This section of the document attempts to describe all the gaming rules associated with Formula One. It includes the creation of a team and their fortunes (or not) through a season, car construction, combat rules - involving collisions - and the things that can upset a drivers life, designing F1 circuits for use with Car Wars, how to run a race, including qualifying, the race itself, starting, pit stops, weather, wear on the vehicle, and a fair bit more besides.
Firstly though, don't get daunted by the size of this. While it's long, I believe that's more out of completeness than complexity.
So, take a deep breath, and gentlemen, start your engines!
Team Creation:
In Formula One, money and divisions - as are commonly known - do not actually count for much. Even the poorest team has several million pounds in their pockets, sponsors that would make Uncle Al proud, and facilities that rival aeronautical companies. Still, there are poor teams and there are rich teams. This system attempts to recreate a teams fortunes during a typical F1 season, but in a very abstract way.
So, for the purposes of team creation, there are three categories of team - poor, average, rich. At the start of the season, all new teams should be given a category which will determine their initial starting money and resources available to them. Ideally, all new teams should be poor.
In an on going campaign, new teams may will be disadvantaged in that they have less resources than other teams, but this is life, and as soon as they start earning points, they should get higher up.
A teams initial money is as follows:
| Poor team: | $1,000,000 |
| Average team: | $1,300,000 |
| Rich team | $1,750,000 |
With this money, a team has to buy a minimum of three cars, and must have no less than two drivers (and applicable gunners if the car is a two seater). For a team to be able to enter the first race of the season, it must be able to field two cars and complete crews. The cars constructed may be different from each other, and don't have to conform to any set standards, except as where listed here.
Cars are designed using the construction system listed below, but drivers and gunners are bought at the following prices: A new driver costs $25,000, and they come with the following skills: Driver +4, Gunner +2, GLOC +1. More experienced drivers cost an additional $10,000 per additional skill level. Thus to buy the previous world champion with skills of Driver +6, Gunner +4 and GLOC +1 costs $65,000.
Gunners cost a mere $15,000 each, and come with the skills Driver +2, Gunner +3, GLOC +1. Skills are increased as per normal drivers.
Remember to outfit the crew with the relevant gear as well required for all races - body armour and a fireproof suit.
Note that GLOC skill is not actually used by drivers during the game (as of yet!), but it is a necessary skill. Thus you probably will not want to increase the skill at all.
Initially there is no limit to the amount of new drivers and gunners that are available for purchase, but during a season there may well be.
The other requirement for teams, is that of a reliable pit crew. Every team must buy a normal team at $20,000, which gives them a skill of +0. For each additional skill level, the team costs and additional +$15,000.
As you can see, a starting team has a lot of out goings, and not really enough money to get a highly skilled team. The only way to increase this is to win races and get more money!
All teams should have a name, all drivers and gunners should be named, and all cars should have some sort of designation as well. For drivers and gunners, this is important as they way switch teams through a season, or be a part of a new team at the end of the season. Records should be kept of their progress, as detailed above in the statistic section.
Arrows 2048 starting team:
As an example, we'll detail a new team - Arrows in 2048. Starting from scratch and being a poor team, they have an initial amount of money equalling $900,000, and start to buy the following:
| 3 Arrows A69 racing cars: | $743,070 |
| 3 drivers (standard): | $75,000 |
| 3 sets of LIA and FP suits: | $5,250 |
| Standard pit crew: | $20,000 |
| Total: | $843,320 |
Wisely, the team decide to keep the remaining money ($156,680) for the racing season to make sure they can be flexible when the time is needed.
Money is not required for pit stops, so a team does not have to stock up on spare fuel or ammunition and spare parts.
In an on going campaign, teams from one season simply roll over to the next season using whatever money and cars that they earn. They may buy additional drivers and cars as if the team was new (this is the time of contract buy outs and the like). If their initial amount of money is less than a poor team then their sponsors will raise it to the level of half the initial funding of a poor team. No more. If their money is zero, then they will have to try and sell drivers or cars to other players or be out of the season as their funding dries up.
An old team does have some outgoings though - they must pay their drivers and pit crews their salaries, or else they will leave. This yearly salary is the same as if the people had just been bought as new, so a highly experienced crew will cost a lot of money. If the team doesn't have the money to pay their crew, then they must lose an amount (their choice) until they do have money. These surplus people are then available for other teams to buy if they so desire.
During the racing season, many things happen. Cars get destroyed, drivers injured and killed, and the fortunes of a team can be made or sold down the line.
The first race in every season is the one with the most demanding requirements for F1. Every team has to enter three cars - two racing cars and a spare - and have a complete crew for the two racing cars. Also a pit crew must be entered as well. Once qualifying begins, cars may get trashed and drivers injured, so it may end up that less than two cars enter the race. This is fine, as long as the three initials cars and crew entered the race.
Other races do not have as steep requirements. As long as one car, complete crew and pit crew can be entered, then the team may continue the season. Again, it doesn't matter if the team don't actually make it to the race proper, they just won't score any points.
