[2nd draft, updated: 13th July, 1999.]
This is a set of notes for running a combat season. It consists of several sections, but is relatively easy.
It is based on elements of real motor racing, but that's very limited as my knowledge of these things is very slight, and anyway, this isn't real. yet.
Before the season can begin some basic notes and ground rules need to be layed out.
A season consists of 16 (different) races in 16 countries. Each race is two weeks apart in game time on the average.
Ideally there should be sufficient maps to allow for one map per country, although provided that there are at least two (and there should be if you have the game!) then as long as these maps are alternated so that the same one isn't used twice in a row, there isn't a problem.
There is no set order for maps. Choose which country to visit, or which area as you like, however before the season does start the order of maps should be made available to all players with any set ground rules (like if dropped weapons are allowed, or whatever). Different sets of ground rules can be applied for different maps so long as it is clear to all players involved which rules are being used for which map.
Once a season starts the map order or ground rules may not change without all the players approval. Unless stated otherwise, all Formula Dé rules (with the optional rules concerning weather, slipstreaming, construction and so on) apply, as do all the Combat Racing rules (although the variant rules should be decided beforehand).
All races should be 3 laps.
Team Construction:
Each team gets an initial 250 points to build their team and gain their drivers.
The only limits to this are that there must be a minimum of 3 cars and 2 drivers, and no car may have more than 40 points spent on it.
Drivers cost 10 points each.
The team doesn't have to be constructed until the season maps and ground rules have been determined and shown to all players. This allows custom designs for specific maps or team tactics to come into play.
Vehicles must conform to the standard rules (with any ground rules as has been decided), and each has a limit of 40 points. If a car costs less than 40 points, then the remainder may be used as wear points in the race. If this is to happen it must be decided now, and will effect all future races. Do not include the free +2 wear points for the pits in this total. Note that it is important to for a car cost to be determined along with excess wear points available for that car. For example, a car that costs 35 points with no excess wear points for pit stops costs 35 points, but a car that is built for 35 points and has an additional 5 points for pits stops costs 40 points. Once a car is built and the points cost is determined, it may never be made greater than this later on if it is modified at all.
A car that is built with fewer than 40 wear points, but saves the rest for pit stops, doesn't count the points saved for the pits when determining the performance of that car. For example, a car that costs 35 points, but also has 5 points saved for pit stops(thus costing a total of 40 points) would be ladened for performance purposes (as per the 35 points of the car cost), not overweight.
Any points not spent can be saved and used for modifications between races (see later) or for purchasing new drivers. It may even be used for designing new cars during a race, although see later for full rules on this. Once the amount of cars has been chosen and their point totals decided, it may not be changed later.
Not much team information needs to be stored between races, but the name, races entered and points that the team has should be recorded in addition to what vehicles, drivers and points left after construction are available.
Yellow Hill example team:
The Yellow Hill team is a starting team new to the world of Combat Formula One. As such, it starts with 250 points, and decides to buy some cars from the stock list detailed in the Formula One section.
It buys the following items:
| Item | Points |
|---|
| Speedster car + 10 wear points [car cost 35 points] | 35 points |
| Pulsar car | 40 points |
| Mercury car + 5 wear points [car cost 40 points] | 40 points |
| Mercury car + 5 wear points [car cost 40 points] | 40 points |
| 3 drivers | 30 points |
| Total: | 185 points |
This leaves the team 65 points for car modifications, driver replacements and such during the course of the season.
Drivers:
Each driver has some basic characteristics that need to be recorded during the season.
While the amount of these characteristics may be as long and evolved as you wish, the following is a good start.
| Driver Name | Nationality | Team | Points Total | Amount of
Races entered | Races Completed | | Vehicle Kills | Amount of
Pole Positions |
|---|
For a race, each team must select two drivers and three cars which it will use. Two cars are the racing cars which the drivers will use, and the third is the reserve or 'T' car. A driver must be selected for a specific car at this time.
Once everyone has made their selection, this may not be changed until the next race. There is no limit to the amount of races that a driver and car may participate in in succession, and a car and driver may be used in as many or as few races as possible. There is also no requirement that a driver has to use a specific car for each race either.
