Web Posted September 06, 2003
Updated September 06, 2003

Greetings sports fans! This last issue of 2052 is short but -- surprise -- is on schedule.
 

WADA Stuff

The 2052 WADA Car Wars League is coming to a close. It is now a tight race between Washington State's AAIE and California's SCAB. Remember, you have until January 15, 2003 to submit results of events for the tournament.

The 2053 WADA Car Wars League will launch on January 1st. The final version of the rules will be posted on SWAT HQ later this month.
 

Dueling Debate Troubles

After almost five years of use, Dueling Debate, SWAT's Car Wars message board, appears to be on its way to Highway One. Delphi Forums may be shutting down early next year. If you have any ideas for a new message board, please contact the editor.
 

21st Century Soldier

Popular Science Magazine has a book titled "21st Century Soldier" on newsstands now. It is a nice overview of new military technologies now available or soon to be available, including the U.S. Army's autodueling SmarTruck.
 

Got Krash?

Have you played Krash, the auto-combat collectible miniatures game by Cell Entertainment of Sweden? If so, drop the editor a note.
 

Dark Future

Are you a player of the out-of-print, auto-combat, miniatures game Dark Future by Games Workshop? Would you like to see resources for the game on the Internet? If so, contact the editor.
 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Watch out for those D3 and D4 hazards while dueling. Good luck avoiding getting into duels in the parking lots of malls while shopping.

Best wishes,

Michael P. Owen
 

Subject: Re: Gaming Disasters
Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2002 22:06:26 -0700
From: Iron58 <Iron58@counterbalance.org>
Reply-To: noreply@constantinople.net
Organization: Mesa State College
Newsgroups:  rec.games.board
 

On 6 Nov 2002 13:43:41 -0800, eddybee@yahoo.com (Eddy Bee) wrote:

The worst such disaster (so far) was during a game of Risk 2210 A.D., when a player knocked over a bottle of beer, dispersing its contents
across half the board.  Fortunately, some quick cleanup took care of the problem, and much to my amazement, the game is none the worse for
it.

But I'm sure this is pretty tame compared to some of the collective experiences out there. What was your big gaming disaster that actually happened while playing?

-- Eddy Bee
 

Greetings. There used to be an old SPI game about tactical modern (70s) armored combat, I don't recall the name now (Firefight?). It was very similar to the computer game Steel Panthers 3 only on paper.

In the rules there was a paragraph about modeling a tactical nuclear strike. Basically it said carefully raise the board to a height of 4 feet from the
table, then drop, then sprinkle liberally with lighter fluid (you can probably guess the rest of this story now) set on fire then jump up and down on top of the board until the fire is out. Any pieces remaining on the board in their original hexes which are still legible have survived the tactical nuclear strike and remain in play. Any portions of the map burned beyond recognition are considered to have been destroyed.

My friend Dave and I were joking about the rule, and laughing it over, when his little brother, you guessed it, walked up with a can of lighter fluid and a grill lighter. Laughing maniacally, he hosed down the game, us, and the carpet we were playing on. Dave jumped up and started yelling, I backed off, and when Dave stepped out of the room calling loudly for his mother, Brother Dearest set off the grill lighter (Poof!) then started jumping up and down on the flaming map laughing like a deranged madman.

Dave's mom meanwhile could be heard racing through the house to get to the basement (where we were). I watched in amazement at the lunacy of this giggling idiot and saw appreciatively that the cuffs of his pajama bottoms were smoldering and would soon burst into early 70's pre-fire retarding babywear fireballs.

As I was silently cheering on the flames licking at little brothers PJs, Dave's mom could be heard closing fast down the basement stairs, meanwhile little brother was laughing, pointing and squealing, "It works! It really works! Look, Dave! Ha-ha-ha! It really works!" (Insert maniacal laughter and idiotic giggling.)

At about this point, four things happened all at once, or rather in very close sequence:

1. The PJs burst into Ralph Nader inspiring fireballs, and little brother was instantly turned into a human torch.

2. Dave's Mom had crossed the basement and entered our little room of gaming heaven seeing above human torch let out a piercing scream.

3. Dave reentered the room behind mom just as little brother let out a wonderfully agonizing realization that he was now a human torch. Uh oh! (Text does not do the sound justice.)