A team is not allowed to enter a grand prix without at least one car, complete crew for the vehicle, and a pit crew.
There are lots of ways that a team can lose money , but not exactly many ways for them to gain it. The main ways though, are from winning races. A team will gain money from the constructors points awarded at the end of each race. It gets $15,000 per constructors point that it wins.
At the end of the season, the constructors champion will gain an additional $250,000 in prize money. 2nd place will get $150,000, while third place will get a mere $50,000.
During a race, it is possible that a team may be fined for improper behaviour, such as a for a driver speeding in the pit lane. In this case the fine Must be paid just as soon as the team has money, and this must be a priority before repairs and new equipment are taken into account. Teams must sell something to pay the fine if necessary.
The good news first. After a race any car that isn't destroyed, is repaired, refuelled and rearmed for free. Sponsorship, mechanics, spares and the huge financial backing that a team has is assumed to cover this. A car that is repaired will be available for the next race.
Modifying cars:
Players may decide that their cars aren't quite what they want though, and wish to modify them. This is fine and is allowable. Almost any modification can be made to a car, with the following exceptions:
- Gunners cannot be added if there wasn't one initially
- An engine of greater space size cannot be added
- Wheels cannot be converted to compact size, nor can a six wheeled chassis be added, or the location of the six wheels be changed
Within these constraints, almost anything goes, like changing the weapons, adding turrets, getting a smaller engine, getting a bigger or smaller fuel tank, replacing brakes, adding or removing armour and so on.
The cost for this is equal to the sum of all parts being added (regardless of what they are replacing), and an additional 10% of the body cost (with chassis and streamlining or enhanced aerodynamics modification) to account for the changes to the car. It can get expensive. All removed parts are basically thrown away for purposes of this ruling. In reality they would get shipped somewhere else, but once an item is removed from an F1 vehicle, it is never replaced as a second hand component.
The time for this modification is based on the following 2d6 dice roll, which can be modified itself by spending an additional 5% of the modifications cost, to a maximum of +5. All money must be spent before the roll is made, and all players must be notified that the money is being spent.
| Die roll | Time taken |
|---|
| 2 | 4 weeks |
| 3-5 | 3 weeks |
| 6-10 | 2 weeks
In time for any +2 week race |
| 11+ | 1 week
In time for any next race |
Designing new cars:
Players may also want to design a completely new car, possibly to replace a destroyed one, or possibly just to give more tactical flexibility.
In any case, the cost of designing a new car is as the car construction rules below, and the player must roll 2d6 to see how long the car takes to construct. It is assumed that the teams have spare chassis and frames 'lying around' waiting to be moulded into shape, and an infrastructure already in place for this kind of work, so it wouldn't take as long as designing a completely new class of vehicle from scratch.
As with modifying a car, this dice roll may be modified by spending 5% of the car construction cost as a +1 modifier. There is a maximum of +5 by this method.
| Die roll | Time taken |
|---|
| 2 | 8 weeks |
| 3-5 | 6 weeks |
| 6-10 | 4 weeks |
| 11-15 | 3 weeks |
| 16 | 2 weeks
In time for any +2 week race |
| 17 | 1 week
In time for any next race |
Destroyed cars:
And now the bad news. Whilst an F1 car is tough, it is not invincible, and they can be destroyed completely. If an F1 car is destroyed, it is not salvageable, and must be written off. The team is now one car short.
So what constitutes a destroyed car?
- If the car sustains any damage that has passed through one armour side and damaged the other. This need not be from one attack.
- If a vehicle has been turned into 'confetti'
- If a vehicle suffers a result of 15+ on Crash Table One
- If a vehicle suffers a result of 12+ on the Engine Critical Damage Table
F1 combat racing can be a hazardous sport, it's in its nature, and has always been. People get hurt, injured and killed. As a result of this, when a team member gets injured, it's necessary to know how long the person will out of action for.
If the person was simply hurt, then they will be in hospital for 1 week per DP damage. If this one week coincides with a Grand Prix that is happening in a weeks time, then the person will miss it, unless the team want to invest $15,000 for high intensity treatment.
Similarly, longer term injuries can be reduced by paying $15,000 per week reduced, however in this case, there is always going to a minimum of 1 week out of action and the patient won't be able to go to a grand prix that's only in a weeks time.
Characters with greater injuries (negative DP), have to make a roll to see if they are actually dead. This is done on 2d6. The roll required is 5+ to stay alive, with a -1 per DP from zero downwards. This roll takes into account paramedic skill and time taken to reach the patient.
If the driver is alive, recovery time is 1 week per negative DP damage, and 1 week per normal DP damage. Negative DP damage cannot be sped up, but normal DP damage can by two weeks.
Dead characters require clones. All F1 drivers and gunners get 1 clone free, but after that the team has to pay for additional ones. Monthly upkeep's are free for purposes of this simple team building exercise. A new clone requires one month of intensive activity (4 weeks) before being allowed back to play. Clones cost an initial outlay of $35,000 (this cost includes an MMSD programming), and are assumed to be updated just before each race as standard - the team puts a lot of time and money into their drivers and don't want something like a death to put the driver at any disadvantage. New clones are allowed to keep the points of the person they are replacing, but obviously the clone may not have the same skills if the body couldn't be read, which can be a real hazard in F1 racing.
