TSAR (Tri-State Auto Rally) held a Div 30 team duel on Sunday, May 19^th, 2052. The Division 30 event was played in the Double Drum Arena.

Players in attendance included: Curt Lindmark, Jeff Dodge, Joe Reynolds, Jill Bialy

It was decided prior to the match that to spice things up, each player would enter two division 30 vehicles. In order to preserve a sense of fairness, each player would have a car randomly gated in one half or the other of the double drum, to prevent one player from having two cars in the same half. In the process of assigning gates, both Jeff and Curt had their cars “adjacent” to each other. To further insure fairness, each car in the tunnel was obligated to turn left, thereby putting four cars in each half of the arena.

Victory conditions were twice normal: 160 points starts the 5 second clock, with an instant win at 200 (5 full kills).

The cars were as follows:

Curt: Car 1: TEC MK III (Tail End Charlie Mark III): Luxury, X-hvy-chassis, hvy suspension, 200 CI ICE w/ VP Turbo, 5 gallon dueling tank, driver, 4 solid radials. 5 AP HR, one normal HR blow-through concealed, linked and bumper triggered front, FCE, FOJ and SD with incid ammo concealed, linked and bumper triggered rear, sand discharger front and under. IFE, 2 10 pt wheel guards, 4 10 pt wheel hubs, 2 links, spoiler/airdam, ramplate, driver wears body armor. Armor is F50(ram), L/R/B 35, T10, U16.Accel 10, TS 75, $29995, 6600 pounds.[See Editor’s note]

Car 2: Brimstone: Luxury, X-hvy-chassis, hvy suspension, large electric w/ SC, driver and gunner, 4 solid radials. 6 LMGs with incid ammo (10 shots each) linked mounted right, sand discharger front, sitckyfoam/flame cloud discharger pairs left and right, flaming oil discharger rear, 2 sand dischargers under. Fake ramplate, HD brakes, HD Shocks, HRSWC, FE, 3 links (pairs of side dischargers, LMGs), 4 bumper triggers, snow tires, 20 pt wheel guards, 40 pt wheel hubs, spoiler/airdam, HTM. 10 pts CA around driver, gunner, PP (3 sets), 2 sets body armor. Armor is F30, L20, R 3M/50P, rear 20, top 10, under 12. Accel 5/10(HTM), TS 90/67.5(HTM), $29965, 6600 pounds.

Jeff: Car 1: Edam Cheese: Mid, hvy chassic, hvy suspension, 150 CI ICE w/ VP turbo, 5 gallon dueling tank, driver, 4 solid radials. 2 oil dischargers, 3 ice dischargers, one pyrophoric oil discharger, spoiler/airdam, 2 5 pt wheel guards, 2 5 pt wheel hubs, 3 bumper triggers, anti-lock brakes, HD Shocks, 4 links, ramplate, SWC (on a ram car??), snow tires, active suspension, no-paint windshield (again, on a ram car???), 10pts component armor around driver, PP, gas tank (3 sets), body armor, PFE. Armor is: F10M/50P (ram), L/R: 35, B36, T5, U10. Accel 10, TS 72.5 $29,911, 5273 pounds.

Car 2: Swiss Cheese: Sedan, streamlining, hvy chassis, hvy suspension, 150 CI ICE w/ VP turbo, 5 gallon dueling tank, 4 steel belted PR radial tires, driver. 3 machine guns right (20 shots) linked, 2 ice dischargers, 2 pyrophoric oil dischargers, 2 stickyfoam dischargers, sand discharger. HRSWC, 2 5 pt wheel guards, 2 5 pt wheel hubs, HD Shocks, active suspension, 10 links, 4 bumper triggers. 10 pts CA on right MGs, 10 pts CA on driver. Body armor, PFE. Armor is: F/B 10M/5P, L/R 10M/4P, T1, U1. Accel 10, TS 77.5 $29885, 5610 pounds.

