[AC3] Automation Community Car-nage Challenge (FINALS)

Inspired by AGC

On January 18th, 2020, 0700 GMT, his voice echoed from every electronic speaker on earth, and his visage appeared on every screen. You happened to see him on the news; a greyscale, silhouette bust of a man with no hair, reflective coke-bottle glasses and an impossibly devilish gold-studded grin. “I am The Storyteller,” he introduced with a heavy, sultry cajun drawl, “and I have had my eye on the state of humanity for a long, long time.” You look at your television, flicking through the channels, all the same face, and your jaw drops a little wider. “The masses are starved and angry, and the ever-decreasing powerful few at the top usurp their achievement. No government will step up to equalize power, so I have elected myself to bring forth a great equalizing chaos.” The screen cuts from The Storyteller to the bodies of worldwide officials, dictators and monarchs, limp and lifeless in a row of chairs. Your eyes widen, and you bring your hand to mouth to stifle a gasp. “I have eliminated the powers of the world and recruited the armies under their control. I have finally acquired the strength to tell my tale. My venues, the biggest and densest cities in the world. And my agents? The vehicles and drivers of the masses, those passionate and rabid enough to set off the powder keg humanity has been sitting on for centuries.”

He let out a hearty villainous laugh, just to ensure to the world that yes, he was indeed this incredibly and comically evil. You cannot see his eyes, but he peers, you can sense it, you can feel it, incredibly angry at the camera. “I am hosting tryouts for five slots as my personal bodyguards, and three more slots for my military operations manufacturing. Your chariot needs to be powerful, resilient and deadly. You have two weeks from today to prepare your ride for the first round - New York, New York, oh-eight-hundred.” A crackling warmth begins to swell inside your head, and you double over in a dull pain. He brings his arms up, ready and willing to embrace the new era of ruin and pain he’s created, and laughs heartily once more. “Welcome to CARNAGE!”

You feel a new emotion well up, right behind your eyes; an anger, a sheer wrath screaming to get out. Your hands start to shake as your vision blurs, and you pass out. It’s night time. You feel unnaturally refreshed. The power’s out, but you have a generator in your garage, next to your beloved pride & joy. You know what you must do.

RULES

  • Model/Trim/Engine Year 2020 (does not have to be a modern car or engine, however)
  • Complete steel body, any chassis
  • No V16s
  • Engine must produce more than 450 HP(335 kw) AND/OR 450lb/ft(616.9 nm) torque
  • Engine reliability over 40
  • 13.5 MPG minimum // 17.4 l/100km maximum
  • Engine ET under 150
  • Engine PU under 70
  • All base/trim quality sliders must be at zero and all engine quality sliders must be under a threshold of +/-5
  • No Infotainment, Basic Interior, No Safety Equipment (driving aids like tc/abs are ok)
  • Must be loosely based off any realistic, pedestrian, performance-oriented OR offroad-oriented vehicle with four wheels ONLY. Commercial trucks, wheeled construction equipment (dump truck, auger) and milsurp (Humvees & light trucks, etc.) are the sole exceptions. Non-competitive types of cars that can or have been modified for either a similar battle, for performance or for offroad in the past are eligible. Adding add’l wheels to a base car is ok.
  • Must have visible battle-ready fitments, incl. armor, technology and/or ballistic weaponry, or any representations thereof (bull bars, steel/lead plates and chaingun/rocket launcher are standard fare)
  • Mods are okay, but must be publicly available on the steam workshop by the end of the round.
  • Including a biography for the driver of the car is desirable, but not concretely required. If included, give backstory & desire for participating (1 or 2 paragraphs is enough, keep it somewhat realistic and simple).
Inspiration





SCORING

:star::star::star::star::star:
Styling & Uniqueness

Preferably, I would enjoy seeing a unique array of vehicles that have definite strengths and weaknesses OR being nicely-polished all-rounders, as opposed to nothing but 1000-HP SUV technicals with artillery on top.

:star::star::star::star:
Engine & Chassis Performance

Aside from that, the base car needs to perform well and be nimble and/or solid. If it’s a force to be reckoned with on the track, on the highway and/or on the trail, it will be appreciated here.
Ex. Ford Mustang, Jeep Trailcat, Local Motors Rally Fighter, Peterbilt 389

:star::star::star:
Durability & Reliability vs. Cost

If a track-tuned race engine is bulletproof, albeit expensive, that’s fine. If a simple four-banger with plastic covers is bulletproof, but also cheap & fixable with a few tools, that’s even better.

:star::star:
How Well it Fills it’s Niche & Concept

If there are multiple strong cars within a segment, the advantage will be granted to the one that has better execution and detail.