Sometimes though, a driver will be dead and will have no clone, or the team will require new drivers whilst theirs recuperate in hospital. A team in this situation has two options.
'Borrowing' from other players:
If another team has spare personnel, then if they desire, a deal may be struck so that a driver/gunner may be loaned to another team. Whilst loaned, all driver points go to that driver as normal, but all constructors points and money go to the new team, not the team that the person was loaned from. No player deal is allowed to alter this.
Buying new staff:
The only other option is to buy a new team member.
Because drivers and gunners do not always hang around to wait to see if they might be called up, you can never predict what type of driver will be available.
As a result, roll 2d6 to see how many drivers and 1d6 to see how gunners are available.
This is the total amount for all teams until the end of the next race where more may become available, thus there might not be enough to go around all teams.
The skill levels of a driver and gunner must also be determined to see how much they will cost. Roll once for the driver skill, and then again for the gunner skill.
| Drivers | Gunners |
|---|
| Die roll | Driver skill | Gunner skill |
Driver skill | Gunner skill |
|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
A driver costs a base $25,000 + $10,000 per driver skill level greater than 4, and gunner skill level greater than 2.
A gunner costs $15,000 + $10,000 per driver skill above 2 and per gunner level above 3.
Once a driver or gunner has been generated, then that is it, they cannot be changed. If a player then realises that they cannot afford an extra person, then they will have either to wait until after the next race, or try and borrow from another player.
If two or more players decide that they both want the same person, then they will have to bid for them. Bidding starts at the base cost of the driver or gunner, and bids must be in $1,000 increments. The only rules for bidding are that you must have the money to make a bid, you cannot bluff and let the other player keep escalating when you don't have the money.
All new personal are available for the next race.
New pit crew can also be bought at the cost of $20,000 for a crew with a skill of 0, and an additional $15,000 per skill level thereafter. Pit crews are always available in almost any quantity or quality.
Drivers, gunners and pit crew will all gain in experience and advance their levels exactly like normal rules. Qualifying and testing does not count for experience purposes though, only the race proper, so if a team doesn't make it this far, then they will not gain experience.
Treat each race as a combat for getting skill points, and general skill points can be handed out as normal. In a role-playing event or campaign involving these drivers, remember to watch out for your other skills!
A pit crew gains experience at a rate of 1 skill point per race that they make a pit stop crew roll.
If at any time a team doesn't have enough money to keep going, or if it gets fines that it cannot pay, then it must either sell something, or go bust. If it goes bust, then the team retires from the season and is disbanded. It's points still count, so it is feasable that it may the championship, it just won't be able to claim the $250,000.
Drivers become available to buy by other players.
In the high risk life of F1, having enough money is always critical, and a team may find that it doesn't have enough at all times. In this case, they may opt to sell drivers, crew or cars, and hope for the best.
Making deals with other players:
The easiest thing is to make a deal with another player. In this case, the two players determine what they wish to sell, and decide upon their own prices. Cars may not be sold in this way, or at least they can, but the other team may not use the car at all. FIA rules prohibit this.
Selling cars:
While a team may not sell a car to another team, they may sell to a corporation or other non F1 sponsor so that they may prise the secrets out of the car. A team may get an amount of money per car equalling half the cars value. This may not be bought back at a later date.
Selling people:
Similarly, a team may sell its personnel to another team or another sport. In this case, the player will get an amount of money equalling half the value of the people being sold. Note that a team must have a minimum of a pit crew and one driver to still be able to enter races.
MB: "Sometimes Grand Prix drivers look absolutely awesome, and sometimes they look like they couldn't even drive sheep. And today is a sheep day."
F1 drivers are very experienced, having come from other racing circuits, and most having been champions before, they ought to be. Besides, for the amount of money they get paid for their salaries, a team isn't going to be buying lack of talent.
As a result, a driver will have certain minimum skills. These include:
Driver +4
Gunner +2
GLOC +1
Driver and gunner skills are obvious, but GLOC is also needed for the reason that all F1 drivers are incredibly fit. They have to be as the G forces that effect a driver can reach 3G and sometimes higher, and it is not that uncommon for a driver to go around a corner blind as the blood doesn't quite make it to the drivers eyes.
This skill will have no actual bearing on the game, but it is a required driver skill.
As for cars, there is a minimum amount of safety equipment that a driver and gunner must wear.
- Body armour
[Any sort of armour is allowed, although most drivers wear standard armour to avoid the reflex penalties.]
- Fireproof suit
A driver in F1 is severely limited in what he can carry in the vehicle with him. Basically it consists of any sort of body armour and a fire proof suit, and that's it. No weapons are allowed, and there isn't any space to store anything either.
Light impact armour (LIA): $1,250, 10 lbs.
LIA is treated as normal impact armour except that it only has 3 DP and doesn't effect reflex rolls or running ability.
