Last Updated: 25th April, 2000
This section gives an attempt at actually gaming the entire Formula 1 race. It is not perfect in any means, has a lot of omissions and inaccuracies and requires some serious testing. What it is though, is hopefully a method of being able to game a race, using the counters and map only when the action actually requires it. As a result, most of the race will be done on bits of paper instead.
As well as the normal Car Wars gear, you will need a calculator and rough paper. Also, each player should have a bit of paper with the following columns on it:
| Car: | Base Rating: | Final Rating: | Fuel per Lap: |
| Lap | Distance | Position | Tyre Wear | Brake Wear | Fuel Used | Notes |
|---|
| 01 | | | | | | |
| 02 | | | | | | |
| 03 | | | | | | |
This sheet will be used to actually record a cars statistics around the circuit. As may be seen, the race is done lap by lap.
Before the race starts, certain statistics need to be recorded about the car and the track.
ALL STATISTICS SHOULD BE ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST NUMBER.
As you will have noticed, there are some things on the sheet that need to be filled in.
Lets go through them...
Base and Final Rating:
The way this system works, is by giving each car a rating based on it's performance and handling. This is added to the inches added on by the track to determine how far a car travels. The base rating is worked out as follows.
Take the maximum speed of the car, and then work out a percentage by adding all the following values together, and then add this to the cars speed.
| Acceleration: |
5 mph | -10% |
| 10 mph | -5% |
| 15 mph | -2.5% |
| 20 mph | +0% |
| 25 mph | +2.5% |
| 30 mph | +4% |
| 35 mph | +6% |
| Safe Braking: |
5 mph | -10% |
| 10 mph | -5% |
| 15 mph | -2.5% |
| 20 mph | +0% |
| 25 mph | +5% |
| HC: |
6 | +0% |
| 7 | +3% |
| 8 | +5% |
For example, a McLaren MP6-17/2 has a base rating of 239. It is worked out by having a top speed of 210 mph. This is modified by 14% (+6% for an acceleration of 35 mph, +5% for having a safe braking of 25 mph, and +3% HC for having an HC of 7 [Obviously this can change with tyre choice]). 210 +14$ = 239.4 rounded to 239.
The final rating of the car is the base rating divided by 5 and then adding the driver skill to the total. So the McLaren has a rating of 52 with a standard driver (239/5 = 48, +4 for the driver = 52).
It is important to know that during the game, this rating may change to battle damage.
Fuel per lap:
This is the amount of fuel that the car expends per lap, and is simply the length of the lap divided by the base MPG. So, using Silverstone as an example, it has a lap of some 2.660 mile. The McLaren has a base MPG of 3, so it's fuel per lap is 0.9 gallons per lap (round this number to the nearest tenth - this is an exception to the normal rounding rule).
Tyre and Brake Wear:
Unfortunately there is no easy way to work this out before the game begins. What I therefore recommend it, that on the second lap, ALL players work out their tyre and brake wear for the entire lap, and at the end of the lap (which is from the start/finish line to the start/finish line) the combined total of all players is added together and then the average worked out. These values should then be used as the brake and tyre wear for each player for the race. No, it's not perfect, and yes, it will change for each race (which is accurate).
About the only thing needed to work out for a circuit, is to determine the length of the circuit in Car Wars inches. Simply multiple the lap length (in miles) by 352, so Silverstone with it's circuit length of 2.660 miles has an inch length of 936.32 rounded to 936 inches.
Before you take over using this system, I strongly recommend playing at least two laps of a normal circuit via the normal Car Wars rules. This will include the start, some combat, and will start to sort out the order of the cars. It will also let you sort out the tyre and brake wear for the race. Remember to take away tyre and brake wear, and fuel used.
All tyre and brake wear is applied equally per tyre. Usually this will give a single value for the vehicle, but if the vehicle uses compact tyres, then it will have differing wear values for it's tyres. Also, battle damage will cause some tyres to wear out quicker than others. This should all be noted.
