Participants |
This one was easy - last alive was the winner.
In order to discourage flight, there were spectators stationed on the walls (around 15 total) with LAWs. The spectators worked as follows: The chance of firing on any given turn was 1/10. This was increased by 1/10 per turn of not firing for the visible car that had fired least recently. (Example: Tybalt fired this turn, Wasp fired last turn - chance is 2/10. If Bull was also in sight and hadn't fired for 4 turns, chance was 5/10).
As it turned out, the spectators weren't too effective beyond the first 5 seconds or so - they simply couldn't compensate for the speed of the vehicles flying by. But their goal was achieved, as no one went out of their way to avoid the melee.
Everyone emerged from their gate with up to 4 turns of acceleration. Strangely, all 5 vehicles featured ram plates! Some of the vehicles paired off immediately - Wasp and Bull headed directly for each other, as did Tybalt and Xenon. Despite her name, Extinguisher opted not to head directly for the nearest opponent, as that meant facing right into Tybalt's three left-mounted flamethrowers. So Extinguisher made for Wasp and Bull.
Both initial combats were bloody. Tybalt set Xenon on fire with three hits from his linked flamethrowers. Xenon returned fire with a full salvo from his VFRP, spilling a fair portion of Tybalt's left side armor over the arena floor. Meanwhile, Wasp and Bull exchanged Vulcan MG fire in the opposite corner.
Wasp scored the first serious damage, blowing off one of Bull's tires.
But Bull exacted revenge immediately, ramming into Wasp's right side, and relieving it of its burden of armor. Wasp concluded the matter shortly by setting Bull on fire, thanks to the incendiary ammo in his VMG and some Flame Clous Dischargers. This was enough for Bull's driver, who had forgotten his fire extinguisher in the pits. He surrendered and fled the burning vehicle before the fire incapacitated him.
Meanwhile, Tybalt and Xenon met in a ground-shaking head-on collision. Xenon came out for the better, with only a greatly diminished ramplate. Tybalt's hood crumpled, and power cells flaked out onto the arena floor. Tybalt's driver stared down the six rocket tubes in Xenon's hood, and quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valor, surrendering to Xenon.
Extinguisher finally reached the combat area, and made for Wasp. They exchanged fire at close range, with Wasp scoring hits on Extinguisher's side with his VMGs, and Extunguisher coating Wasp's car in a fresh coat of gleaming red paint, thanks to a side-mounted gas streamer. Wasp turned to escape until the paint washed away, but Extinguisher wouldn't let go that easily, ramming Wasp from behind. Though the speed difference was minimal, Extinguisher's bumper-triggered heavy rockets ensured that Wasp would take the challenge seriously.
Both vehicles stepped on the gas, but Wasp pulled away thanks to a higher top speed. The range was still close as they pulled around the other side of the arena and met Xenon, who was headed in the opposite direction at his top speed. Xenon and Wasp harbored brief notions of another head-on ram, but neither pressed the issue as bystanders speculated on the debris left by a 155mph collision. (It was later revealed that Xenon's ramplate was only 5 points thick, while Wasp's was fake...)
Xenon passed Wasp in a heartbeat, and fired at Extinguisher instead, with little effect. And in moments, all the vehicles had passed each other and faded into the distance. The specatators were quite happy to express their opinion on the matter, firing wildly at the passing cars as the combat faded into the distance. Fortunately, they were unable to track the fast-moving vehicles.
Extinguisher managed to gain on Wasp by cutting closer corners, and heading directly through the remaining paint clouds. By the time they were approaching Xenon again, Extinguisher had pulled slightly ahead. As Extinguisher turned to meet Wasp's armorless side, Wasp pulled a hard turn to protect it. This revealed the side to Xenon, though, who took the opportunity to send a salvo Wasp's way. Though only one of the six rockets struck home, it was enough to cripple Wasp's damaged power plant, scoring the mobility kill for Xenon.
Wasp headed for a nearby gate as Xenon and Extinguisher maneuvered for position. Wasp, still rolling at nearly 90 miles per hour, revealed his deception, quickly turning away from the gate and doubling back towards the remaining vehicles.
Wasp managed to force a ram on the slower-moving Xenon, crushing through his side, crew, and engine alike. He was unable to maintain control, however, and between the ram and subsequent skidding, he was quickly reduced to a stationary target.
Extinguisher left the scene, heading around to face Wasp's unprotected side. Wasp took a few potshots at Extinguisher's tire as long as line of sight held, and managed to damage the tire, but was not quite able to destroy it. With the last hope gone, Wasp surrendered to Extinguisher, concluding the spectacular duel.
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First Place:
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Extinguisher |
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Second Place:
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Wasp |
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Third Place:
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Xenon |
Happy: +1 Driver, +1 Gunner, +1 General
Smokey: +2 Driver, +2 Gunner, +4 General, +5 Prestige
Nighthawk: +3 Driver, +1 General, +7 Prestige
Raven: +3 Gunner, +1 General, +7 Prestige
Joe: +1 Driver, +1 Gunner, +1 General, +1 Prestige
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Extinguisher
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$9018 |
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Wasp
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$6887 |
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Xenon
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$4504 |
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Bull
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$20 (charcoal) |
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Tybalt
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$4164 |
Check out the other events!
Last Modified on April 11, 1999.