Gunners must follow all normal driver regulations, but have the following minimum skills:
- Driver +2
- Gunner +3
- GLOC +1
In times of driver shortages, gunners may drive F1 cars, but remember, never in the heat of a race. There is no space to learn over to grab the steering wheel, nor is there space to insert extra driver controls for a gunner.
Gunners are effectively the unsung heroes of F1. They sit in a car that they have no control over in an emergency, shoot the other cars and take a lot of pressure off the driver. They don't get paid nearly as much money as a driver does, and there is no special championship for them. Yet they are still incredibly talented people with highly respected skills, and a car with a gunner does have that advantage over a car that doesn't.
MW: "And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren!"
James Hunt: "Actually Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light."
Racing frames:
| Body | Price | Weight | Max wt | Spaces | Armour | HC |
|---|
| Standard F1 body | $75,000 | 200 lbs. | 4,000 lbs. | 15 | $80 / 4.5 lbs. | 6 |
| Long wheelbase F1 body | $90,000 | 215 lbs. | 4,000 lbs. | 17 | $100 / 5 lbs. | 6 |
F1 bodies come with the following equipment built in as standard: Modified CA frame, safety seat, survival cell, streamlining, five camera mounts (for the fans to see all the action from the car and drivers point of view) and a scrambled radio for car to pits communication.
No more than 25% of the modified maximum weight of the vehicle may be armour.
There are certain standards that must be met with regards to F1 cars.
- They must all be a minimum weight of 1,500 lbs.
- They must all mount fire extinguishers
- They must have a gas engine of no smaller than 200 cid, and no larger than 450 cid.
- They must use F1 racing bodies, and must have racing tyres.
- The body must include the weight of the crew and their equipment.
[This weighs a minimum of 13 lbs. for a drivers fireproof suit and body armour]
An F1 car must have a fuel tank that can hold at least enough fuel for a total of 65 miles. This is the equivalent of a two pit stop fuel strategy for most races. When calculating fuel, use the top speed of the vehicle to determine MPG, and also realise that with racing engines, there is no maximum reduction. So, for example, a car capable of travelling at 200 mph with a base MPG of 15 has a cruising speed of 120 mph, which gives an 80% reduction in MPG, making the end total of 3 MPG, which means a minimum fuel tank size of 22 gallons.
Of course, a vehicle may have a larger fuel tank installed which will increase its range, and just because a car does have a large fuel tank doesn't mean that it has to be full.
As a car has a gas engine, if it uses any equipment that requires PU (such as lasers, gauss weapons, certain electronics) it must mount a laser battery for these systems to work.
|
What F1 cars CANNOT install:
Any item banned by the AADA officially or unofficially
| plus: |
- Active suspension
- ABS
- Body blades
- Brushcutter
- Bumper spikes
- Bumper trigger
- Carbureors of any kind
- Cyberlinks
- Drag chute
- Extra driver controls
- EWP's of any kind
- HD transmission
- NBC shielding
- Nitrous Oxide
|
- Overdrive
- Pintlemount
- Pop-up turrets
- Radar jammer
- Ramplate
- Rocket boosters
- Roll cage
- Sponson turrets
- Superchargers
- Stealth
- Sunroof
- Turbochargers of any kind
- Weapon timer
|
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What F1 cars CAN install:
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Good question. Looking at the equipment, there are some obvious items that would be incredibly useful for high speed racing vehicles - things like ABS, active suspension, overdrive for example. Well, the FIA have banned all these items - and items that would function similarly - because they are all electronic devices that essentially make a drivers life much simpler because the car can do a lot of the work. That's not the way things happen in F1. The driver is the star, and the car is just his implement in his success. Sure, a driver can't run at 200 mph, but a car can steer itself at that speed, so if you take away the tools that allow a car to do a lot of the thinking, then it comes down to driver skill. This is in direct conflict with some racing circuits that allow a car to have as many extra helpful devices as possible, but that's the way it is.
MB: "There is Frentzen's Mechachrome engine letting go in the biggest possible way. That's another coffee table for somebody."
Compared to normal vehicles, an F1 has an amazing performance curve, and an acceleration that would make most normal racing drivers weep.
An F1 car has the following additions to the acceleration table.
- If the power factors of the car are equal to or greater than the weight of the car, but less than twice the weight, then the acceleration is 15 mph.
- If the power factors of the car are equal to or greater than twice the weight of the car, but less than three times the weight, then the acceleration is 20 mph.
- If the power factors of the car are equal to or greater than three times the weight of the car, but less than four times the weight, then the acceleration is 25 mph.
- If the power factors of the car are equal to or greater than four times the weight of the car, then the acceleration is 30 mph.
Accelerations of more than 20 mph are only available with enhanced aerodynamics. F1 cars may not have an acceleration of greater than 35 mph per turn.
An acceleration of 20 mph in one turn is a D1 hazard. 25 mph acceleration is a D2 hazard, while an acceleration of 30 mph (available with additional equipment) is a D3 hazard and a 35 mph acceleration is a D4 hazard.
