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Tyre damage and speed

Creating tension and pressure in Car Wars adventures can often be very challenging. Each adventure tends to be a series of separate encounters, and even with a deadline looming, players can just say that they travel at 100 mph, or more, in order to cover the ground faster. There are few consequences of this tactic, except perhaps a police encounter, whereas in the real world, this can challenge the skill of the driver significantly.

These rules are intended to simulate the risks of travelling fast, and are therefore based on a minimum speed of 60 mph. Below these speeds, there is no danger to vehicles in the ordinary course of driving.

The following rules are designed to:
- ensure that players have to choose between avoiding damage and travelling fast
- reward those cars which have additional handling accessories

Start by calculating the tyre damage modifier according to the formula in the table below.

Tyre damage modifier

 

HC

Start with base HC of the vehicle (including the HC benefit of a spoiler or airdam)

 
+ driver skill Add the skill of the driver  
+accessory bonuses For each of the following that the vehicle is equipped with, add 1: Anti-lock brakes, heavy duty brakes, heavy duty shock absorbers
Add 1 of the vehicle has both a spoiler and an airdam
 

Example: Trip Hazard is a driver +1, and is driving a standard Galleon sedan. His TD modifier is 3 (base HC) + 1 (driver skill) to give a total of 4. Trip wins the lottery and upgrades to a top of the range Evader luxury. The TD modifier for his long trips on the motorway is now 4 (base HC with spoiler) +1 (driver skill) + 1 (HD shocks) + 1 (HD brakes) + 1 (spoiler/airdam combination) to give a total of 8.


After every 10 miles of travel, roll 2 dice for each vehicle. Subtract the tire damage modifier, and add 1 for every 5 mph of speed over 60 mph that the vehicle is travelling.

Then consult the table below to see the results:

  Modified roll Result  
  < 9 No problems. On an unmodified 2, the vehicle passes a wreck of the same body size which has 2 undamaged tyres, if the players which to salvage them.  
  10 Struck obstacle. Choose a tyre randomly and take 1 die of damage  
  11 A large pebble flies up from the road and hits the windscreen. Take 1 die of damage to front armour  
  12 Swerve hard to avoid pothole. All tyres take 2 points of damage  
  13 Sideswipe the central barrier in effort to dodge obstacle on the road. Take 1 point of damage to all tyres and 1d to side armour  
  14 Made a panic stop to avoid large pothole. Take 1 die damage to each tyre, lose 2 minutes  
  15 Struck a large obstacle. Take 1 die damage to each front tyre and to front armour  
  16 An unexploded mine detonates under your vehicle. Take 2d damage to underbody, and 1d to all tyres  
  17 Ran over a wrecked cycle. Take 2 dice damage to each front tyre and 2 dice damage to front armour. Lose 10 minutes  
  18 Vehicle skidded off road and struck a tree, taking full ram damage to front armour at speed the convoy was travelling. The group loses 15 minutes  
  19 Vehicle left road, rolled and burned. Occupants escaped but no contents were salvageable. The convoy loses 5 minutes if they stop to pick up the crew of the destroyed vehicle  
  20 Vehicle left road, rolled and burned. No survivors. The rest of the group loses no time – the destroyed vehicle is obviously a dead loss, so there is no need to stop  
     
  Example: Trip Hazard is hurrying home for dinner with his wife to celebrate their anniversary. He is driving his old Galleon sedan, with a TD of 4 and has 30 miles to travel. He decides to drive at 75 mph which will give him a speed modifier of 3. He rolls a 9, a 3 and a 12. His modified rolls are 8 (9-4+3), a 2 (3-4+3) and 11 (12-4+3). He suffers 1 die of damage to his front armour. If he had been travelling in his top-of-the-range Evader, his TD of 8 would have made him handle the speed with ease.
 
The following tables are for the referee, to make gaming easier.
         
Time taken to travel 10 miles
Speed
TD modifier
Time to travel
10 miles
60
0
10.0
65
1
9.2
70
2
8.6
75
3
8.0
80
4
7.5
85
5
7.1
90
6
6.7
95
7
6.3
100
8
6.0
105
9
5.7
110
10
5.5
115
11
5.2
120
12
5.0
Maximum safe speeds
TD modifier
Safe speed
1
Below 60
2
Below 60
3
60
4
65
5
70
6
75
7
80
8
85
9
90
10
95
   
 
Distance travelled
Speed
TD modifier
Distance travelled in 5 minutes
Distance travelled in 10 minutes
60
0
5.0
10.0
65
1
5.4
10.8
70
2
5.8
11.7
75
3
6.3
12.5
80
4
6.7
13.4
85
5
7.1
14.2
90
6
7.5
15.0
95
7
7.9
15.8
100
8
8.3
16.7
105
9
8.8
17.5
110
10
9.2 
18.3
115
11
9.6
19.2
120
12
10.0
20