Pyramid #30

Norman McMullen sends in this report from the 2048 NOVA Club Championship:

2048 Nova Club Championship
The NOVA diehards assembled, after a few false starts, at the Aksarben Arena for the 2048 Club Championship. The Division 20 duel was attended by Don Jacques, Adrian Shipley, Norman McMullen and Mike Garrity.

Starting speeds set at 30 mph, the four duellists entered the arena floor. Adrian had a bead on Mike and fired two turreted MMLs, inflicting minor damage. Mike replied with three vehicular grenade launchers. The grenades, equipped with impact fuses, took out Adrian's front tires, turning him into a mobility kill for Mike.

Don fired his RRs at Norman, missing him. Norman replied with a BC round, doing moderate damage. Adrian fired his MMLs at Mike again, doing slight damage. After receiving a resounding "no" to his call for surrender, Mike pulled up to Adrian's right side, firing four incendiary HRs into the immobilized vehicle. The armor was breached and a fire broke out in the vehicle's interior. Meanwhile, Norman's second BC round missed Don, while Don hit Norman's front, doing minor damage.

Mike rounded the central jump, narrowly avoiding a shot fired by Norman. In a moment Don and Norman were in the process of passing each other. Mike took the opportunity, firing his GLs at a spot between Don and Norman. Tires were shredded, and Don and Norman slid to a halt. Don fired his left-mounted MFR into Norman, doing slight damage. Mike circled the two immobilized duellists, awaiting the outcome to see who would emerge in second place.

Adrian's car exploded, the fire having reached the incendiary rounds in the MML magazines. Don's driver got out of his car and proceeded to Norman's vehicle. Since Norman had no hand weapons he surrendered, preferring to take third place.

Standings:
1st - Mike Garrity (3 Mobility Kills)
2nd - Don Jacques (was a mobility kill)
3rd - Norman McMullen (was a mobility kill, surrendered)
4th - Adrian Shipley (killed)
Cars:
Jawbreaker
(Garrity): Luxury, x-hvy chassis, hvy suspension, large power plant w/SCs, 4 SBPR tires, driver, 3 GLs w/impact-fused explosive grenades linked front, 4 incendiary HRs linked right w/blow-through concealment, targeting computer. Sloped armor: F70, L45, R45, B40, T2, U3. Accel. 5, top speed 90, HC 3; 6,560 lbs., $19,988.

Mystic Motors 2044 Centaur MFR variant (Jacques): Luxury, x-hvy. chassis, hvy. suspension, large power plant with SC, 4 PR tires, driver, 2 linked RRs front with HESH ammo, MFR left, MFR right, FT with HT fuel rear, targeting computer. Sloped armor: F54, L45, R45, B40, T8, U10. Accel. 5, top speed 90, HC 3; 6,595 lbs., $18,544.

Fightblaster C (McMullen): Mid-size, x-hvy chassis, hvy suspension, large power plant, 4 solid tires, driver, BC w/HESH ammo front, HRSWC, streamlining. Sloped metal/plastic armor: F18/20, L7/18, R7/18, B7/19, T0/3, U0/3. Accel. 5, top speed 100, HC 3; 5,758 lbs., $17,885.

Mamba (Shipley): Mid-size, x-hvy chassis, hvy suspension, large power plant, 4 PR radial tires, driver, 2 linked MMLs w/rotary magazines in turret (ammo in each is 1/2 AP and 1/2 Incendiary), dual-weapon magazine w/2 magazine switches (standard ammo), HRSWC, 10 points of FPCA for driver. Sloped armor: F60, L50, R50, B55, T30, U10 with 2 10-point wheelguards rear, 2 10-point wheelhubs front. Accel. 5, top speed 92.5, HC 4; 5,710 lbs., $19,238.

In this year's NOVA Club Championship, Mike's Jawbreaker design brings up questions on grenades and tire shots. The "no tire shot" rule is meant to stop aimed tire shots. Grenade launchers, by design, are indirect fire weapons, and fall outside the rule. However, Mike's use of grenade launchers in the championship will make you think twice. Thanks to impact fuses, and using three launchers, Mike got an average damage result of 10.5 points - to armor and tires. In essence, with impact fuses, grenade launchers are turned into aimed bomb throwers.

The only thing that makes the grenade launcher a tire-eater is the impact fuses. Without those fuses, the grenade launcher reverts to its balanced, and appropriately random, function. In NOVA, the impact fuse will be banned from arena combat.

RadCon 2B Results
PASCO, WA - "Lara Hill has been clocked at 135 miles per hour as she races around the back side and seems to be aiming for Frank Bonnin," said Death Racing Association of Washington (DRAW) announcer "Blazen" Bob Eastwood.

"And Paul Theis is chasing his opponent toward Dave 'Fuzz' Adams. Oh! Theis is out of luck as the man called Seth has hit the wall and taken himself out of the competition," added announcer Fritz Bedard.

"We are down to three cars here at the final round of the DRAW RadCon tournament in sunny Pasco, Washington, and it is looking to be Bonnin's year as he . . . Ouch! Hill has t-boned Bonnin at 135 miles per hour!" said Eastwood.

"You know that has got to hurt."

With the final ram in the Division 30 final round, the RadCon 2B DRAW tournament came to an end with Frank "The Vulture" Bonnin winning the championship honor with two kills, followed by Lara "Squirrel's Revenge" Hill coming in second place, with her only kill being the champion, and John "The Boy" Theis with no kills, but enough points to secure third place.

DRAW used three qualifying rounds of dueling taking the top four finishers and seeding them into the final round. From 36 contestants, 12 were moved to the final round of play for the top three championship places. The tournament drew players from around the state and the Spokane AADA chapter SWARM attended as part of a chapter challenge issued by DRAW. Tournament scoring gave points for destroying an opponent's mobility, firepower and their driver, with one extra point for a gunner if there was one. There were extra points awarded for jumps and hitting targets in the air depending on the arena. For a player to receive a "kill" sticker, they had to have scored two of the three points associated with a vehicle.

Every round of the tournament was held using Micro Machines at a scale of 150% of normal. All of the arenas used were three-dimensional with one being the Castle, the second being a home design called the "Dragon" and the final held on a 3-D rendition of the "Moscow Suicide Slide" from the Sony Playstation game "Twisted Metal 2."

- Bill Stevenson

RoPeCon Competition
This report works its way to us from far-off Finland:

We ran the game on all three convention days. It was planned especially for newcomers, with ready-made designs (Division 20) and an overall free-for-all style. The action was fast and furious and the game won many new friends.

One of the highlights of the weekend happened, when, after devastating driving, only two cars were left on the field. The drivers first blasted each other's power plants to pieces, immobilizing both cars, but after that spent all their ammo with no results. Finally they jumped out of their cars and went into a brawl to sort out the winner.

We also got some prizes (AADA pins and Car Wars games) from the RoPeCon staff to give to the best players.

- Aleksi Salokannel


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