When it comes to working out a vehicles top speed, total all percentages to the vehicle as if they were power factors. So, for example, an enhanced aerodynamic car with a turret has a total top speed modifier of +10% (+20% for the aerodynamics - 10% for the turret).
Fire extinguishers: Whilst normal fire extinguishers can be installed in an F1 car, there are some special racing models available. These cost triple the normal amount, take the normal space, but only weigh half as much as normal fire extinguishers. They come in all normal sizes and work in the same weigh.
Turrets: Turrets can be installed on F1 vehicles, however due to their bulky shape when compared with the rest of the vehicle, it will affect the vehicles streamlining. And thus a car with a turret suffers a 10% reduction to it's top speed.
Gunners: Contrary to popular belief, there is enough space in an F1 to accommodate a gunner. In fact, two seat F1 cars have been around since 1997 when Team McLaren built the first one as a test vehicle (since then, most teams use them for training). This is not to say that a gunner has much freedom of movement however, oh no.
Thus a gunner is allowed in an F1 car. They sit behind the driver, but before the fuel tank, and whilst observing all normal gunner rules, they may not take control of an F1 car if the driver is injured, and they cannot have extra driver controls installed, there just isn't the space available.
Component armour: This can be mounted in a car as normal, but if used to protect the driver or gunner it will not work from attacks or damage from the top arc.
Racing Brakes:
- Hard HD brakes: $500, 5 lbs, per wheel.
These function as normal HD brakes, but are designed not to wear out so quickly.
- Racing brakes: $1,000 per wheel, no weight or space.
This gives a car a +10 mph safe deceleration limit. It can only be used with an F1 body equipped with racing slick tyres.
- Hard racing brakes: $1,350, 5 lbs. per wheel.
These function as normal racing brakes, but are designed not to wear out so quickly.
- HD racing brakes: $2,000, 5 lbs. per wheel.
This gives a car a +15 mph safe deceleration limit. It can only be used with an F1 body equipped with racing slick tyres.
- Hard HD racing brakes: $2,500, 7.5 lbs. per wheel.
These function as normal HD racing brakes, but are designed not to wear out so
quickly.
- Compact racing brakes: $1,500 per wheel, no weight or space.
Compact brakes function just like normal racing brakes, but only work for compact racing tyres. They are not available in hard or HD varieties.
Combined braking table:
| Deceleration limit | Normal
brakes | HD
brakes | Racing
brakes |
HD racing
brakes |
|---|
| 10 mph or less | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe |
| 15 mph | D1 | Safe | Safe | Safe |
| 20 mph | D2 | D1 | Safe | Safe |
| 25 mph | D3 | D2 | D1 | Safe |
| 30 mph | D5 | D3 | D2 | D1 |
| 35 mph | D7
2 hits tyre damage | D5 | D3 | D2 |
| 40 mph | D9
1d tyre damage | D7
2 hits tyre damage | D5 | D3 |
| 45 mph | D11
1d+3 tyre damage | D9
1d tyre damage | D7
2 hits tyre damage | D5 |
| 50 mph | NA | D11
1d+3 tyre damage | D9
1d tyre damage | D7
2 hits tyre damage |
| 55 mph | NA | NA | D11
1d+3 tyre damage | D9
1d tyre damage |
| 60 mph | NA | NA | NA | D11
1d+3 tyre damage |
| 65 mph | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Racing engines:
F1 racing engines are much lighter than ordinary gas engines. They will constantly out-perform the standard engines anytime, but at a price. They are much more expensive than any other engine, are custom built (so may not be installed in other vehicles), and have a -2 to their base MPG.
- Light engine: 4* cost of a normal gas engine, 1/2 the weight, 3/4 space, 2/3 DP
- Extra-light engine: 6* cost of a normal gas engine, 1/3 the weight, 3/4 space, 1/2 DP
Finely tuned engine: +100% of base engine cost, no weight or space.
This modification is only available for blueprinted engines, and increases PF by 25%. It also gives a +5 mph acceleration bonus.
Enhanced Aerodynamics: +100% to body cost, -10% to vehicle space.
To use enhanced aerodynamics, a car must already have normal streamlining, and the combined speed increase is 20%. The cost and space losses are in addition to normal streamlining though. A car with enhanced aerodynamics may have accelerations of more than 20 mph. A car with enhanced aerodynamics may not have sloped armour, as that would destroy the streamlining benefits.
Six-wheeled chassis: This costs an additional $2,000, taken before any chassis modifiers, and weigh 50 lbs. extra. The benefits for a car mounting six wheels depends on where those six wheels are located.
- Four compact wheels front, 2 standard wheels back:
This is the most common six wheeled variant, and with it the car mounts four compact racing tyres at the front, and two normal slicks at the back. Whilst being heavier, the car has some advantages. The first is the increased speed due to the compact tyres and lower drag. The second is if the rear tyres have a slightly better braking bonus, then provided all four front tyres mount the next brake down, the car can function as the higher brake value.