4. I toss the mangy, old, rotting, moldering, mildew-saturated theater curtain, which served as our second hand couch cover in the Blessed Hall of Gaming Goodness, over the flaming human torch that was little brother, the game board, and the flaming carpet, smothering the flames and hopefully little brother, mere seconds after the conflagration had begun. No real permanent fire damage to much of anything. Unfortunately though, the carpet was a bit discolored, and we did get a new couch cover, and little brother was hardly scorched though his PJs would definitely need replacement . . . And I was hailed as the hero and savior.

Little did she know, if it hadn't been for Dave's Mom, I would have contentedly watched little brother's flaming fat melt into a pile of steaming goo that he so richly deserved.

As Mom pulled little brother out of the room, trying to simultaneously thank both God and me, and control the little monster, who was still giggling like a madman, barely breathing and trying to convince everyone that it was just a joke, poor Dave was too angry to do anything.  I inspected the scorched game, seeing that the lighter fluid had burned little but little brother's PJs, looked over the board to see what had remained in its original hex.

Dave finally came out of his red-eyed anger and slowly walked over to the game. I invited him to inspect the mess. One of my BMPs was still on it's original hex. We both knew this for certain as it had been a controversial unit requiring a rules lookup which had prompted us to remember the Tac Strike rule in the first place, everything else being scattered or overturned.

I stood up and picking up the old theater curtain, I said "I suppose if we could substitute tossing a theater curtain on the board from a distance of 6 feet for dropping the board from a height of 4 feet". I looked at Dave, and said, "Well, according to the rules, I win."

We both burst into a cathartic relief of strained laughter and contemplated on writing a letter to Jim Dunnigan at SPI to tell him that we had managed to actually use his rule, probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
 

HY-WIRE ACT
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/auto/article/0,12543,385005,00.html

Hy-Wire Act: First look at the guts of GM's fuel cell Autonomy car

Popular Science
Summer 2002
 

U.S. ARMY TESTS DEFENSE SYSTEM
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/11/05/missile.test/index.html

CNN
Tuesday, November 5, 2002
Posted: 7:22 PM EST (0022 GMT)

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, New Mexico (CNN) -- In what it called a historic event, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command
announced Tuesday that a laser had successfully destroyed an artillery projectile in flight.

"Over the desert of New Mexico . . . the Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser (MTHEL) tracked, locked and fired a burst of photons on an artillery projectile. Seconds later, at a point well short of its intended destination, the projectile was destroyed," command officials said in a written statement.

The exercise was one of a series of tests that will determine MTHEL's capabilities against a variety of targets, the statement said.

The MTHEL Program is a collaborative program developed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
 
 

ARMY USES LASER TO SHOOT DOWN ARTILLERY
Army uses laser to shoot down artillery
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/11/06/arms.laser.reut/index.html

Reuters News Service and CNN
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Posted: 11:12 AM EST (1612 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Army used a high-energy laser to shoot down an artillery shell in mid-flight on Tuesday in a defense
industry breakthrough, the Army and the manufacturer said.

The Army and TRW Inc., which developed the weapon, said in a joint statement that the laser tracked, locked onto and fired a burst of concentrated light energy photons at the speeding shell over the White Sands test range in New Mexico.

"Seconds later, at a point well short of its intended destination, the projectile was destroyed," the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command said.

The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) is being developed by TRW for the Army and the Israeli Defense Ministry. Lasers have been used in past tests at the range to shoot down slower Katyusha Rockets similar to those fired at Israel by militant guerrilla groups in neighboring Lebanon.

"This shootdown shifts the paradigm for defensive capabilities. We've shown that even an artillery projectile hurtling through the air at supersonic speed is no match for a laser," said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, head of the missile defense command.

"Tactical high energy lasers have the capacity to change the face of the battlefield," he added.
 

Burning up warheads in flight

The laser was fired from a static testbed in a carefully controlled test, but TRW officials said they looked forward to producing a truly mobile version as the program progressed.

Tuesday's test -- the first time a laser had shot down an artillery shell -- was part of a new series to determine MTHEL requirements and demonstrate the system's capabilities against a wide range of airborne targets.

In earlier tests in 2000 and 2001 the testbed focused on the threat of artillery rockets and shot down 25 Katyushas fired singly and in salvos.

The U.S. military has shot down dummy intercontinental missile warheads in tests both inside and outside the atmosphere using projectile weapons and is also examining the possible use of long-range lasers to burn up such warheads in flight.
 
 
 

TWO ENLISTED MEN ARRESTED AFTER DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Local Digest
The Seattle Times Web Archive
Tuesday, November 12, 2002

LAKEWOOD, Pierce County -- State Patrol troopers arrested two Fort Lewis enlisted men yesterday for allegedly shooting at other drivers on Interstate 5.