Once you've played two laps, continue playing until the last car has reached the start/finish line. At this point, count the amount of inches that each passed the start/finish by (the last car will have a value of zero). At this point, this system takes over.
Note that you can continue for more laps if desired, but due to the length of a circuit and the Car Wars system, you might not want to.
Now, go down to lap 3 on the car sheet, and add the length of the track in inches to the cars value. Next, add the cars final rating to this (modified as below), and then subtract the value of any pit stops the car makes that lap, and if the car was in combat and yielded, subtract 20. Record this final value. The lap is now over, so subtract tyre and brake wear, and fuel used.
At this point, the car with the highest score is in the lead. If two cars are within 10 inches of each other, they may initiate combat if desired. It two cars pass each other, they may also initiate combat. In this case, if the slower valued car wins, then the higher totalled cars value is reduced to 12 below the lower valued car.
Note that due to the nature of the system, yielding and pit stops are worked out for the turn after the event.
This system takes no account of passing lapped cars at all. As combat cannot occur between lapped cars, this isn't important.
A cars rating can be modified by how reckless the driver wishes to go. They may drive normally around the track, they may push the car, or they may drive flat out. While the two later options give the car a modifier to their rating, it does have some chance of risk.
If a driver pushes their car, then their final rating is multiplied by 1.25.
If a driver goes flat out, then their final rating is multiplied by 1.5
Then roll on the following control table.
| Die roll | Effect |
|---|
| 2-7 | No effect |
| 8 | Slight judder!
Lose 1d6 inches |
| 9 | Slight skid!
Lose 2d6 inches |
| 10 | Miss the corner!
Lose 2d6*5 inches, take 1d6 tyre wear and 1d3 underbody damage |
| 11 | Lock the brakes!
Lose 1d6*10 inches, take 1d6 tyre wear and 2d6 brake wear |
| 12 | Something dodgy happens!
Lose 2d6*10 inches*, take 2d6 tyre wear and 1d6 brake wear |
| 13 | Spin!
Losed 3d6*10 inches*, 2d6 tyre wear and 1d6 brake wear |
| 14 | Into the gravel pit!
Lose 4d6*10 inches*, take 1d3 underbelly damage, 2d6 tyre wear and 1d6 brake wear |
| 15+ | Spin Off!
Out of the game |
A '*' signifies that you don't add any final rating at all, and instead just lose points.
Modifiers:
+1 if the driver is pushing
+3 if the driver is going flat out
+4 if the weather is stormy
+2 if the weather is heavy rain
+1 if the weather is light rain
Pit stops take a huge time chunk out of a cars performance, and this is worked out as follows:
Work out the normal time for a pit stop (not worrying at all about unscheduled stops), and then multiply this time (in seconds) by 10. Then add 165 and subtract the total from the cars inches that lap.
So for example, the McLaren has had a falling out with a Ferrari and pits. The stop takes 21.2 seconds. This equates to a rating subtraction of 377 (21.2*10+165 = 377).
Then continue for each other lap until you have a winner!
This is the bit that is very unclear at the moment. Reasons should become obvious...
Combat set-up consists of a couple of steps:
- Choose the location
Interesting one this, how do you determine where the cars are on the circuit? The car behind will be 10 inches behind the faster.
- Choose speeds
This will fall into place depending on where the car is on the circuit. If on a straight, then simply choose your speed. If around a corner, choose a speed for that corner. This can be accomplished by looking at the real F1 tracks (which has speeds and gears listed for each corner), and choosing a similar speed.
- Choose HC
Again, another interesting one this, although once a speed and location has been determined, hopefully this will fall into place.
- Engage in combat!
There.
This does seem more like an exercise in using a calculator than actually having fun, but something like this has to be done to get the positions of the cars. Horrible I know, but it might work.
Still, it's based heavily on TurboFire by Aaron Alston, and that worked...