For example, if the two rear tyres mount HD racing brakes, and the four front tyres mount compact racing brakes, then the car may function as if it had HD racing brakes. Until one of the compact tyres is destroyed that is.
The last feature is that until one of the wheels is destroyed, the increased holding ability of six wheels means that if an airdam is installed front, the vehicle gets a +1 HC regardless of its speed, and not just over 60 mph.
- 2 standard wheels front, 4 compact wheels back:
In this arrangement, the four compact wheels are at the back of the vehicle, and the two larger wheels are at the front. Whilst providing the same braking and stability bonus as having the four compact wheels at the front of the car (although reversed, so the car must mount a spoiler not airdam to get the bonus, and the higher brake value must come from the two front tyres), the real reason for this arrangement is that the four rear wheels, all being driven by the engine, can provide a greater power output, and thus greater top speed for the vehicle, although at a loss of some acceleration. This is equated as losing 2.5 mph acceleration, but gaing a +7.5% top speed bonus.
- 2 compact wheels front, 4 compact wheels back:
This version pits 2 compact wheels front, and 4 back. The advantages are that with the smaller wheels forward, the vehicle gains the speed advantage for having less drag. With the four compact wheels at the back, the vehicles also gains an additional top speed bonus due to the increased power output that the extra tyre can get onto the track. The vehicle also gets the stability bonus of having four wheels in the rear.
What the vehicle doesn't get, is the benefit of increased braking. The other disadvantage is that while using compact tyres (and thus brakes), the vehicle is subject to more wear, and thus may find itself running into trouble (or the pits) more early on in a long race.
Notes to all six wheeled chassis users:
To get any bonuses for having a six wheeled chassis, all six tyres must be racing tyres, and the quad set must be the same tyre. Losing wheels of the quad set is handled exactly like losing wheels from a normal six wheeled vehicle.
Racing tyres:
- Soft racing slick tyres: +300% tyre cost, +100% tyre weight. +1 DP.
These are the standard racing tyres from the CWC2. They increase a vehicles HC by 2 if installed on all wheels, or just +1 HC if installed if only mounted on two corners. The hazard for manoeuvres on oil, ice, water and the like is at +D4. In addition just hitting oil, ice or water is a D3 hazard. Racing slicks take double damage from spikes, debris and obstacles.
- Softer racing slick tyres: +300% tyre cost, +100% tyre weight.
Softer slicks function much like normal slick tyres and give all the advantages and disadvantages associated with them. However they have the additional advantage in that after the initial wear of the tyre has gone, they actually function better than normal slicks for a while. As a result, when the tyre wear of a new softer tyre has been reduced by 15% due to manoeuvring (not combat, debris or obstacle damage), the tyre will give an additional +1 HC bonus if mounted on all four tyres. This means that a tyre will get a maximum of +3 HC from tyres. Once the wear gets the bonus back to normal slick bonuses, the additional +1 HC will never appear again.
- Hard racing slick tyres: +300% tyre cost, +100% tyre weight. +1 DP.
These act like normal soft racing slicks but only give a +1 HC bonus. They wear out less quickly than a normal tyre does in an actual race.
- Rain racing slick tyres: +300% tyre cost, +100% tyre weight. +1 DP.
These function like normal soft racing slick tyres, but only give a +1 HC. They also reduces the severity of various manoeuvres. Hitting oil or water is only a D1 hazard, and manoeuvres on such surfaces are only at +D2.
- Compact racing tyres: +200% tyre cost, no additional weight, 2/3 DP These are available in all normal racing slick tyre types.
These may only be mounted in the front of a four wheeled F1 car, or front and/or back of a six wheeled car (but if the back, then the six wheeled car must have four compact tyres at the back). They may not take normal racing brakes, only the compact version. The advantage of the compact tyre is that the six wheeled chassis may use them, and a four or six wheeled vehicle with these at the front has a much lower aerodynamic drag due to the smaller wheel, gaining an additional +5% top speed increase. They may also use armoured wheel hubs at normal use. Disadvantages are that they are not as hardy as normal tyres and will wear out more quickly.
Wheel and tyre arangement:
With the addition of the six wheeled chassis and compact tyres, there is a lot of freedom and variaty allowed between what sort of wheel arangements are actually allowed. This can be important as once a car has been built with either a compact tyre or six wheeled chassis, it may not be modified out of this arrangement at all (although the actual tyre choice may change). As a result, the following table lists all possible combinations of wheels and tyres that are allowed in F1. While other arrangements may be possible, they are technicially unfeasible (such as having 2 compact wheels at the back of a vehicle) and thus not used at all. The diagrams also show the layout of the wheels, and thus you won't find any F1 car with a quad set of tyres as a pair side-by-side.
| Standard | Compact Tyres | Six Wheeled Chassis |
|---|
 |
 |
 |
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 |
MW: "And the first five places are filled by five different cars."
All these vehicles use 163 lbs for the driver weight, and come with a full tank of fuel (at $40, 6 lbs. per gallon). The term racing slick is used to describe any of the racing tyres, the actual decision for which one being used being made on the day of the race, thus the base HC is 7, although this can be improved with soft slicks. No additional modifications are added here, so if (for example) FP tyres are wanted, the cost will increase.
