Off-Road Driving Off-Road Precautions Speed Water Getting Unstuck Bikes Equipment

Off-Roading Drive New and Unexplored Territory and Run Over Endangered Wildlife! Rigger2 was a great sourcebook that presented much-needed material to expand the role of the rigger. However, there's still a lot more world out there than just the city streets. Here, for your perusal, are rules for off-roading (often called Four-Wheel Driving, or 4WDing) devised by Roland Gotthard (aka Violator) - a friend of mine and keen offroader. Note that this is a metric-only document. For those of you who use feet and inches, 2.54 cm = 1 inch, and 100 cm = 1 m. Off-Road Off-road, for the purpose of these rules, is any terrain which does not meet any of the following conditions: Paved, bitumenized/tarred, or cobbled Regularly (at least twice a year) smoothed by a grader Capable of sustaining speeds of 40 km/hr or more Free from snow, sand, or bulldust over 15cm deep Free from water over 40cm deep Not slippery Driving Off-Road Off-road driving is covered by the appropriate ground vehicle skill - Car, Bike, or (heaven forfend) Hovercraft. Each Vehicle skill can be considered to have an Off-Road Specialization which resourceful riggers may choose. Success in off-road driving is achieved by one success on a Handling test. Failure means that the vehicle is stuck (see below for how to get out of this situation) if on appropriate terrain. A roll of all 1's means that the driver has rolled the vehicle, causing (Body Rating) D damage to it, resisted as normal. A typical Off-Road Handling test can be modified as follows: CONDITION MODIFIER Light snow, fine sand, or bulldust +1 Mud or slippery conditions +2 Deep water * +2/40cm water 10-20 degree grade ** +1 20-30 degree grade +2 30-45 degree grade *** +3 Deeply rutted (10cm/1m) +1/10 kph speed Highly rocky (eg river bed) +1 * Note that beyond a certain depth, a vehicle will need engine EnviroSeals to continue to function. See below for the effects if this isn't fitted. Cars without cabin EnviroSeals - and any motorbikes - are going to give their passengers a pretty mucky time in deep water, too. ** This is the maximum grade a hovercraft can handle. *** This is the maximum grade a car or bike can handle. These modifiers can be doubled if no precautions are taken. Also, note that these modifiers can be compounded quite easily. A 30-degree, muddy rutted slope would give a +5 modifier to the TN, or +10 if the driver took no adequate precautions. Use your common sense when compounding modifiers - obviously, some combinations can't occur. Snow, sand and bulldust won't have more than a 20-degree grade, sand won't ridge more than about 10 cm/1 m, and so on. Precautions Low range/gear - this increases torque, gives you a mechanical advantage Low speed - this gives you time to think and react, time to choose your path, and gives you better response from your suspension Low tyre pressure - tyre flattens out and gives more traction, compresses to give extra travel, and is useful for mud tyres and the like Success in offroad driving is controlled by the three T's - Traction, Tyres and Travel. These three factors determine much of a vehicle's ability to negotiate obstacles Speed Off-road driving is usually at 40 km/h or below. There are two exceptions to this: bikes (dirt bikes etc.) can go up to 60 km/h, and hard sand (eg. below the tide line on a beach) can sustain speeds of up to 90 km/h for any vehicle. Driving Through Water The limit of water depth for most 4WD/offroad vehicles is approximately 1 m. For on-road passenger vehicles, this is limited to 60cm. Travelling through water deeper than maximum for your vehicle will cause problems, particularly with the engine fan. Most vehicles - gas/diesel vehicles with transverse engines, and luxury cars - will have electrically-powered fans. Driving through water deeper than 40cm without Engine EnviroSeal will cause the fan motor to seize. A non-functioning fan allows the engine to overheat when travelling slowly (at high speeds airflow will provide cooling), and overheated engines tend to seize. Combustion vehicles with North-South mounted engines (including most 4WDs, trucks, pickups etc.) have fans run off the engine itself. Travelling through deep water without an Engine EnviroSeal allows the force of the water to force the fan blades into the radiator, damaging the cooling system and thus having the same effect on the engine as above (even at high speeds). Electric-engine vehicles should not be driven through water greater than 40 cm deep. Fully EnviroSealed vehicles may be used, at the driver's own risk. As electric vehicles aren't combustion-driven, they solve many of the problems of driving underwater. However, their nature brings a whole new batch of problems. Picture dropping a hairdryer into your bath... Getting Unstuck Note that this already takes into account having several tries at the maneuvre. Lowering tyre pressure increases traction. If this is done from the start, it applies a -1 bonus to the target number. If tried after getting a vehicle stuck, it allows a second attempt at no penalty. Note that GMs should not suggest this course of action to the players, as it's a matter of experience and general knowledge. Use low range (gear) and very low speed. At GM discretion, this can negate the +2 penalty for a second attempt. Use a winch. Note that this takes 20 minutes per attempt. Depending on the terrain, this may not work, as the winch needs an anchor. Trees are good, as are LARGE boulders. Exceptionally big or heavy trolls may also make a good anchor, depending on how deeply the vehicle is bogged. Push. The target number may be reduced by 1 for every 5 points of metahuman strength applied to the vehicle. This means trolls are VERY useful. Engage diff locks. Let another driver have a go, or use a karma point to re-roll as usual. Bikes Bikes allow a substantial increase in safe speed. Riders also do not face the problem of getting bogged, since it's relatively easy to just hop off the bike and pick it up, or push it a few metres further on. The big disadvantage with bikes is that they can't take much equipment, which means repair kits and the like will be rudimentary at best. In addition, riders can only take a few CF's worth of supplies and personal gear, which doesn't make bikes ideal for long-range expeditions. Thunderbird Pintos and other trikes or four-wheeled bikes should be treated like cars, rather than bikes, for the purposes of these rules. 4WD Equipment Heavy-Duty Suspension Kit 1,500�/Body Point Allows -1 to Off-Road Handling tests. Adds +1 to On-road Handling tests. Vehicle B/R (5) to fit; base time of 48 hrs. Extra Travel 500�/Body Point Allows -1 to TN when traversing rutted terrain. Vehicle B/R (5) to fit; base time of 48 hrs. Full Diff Locks 2,500� per axle Allows -1 to Off-Road Handling tests. Vehicle B/R (8) to fit; base time of 48 hrs. Requires Vehicle Facility. Specialized Tyres 400� per tyre Allows -1 to Off-Road Handling tests in conditions for which tyres are customized. +1 TN on all other terrains. These are only available as mud tyres, sand tyres, or snow chains. Bulldust is a very fine, silky dust that's basically powder. Traversing it is like a cross between wading through water, or walking on clouds. It's caused by heavy erosion, and can be found in frequently-traversed arid areas.