Autoduel (Apple IIe) FAQ/Walkthrough v1.0 (4/10/2002) By Jim Flanagan (Farmer Jimbo) Table of Contents A. Stuff A1 : Copyright/legal stuff A2 : Version history A3 : Future updates A4 : Special thanks A5 : Email B. Introduction B1 : Steve Jackson games B2 : Car Wars B3 : Autoduel for the Apple II C. Basics C1 : Controls C1_1 : Driving C1_2 : Keyboard commands C1_3 : Menus C1_4 : Miscellaneous commands/controls C2 : Maps C3 : Towns C3_1 : Town elements C3_2 : Town listing C4 : Player character D. Vehicles D1 : Player character vehicles D1_1 : Overview D2 : Enemy vehicles D2_1 : Arena enemies D2_2 : Road enemies E. Walkthrough/Storyline E1 : Getting started E2 : Hitting the road E3 : Prestige E4 : Mr. Big F. Closing thoughts and credits A. Stuff A1 : Copyright/legal stuff This Document is Copyright 2002 by Jim Flanagan. Car Wars/Autoduel is the legally protected intellectual property of Steve Jackson, Steve Jackson Games, Lord British, Chuckles, and Origin. I am not affiliated with any of the above named people/companies or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ/Walkthrough may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME requesting permission (don't worry, you'll get permission provided that you do not charge anyone to access or download it). The most current version can always be found at g_a_m_e_f_a_q_s_._c_o_m (remove _) If you're seeing this on another site, drop me an email. I'd appreciate it. A2 : Version history 4/8/2002 This is the first version of this FAQ and therefore probably contains a bunch of grammatical/errors/omissions/and other falsehoods. A3 : Future updates I will update this FAQ/Walkthrough while I finish the game (again). A4 : Special thanks Special thanks goes to: Pepper, for making me write this thing, albeit in a round about sorta way. Steve Jackson, for wasting many of the precious hours of my youth. CjayC and his online child GameFAQs, for wasting many of the precious hours of my adulthood. Lord British. A5 : Email honcho7@excite.com Suggestions, corrections, changes, and additions are welcome. Please be sure to put "Autoduel" "Car Wars" or "GameFAQs" in the subject line or it'll be deleted without a second thought. B. Introduction B1 : Steve Jackson games Steve Jackson is a GOD of pencil and paper RPGs from the 70's to the present. His titles include the Ogre series, as well as several other highly engrossing and obscure creations. (more in version 1.1) B2 : Car Wars Car Wars/Autoduel is perhaps the finest of Mr. Jackson's creations. Autoduel takes place in a post-apocalyptic society circa 2030. Society/civilization has fallen apart due to food and fuel shortages. Many towns and cities have become fortresses in an attempt to forestall the lawless that pervades the highway system. Roving gangs of hooligans now rule the spaces between these fortress towns. Death sports have become very popular with city governors and citizens alike as a way to distract them from the horrors of everyday life. Autoduelling began when "Crazy Joe" Harshman won a destruction derby by mounting a .50 cal machinegun on his car in a novel bending of the rules. In response to the increasing cycle of gangs and their sophisticated weaponry, many citizens have armed themselves. Police are no longer able/willing to deal with armed vehicles and informal highway duels. Your story begins in this setting. B3 : Autoduel for the Apple II Autoduel is still the finest, most engrossing action/RPG in the Apple II library. Keep in mind, that with only 280k, on one two-sided 5 and 1/4 inch diskette, Lord British and Steve Jackson were able to create a game that STILL measures up to the best of the what's offered up by video game vendors of today. C. Basics C1 : Controls C1_1 : Driving Although you start the game without a vehicle, it won't be long before you climb into you first "car". I use the quotations marks around car for a reason. Although the chassis and construction has changed very little from today's gas guzzlers, cars in Autoduel are powered by batteries and have other quirks that differentiate them from today's vehicles. Controlling your car is a rather straightforward process. Press the joystick (or equivalent) in the direction you wish to move and the car responds. Your acceleration, speed and turning radius are based upon the set-up of your car. Braking, then reverse is the simple process of moving the joystick in the opposite direction to which you are traveling. Centering the joystick causes your cars to gently coast to a stop. Primary joystick button - Fire selected weapon. Secondary joystick button - cycles through weapons. C1_2 : Keyboard commands Escape - pauses game during arena or highway battles. Control C - Display Car status Control T - Display Courier tasks & salvaged goods Control D - Display Driver status Control G - Get in/out of car Control Q - Quit and save game. Control S - Toggle sound. Control R - Display Roster of all cars. 0 - 9 - Select active weapon C1_3 : Menus Up, down arrows - Navigate vehicles creations options. Right, left arrows - Change vehicle creations parameters. All other menus - 