Car Wars Car Designer: Introduction

Welcome to my car designer utility for the Car Wars game! This page just quickly introduces the tool.

• First, it is made for games using the Car Wars Compendium, 2nd Edition rules. I have not updated it for the "Uncle Al's Catalog From Hell" or the more recent edition of the game because those do not seem to be commonly available any more.
• Basic Operation: When you go in, there is the design for a simple Compact waiting for you. That's just so I don't have to deal with cars with no tires or engine or whatever. Customize away! You can start by clicking Body on the upper left, and then hit Next below the options on each screen as you complete them (or just use the links on the left to navigate around).
• On the Ammo screen, make sure to hit Load It! to load the ammunition into the selected weapon before you go on. You'll see.
• When you're finished: You can hit Design Worksheet on the right to get a page with nothing except the build record for your design, and hit Save Design on the right to store the design into our database. You'll be able to retreive or refer to any saved designs later.

So, that's about it. Time to Get Started!

FAQ

What do I need to use it?

A browser supporting JavaScript. I test mainly with Firefix 3 and Safari 5, for what it's worth.

Where's accessory XYZ?

Many of the acessories are listed with the item they "go with". For instance, you configure a Laser Battery on the screen for a gas engine, a Dual-Weapon Magazine on the screen for one of the weapons, or Body Armor on the screen for your crew. Probably you'll only need a Link or Smart Link from the generic "Accessories" screen.

There are a couple acessories and options that just aren't supported yet (kamibombs, armor for a car-top carrier, ammo in a bulk ammo box). I'd be interested to hear if you miss them.

High-Torque Motors?

Not in the Compendium. Just leave $400 in your budget. But let me know that you use 'em and we can think about how to distinguish Compendium from non-Compendium designs (for the benefit of more recent players who may not have access to out-of-print books and so on).

What about other (non-car) body types?

Cars and racing frames ("almost cars") were my first priority. Next up is probably cycles and trikes. Not sure how far I'll make it after that. Let me know if there's something you want so I don't think nobody cares!

It says my design is illegal but I disagree!

I am using the Car Wars Compendium, 2nd Edition as mentioned. In addition, I used the contents of FAQs such as CWRQ 4.6 and ODQ 2.6. But all that said, the designer doesn't actually prevent you from creating an illegal design -- it just lists various errors and tells you that it's illegal (you can add 50 machine guns to a Compact if you really want to!). If you have a house rule or interpretation that the designer disagrees with, just ignore where it says your design is illegal.

Everything was going fine and then it went out to lunch / took really long to load the next page

I'm using the free version of Google AppEngine to host this. Apparently, if an application isn't being used enough, they take it offline, and then the next request takes extra-long. Sorry. Sometimes stopping and retrying works. I don't know what to say, other than if there's enough interest I can look into other hosting arrangements.

It broke!

Certainly possible. Please let me know! If every screen comes up totally blank (no words or content at all), clear all your cookies and try again (this sometimes happens right after the software is updated).

Car Wars is a trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and its rules and art are copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by Steve Jackson Games. This game aid is the original creation of Aaron Mulder and is released under the permissions granted in the Steve Jackson Games Online Policy.