The Cars:
Each car may be up to 40 points in cost (excluding the driver, but including any body armour). If the car is not 40 points, then the remainder may be used as wear points for pit stops, but doesn't have to have this if the remaining points were used for the team instead. If a car does cost 40 points, then it is still allowed the +2 wear points for the pits free (and indeed, all vehicles get this).
Trials:
Use whatever method you prefer - the timed trial lap or by rolling a d20 or whatever.
However this is done determines the pole position and starting positions for all cars.
After the Trials:
After the trails, the team have a chance to reflect on the performance of the car on the track and can attempt to make some subtle changes. At this point, all teams are allowed to make changes to their car at the limit of 1 point changes to Brakes, Tyres
The Race Proper:
Just before the race starts proper, roll 1D20 for each car (including the reserve car). On a 20, that car is knocked out of the race due to some mechanical/technical fault. The driver must use the reserve car. If both cars are knocked out, the team enters the race short. If the reserve car also doesn't make it, then bad luck.
Kills:
A vehicle is considered killed when it is eliminated by weapons fire. Vehicles destroyed by dropped weapons are not considered kills, neither are vehicles that are eliminated by driver recklessness.
Driver Injury due to Accidents:
If a vehicle is eliminated because of Bodywork damage or overshooting a corner and lacking more than three Tire Points, then the player of that car should roll a 1D20. Add 1 if the car was in fourth gear, 2 if the car was in fifth gear, or 4 if the car was in sixth gear. On a 20, the driver has received some damage equalling the roll of a 1st gear die.
Destructon of a Car:
Cars are made tough - they have to be. However there is only so much damage that a vehicle may take before it is destroyed completely.
(Note that an eliminated car (and maybe a vehicle kill) is not necessarily a Destroyed car for repair purposes).
A car is considered destroyed and unrepairable (and therefore never to be used again) when any of the following conditions occur:
- All Bodywork points are destroyed
- The car was destroyed by an engine explosion (due to fire)
If a car skids off the track and is eliminated, then there is a chance that the skid may cause damage to the vehicle. If the amount of types lost would have been greater than three, then roll 1D20. Add 1 if the car was in fourth gear, 2 if the car was in fifth gear, or 4 if the car was in sixth gear. On a 21+ the car is considered to have been severely damaged enough to have been destroyed completely. Any other result means that some damage might have been scored but is repairable.
Once the race has finished certain things need to be determined, these are:
State of Wounded Drivers:
Drivers that were reduced to zero hits are dead. They cannot be revived and are out of the game. .
Other drivers can be 'mended' (so to speak), but this takes time. Roll a 1st Gear die for each driver that was wounded in the race. The amount rolled is the number of races that the driver must miss, starting from the next race.
This is where replacement drivers come in!
If playing in a Car Wars type campaign, then the time taken for a new clone to be activated and become available for a race is
Points Scored:
Driver Points: Points are awarded to the first sixth drivers that finish the race, with a supplemento based on the kills that the driver has scored.
| 1st place: | 10 points |
| 2nd place: | 6 points |
| 3rd place: | 4 points |
| 4th place: | 3 points |
| 5th place: | 2 points |
| 6th place: | 1 point |
+1 point per kill scored by the driver
A driver who doesn't finish a race will get no points, regardless of how many people actually finished the race. You have to cross the finish line in a car that can move, with a living driver to be eligible for points.
Team Points: A team also receives points equalling the points scored by its drivers (without kill points).
Car Repair:
Cars that were not destroyed can be considered repaired and fully armed by the next race.
Car Modification:
There are some times when a car is not as perfect as it could be, or when certain tactics just aren't working and a series of modifications need to be made to a car. Differing race circuits sometimes require changes to a car as well.
A certain amount of modification is possible, although at a cost and probably not to the degree that a player may want.
The following aspects of a car may be modified between races:
- Tyres
- Brakes
- Fuel
- Handling
- Engine
- Bodywork
- Weapons
- Armour
- Accessories
Any modification made to a car costs a number of points from the teams initial construction total to make regardless of how many points change in the car itself.
For example, to change a cars braking by 1 point, costs 1 point from the teams construction total. To change a cars brakes by 1 point upwards, and to decrease a cars fuel by 1 point costs 2 points.
There is effectively no limit to the amount of changes that can be made to a car after a race, but the more changes that are made, the more expensive it will get, and a team that didn't save any points at the beginning of a season will find itself at a potential disadvantage if it wants to make changes later on.