The two 21-year-old privates first class, one from Alabama and the other from South Carolina, were booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drive-by shooting, a felony. No one was injured, police said.

Witnesses told troopers that they saw a man hold a handgun out the window of a new Pontiac as it drove north on I-5, just south of Highway 512, about 2 a.m. The man fired several times, hitting two of three cars traveling as a group, the State Patrol said.
 
 

TWO FT. LEWIS SOLDIERS ARRESTED IN I-5 DRIVE-BY SHOOTING
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/95128_ftlewis11ww.shtml

KOMO TV Staff and News Services
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Monday, November 11, 2002

Two Fort Lewis soldiers have been arrested for investigation of a shooting early Monday on I-5 in Pierce County.

The State Patrol said witnesses and victims saw a suspect reach out of the window of a northbound car and fire multiple shots that hit two cars. No one was hurt.

A trooper in the area heard shots, responded to the scene and gathered information that the suspects were possible Fort Lewis soldiers.

The driver, 21-year-old Private Brian Broady from Clio, S.C., was arrested by military police.

Further investigation led State Patrol detectives to a south Tacoma location where 21-year-old Private Reginald A. Rutledge of Marion, Ala. was taken into custody.

They were booked in to the Pierce County Jail for investigation of felony drive-by shooting.

Officers recovered two weapons.
 

GAME DESIGNER SID SACKSON DIES AT 82

Subject: Sid Sackson
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 07:26:05 GMT
From: Bob Claster <claster@attbiNODAMNSPAM.com>
Organization: AT&T Broadband
Newsgroups: rec.games.board

The family of Sid Sackson has requested that I pass along the information that today, at the age of 82, after a long illness, Sid Sackson has passed away. For the past 25 years, Sid has insisted that he wanted no furneral and no eulogies. The family is reluctantly honoring his wishes.

Bob Claster
Proprietor and author of the Web site, "The Great Games of Sid Sackson"
http://www.webnoir.com/bob/sackson.htm
 

WRECKAGE

Yahoo! Financial News
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020926/260134_1.html

Press Release
Source: NCsoft

NCsoft Announces Publishing Deal with NetDevil
Thursday September 26, 10:11 am ET

Colorado-Based Game Development Studio to Create Car Combat Online
Game Under NCsoft Label

AUSTIN, Texas -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sept. 26, 2002--NCsoft(tm) Corporation, the world's largest online game company, announced plans today to publish an upcoming massively-multiplayer (MMP) game currently under development by NetDevil® studios.

Wreckage (working title) will introduce an entirely new style of play for the MMP genre -- post apocalyptic car combat in a future-Earth setting. Players will have the ability to arm and upgrade their own vehicles, group with friends and take on other players in a full-fledged auto war. Wreckage is scheduled for a 2004-2005 launch date.

The publishing deal is the latest in a series of announcements made this year by NCsoft and continues to establish the company as the worldwide publishing leader of online-only computer games. Previously announced were deals to publish City of Heroes(tm) from Cryptic Studios(tm) and Trade Wars(tm) (working title) from Realm Interactive(tm). Last month NCsoft launched service in Korea for Sony Online Entertainment's highly successful EverQuest®.

"Our company's goal is not only to launch quality products worldwide but to leverage our position to bridge cultural barriers and bring gamers together in a global community," said Taek Jin Kim, president and CEO of NCsoft Corp. "NetDevil's new game will bring a new level of excitement, action and community that we've not seen before in this space."

"We're extremely pleased to be partnering with NCsoft to publish our next online game," said Scott Brown, president of NetDevil. "There were several companies for us to choose from, but NCsoft clearly offered the best combination of experience and publishing to a worldwide market."

"The NetDevil team is developing a unique concept for MMP games," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft's North American subsidiary located in Austin, Texas. "An auto combat-styled game opens up an entirely new setting and style of play for online gamers. We're pleased to add it to our growing MMP game lineup."

About NCsoft

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft Corp. is the world's leading developer and publisher of online games. Established in 1997, NCsoft quickly turned its flagship product, Lineage(tm), into a blockbuster hit. The game currently commands a 42% market share and attracts the greatest number of concurrent users in the world. NCsoft has offices located in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei and operates its North American business out of Austin, Texas. NCsoft is a public company and its stock is traded on the KOSDAQ Korean stock exchange. In fiscal 2001, NCsoft posted revenues of 124,735,958,000 Korean won (approximately US$95 million). More information about NCsoft can be found at www.ncsoft.net.