McLaren MP6-17/2:
Long wheel base F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 450 cid extra light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 25 gallon racing tank, 4 PR racing slicks, driver only, no cargo, pulse LL (turret), laser battery, HD shocks, HD racing brakes, standard racing fire extinguisher, HRSWC, spoiler (FP), airdam (FP). Armour (FP plastic): F20, B24, L15, R15, T15, U15 + 4 five point FP hubguards, accel 35 mph, top speed 210 mph, weight 2,718 lbs., cost $389,690.
Ferrari F355:
F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 450 cid extra light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 25 gallon racing tank, 4 PR racing slicks, driver only, no cargo, MG (turret, motion compensator), HD shocks, HD racing brakes, standard racing fire extinguisher, HRSWC, spoiler (FP), airdam (FP). Armour (FP plastic): F20, B20, L15, R15, T10, U10 + 4 ten point FP hubguards, accel 35 mph, top speed 215 mph, weight 2,548 lbs., cost $355,190.
BAR 48:
Long wheel base F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 400 cid light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 25 gallon racing tank, 2 compact PR racing slicks (front), 2 PR racing slicks (back), driver only, no cargo, HMG (turret w/motion compensator), HD shocks, compact racing brakes (f), racing brakes (b), standard racing fire extinguisher, 2 HRSWC, spoiler (FP), airdam (FP). Armour (FP plastic): F26, B22, L15, R15, T22, U15, accel 30 mph, top speed 207.5 mph, weight 2,936 lbs., cost $312,700.
Ford T34-P:
Six wheeled F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 350 cid light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 25 gallon racing tank, 4 compact PR racing slicks front, 2 PR racing slicks back, driver only, no cargo, 3 MMLs (2f - link, 1 b, all w/motion compensators), 2 TL (f,b, each w/LGL to MMLs), HD shocks, compact racing brakes (f), HD racing brakes (b), standard racing fire extinguisher, hi-res targeting computer. Armour (FP plastic): F35, B22, L20, R20, T15, U14 + 6 ten point FP hubguards, accel 25 mph, top speed 210 mph, weight 2,998 lbs., cost $290,335.
Jordan 249:
F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 350 cid light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 35 gallon racing tank, 2 compact PR racing slicks (front), 2 PR racing slicks (back), driver only, no cargo, RL (f, motion compensator), TL + LGL (to RL, f), HD shocks, compact racing brakes (f), racing brakes (b), standard racing fire extinguisher, HRSWC, spoiler (FP), airdam (FP). Armour (FP plastic): F15, B20, L15, R15, T15, U10 + 4 ten point FP hub guards, 10 point FP CA around driver, accel 25 mph, top speed 215 mph, weight 2,646 lbs., cost $267,350.
Arrows A69:
F1 body (enhanced aerodynamics), light chassis, 300 cid light racing engine (tubular headers, blue printing, fine tuning), 25 gallon racing tank, 4 PR racing slicks, driver only, no cargo, 2 LMGs (f, b, each w/motion compensator), HD shocks, racing brakes, racing fire extinguisher, hi-res targeting computer, spoiler (FP), airdam (FP). Armour (FP plastic): F25, B20, L15, R15, T12, U13, accel 25 mph, top speed 200 mph, weight 2,406 lbs., cost $247,690.
The Safety Car:
Luxury (w/ CA frame and streamlining), std chassis, 450 cid engine (tubular headers, blue printing, variable pitch turbocharger), 15 gallon duelling tank, 4 PRFP radial tyres, driver, passenger, cargo (2 spaces, 225 lbs.), HD shocks, HD brakes, roll cage, 2 safety seats, active suspension, ABS, no paint tinted windscreen, spoiler and airdam. Armour (FP plastic): F30, B30, L30, R30, T25, U25, HC 5, accel 20 mph, top speed 175 mph, weight 5475 lbs., cost $55,415.
The safety car has 200 lbs. per person. It is used when the track actually becomes dangerous, which isn't too often these days, and slows the cars down. The passenger is a medic for if any F1 cars crash. It is also used to transport medics and injured to the various medical facilities.
MW: "...and there's no damage to the car... except to the car itself."
All rounding in F1 combat racing is to the nearest number. Thus fractions of .49 or less should be rounded down, and .50 or greater rounded up. This is just a clarification.
Combat with F1 vehicles is effectively the same as a normal vehicle, although remember those speed modifiers and manoeuvre modifiers! These vehicles are supposed to reach amazing speeds, and when shooting they have a hard time. This is when a gunner comes in handy, and two person F1 vehicles can be very able opponents. However that extra 163 lbs. of gunner weight can be performance cutting.
