 1996.
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        Published/Typed by James Barton.

Disclaimer:
        -"Car Wars", "Autoduel Quarterly" (ADQ) and "Americain Autoduel
Association" (AADA) are all registered trade marks of Steve Jackson Games.
        -"Autoduel" is a registered trademark of Victor Maxx P/L.
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        Again not much in the way of updates, although I have been told by
many that they are coming, due to the holidays and end of many duelling
seasons.  However, the Mailing list has decided to bring you something
special, a look at duelling in Mt Isa, Australia.  Here the duels are hard
fast and sandy.  That's right they duel on pure, soft sand, we avoid in
normally, but they look for and love it.  HVD is looking at doing a full
report, on this most interesting arena, and this is a sneak preview.

        I feel it is about time to introduce, exactly who I am, who this
person who writes all this stuff is.  Is he smart, a doctor, a dentist,
shepherd, writer (unlikely) or a small factory worker in a line of people
producing small nuclear warheads.  In truth I am none of these,
although the last sounds interesting.  I am in fact a student, on break for
4 months, after finishing final year school.  My final exam was on the 14-NOV
and I don't start till FEB/MAR, I'm 18 years old really happy the Grand Prix
is in Melbourne - Suck Adelaide - and watch just about any sport.  Other than
CW I don't do that much useful, I'm a tragic fan of the Simpsons, about to
start Uni (Physics), I prefer my music heavy - Offspring in the background -
and I loath techno/dance.  Je parle un peu de francais, mais mon prof. de
francais a tojours dit que mon grammaire est terrible - elle a raison, non?
I don't achieve anything useful, and don't intend to (i.e. unemployed and not
looking).  I live with my parents, dolp, have no car, and a bare room except
for the stereo, crud (Nelson - 23 short films about Springfield).  I know
more simpson's quotes and information than anything else, that explain why I
fail French.  I am not a member of any CW organisations in AUS, guess why,
there aren't any.  However despite all these things against me, I have fun.

        I'm pretty sure by now most of you are on the next paragraph,
preferring to skip all this crap, (I probably would), but I'm going to
continue.  I like to think I'm humorous, need to work on my spelling and
enjoy writing - At least informal writing (tell me if any of this sounds
slightly realistic.).  I live in Melbourne, which you have probably all
heard of.  Melbourne is becoming the sports capitol of  Australia, as it
takes over all the major sporting events (I love this city).  We currently
have the Grand Prix (F1 and 500cc), the Melbourne Cup, AFL grand final, the
MCG and anything else you can think of.  I recommend a visit, and if you come
down to the great southern land, pop in for a visit.  Now that I've finished
crapping on, we can get to the interesting bits - but I haven't finished.

        Melbourne is the 2nd largest city in Australia ('bout 3 mil.).
However in terms of area we are one of the largest cities in the world, built
around Port Philip Bay, Melbourne is 80 X 80 km, with about 1/2 of it being
the bay.  An idea of scale, I live 10 km from school, fairly close, and about
30 km from some of my friends, a bit far.  But we all live to the East of
Melbourne.  That's right this places holds only 3 mil.  We have the largest
sporting ground in the southern Hemisphere - the MCG, seats about 110
thousand.  We have Jeff - our local government ruler and the guy who likes to
get sporting events here.  Hopefully the AADA championships will be here 1
day :-).  Enough!!!, here it is the Sand Duelling Special:

        I hope you read at least 1 of the above paragraphs, you probably
didn't, but I just thought it had to be said, the identity behind the
keyboard.

        The "Official" homepage for this publication
<A HREF="http://www.mpx.com.au/~dgbarton/james/NL.html">

        All these links can be found at
<A HREF="http://www.mpx.com.au/~dgbarton/james/links.html">

        Any contributions, news or questions can be sent to.
< A HREF="mailto:dbarton@medeserv.com.au">

                ***     ***     NEW ADDRESS     ***     ***
        -Permanent, forever, new, improved, functional, it works!!!!!

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NEWS:

VIPER:
        This is a series, which basically has a duelling beast, based about
10-20 years in the future.  The car is great, and has some ideas which could
be CW appropriate.  Unfortunately it only made it out her (in AUS) as the
movie pilot, and no series was ever suggested or advertised.  However it
looks like it could be worth a look, if only to see that car.  Thanks to
Michael P. Owen for the info (and sorry for not including it in the last
issue, I had it marked down, but I then missed it, makes you wonder what
the cause of my email problems is :-).)