0-9, Y or N, depending on what building you're at (sentence ends with a preposition, sue me). C1_4 : Miscellaneous commands/controls (Just in case I forgot something. Removed or updated in v1.1) C2 : Maps Autoduel Map by Beowulf@aol.com Watertown | / _______Syracuse Manchester / \_______________ | Buffalo | \ \ | Albany__ \ | | \_______Boston | | | | | / | | Providence | | Scranton | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \_________New York / / Pittsburgh | / \________Harrisburg / \__________Philadelphia | /\ | / \ | | \ | | \_Atlantic City Baltimore | | \ / Dover Washington (v1.1 will have mileage and directions for navigation) C3 : Towns C3_1 : Town elements Truck stop - All cities have a truck stop. It is the vital center upon which a city is built. (1) Catch a bus - If you don't have a vehicle, or don't want to mess with the hooligans on the highways, this is a cheap and easy way to get around. If you don't have the $100 for a ticket, the truck stop owner might give yu a ride for free. (2) Listen for rumors - Rumors picked up here and elsewhere are of little to no value. Listen if you want. (3) Get Batteries charged - Vital. Always have a full charge. (4) Get a room - For passing time between tournaments, or if the day has ended in your current town. If you don't have the $10 for a room the truck stop owner might let or sleep in the lobby, or give you free bus ticket. (5) Buy Body Armor - Vital. Always have full body armor. (All prices updated in v1.1) Assembly line - This is where you build the car of your dreams. See section D1 for more details. Salvage Yard - Not available in all cities. Prices for your car and weapons are pitiful, but you can make some good money from parts you salvage from other cars. (1) Sell car - Sell your current car (2) Sell weapons - Get rid of a currently equipped wepoan. This can be quite useful if you either saved money when you built the car, or need to upgrade your weaponry. (3) Sell salvage - Make money from kicking the crap out of hooligans. Weapon Shop - Available in most, but not all cities. You can add a snazzy new gun, or restock on the ammo you used on the highway. (updated v1.1 See section D1 for more details) The Garage - Not available in all cities. When those pesky gangs put dinks in your armor and blow out your tires, this is where you get them fixed. (1) Recharge your power supply - Identical to the truck stop option. (2) Repair your active car - Gets you a list of damage to your car and the option to fix it. Don't pass up the opportunity to repair the damage done by highway gangs. (3) Store your car - If you're rich enough to afford multiple rides, you can stash them in separate cities, up to a maximum of eight. It'll cost you 50 dollars to get it back out, but that should not be no problem if you have the luxury of storing the car in the first place. (4) Take a car out of storage - See option three (5) Take Mechanic lessons - A mechanics lesson lasts five days so don't go to school if you've got a courier mission pending. Amongst other things, the value of salvage increases with your mechanics rating. The Arena - This IS Autoduel. Waste some time and ammo if you'd like in practice, but the real purpose here is the scheduled events. Amateur night should be the first thing you do. After that, compete for prestige and money, based on the value of your car. Keep in mind that you'll be supplied with a crappy car for amateur night. The AADA - If the truck stop is the essential component of cities, the AADA is the essential component of Autoduel. This is where you get the courier missions that make you a legend. (1) Road Information - Outlaw information for the surrounding highways. (2) Courier Tasks - Vital. There will be three missions that your prestige may or may not qualify you for. Plan carefully and consider space and weight. (Courier missions updated in v1.1) Gold Cross - Cloning is a reality in 2030. Create a clone for $5000 dollars and keep it updated for $3000. This is slightly pointless if you're into saving and reloading, but still good insurance regardless. (1) Create a clone - You, just incase you end up as a bloodstain on the road. (2) Update a Braintape - Keep your clone up to date with your stats. (3) Undergo treatment - If your body armor is gone and you take damage that you happen to survive, this is where you get it back. You'll spend 100$ and lose a week for each point though. Joe's Bar - Joe apparently has a monopoly on drinking establishments in 2030. (1) Buy a drink - Increase your chances of getting worthless rumors (no you can't get drunk). (2) Try to sell courier tasks - If you want to get rid of a courier mission for one reason or another, this is how you do it. You'll get about half the value, and your prestige will suffer. (3) Listen for rumors - Worthless. The FBI - The office of the FBI is mostly for courier tasks. Origin Systems - Take a trip down memory lane, in a way. The Pet Store - The Pet store is mostly for courier tasks. The Casino - Daddy needs a new recoilless rifle! (1) Draw Poker - Your best value, if you're reloading. One Pair - 1:1 Two