About NetDevil

NetDevil was founded in 1997 under the inspiration of Jumpgate(tm), the world's first massively multiplayer space simulator universe. NetDevil is an independent game development company dedicated to the construction of massively multiplayer universes. NetDevil is committed to creating immersive, interactive virtual worlds in unique settings outside the typical fantasy genre. For more information, please visit http://www.netdevil.com.

NCsoft is a trademark of NCsoft Corp and Lineage is a trademark of NC Interactive. NetDevil and Jumpgate are either registered trademarks or trademarks of NetDevil Ltd. Cryptic Studios and City of Heroes are trademarks of Cryptic Studios Inc. Realm Interactive and Trade Wars are trademarks of Realm. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:

NCsoft Austin
David Swofford, 512/498-4002
dswofford@ncaustin.com

Source: NCsoft
 

NEW OMAHA VEHICULAR ASSOCIATION
http://www.novia.net/~desslok/nova.htm

Arena Watch: Sec Taylor Arena, Worlds of Off-Road Racing Racetrack
Supplements: NOVA Roleplaying System
 

ASSOCIATED AUTODUELISTS OF THE INLAND EMPIRE
From: Wesley Twitchell <splutch@mailandnews.com>
To: Michael P. Owen <owenmp@serv.net>
Subject: AAIE Reports
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 00:28:28 -0800

Michael, it looks like this report slipped in past your radar, so here it is again.
 

Greetings duel fans! Tonight's duel was a big one! We had a total of ten people playing, the most we've had all this year. We were playing at the Tri-Cities Hammer Downs, in Micro Machines scale, with no new variations this time. And the match begins!

Almost everyone ended up paired off with the person closest to them except me as I was stuck with both Steve and Howard. And with Steve driving a Jackhammer, I had reason to be scared.

As we all closed on each other, trading shots, three groups of us all collided around Phase 5. Bryan had his spinal-mounted RFTG opening up a nice hole on Edgar, right before they collided and Edgar confettied. Harry and Carol traded short before they collided, and the collision was more pronounced this time.  Carol confettied, but not before she took out Harry's entire front end. Steve and I got close up on each other before I swerved into his front end, taking it all out with my ramplate-equipped Rocket Prestidigitator.

As the next turn progressed, Howard sniped me with flamethrowers, setting me ablaze, and Lafe chased Tom along one of the upper jumps trading shots. Ken, after being on the far side of the arena from everybody, caught up and turned towards Bryan to attack. Bryan didn't like the sounds of this, so he turned towards the attack, and took Ken out with a double-tap of his RFTG. As Tom made the higher up jump, Lafe angled his jump to take him to the lower levels. Right as Bryan started coming up the other jump. They shot at each other, and Bryan tunneled through him . . . right before they collided in air. It was enough damage to confetti Lafe's car, and wipe out Bryan.

Back to the other side, the last couple vehicles were going at it. As I slowly burn up, I keep pecking at Howard's sides with my rockets.  Meanwhile, Tom races down the opposite ramp, sniping us, and taking out our top armors in the process. In addition to our top armor, Tom shot up Howard's engine. Actually, it turned out to be his tranny. Which then made Howard push his engine, and caused another tranny hit.

Howard slowly drove into the wall to stop his vehicle, waiting for Tom to circle around. During that, all my tires finally burnt off, making me a mobility kill, and right after that, I fired off my last rockets, rendering me a non-combatant.

As Tom made it off the upper level, Howard shot at him, and caught him on fire.  Tom retaliated by shooting a flame cloud streamer on top of Howard. He though nothing of it, with his fireproof armor, until we reminded him of his breached top armor. "Bleep." Howard roasted on the inside faster than Tom roasted on the outside, so that was a kill for Tom, and the end of the game.

AAIE October 15, 2002 Weekly Rumble
Tri-Cities Hammer Downs
Division 30
Duelmasters: Edgar T. Lincoln, and Tom Lentz
Players: 10
Special Rules: 1.5X scale

1. Bryan Rider (60, VK x 3)
2. Tom Lentz (29, VK x 1)
3. Harry Reed (18, VK x 1)
4. Wesley Twitchell (12, VK x 1)
5. Carol Daugherty (6, VK x 1)
6. Howard Lalicker (5)
7. Lafe Daugherty (4)
8. Steve Carder (2)
8. Ken Fourn (2)
8. Edgar Lincoln (2)

Next week's duel will be a Division 20 in the Islands. It will be in 3X scale, and we will be doing a 40 mph start. See you there!
 