Mailing List:
        The width of this is subject to change, I was contacted by a reader
to request that this publication be narrowed, if anyone has any problems
with this, or any comments to make, please send them in.  If feelings are
strong enough, I may produce 2 copies, one wide and one narrow.  However 1 is
definitely preferable.  The next issue will be narrower, about 5 columns, as
will all issues after that.

Email:
        As many of you may have noticed I have been having email problems.  I
have decided to reject microplex (mpx) as my primary mail server and am going
to use medeserv, the mail address to respond to has thus changed.
"dbarton@medeserv.com.au"  Notice that both the server name AND user name
have changed.  From now on this is the address to respond to, the other will
only be irregularly checked and probably won't work.  All this information
was sent in an update on the 18-NOV, however I sent this from mpx (clever
:-)), and I have no idea if it got through.  All links on every page have
been updated, if any haven't, can you send me a note.  A word of advice, I
recommend never changing your address, it is very, very annoying and time
consuming.  A bit in mpx's defence, they have up until now never given us
major problems, and this is not meant as any reflection on the service they
provide , rather the problems are a results of mitigating, and I presume,
isolated circumstances.  Which are easily avoided, and thus I have not spent
time trying to isolate/fix the problem.  Just use the above address (I now
start to repeat myself), a couple of test messages would be nice :-), just
to getmy confidence up in regards to email.  Please note that both the server
name as well as the username have changed (the g is missing from dgbarton),
and medeserv replaces mpx.  Please double check the email you use, with the
one included in this newsletter, the newsletter is correct, any other
addresses are incorrect.

CONVENTIONS:
        Taking a break till the new year.

DESIGNING:
        I have almost finished building a design programme for MS-Access (95)
, it should work under the last version, but I haven't checked.  This does
all calculations for you, all you do is select the accessories, weapons and
it looks up the spaces, weight and calculates everything.  At the moment
only cars are catered for, although Cycles and trikes will soon be added.  It
is also restricted, in that you can only have 1 type of tyre and similair,
features, some things are also a little hard to figure out, i.e. Laser
Guidance.  However I reckon it's pretty good, and you can modify it easily,
(yes I'll let you), accessories, bodies, weapons can all be added.  The file
is 750 KB big, but will undergo some further additions/modifications.  If
anyone wants to look, just mail me and I'll send it down as an attatchment.
 

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ADQ:
        SJ Games have updated their pages, some new issues are available, but
are hard to find, i.e. they aren't shown on the directory list, included in
this are issue 1/1, 8/3 (my contribution) and 8/4.  1/1 and 8/3 are
complete, but 8/4 is about 1/4 done.  To access these follow the link in the
links page (the one at SJ-games doesn't work) and then type 8/3/, etc.  This
will take you to the appropriate pages.  The graphics on other issues are
also being updated.  Let's see some more ADQs sent in to them, to get the
whole series, at the moment less than 10 are being / have been done.  1/4
of the total.
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AADA CHAPTERS:

BAD Ass:                                                        OLD
        Have finished their corporate season, and are updating their page,
soon.

AVRO:                                                           OLD
        Their promised update, which should be really good has not yet
arrived, although I'm sure we all live in hope.

NOVA:                                                           OLD
        Have updated their page, a new Nightmessenger has also been added,
as well as a couple of minbus designs.          Last Mod: NOV-23
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OTHER CW PAGES:

Autoduel:                                                       DEAD
        This page is officially (or my officially) dead.

HVD:                                                            OLD
        This is now having old issues archived, the archive, only contains
issue #1, however this issue is still available as the HVD home.  This is
due to the setting up and testing of this page.  The next HVD will be out
DEC-20.

Mailing List:                                                   OLD
        Includes copies of all letters sent to the group (as a result of the
email problem).  Updated to include this and all other newsletters.

Corporate Car Wars:                                             ***
        This page has added the Arena from their last duel, and had their
rating upgraded to 3 stars.                     Last Mod: NOV-18

JAVA Design Program:                                            OLD
        Has had some new designs added.         Last Mod: NOV-22
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        "As Promised the Newsletter has made the trip down to sunny sandy Mt.
Isa in Australia to look at the sport of sand duelling, here now we join our
hosts Snake Pete and Rattler Ray, from this sunny mining city."