What is the same amongst all F1 cars though, is the layout.
| Front: | Front armour; (front firing weapons); driver; (gunner); fuel tank; engine; (back firing weapons); back armour. |
| Back: | As above, but in reverse order. |
| Right: | Right armour; (right firing weapons); (driver, [gunner], fuel tank, engine); (left firing weapons); left armour. |
| Left: | As above, but in reverse order. |
| Underbody: | Underbody armour; (driver, [gunner], fuel tank, engine); (turret weapons); top armour. |
| Front: | As above, but in reverse order. |
The top of an F1 car can be targeted as if it were a trike, thus when being shot at from the front or the sides, the top can be hit at an additional -2.
Racing slick tyres are much bigger than normal tyres, and thus are targeted at only -2. Compact racing tyres are hit at the normal -3.
LOS around a race track can be slightly difficult to gauge sometimes. As a general rule, if the shot were to pass through a gravel trap or about 1.5 inches off to the side of a straight, then there should be LOS. Obviously there are some exceptions. The start/finish line doesn't allow any deviation off to the side of the track, and some tracks (notably Monaco) doesn't allow any shot that can't be traced along the track itself due to the fact that walls and building reduce visibility.
MB: "If you're wondering where Johnny Herbert is, he's having a little talk with the wall."
If the front of an car counter touches another counter, then a collision has occured. If however, two sides of a vehicle touch, then no sideswipe collision has happened unless one of the players is intenionally ramming.
F1 cars are tough. Their CA frame is made from especially resistant material that doesn't buckle as much as normal CA frames, and thus they take normal damage from rams and collisions, not half.
Racing frames are also designed to impact differently from ordinary vehicles. Various parts of the vehicle are designed to shatter and crumple under impact, while a special survival cell helps protect the valuable occupants of the vehicle. The survival cell has some of the characteristics of a roll cage, but it cannot be applied to all parts of a vehicle as the internal components and frame just doesn't leave room.
The complete sequence for working ram damage is as follows:
Front location:
- Roll the collision damage dice
- Modifiy by the DM of the vehicle
- Modify by other factors (tyre walls, or whatever)
- Subtract this damage from the front armour on a 1:1 basis
- When the armour is destroyed, roll 1d6 for each front tyre:
| 1-4 | Tyre remains attached |
| 5-6 | Tyre comes loose |
- Divide the collision damage amongst attached tyres. Loose tyres have physically come off the car, meaning the car has lost that wheel.
For six wheeled vehicles, damage goes to the two front most tyres first, and only once they are destroyed or come loose does damage get to the nearest two tyres.
- Subtract remaining damage from internal components upto, but not including the driver
- Divide remaining damage in half for survival cell
- Driver component armour takes damage
- Divide remaining damage in half for drivers safety seat
- Divide remaining damage in half for drivers impact armour if present
- Gunner component armour takes damage
- Divide remaining damage in half for gunners safety seat if present
- Divide remaining damage in half for gunners impact armour if present
- Fuel tank takes damage
- Engine takes damage
- Other vehicle components take damage
- Roll to see if the rear tyres remain attached, and if so, they take damage
- Any further damage is inflicted on the rear armour
Rear location:
This is effectively as above, but the survival cell takes effect after the engine has been destroyed, but before the fuel tank takes damage.
Side location:
A side impact is handled similarly again. Roll for damage and subtract from the side armour. Once destroyed, roll to see if the side tyres remain intact or come loose (and in this circumstance, roll for all three side tyres if a six wheeled vehicle), and if they do, then they take damage. Once destroyed, side facing weapons take damage and then divide the remaining damage between the survival cell (which contains the driver, [gunner] and fuel tank), and every other item in the car that isn't a front, back, top or opposite facing weapon. Components not in the survival cell take damage normally, and any excess damage is transferred to the survival cell location. This is then halved for the survival cell, and then transferred to the crew (being halved again for the safety seat) and the fuel tank. Remaining damage is then transferred to opposite facing weapons, tyres and armour.
When an F1 car rolls due to some reason, it takes damage normally, but damage that would effect the crew or the fuel tank is halved as the survival cell distributes the impact.
Whenever the front or rear armour of a vehicle takes damage, there is a chance that the suspension of the vehicle will take damage, reducing the HC of the vehicle. Whenever the armour takes damage, consult the following chart:
| Armour location status | Damage roll |
|---|
| Half or less damage inflicted | NA |
| Greater than half, less than three quarters | 6 |
| Three quarters or more | 5,6 |
| All armour destroyed | Automatically
destroyed |
Collision damage: +1 to the die roll.
The damage roll is what must be rolled on 1d6 to get suspension damage inflicted on the vehicle. This damage equates to a -1 HC. Roll every time the vehicle takes damage to the front or rear, with there being no maximum damage that can be inflicted to the suspension.
Unlike normal cars, the spoiler and airdam of an F1 car are more susceptible to damage and have the ability to be destroyed before the armour of the car. Normal gunfire will not destroy the spoiler, but collision damage will.
The chance of this happening is the same as that of getting suspension damage. If the damage happens, then the spoiler or airdam falls off (producing an obstacle counter, and it is possible for the car to run over it's own airdam). The destruction of the spoiler or airdam will produce no extra damage to the cars armour, but the effects of the item lost will also be lost.
They can be replaced in the pits.