Pair - 2:1 3 of a Kind - 3:1 Straight - 4:1 Flush - 5:1 Full House - 7:1 4 of a Kind - 25:1 Straight Flush - 70:1 (2) Blackjack - Your best odds, if you're not reloading. You win you get 2:1 - a natural 21 is 3:1 Abandoned building - You'll get occasional courier missions here. If you investigate for no reason though, chances are you'll get mugged and lose $1000. C3_2 : Town listings The following section is basically text gleaned from the original Autoduel documentation, which was based on the Steve Jackson pencil and Paper RPG. I obtained it from a Google cached page since the "original" is gone from the www. The text is background info, aside from the town facility information. No credit was given on the page for this transcription, other than some BBS phone numbers from the early 90's. It wasn't in the best of shape from a formatting and spelling standpoint. Email me if this is your work and I'll give you credit. (Abbreviations for vital facility information will be updated in v1.1) ALBANY, NY The capital of New York has strict duel-control ordinances, but local duelists can always visit the Albany Motordrome for a sanctioned combat! For those less than successful in these endeavors, repair and weapon facilities are available. Be sure to look for the Empire State Plaza Pistol Dueling Grounds, one of Albany's most popular attractions. G, W, AADA, TS, AB ATLANTIC CITY, NJ Most visit Atlantic City for its famous casinos--or to play "live Monopoly" along the boardwalk But some lucky duelists pass Go for a good deal more than $200 at the Baltic Duel Arena...Atlantic City is also the site of the original live "Shootout" game; tickets are available at the Fitzsimmons Sports Office. G, A, TS, C BALTIMORE, MD AADA members visiting this city should confine their travels to the relatively safe downtown area. The suburbs, hard hit in the Food Riots, are unsafe for travel at any time, though individual vehicles in Division 20 or above may visit them for combat practice. Downtown, travelers will want to see the luxurious Hotel Baltimore, a historic 200-year-old structure, and the East's only fully-domed combat stadium, Irsay Memorial Arena. WS, JB, AADA, TS, H BOSTON, MA Massachusetts's state capital--once an historic site--was nearly leveled in the Food Riots; it is now one of America's most modern cities. Boston boasts no ordinary weapon shop, but Uncle Albert's catalog showroom. The most current version of this FAQ can always be found at g_a_m_e_f_a_q_s_._c_o_m (remove _) Full cloning facilities are available at Boston Gold Cross. There are three local arenas; daily AADA events are held at the downtown Yelrow Arena, but city championships move to the New Boston Dueling Arena because of its larger capacity. New car buyers can also check out the Fnord Motors Assembly Plant. TS, WS, A, S, JB, GC, AP, AADA, TS, AB BUFFALO, NY Visitors of the city will want to check out the Buffalo Municipal Coliseum, still under construction. This project has been plagued by delays since its inception, but (when finished) it will be one of the nation's largest. Be sure to visit the weapons ship for the latest in duellist accessories. WS, S, AADA, TS DOVER, DE Dover is best known for the world-champion Dover Destroyers, scourge of the combat football circuit. Dover is also the capital of Delaware and the site of the Delaware Agricultural Museum, where visitors can see living samples of many nearly extinct plants such as wheat, orange trees, and potatoes. WS, S, TS HARRISBURG, PA Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. The base of a strong militia during the Second Civil War, it remains one of the more peaceful parts of the state, although downtown areas may be unsafe after dark. Duellist facilities are fairly complete, with ample repair and salvage capacity and a truck stop famed for hospitality to autoduelists. G, A, S, TS MANCHESTER, NH State government moved here when Concord, the original capital, fell victim to the Purple Flash in 2014. Visitors to Manchester can tour the plant of Origin Systems, manufacturers of fine targeting computers, combat simulation software, and similar dueling gear. G, A, AADA, TS, OSI NEW YORK CITY, NY The "Big Apple" hosts the AADA Divisional Championships every six months. It's also the site of the Magnum Motors assembly plant. Due to the danger to Manhattan's fabled skyscrapers, all vehicle weapons must be covered or unloaded downtown--Be careful, because the city militia enforces this rule strictly. G, WS, A, S, JB, GC, AP, AADA, TS PHILADELPHIA, PA The "City of Brotherly Love" has neither repair facilities nor a weapon shop but is home to Panthera Pets, a shop where one may find rather unusual animals. Drivers planning trips through Philadelphia should budget their resources carefully and check in the AADA office for the latest update on road conditions. JB, AADA, PS, TS PITTSBURGH, PA With the destruction of Detroit in WWIII, Pittsburgh became the center of the new U.S. auto industry. Most battlecar builders are still headquartered here--call the individual plants for tour information. Visiting duelists may want