The other limit is that a car may not exceed 40 points or whatever cost the car was initially made at, ever, although modifications may be made to make a car lighter or heavier if the cars cost included wear points for pit stops.
If a car is made lighter, then the points shaved off may be used as wear points (received free) for future games. If a cars weight is increased, then wear points must be subtracted from the pit stops so that a car only ever weighs a maximum of 40 points.
New Drivers:
If a team has lost all or some of its drivers, then provided the team has some initial points left over, they may attempt to buy more.
There is only ever a finite amount of drivers available at any one time, and other commitments can make this number fluctuate widely between races.
When teams need to get new drivers, all teams wanting new drivers get together, and a single 2nd gear die is thrown. The amount on the die is the amount of drivers that are available for contracts. If the amount of drivers equals or exceeds the amount of drivers wanted, then each driver can be bought for 10 points each.
If however, there are less drivers than required, then each team will have to bid for the driver. Bids start at 10 points, and each player wanting a driver may add any amount of increment as they want, depending on how desperate they are for drivers. Bids will continue until there is only one player who can afford to buy the driver, and they must pay the full cost, which can get expensive. While a player may attempt to increase the price for a driver by bidding when they don't actually have any intention of buying, a player may not bid if the current bid is more than they can afford.
Each driver should be bided for in turn, and all new drivers will start with no points or score of any type.
A team with no drivers must sit out the next race when the option for buying new drivers will come around again. If a team cannot afford to buy any drivers, then they are out of the season unless another team will load them one. If this happens, then all points generated by that driver will go to the team that the driver is loaned to, not the team loaning.
At the end of the season, the driver with the most points is the winning driver and the team with the most points is the winning team.
Teams and drivers may win the overall season even if they were killed, or all cars destroyed during the races by virtue of having a higher points total than anyone else. Of course, as soon as the last driver is killed, or the last car is destroyed then a team may not continue to gain points.
This section details some additional points that are considered optional, and thus to be used with all players consent.
Gunners are a mote point in Formula One combat racing, some players allow them, some don't. If you do decide to use them, then the following points should be used.
All gunners cost 5 points a piece. They may not use extra driver controls to pilot the car should the driver get killed.
If damaged, they recover as drivers do, and if they are killed, then use all the rules for replacement drivers, but an additional die is thrown to see how many gunners are available for contract. Gunner bids start at 5 points.
A car never has to have a gunner if players are using gunner rules, and only a single gunner is allowed per car.
Gunners aren't as important as drivers are, and thus a gunner doesn't need to record as much information as a driver does.
| Gunner Name | Nationality | Team | Points Total | Amount of
Races entered | Races Completed | | Vehicle Kills |
|---|
The only way for a gunner to get points is to score kills, and they get 1 point per kill that they score.
NOTE: With drivers and gunners being able to score kills, it is important to separate the points out, and thus a driver will only get the additional points for kills if they themselves score the kill, not the gunner.
If using the optional skill levels, then the following additions need to be included.
A starting Driver (or gunner) skills ratings are bought from the initial team points, and not from the car construction points, at a cost of 1 point per point of rating per skill. Starting levels should be limited to the Champion experience level of the randomised skill level table, but players are free to buy whatever actual levels they desire.
Hangunner skill is not required (unless you want bloody games!), but team skill is.
Drivers and gunners (and teams!) should be able to gain experience if they survive.
When buying new drivers and gunners, the actual skill ratings of the people are required to be known, and thus before any purchasing is done, a die should be rolled for each skill that the person knows (for a driver this is driver and gunner skill), and thus they will potentially have differing levels of experience for each skill. The cost of the person is now 5 + an amount equalling the total of all skill ratings, with a minimum of 10 points for a driver, and 5 for a gunner.
For example, a replacement driver rolls a 13 for driver skill, and a 4 for gunner skill, giving a driver skill pool of 4, and gunner skill level of 1. The cost for this person is now an initial 10 points (5 + 4 + 1). A champion driver (driver 10, gunner 4) will cost 19 points.
Optional - Starting amount of Drivers/Gunners: As there are only ever a certain amount of drivers and gunners, you may want to roll 1d20 for the amount of gunners, and a further 1d20 for the amount of gunners available before the season starts. Then all skill ratings should be worked out before the game begins, and then these drivers and gunners are all that are available during the season, but any may be purchased at any time, although if two people declare their interest in one player, bids should be made with an initial starting total equalling the cost of the desired player.