        -"Hi, it's Snake Pete and Rattler Ray here, coming to you from the
Mt. Isa duelling ring, in Queensland, Australia.  The Mt. Isa duelling
ring is just outside Mt. Isa, a mining town in northern Australia.  And
yes, we duel on sand."
        -"I remember a story from a couple of years back, when a couple of
city lads from America came down with their flash new duelling machines,
designed for street duelling.  They came down, really smooth paint jobs
and all the expensive gear, they drove out into the Arena, did a couple of
laps, then took on the local heroes.  Unfortunately they didn't have any
modifications, and just as they slowed down to round a corner, the first
got bogged, not experienced he accelerated harder, sinking 30 cm into the
sand, in the mean time his mate had tried a fancy manoeuvre and had failed,
sliding to a stop in the far corner of the arena, when he tried to start up
he blew sand into the air and sunk slowly into the sand.  For those of you
who think that sand duelling is just like duelling Off-Road, I can tell
you it's very different.  Just as these two rich boys proved.  Ray do you
remember those two rich kids?"
        -"Yeah sure I remember those two rich, arrogant Yanks.  God they were
painful, they thought they were so hot, but it was very satisfying when they
parked it in the sand."
        -"Is there anything else we should tell the folks back in America?"
        -"What about the first time tracks were used?"
        -"Yeah, I remember the tracks, it was an old modified army vehicle,
it just drove round and round, ramming, until it stopped the other vehicle,
he panicked and accelerated to fast, bogging the car, while the track just
drove around soaking in the atmosphere."
        -"That's what the crowd love, someone parking it in the sand.  That's
why we have the drag races, which test the acceleration and starting skills
of the drivers."
        -"Remember that time someone laid a whole heap of mines out, yeah we
still haven't found all them, and every once in a while a ped cops it.  It
takes a lot of mines to get through a track, but not many to get through a
ped."
        -"No you are right about that, but my favourite thing is the sand,
nothing gets the crowd involved, as they peer through to see a vehicle cop
it from behind, from a vehicle he and the crowd can't see."
        -"What do you think about the Infrared gear some are using?"
        -"Pete, you know I can't stand those things, take the point out of
duelling, why be here live in the crowd, if you're going to watch it
through goggles.  I say live with the sand."
        -"Calm down Ray, try to relax, the Yanks don't want to hear you
moan."
        -"I'm sorry, I just thought it had to be said that's all...."
 

DESERT DUELLING:

        These rules only apply to sand, not other Off-Road areas.  Sand
differs from Off-Road in that sand is just sand, no bushes, grasses, etc.
It is similair to a sand pit, dunes, etc.  Rocks, cacti, etc are around,
however the main property is that of deep sand, about a foot, which cars
can sink into.  Similair to the gravel traps they use in racing.
        This stuff does exist, beaches, etc, it's just not normally driven
on.  Wet sand does not behave at all like this, it is just like normal
Off-Road.  This is because the sand sticks together, cars only sink a couple
of cm (about 1") down, thus it isn't really a problem.
 

MANOEUVERING ASPECTS:

        -Only manoeuvres less than D4 can be attempted, due to the resistance
of sand to slides.
        -All unmodified vehicles have their top speed halved, acceleration
reduced to 2.5, and HC reduced by 3
        -Cars with racing slicks can not manoeuvre or accelerate.  They just
run on, useful for gravel traps in arenas.
        -Getting Bogged:
                -Any car without special tyres or tracks is likely to become
bogged when stopped, roll 2 die, above 6 is bogged.
                -Any car without special tyres or tracks has the possibility
of being bogged when moving less that 20 mph, above 7 on 2 die is bogged.
                -Minus 3 from the roll if sand tyres are used.
                -Vehicles with tracks cannot be bogged.
                -Any vehicle accelerating has a +1 penalty on the die roll,
because it is easier to get the wheels spinning.
                -Driver bonuses and reflexes also apply to this roll. i.e.
driver +1, has a +1 bonus on his/her bogged rolls.
        -Any car that has been bogged, cannot be removed, without the help
of another vehicle.
        -Pedestrians have movement reduced by 2.5 mph.
        -ABS advantages are lost.
        -Radial tyre bonuses are lost.
        -HD shock bonuses are doubled, D2, D1 becomes 0.
        -Racing slick bonuses are lost.
        -Racing bodies cannot go "sand", they are too low, except for the
sprint body, which can behave as a normal vehicle.
        -All vehicles moving faster than 20 mph leave a sand trail.
This is the same as a smokescreen, and lasts for 4 turns behind the
vehicle.
        -Cars decelerate 15 mph/turn naturally.
        -Safe deceleration is reduced by 5 mph.  This is due to the fact
that rapid deceleration causes the tyres to bite into the sand, and the
vehicle is likely to be flipped.
        -All crash table #1 rolls are increased by 2, and crash table #2
rolls reduced by 2.  This reflects the likelihood of flipping, but the lack
of sliding and swerving allowed by sand.
        -Any damage taken from collisions with floor (i.e.. rolls/flips) is
reduced to 1/3 of normal value.  Sand is nice and soft.
        -All vehicles leave tracks.  These can be dangerous, similair to
waves in the water.  Subcompacts and Compacts receive D1, going over tracks
from any vehicle larger than 6,000 lb.  All cars receive D1 going over tracks
from oversized vehicles, and oversized vehicles don't bother.  (This rule
can be a little complex, so it may want to be left out or drawn on the maps).
        -Hovercraft have none of the above problems, and behave normally,
fans have a chance of failing, 2 die, more than 6 fan doesn't work, check for
every fan (lift and manoeuvre).
        -Gas engines also have a chance of failing 8 or higher on 2 die.
 

COMBAT ASPECTS:

        -Oil is not at all effective.
        -Dropped ice becomes one large bit of debris.
        -Spikes do not work, except for explosive spikes, which only do
explosive damage.
        -Flaming oil jets behave normally, except they have 1/2 burning time
, and no oil slick effects.
        -Weapon ports are likely to become blocked, roll 2 die, more than
5 the weapon is blocked for the duration of the combat, unless modified.
        -Mines work normally.
        -The ground cannot be targeted to use the burst effect against
pedestrians, the sand absorbs the impact.
        -All projectile weapons act normally.
        -Grenades on sand have 1/2 burst radius.
        -Pedestrians can gain cover, small mounds, tracks, etc. -2 to be hit,
must lay down and crawl to move (movement 2.5, -1 to hit,  move: 5, 0 to hit)
.  All a pedestrian must do is spend time getting down to receive the bonus,
it takes 1 phase to get up/down.  This is why crawling is an option, as the
get up/down phase is not necessary.  Two speeds are possible to crawl at,
2.5 is laid down, while 5 is on hands and knees.
 

ACCELERATION:

        Modifications                   Max Acc:
        -Unmodified Vehicle             2.5
        -Off-Road Tyres                 5
        -Sand Tyres                     7.5
        -Sand Suspension                7.5
        -Sand Suspension and Tyres      10

        -Vehicles can attempt quicker acceleration (by 2.5), but their chance
of becoming bogged is dramatically increased, +2 to the roll penalty.  All
vehicles must remain below their calculated acceleration though.  This is not
possible for caterpillar tracks.
 

HANDLING CLASS:
   -modifiers to original HC.
        -Unmodified Vehicle:            -3
        -Off-Road Suspension            -1
        -Sand Suspension                +0
 

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:

Caterpillar Tracks:     $1,000++          300 wt.       2 Spc.
        Oversized       $5,000++        1,000 wt.       4 Spc.
        -These replace the rear wheels on any vehicle.  It replaces the
back 4 wheels, thus a 6-wheel chassis is needed to hold a pair of tracks.
They increase maximum acceleration to that of the vehicle.  Top Speed is
reduced, * by 2/3, this is because of the gearing of the tracks.  The
hardest manoeuvres possible are D3, and maximum acceleration is 10, with
sand suspension, 7.5  w/out.  They have 30 DP each.  Oversized tracks are
available, more expensive and large, but have 40 DP.  (This is the only
way oversized vehicles can travel on sand, without tracks, all oversized
vehicles are instantly bogged decelerating by 20 mph/turn.)  Maximum load
is also increased (due to increased support) by 20%, in addition to chassis
modifications.  Cost is 1,000 + 1/2 body cost (with chassis), 5000 + 1/4 for
oversized vehicles.  Note tyres need not be bought for the rear wheels.
When the tracks have been destroyed (i.e. 30 pts.) only the tread has been
broken, another 30 DP must be done to destroy the wheels.  Movement is still
possible without the tread, acc: 2.5, top speed: 1/2 (of that with tracks)
, HC: -2 from original.  All sand benefits are lost however.  Once the
wheels have been destroyed, the normal rules for wheel loss are used.

