Web Posted December 31, 2004
Updated December 31, 2004

Greetings DeathTrackers and Death Racers. I hope you will have a prosperous New Year in autodueling, academics, careers, families and friends. You can expect 2005 to be a very exciting year for Car Wars fans. The patience of veteran autoduelists will be rewarded with several very special items coming out of SWAT HQ next year. It is going to be an explosive year for auto-combat, sports fans. Stay tuned.

The members of SWAT send their thoughts and prayers to the victims of last week's tsunami.

Drive Offensively and Safely,

-- Michael P. Owen
 

SCI FI WEAPONS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/armyweapons/a/arscifiweapons.htm

Army News Service and About.com
By Spc. Bill Putnam
Oct., 20 2003

Photograph: An engineer from the Army’s Tank and Automotive Command shows off the laser weapon mock-up at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6.

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 9, 2003) -- The technology behind space ship lasers and force fields is a lot closer to reality than many think.

Although those lasers and force fields won't be fielded for a few more years, Gus Khalil, an engineer at the Army's Tank and Automotive Command in Dearborn, Mich., said the Army has identified what they want for the Army's Future Combat System.

"There's a lot more demands for the FCS vehicle than there are for the legacy force today," he said. "Anything we do today that gives the soldiers less capability than he has is unacceptable."

That technology is being developed for the Army's Future Combat System, the family of 16 manned, unmanned, ground and aerial vehicles the Army wants fielded by 2010.

The manned ground vehicles have to weigh less than 20 tonnes.

They also have to be as fast, as mobile and as lethal as an M-1A2 Abrams and M2 Bradley fighting vehicle.

Doing all that will be like making a Toyota truck as durable as an 18-wheel semi-truck, one TARDECE engineer quipped at a recent FCS conference in Dearborn, Mich.

But it is doable Khalil said. To demonstrate that, Khalil had a mock-up of the laser gun system at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6-8.

The gun program falls under the Combat Hybrid Power System. Initiated by DARPA six years ago and handed over to TARDEC two years ago, the program is developing the FCS' "pulsed power" weapons.

Since the system is just being developed, the weapons could be Electro-thermal Chemical guns or even a laser gun capable of firing artillery rounds or destroying tanks, he said.

The mock up showed how TARDEC wants the system to work. On one end was a pack of three lithium-ion battery modules. When it was "fired" it went through a converter that increased the charge from 100 volts to 1,000 volts.

From there it goes to the pulse-forming network, a nest of capacitors and inductors, where the now 1,000 volts will be turned into a "pulse discharge" that will last less than one-millionth of a second, he said.

From there the pulse of electricity goes through an out-put switch that will fire the pulse to its intended target, Khalil said.

The pulse was demonstrated through a bank of four strobe lights. If someone wasn't careful the lights could burn holes in their retinas, he said.

Khalil said tests have shown that 600-volts to 10,000-volts weapons are possible. And that's what they're forecasting to be in the FCS, Khalil said.

The modules' life span depends on how they're used, he said. If they're used just for mobility they can potentially last years, about 15, he said. If they use chemical or laser guns, they won't last long, he said.

"I don't know the exact number because we have not done that yet," Khalil said of how many times the batteries will fire the weapons.

He wants the batteries to last 50 rounds or "firings" but the modules will last only 20 rounds right now, he said.

The FCS is projected to have anywhere from 20-50 of those battery modules and since battery technology is getting smaller, that requirement will be met, Khalil said.

The pulse gun will also have the ability to fire something like today's sabot anti-tank round. But the FCS pulse weapon will give it more penetration capability than it already has, Khalil said.

To the soldier on the battlefield, it will look similar to a sabot round -- a flash of light -- and the result might be the same -- a destroyed tank or armored vehicle, he said.

But Khalil's team isn't stopping there. His team is also developing electro-magnetic armor capable of stopping not only other pulsed weapons but conventional weapons.

The electro-magnetic armor will also be run from the same power source that will power the weapons system and the engine.

If the power system that powers the pulse gun that Khalil is designing fires in milli-seconds, that same source will power the electric armor in micro-seconds, he said. In other words, it's much faster and uses a lot more juice, he explained.

The biggest challenge for his team is to run the gun and armor off the same batteries that will run the engine, Khalil said.
 

NEW CAR WARS RULES AND STATISTICS

Forum: Autoduelist's Haven <http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/carwars2>
From: Leoff
Date: Sat Nov 20, 2004  3:25 am
Subject: "New" Car Wars Rules and stats.

So recently some friends and I have become interested in playing Car Wars again, pulling out the old Second Edition rules and having fun blasting each other into oblivion.

But as we played, we started noticing some strangeness to the game. A certain unbelievability to the Car Wars universe. It's one thing to imagine a post-apocalyptic world with cars tearing down the highway, blasting each other with machine gun fire and dusting them with smoke screens, but for us it got a little bit yoo out there to see StealthKoted, Autopiloted Hovercraft mounting Pulse Twin Lasers and Mine Flingers.

The game became too fanciful for us. We wanted our original car battles back, with Killer Carts and Joseph Specials sniping away at each other's
armor.

Ignoring the mockery that is the newest version of the Car Wars game, some very knowledgable friends and I came up with a series of newer guidelines that both expand and better define the Car Wars universe.

No longer are you limited to the eight classic body styles (I don't count the Camper, which was always a bit odd in the first place). How about 26
separate body styles! Hatchbacks, Minivans, SUVs, and Heavy-Duty Trucks are now available, as well as a classification of "sports" cars.

And then there's weapons. What the hell is a Blast Cannon? And we know it's just a game, a fantasy game, but do people really think that drivers are gonna have access to $8,000 lasers to mount on a car?!? Nope, most of the weapons are totally redone using actual military specifications: cannons that range from 20mm to 155mm, 20mm Autocannons, Heavy Machine Guns, and Smoke Generators!

Okay, we think we've changed the game for the better. Making things just a bit more realistic yet still making things playable and fun, all while keeping the general "feel" for Car Wars, the game we know and love. Some things have been borrowed or adjusted from Autoduel Quarterly, others are just reasonable "fill in the gaps" items that should have been there before.

I'm putting the finishing touches on a few things, but will have a Word file available to download soon. What I'm wondering is if anyone else might be interested in seeing what we think is a pretty damn fun version of the game?

Input, please?
 

E-BOOKMALL: ALONG THE SCENIC ROUTE
http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/83736-ebook.htm

Along the Scenic Route -- Mobipocket eBooks
By: Harlan Ellison

Price: $0.69 U.S.
Format: Mobipocket eBooks
Availability: Download Now
 
 

I-SCI-FI.COM: SALT CITY AUTO RALLY
http://www.i-sci-fi.com
http://www.i-sci-fi.com/CarWars/index.html
 
 

ROAD-KILL RALLY SOUTHWEST RACING CIRCUIT PBEM
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm_list/descriptions/1100228218.22155.html
http://members.cox.net/tworks/RKR/Rules.htm