Jill brought two identical cars: Jill’s Mid NNN (No Name Needed): Mid, x-hvy chassis, hvy suspension, large electric PP, driver, 2 solid tires, 2 steel belted PR tires. Two lasers linked right, sand discharger front, ice/flame cloud discharger pair left, ice/flaming oil discharger right, ice discharger rear, HTM, HRSWC, 3 5 pt hubs, 2 10 pt guards, snow tires, 4 bumper triggers, 10 pt CA on driver, 5 pts CA on PP, body armor, PFE. Armor 190 pts normal plastic. $29965, 5760 pounds.

Joe: Car 1: Joe Sedan NNN (No Name Needed): Sedan: X-hvy chassis, hvy suspension, large electric w/ PC, driver, 2 solid tires, 2 steel belted PR tires, 2 incid rocket launchers linked right, HDFCE and HDSS w/ tear gas loads linked left, sand discharger front, ice dischargers right, left, back, flaming oil discharger right, HTM, HD shocks, 4 8 pt wheel hubs, 2 10 pt wheel guards, 2 fake wheel guards, HRSWC, weapon timer, 4 bumper triggers, snow tires. Body armor, PFE, gas mask.

Joe’s Car 2: Joe Pickup NNN (No Name Needed): Pickup, hvy chassis, hvy suspension, 150 CI ICE w/ VP Turbo, 5 gallon HD gas tank, 2 solid tires, 2 steel belted PR tires, driver. 4 incendiary rocket launchers right, sand discharger front, ice discharger left, right, back, flaming oil discharger left, flame cloud discharger right, spoiler/airdam, HRSWC, 7 pt wheel hubs front, 7 pt wheel guards back, 2 fake wheel guards front, 2 fake wheel hubs back, 4 bumper triggers, HD Shocks, snow tires, 227 pts armor, gas mask, body armor, portable fire extinguisher. HC 2, Accel 10, TS 60, $29612, 7121 pounds.

In the right half, Jill’s Mid NNN (No Name Needed) number 1, Joe’s Sedan NNN, Edam Cheese and TEC MK III came roaring out of the gates. Joe turned towards Curt until he realized that yes, that really was a ramplate. Discretion got the better part of valor, and Joe turned away, leaving Jill to fall victim to a ram. Just prior to impact, Jill sheered off Curt’s front left tire with a point-blank twin laser hit. However, Curt was not to be denied, and a 110 mph ram, plus 6 concealed bumper-triggered AP heavy rockets, spelled the deathknell for Jill’s Car 1. Joe sought out greener pastures in the other half of the arena, and Edam Cheese was unable to arrange a tidy collision with the well-used but still intact TEC MK III, and after dropping flaming oil in Curt’s path, followed after Joe.

In the left half, Brimstone, Jill’s NNN 2, Joe’s Pickup NNN and Swiss Cheese roared to life, with all four cars having right mounted weaponry, but only three of them entering into a counter-clockwise circle. The fourth, Swiss Cheese, was soon to become it.

Jeff and Joe pass within point blank range, and a triple MG salvo from Jeff shears off Joe’s front right tire, causing handling difficulties that would, indirectly, spell his eventual doom. Joe returns fire with an incendiary rocket salvo and fails to penetrate the metal, but manages to remove some of the outer layer in the process. The next turn, Joe hits Jeff in the back, damaging the plastic under the metal and causing a fire mod. Jill hits Jeff in the side with her lasers, also damaging the plastic under the metal. Brimstone targets the front left tire instead, shearing it off and also adding a fire mod. In the end, Jeff needed to roll over 14 on two dice not to be on fire. The only question was, who was responsible? The dice came up that Curt added the needed amount.

