CWIN Vol. 2, No. 10
The Daemon Mechanic
Control Roll Variants

Written by Tony Kontes
Boneheadz of New Idaho
manycubes@aol.com

Web Posted October 11, 1999
Updated August 05, 2000

This article is my idea to simplify the control roll procedure in Car Wars. It is not a formal article, but a loose set of rules I have been playtesting and experimenting with. I like it because I no longer have to keep track of the handling status for 10 to 20 vehicles when running a large cycle gang attack. The driver skill modifies the control roll rather than the reflex roll and possibly the HC, and I eliminate the Control Table and Crash Tables from the manuevering process.

This set of rules eliminates the handling class marker, Control Table, and Crash Table rolls (except for control loss caused by hazards) by creating one roll for reduction of control and basing any crash results on the amount the roll was missed by.  It also makes a driver skill a little more valuable by adding the skill bonus to the control roll.

The basic control roll is 2 on 2d6, made every time a vehicle makes maneuver or suffers a hazard. A roll of 2 is always a failure.

Add the result on the dice to the handling class of the vehicle, plus the skill of the driver (the maximum skill bonus is +3).
 
 

No skill
-2
Base level
+/-0
+1 or +2
+1
+3 or +4
+2
+5 or higher
+3

Modify the roll by the speed of the vehicle.
 
 

5-10
+3
155-160
-5
15-20
+2
165-170
-5
25-30
+1
175-180
-5
35-40
+/-0
185-190
-6
45-50
-1
195-200
-6
55-60
-1
205-210
-6
65-70
-2
215-220
-7
75-80
-2
225-230
-7
85-90
-2
235-240
-7
95-100
-3
245-250
-8
105-110
-3
255-260
-8
115-120
-3
265-270
-8
125-130
-4
275-280
-9
135-140
-4
285-290
-9
145-150
-4
295-300
-9

Subtract the difficulty of the maneuver, or hazard.
 

Crash Results

Crash results created by maneuvers are determined by how much the control roll was missed.
 
 

Amount Control Roll Missed
Crash Table 1 Result
0
Trivial Skid
1
Minor Skid
2
Moderate Skid
3-4
Severe Skid
5
Spinout
6
Roll
7
Roll and Burn
8+
Vault

 
Amount Control Roll Missed
Crash Table 2 Result
0
Minor Fishtail
1
Major Fishtail
2
Moderate Skid
3-4
Minor Fishtail and roll again on Crash Table 1
5
Major Fishtail and roll again on Crash Table 1

Examples

Example 1:  A vehicle with a HC of 3, controlled by a base level Driver, going 80 mph, pulls a 90-degree (D6) bend. A 7 (2 + 3 + 0 - 2 - 6) or better is needed to maintain control, an 8.33% chance of occurring on 2d6. Compare this percentage to the standard Control Table which gives a 3 or better to maintain control, a 66.66% chance of occurring on 1d6. The difference between these two rolls is only 8.33%.

Example 2: A vehicle with a HC of 6, controlled by a base level Driver, going 100 mph, performs a 90-degree (D6) bend. A 5 (2 + 6 + 0  - 3 -6) or better is needed to maintain control, an 83.33% chance on 2d6. Compare this percentage to the standard Control Table which gives a 0% chance of crashing. (A 90-degree bend in 1/5 of a second at 100 mph and no chance to crash? I don't like it.)
 

Explanation

When performing mass combats using Car Wars it is very difficult to keep track of the changing HC of up to 20 cars every phase of every turn, not to mention consulting the Control Table, and possibly the Crash Table every time one of them makes a maneuver, plus the fact that HC goes back up at the start of each turn. This way the HC remains constant and the maneuver and speed modifiers are subtracted from it. Also, I wanted the driver skill to affect the control roll more directly. Finally, I cannot stand the fact that cars in Car Wars can perform outrageous maneuvers with no chance for lose of control. Using the system above, a control roll is necessary even for a D1 hazard or maneuver. This point brings me to the one drawback I have found in this procedure: Dice must be rolled every time the vehicle maneuvers or suffers a hazard. However, I don't feel this is a big concern, because we simply substitute the dice roll for changing the handling track and don't have to worry about bits of paper blowing off the record sheet or running out of room to write a new handling class.

As a final note, after comparing the percentage chances of losing control using these rules with the rules in GURPS for losing control, I have found this new system still allows the cars to perform way above reality. I have worked out new speed modifiers based on GURPS, but I have not playtested them. I will try to publish these rules after I experiment with them more.

I know many of you have probability charts, but if you are like me, it is too hard to dig them out during games, so I will print them here for your convenience. This way you can compare my system to the old Car Wars system and see that the percentage chance for losing control is almost the same at lower speeds while a little less forgiving at higher speeds.
 
 

1d6 Result
Probability
1+
100.0%
2+
83.3%
3+
66.7%
4+
50.0%
5+
33.3%
6
16.7%

 
2d6 Result
Probability
2+
100.0%
3+
97.2%
4+
91.7%
5+
83.3%
6+
72.2%
7+
58.3%
8+
41.7%
9+
27.8%
10+
16.6%
11+
8.3%
12
2.8%

Let me know what you think of this system. For me it has made record-keeping a snap and allows me to field large numbers of NPC vehicles in battle. I look forward to your comments.