Subject: AAIE Weekly Rumble: November 6, 2052
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2002 17:14:16 -0500
From: Wesley Twitchell <splutch@mailandnews.com>
To: AAIE Mailing List

Greetings duel fans! Tonight's duel was a short and sweet one. We had a Mini-Sherm duel in the Carousel. For the ones who don't know, our Mini-Sherms were compacts with two HMGs out the front and as much metal armor they could hold. There also was a point in the middle of the carousel worth an extra pestige, but no one hit it. Oh, and the usual penalty if you didn't vote, but we didn't have to hand that out to anyone tonight.

And on with the duel!

As all the cars begin racing in towards the arena or other vehicles, there was almost no firing until close to the end of the first turn. Bryan shot through Steve's side and took out his engine for a kill. And on the other side of the arena, I attempted much of the same on Tom, but didn't do enough damage. As we kept driving, I got pinned between Tom and the arena wall, with minimal damage.

Carol had come across from the other side of the arena, and shot up Tom's front, finishing off his engine. Not able to be taken out of the game so easily, Tom turned into Carol's front for a nice head-on collision that killed Tom, and made Carol's car a kill.

Back on the other side of the arena, Steve and Edgar clipped each other as Steve tried to hold control while driving towards an exit. Howard, having misjudged the speed of the carousel, didn't make it inside, so he spun around and went back towards Bryan, who was coming around the far corner. They traded shots, with minimal damage on Bryan, and Howard losing one of his guns and some of his engine before Bryan continued past.

After realizing I would have to drive all the way around the arena before I could get anybody, I went to make the trip shorter by doing a pair of
ninety-degree turns.  It didn't work at 80mph.  I ended up rolling my car into the side of the arena, splattering myself all over the place.

With Howard sitting right there trying to regain control, Edgar found him a good target coming out of the carousel.  Edgar blew through the hole in Howard's front end, taking out his engine for a kill.

With the only active person behind him, Bryan spun around to go back and meet Edgar. They met up with each other and traded shots before colliding. The resulting crash confettied Edgar's vehicle, while only crumpling the heck out of Bryan's.

AAIE November 6, 2052 Weekly Rumble
Spokane County Fairground Carousel
Division 10
Duelmasters: Edgar Lincoln and Tom Lentz
Players: 7
Special Rules: 3X scale

1. Bryan Rider (42, VK x 2
2. Carol Daugherty (20, VK x 1)
3. Edgar Lincoln (12, VK x 2)
4. Tom Lentz (4, VK x 1)
5. Steve Carder (2.5)
5. Howard Lalicker (2.5)
7. Wesley Twitchell (1)

Next week's duel will be a Division 30 duel in the Furnace. See you there!
 
 

From: Wesley Twitchell <splutch@mailandnews.com>
To: AAIE Mailing List
Subject: AAIE Weekly Rumbles, November Reports
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 00:21:33 -0800

Greetings Duel Fans!

The reports haven't been going out because I haven't had any internet access on my computer for a while, but now I've got it over at Howard's so here are the results. I apologize for the delay, and the lack of details in the reports. So, on we go.

AAIE November 12, 2052 Weekly Rumble
The Furnace
Division 30
Duelmasters: Edgar T. Lincoln and Tom Lentz
Players: 9
Special Rules: 3X scale

1. Bryan Rider (54, VK x 1)
2. Patrick Potter (26, VK x 1)
3. Edgar Lincoln (16)
4. Harry Reed (6)
5. Tom Lentz (5)
6. Brad Chapman (3, VK x 1)
6. Carol Daugherty (3, VK x 1)
6. Howard Lalicker (3, VK x 1)
9. Wesley Twitchell (1)
 

AAIE November 19, 2052 Weekly Rumble
The Furnace
Division 5
Duelmasters: Edgar T. Lincoln and Tom Lentz
Players: 7
Special Rules: 3X scale; alternate arena design

1. Edgar Lincoln (42, VK x 1)
2. Tom Lentz (20, VK x 1)
3. Carol Daugherty (12, VK x 1)
4. Bryan Rider (4)
5. Wesley Twitchell (3, VK x 1)
6. Patrick Potter (2)
7. Howard Lalicker (1)

I will have the InCon Bloodbath results up shortly, and the next event when I have them.