The next turn, Jill shoots again, this time at the front right, getting a mobility kill and stealing a half kill from Curt! Well done, Jill! (minus half kill for Jeff)

The next turn, the fire forced an explosion, killing Jeff’s driver and awarding the other half to Curt (again, minus half kill for Jeff). [See Editor’s Note below] In the mean time, Joe was having control problems from his loss of a tire, and chooses what has become the Paint Scratch Maneuver (PSM). Because of the unique nature of the Double Drum arena, an initial sideswipe with the outer wall allows a car to be conformed without speed loss, damage, or handling points used to turn around nearly the entire circumference of one of the two drums. Due to Joe’s low speed, Curt was able to light up the side of the pickup truck and cause a fire mod, setting Joe on fire. Two turns later, struggling with a portable fire extinguisher, the fire causes Joe’s pickup to explode, a full kill for Curt, minus full kill for Joe. Jill is also tagged by the incendiary bullets, and burns for one turn, before her fire extinguisher saves her…for now.

As this happens, Joe’s Sedan enters the left half, soon to be followed by Jeff’s Edam Cheese. Joe turns left as Jeff turns right. Curt follows Joe around the track and gets hit on the front from Joe’s incendiary rocket launchers (only two this time), but manages to avoid getting hit by Jill’s lasers. As Curt follows Joe counterclockwise around the track, Jill drives into the narrow alleyway and Jeff enters a clockwise rotation, again. This time, however, it pays off. Joe leaves long streams of flameclouds (and unbeknownst to us all, tear gas as well), he turns sharply to avoid a T-bone and spins out, leaving himself open for a T-bone nonetheless. Joe continues to spin, slamming into the far wall. Full kill for Jeff, minus full kill for Joe. Curt finds that going through one flamecloud is better than the mess in the corner, and chooses the past of least resistance, scratching the paint but losing all of his dischargers [See Editor’s Note] . Jeff, having been thoughtfully slowed down from the collision with Joe, turns sharply and accelerates, close behind but being outdistanced by Curt.

Meanwhile…

Jill’s Car 2 enters the narrow alleyway connecting the two halves, where she seeks to exact revenge of her fallen comrade on the body of the TEC MK III. And avenge she does! A twin laser shot shears off the back left tire, and the TEC MK III grinds to a halt, just one degree short of forcing a rear-end and leaving Jill to try to survive a flame cloud, incendiary spike and flaming oil combination. Instead, Jill sideswipes the TEC MK III back into its own unholy mess, leaving the car to repeatedly take damage often enough to ensure the driver’s sad demise (mainly because bailing out of a car isn’t allowed…sheesh). Full kill for Jill, minus fill kill for Curt.

Now there are three.

Jill is in the far corner, circling, as Curt heads to the left and Jeff heads to the right. This time, Jeff pays for it. A salvo of incendiary machine gun bullets light up Jeff’s car, causing a fire, and (you guessed it!) cause him to explode! Full kill for Curt, minus full kill for Jeff. Curt and Jill start to circle each other. Curt maneuvers into Jill’s back arc for a clean shot, lights her up, breaches her rear armor, sets her on fire….and she doesn’t explode!! However, the additional turn of fire damage destroys her lasers. She’s weaponless, but not a kill under any definition. The next turn, her breached armor beckons for another salvo, and it is not left waiting long. The last salvo shreds the cockpit, leaving a fiery mess behind. Full kill Curt, minus full kill Jill.

The final standings:

Curt: 127 points: (3 full kills, one sixth kill, being killed once)

Jill: -13 points (one full kill, one half kill, one sixth kill, being killed twice)

Jeff: -40 points (full kill, being killed twice)

Joe: -73 points (one sixth kill, being killed twice each)

[Editor’s Note: When multiple fire mods are inflicted on a single vehicle, when the fire roll is failed and the car is on fire, only if a single fire mod would be sufficient would the credit for the fire be attributed to a single player. In the case of Swiss Cheese, all three fire mods were required, so the half kill should be split three ways. The scores have been modified accordingly. Also, flame clouds do not automatically destroy dischargers, but require the standard 1/6 chance like normal weapons fire. Upon further inspection, the wreckage of the TEC MK III was measured not to have sufficient fuel to qualify under AADA rules. The design engineer, as well as the design, has been sufficiently flogged for his trangressions, and then sacked. We apologize for the inconvience.]