Optional - Driver and Gunner substitution: With combat fatalities and injuries abounding usually in combat racing, a team may end up with a surplus of gunners and no drivers, or vice versa. Usually a driver drives and shoots, while a gunner only shoots, and in a Formula One car, this can't be changed during the race, but if the above situation occurs, then if all players agree, gunners may be allowed to drive the cars, or the drivers may be allowed to shoot. If this happens, then that driver/gunner uses their skill levels (as normal), but they must have their own points totals and scores. You can find a gunner turning into an experienced driver by the end of the season!
The only thing to watch with this rule, is that a player short in funds may start buying cheap low skilled gunners to act as drivers.
Usually pit stops are no combat zones, and usually this is quite a good thing, but sometimes the rules have been relaxed to allow combat between cars and pit crews, and sometimes pit crews and pit crews!
This can create some bloody games!
Cars vs. Pit crews:: When cars come into the pit lanes, they are still targets by other cars, but only cars that are also in the pit lane! They are also targets for other pit crews, and pit crews are also targets back...
The Golden Rule: A stationary car in the pits, is not a target, and may not be fired upon at all! If the car moves, then it is a target, but when it has stopped for it's pit stop, it is not a target, although the pit crew are.
This is quite important, as with the amount of teams in the pit lanes, a car can potentially accumulate a lot of damage quickly!
Firing at the pit crew is treated as firing at any other target. Roll to hit, and then roll the damage, but the damage is treated as a + modifier to all future pit stop rolls. If this ever gets to +20, then the pit crew is all considered dead and buried and a car may not make any further pit stops.
When the pit crew shoot at a car, they are treated as pedestrians firing SMG's as standard. A crew may make a number of attacks equalling the roll of a 2nd gear die, with a -1 per full +5 damage modifier that they have received. This signifies the fact that the crew have a job to do and attacking cars is opportunity fire.
A pit crew that attacks in the turn that it also does a pit stop, gets an additional pit stop roll modifier of +2 per attack.
Pit crews vs. pit crews: Sometimes crews just want to kill each other and sod the race. In this case, each turn the pit crew may make an amount of attacks equalling the role of a 2nd gear die, with a -1 per full +5 damage modifier that they have received. These attacks may be split against one pit team, or another. All range bonuses apply unless the pit crew sortie, in which case every five members that sortie gives one attack, and moves at 1 square per turn. While away from the pit, the remaining crew have a + modifier to the pit stop roll equalling however members are away.
Any damage inflicted on pit crews is treated as + modifier to the pit stop roll.
A pit crew that attacks in the turn that it also does a pit stop, gets an additional pit stop roll modifier of +2 per attack.
Upgraded pit crew weapons: A pit crew has effectively a maximum of four attacks. Thus, they may buy four weapons, each of which upgrades one SMG. This costs the full amount of an upgraded weapon (thus a potable minigun costs 1.5 points), all of which is subtracted from the teams initial points cost. No weapon may be downgraded for a saving in points. The owning player may choose which weapon is used in any attack.
Actual pedestrians! These pit stop crew rules are deliberately simplified and abstract, and the cars are the stars of the race, but if desired, the full pedestrian rules may be used, in which case the pit crew consists of 20 people, all of which are hideously cross trained so that any can do any job. All are initially armed with heavy pistols, and there are four SMG's. All extra gear must be bought. All combat and damage is handled as regular pedestrians, and each casualty or member that isn't in the pit lanes gives a +1 modifier to the pit stop roll. Every pedestrian may make an attack, but every one that does so may not participate in a pit stop, and thus there is a +1 modifier to the pit stop roll.
Pit stop crew have an initial handgunner skill of 0, and it is probably recommended that if the full pedestrian rules are used, the initial points total is increased by about 50 points. This is actually a very small amount, and should symbolise that you don't always want your pit crew killed, and if you do, you're in trouble!
Buying extra pit crew: With the casualties about to occur, a pit crew will have to be revamped every so often. It costs 1 point to replace 1 pit crew, and they will be armed with heavy pistols as standard (if the full pedestrian rules are used), or with enough SMG's to make four basic attacks. If the full pedestrian rules are used, then additional points may be spent to increase the handgunner skill and weapons of the crew.