Caterpillar Guards:       $40              10 wt.       0 Spc.
        -Protect the tracks from weapon fire (not mines), on a 1-4 on 1
die.  Maximum 10 points on each track.

Mud Flaps:               $100              10 wt.       0 Spc.
        -Reduce the smokescreen effect of driving "sand", only 2 seconds
behind the vehicle behaves as a smokescreen.  Cost/wt per pair.

Sand Proofing:            $50               2 wt.       0 Spc.
        -This is the protection of weapon ports and the weapon workings
from the sand.  The weapon is sealed away, all air to it is filtered, and
the barrels are specially modified to not allow sand in.  Only weapons with
this modification are protected.  Other devices can also be protected, gas
engines and fans for hovercrafts, 2* cost and weight.

Sand Skis:               $500              50 wt.       0 Spc.
        Heavy Skis      $1000              80 wt.       0 Spc.
        -These are used instead of front wheels, they improve HC by 1,
because of the special grooves, and increase the possible manoeuvre value by
1, i.e. 5 for normal vehicles.  They have 10 DP, heavy skis have 15 DP.

Sand Suspension:        3* body             0 wt.       0 Spc
        -This type of suspension is designed for sand areas, this is
different to Off-Road suspension, more bouncy, and has a longer track.
Reduces HC penalty for sand conditions to 0.  It has a base HC of 2. This can
not be combined with HD shocks.

Sand Tyres:             3* cost             5 wt.       0 Spc.
        -These are special tyres that have treads that dig through sand,
reduces HC penalty by 1, and increases the maximum acceleration by 2.5.

Ski Guards:               $10               5 wt.       0 Spc.
        -These protect the skis, being hit on a 1-4 on d6.  Maximum 10
points.
 

SPECIAL CONTESTS:
Arena Notes:
        -The arena is swept down after all duels to get rid of any tracks
and dropped weapons, this has created a couple of interesting events for the
crowd between duels, when the clean up crews don't find the mines, or
forget about them.
        -Cranes are all around the arenas to pickup bogged vehicles, this
incurs a fine of $1,000.

Sand Writing:
        -Here the duellists attempt to write as much as possible, without
loosing control.  They have 4 turns to write as much as possible, before
their cloud starts to die.

Sand Dragging:
        -Here the two duellists use vehicles that are not modified, and
attempt to drive the 50", without getting bogged in the quickest time.

Sand Duels:
        -Duels are still held, but 1 special rule applies, any vehicle that
becomes bogged automatically looses, and must forfeit the duel.
 

GOOD BYE NOW:
        -"Well we get to finish this off now Pete."
        -"Yeah I know Ray."
        -"I have no idea what we are going to say though."
        -"Neither do I."
        -"Got it, well it's goodbye now, and we hope this sparks your
interest, in this one of the most challenging forms of duelling..."
        -"What about ice duelling?"
        -"Shut up Pete!  Come down here soon, enjoy the weather, beaches and
most importantly sand."
        -"But Ray, we are over 1,000 km from the beach."
        -"Pete shut up!"
        -"But this place is terrible, it's to hot, to sandy and to dry, why
visit here?, uh Ray put that away, this is the commentary area, you know
we aren't allowed weapons here.  Ray, hello Ray!  No Ray don't shoot, don't
Ray, you know you'll be sorry."
        -"Well goodbye everybody and anyone who come down here, we are now
interviewing for a commentator, experience desired, particularly in duelling,
although an enthusiastic young commentator, who knows when to shut up, will
still be considered, any applicants apply to ...."

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        I hoped you enjoyed the sand duelling section, if anyone has comments
or suggestions, the idea will be expanded in an upcoming HVD.  Good luck,
dangerous duelling, and keep on the hard stuff.  Please can everybody send
me a test message, I have had problems with my own address, as well as 1 or
2 of your addresses, inparticular European subscribers.  Someone may also
want to reorganise or expand these rules, please do and send them in
(expanded rules will be included in HVD).  If anyone finds any parts of this
confusing, just send me a message and I'll clarify them - sorry if it is.
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