:star:
Character Design

This is not necessarily a creative writing project, but incredibly cool and unique bio’s will net a small bonus to their score.

howdy, i’m new to hosting automation events but i’ve been involved in managing a handful of tangential motorsport video game leagues, particularly in gt sport. i also have a bit of history dabbling in creative writing as a hobby, and i’d really enjoy the challenge of creating an interesting fictional narrative to update as frequently as i can. for this event in particular i’m looking for entries that provoke a similar reaction to the cars from videogames like twisted metal: black, tabletop games like Gaslands and movies like 2008’s death run. entries will open on april 30th and close may 14th, midnight cst. entries must be titled as such:

CAR FAMILY: AC3 - {forum name here}
CAR TRIM: {your car family/trim}
ENGINE FAMILY: AC3 - {forum name here}
ENGINE TRIM: {your engine family/trim}

i intend for this event to be a one off, but if this garners enough traction then i’d love to nominate a rotating cast of hosts with their own spin on things every month or so.

did i mess anything up? is anything vague or confusing? please let me know so i can fix it as soon as possible. it’s 3am so i’m expecting something to be messed up haha.

6 Likes

If a steel body is required, then what exactly does that mean? Does the chassis have to be made of any kind of steel (including galvanized, corrosion-resistant or AHS/light AHS), the body panels must be made entirely of steel (whether treated or not), or both?

1 Like

I echo the above regarding steel types. Also, it must be a 2020 model year, does that mean it has to be in the style and engineering off a 2020 car? I’m guessing not from your examples, but just want to check.

Also, the naming convention seems strange. You ask for steam names, surely forum names would be more useful? I’m guessing many people don’t have the same name for both things.

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Also, if you have to be based on performance only type of car, that means old vintage US boat, town cars and Rolls Royce type are excluded, even if track or offroad modified? Because you also reference a Peterbilt 389, which is not offroad nor performance.

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  • i’m using steel bodies to mimic the added weight of armor plating to these machines, so chassis dont need to be made out of steel too - just the body, treated or not.
  • the car/engine years must be 2020 but less modern car body/engineering is allowed.
  • any kind of vehicle that has been modified for, or can be modified to become a legitimate threat in a scenario like this is fine, including big rigs, land yachts and family sedans.

updating the rules, thanks for your input.

I take that to also mean “partial aluminum (where some panels are made of aluminum and others are made of steel) is not allowed, only full steel bodies permitted”.

Also, the minimum reliability figure refers to engine reliability if I’m not mistaken. And the absence of creature comforts is meant to simulate a stripped-out interior meant for combat.

1 Like

precisely and precisely

Are there any restrictions on chassis PU, ET or cost? With the rules as they are now, it’s legal to spam quality and pick incredibly high-end parts; I assume this is not the intention?

Sounds interesting enough. I may be able to build a vehicle for this out of something I already have…

Or I might take inspiration from that something and make something new.

Either way, the driver of the machine I make will be human, but the modifications… Let’s just say I’ve got an ace up my sleeves.

1 Like

due to the nature of 3d fixtures, i don’t intend to judge on car performance insomuch as engine performance, and with the requirement of steel bodies and high-performance engines i don’t intend for handling to be crippled anyhow. i will, however, amend a +/-5 threshold for any engine quality sliders and no tolerance for body quality sliders. i want this to be more of a proof-of-concept than an intensely serious competition.

Anyone know what the best chassis type would be to emulate putting a unibody (monocoque) chassis on top of a ladder frame?

Probably either light truck monocoque or sticking with ladder frame. I’ve considered light truck monocoque to be like an old Jeep Liberty, where it has full frame rails but the body is welded on to it instead of bolted on top with bushings.

2 Likes

The story reminded me of The Minute Hour’s performance on episode 14 of Interface.

It’s just straight up really good VA too.

min and max are different units? y tho?

2 Likes

Because with miles per gallon you want to do more miles for your gallons. Whereas with litres per 100 kilometres you want to be using less litres not more. It’s the same economy at the end of the day

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so is the idea that you hotrod a car that already exists (like in any movie) or you create the car specifically for the challenge? if its the first why would a hotrodded 90s wagon…

…have a steel body?

the latter, but the design can be based off the former.

see

and if you’re asking why i’m demanding steel bodies despite not really having a criteria in place for judging anything around the fact these cars need steel bodies, consistency and authenticity to the lore i’m developing. i want this event to be three parts, in essence;

  • a light engine development challenge,
  • a design challenge centered around more whimsical design choices for generating cool ideas, and
  • a personal writing challenge

ok that makes sense, thanks

@kaybee

Regarding safety equipment, is power steering and traction aids considered safety equipment, or is that just referring to the safety tab?

Have to ask because I’m picking my way through two different ideas, and, well, both of them end up quite heavy, and one is a bit more powerful than the other one…

i’ll consider it separate from safety equipment

2 Likes