Disclaimer:
        -"Car Wars", "Autoduel Quarterly" (ADQ), "Midville" and
"Americain Autoduel Association" (AADA)  are all registered trade
marks of Steve Jackson Games.
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        Welcome all, not going to say much here, save that fill in the
survey below.

        All these links can be found at
  http://www.sjgames.com/HVD/lnk.html

        CWML homepage
  http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/3133/cwml.html

        Any contributions, news or questions can be sent to.
  mailto:dbarton@racp.edu.au

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NEWS:

CARWARS WEBRING:
        I'll be contacting the owners of all the pages individually,
but before then, anyone with a CW web page on the links page should
put it on the web ring, eliminate the need for pages like the CW links
page, put it on the web ring.

HVD
        The long promised, but not yet delivered HVD-7 has finally got
a definate release date.  DEC-15 will be when it is finally finished.
This HVD has been a long while in the making, but will hopefully be
worth the wait, expect to se all the old features, as well as a heap
of new and improved articles.

ADQ
        I hope everyone has filled in that survey, if you don't know
where it is, then follow the link at the top of the CW limks page.  It
would be very, very nice to see ADQ back in action.

CAR WARS TUTORIAL:
        As part of HVD and the CWMLs dedication to getting new players
into Car Wars, there's a tutorial on-line.  Created by the dedicated
staff at HVD, and based on the jump-start rules (with a couple of
modifications) from the Deluxe set. Most of you probably won't want
/ need to play it, but I'd like to hear feedback on what you think,
etc.

CAR WARS COMPUTER GAME SURVEY
        Geoffrey Gowan and his company Squidworks Inc. have put
together a computer programme which operates almost exactly like the
original board game, turn based, etc.  They now want to know how you
the Car Wars fans want to see this project come to being.  Fill in the
survey below, and help make his job easier as well as the product
better,  a HTML form is also available.  From the link under other
stuff on the CWML homepage.

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AADA CHAPTERS:

        No news is all the news...

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OTHER CW PAGES:

English Car Wars Page:                                  ***
        Another new page, this ones a bit more focused on GURPS
autoduel, but we can all find somethign we like, and there are even a
couple of people who are interested in that spin-off.  Note, you might
want to find yourself a PDF viewer, or just wait until they are
converted to HTML.
                                                Last Mod: 17-JUN-97
 

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As you may or may not know, we're working on a new Car Wars computer
game.  A fair amount of the combat engine and vehicle design code is
complete.  The game will have much the same feel as the original table
top game as far as combat goes.  It will have an overhead view and the
action will progress in discrete phases.  Now we're trying to decide
what kind of game to build around the combat engine.  Here are the
possibilities we are considering:

1) Online World Championships

This game would feature an annual tournament season in which thousands
of players compete for the title of World Champion in a wide range of
divisions and categories.  Participation will be free except for an
optional fee at the highest ranks in order to be eligible to receive a
prize.  You can still become the World Champion without paying
anything.
 

2) Duelling Circuit

This would be a solo or multiplayer game in which you play a
professional team of autoduellists.  You try to gain fame, glory and
riches by competing in the autoduelling arena.  The only problem is
that you have a limited budget and the computer player is really good.
There would be several difficulty settings to keep the game
interesting.  Also, the character system might be elaborated to make
your characters more unique and interesting.

3) Adventure

This would be a solo game with a cool story and lots of action.  The
focus of the game would be your party of characters and their
adventures as they try to achieve some difficult goal.  Your vehicles
and your equipment will also be very important.  You'll probably be in
near constant fear of running our of ammunition or not having enough
money to repair your damaged armor.

4) Gang/Police/Trucking/Warlord Game

This would be a new twist on the original Car Wars game.  The player
would be trying to accomplish some goal by managing a large team of
characters and a lot of equipment.  It might be a gang, a police
department, a trucking company or a small warlord's realm.  Car design
and vehicle combat would still be the heart of the game, but your
motive would be completely unrelated to the autoduelling arena.  In
the case of a trucking company, your stock value would tell you how
you're doing, and the game would end when you go bankrupt or defeat
your rivals.

The Survey Questions

Actually, the questions are just short descriptions of what the game
might be like.  For each description, please give a numerical response
ranging from 1 to 5.  5 indicates you like the game, 1 indicates you
don't.  Please try to make your responses relative -- don't give them
all 5's or 1's unless you really like them all the same.  Please send
your responses to ggowan@lightlink.com.

A)  The game focuses on the online competition (#1 above). It comes
with lots of arenas, cars and graphics. However, there is little or
no duelling circuit (#2) or adventure component (#3) to the game. The
arenas and graphics are fully customizable and there is a tool for
creating special scenarios with unique maps, starting positions, and
victory conditions.  Online play is supported by numerous servers
around the world with chat rooms, message bases and strong security
measures to control cheating.

B)  The game focuses on the duelling circuit component (#2). It is
similar to A except that the artificial intelligence is better and
there is no online tournament. It includes special screens and
controls to manage the duelling circuit game. It is just as
customizable as A. Online play is possible via TCP/IP connections
(which can be achieved by modem via an online service provider), but
there are no servers or security measures to support online play.

C)  The game offers a very extensive and detailed adventure (#3
above), but no online tournament or duelling circuit game. The
artificial intelligence isn't quite as good as in B, but there are a
wider variety of combat scenarios as a part of the adventure. The
story is rich and there's more character development than in any
other game. Again, online play is possible via TCP/IP connections.

D) The game provides both an online tournament (#1) and a duelling
circuit solo/multi-player game (#2).  The game doesn't have quite as
many special arenas, moving platgorms, objects, graphics, and special
gadgets as A or B and the artificial intelligence isn't quite as good.
However, there are more possibilities for how to play the game.

E) The game offers both online tournament (#1) and adventure (#3).
The adventure game isn't as complex as in C and there aren't as many
special arenas etc. as in A.  However, there are two ways of playing
the game.

F) The game offers both online tournament (#1) and the
gang/police/trucking/warlord game (#4).  There aren't quite as many
special arenas etc. as in A, but there would be multiple ways of
playing.

G)  The game has both adventure (#3) and gang/police/trucking/
warlord (#4) components. The adventure game isn't as complex as in C,
but there are multiple ways of playing the game.  Online play is
possible via TCP/IP connections.

Also, please rate the following in terms of importance for inclusion
in the game.  1 is not important, 5 is very important.

All-new car types (possibly including limousine, mini-van, stretch
vehicles and others):
Trikes:
Car Trailers:
10-Wheelers:
Big Rigs:
Buses:
Hovercraft:
Boats:
Helicopters:
Airplanes:
Military vehicles:
Some equipment beyond that of the original Deluxe Car Wars:
Virtually all equipment from Compendium:
Military equipment:
All-new equipment:
New character system:

Thanks for your time!  Additional comments are certainly welcome.
Feel free to address only some of the questions if you don't have time
for all of them.  Again, the address for responses is
ggowan@lightlink.com.

Geoffrey Gowan
President, Squidworks, Inc.

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        It would be great if everyone could fill in that survey,
remember the more you tell them the better the whoel thing will be and
the more fun had by all.  For all you who have been waiting for the
usual CWML fair, fiction, designs, etc.  The next is going to be the
last for a month, I'm taking a break from new years till late January
I'll be putting one out on 15-DEC, but I'll be uncontactable for a
little while.

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