to drop in on a meeting of the Allegheny Autoduel Association. G, WS, A, S, JB, AP, AADA, TS PROVIDENCE, RI Rhode Island's state capital, Providence has no arena and no duelist facilities whatsoever, aside from its downtown truck stop. A major Providence tourist attraction is "aquaduelling"--armed speedboat combat! It'll never replace autoduelling, but it's certainly a thrilling sport. TS SCRANTON, PA Once a thriving mining town, Scranton was all but destroyed when the quakes of '18 toppled the city into the coalmines underneath. Rebuilt to the north of the original site, Scranton is now a small but solid Fortress Town. The rubble of Scranton Crater, along with the scarred acreage left over from a century of mining and blast furnaces, has become the East's largest private-war compound. Corporations and special-interest groups come here to settle their differences while the nation watches via live TV coverage. WS, S, TS SYRACUSE, NY Syracuse hosts the famed New York State Fair and Combat Exposition from July to September each year. Visitors to Syracuse should pay close attention to local road and warning signs; urban renewal is only now getting under way, and abandoned buildings in the downtown area still shelter street gangs. WS, TS WASHINGTON, D.C. Capital of the 47 states, Washington's chief industry has been government for over 250 years. The President of the United States still fires the ceremonial "first shot" in Federal Arena each year to start the AADA duelling season. The city also has some of the finest garage and salvage facilities to be found on the Atlantic coast. G, A, S, TS W, NY Watertown, the East Coast's largest auction center, entered the duelling circuit when the Woolworth Arena was constructed. One of the Eastern Division's newest and most modern facilities, the Woolworth seats 40,000. G, A, TS LEGEND G = Garage WS = Weapon Shop A = Arena S = Salvage JB = Joe's Bar GC = Gold Cross AP = Assembly Plant AADA = American Autoduel Association office PS = Pet Store TS = Truck Stop OSI = Origin Systems, Inc. C = Casino H = Hotel AB = Abandoned building C4 : Player character The player character, that is you, has four main stats: Driving, marksmanship, mechanics ability, and prestige. Your driving ability increases as you pile on the miles. I'm not so sure if this means much, but it may affect your turning radius and reaction time. Your marksmanship increases as you successfully hit more and more cars with your weapons. It's affect on gameplay, again, is unknown to me. Your mechanics ability is increased by spending $500 at any garage. Its effect is fairly straightforward. The higher your MA, the higher the value of the spare parts you salvage, and the greater chance that they'll be spare parts to salvage in the first place. D. Vehicles D1 : Player character vehicles D1_1 : Overview The heart of this awesome game is building your car. Steve Jackson created a very balanced and complicated system of building and rating the power and capacity of your chosen vehicle. Autoduel for the Apple II replicates this fantastic system to the last detail. The following tables will give you the guts of this system and help you spawn the car that will rule the northeast. The following tables are copies of the Steve Jackson pencil and Paper RPG, Car Wars. Again, I pulled this from a Google cache that had no credit given for the transcription. In addition, the tables were (are) in an awful mess. If you deserve credit for this, or can provide additional information, please email me. VEHICLE DESIGN TABLES 1. Body Types Type Price Weight Max Load Spaces Subcompact $300 1000 2300 7 Compact $400 1300 3700 10 Mid-Sized $600 1600 4800 13 Luxury $800 1800 5500 19 Station Wagon $800 2100 5500 21 Pickup $900 2100 6500 24 Van $1000 2000 6000 30 2. Chassis Strength Weight Modifier Price Light -10% -20% Standard none none Heavy +10% +50% Extra Heavy +20% +100% 3. Suspension Suspension Price Automobile HC Cargo Vehicle Light no extra 1 0 Improved 100% of body cost 2 1 Heavy 150% of body cost 3 2 4. Power Plants and Acceleration Plant Cost Weight Spaces DP Power Max Speed Small $500 ?00 3 5 1000 70 Medium $1000 700 4 8 2300 80 Large $2000 900 5 10 3600 90 Super $3000 1100 6 12 5000 90 5. Tires Tire Type Cost Weight DP Standard $50 30 4 Heavy Duty $100 40 6 Puncture-Resistant $200 50 9 Solid $500 75 12 6. Weapons Weapon cost Weight Spaces DP CP/R WP/R Machine Gun 1000 150 1 3 25 2 Flamethrower 550 465 3 3 25 5 Rocket Launcher 1050 215 3 3 35 5 Recoilless Rifle 1550 315 3 5 35 5 Anti-Tank Gun 2050 615 4 6 50 10 Laser 8000 500 2 2 -- -- Minedropper 550 165 3 3 50 5 Spikedropper 150 40 2 5 20 5 Smokescreen 300 40 2 5 10 5 Paint Sprayer 400 25 1 2 10 2 Oil Jet 250 25 2 3 10 2 Heavy Rocket 200 100 1 2 -- -- 7. Armor Vehicle Type Cost Per Point Weight Per Point Subcompact 11 5 Compact 13 6 Mid-Sized 16 8 Luxury 20 10 Station Wagon 20 10 Pickup 22 11 Van 30 14 (v1.1 will have weapon damage, and vehicle creation tips) D2 : Enemy vehicles D2_1 : Arena enemies (v1.1) D2_2 : Road enemies (v1.1) E. Walkthrough/Storyline E1 : Getting started When you first start out, you'll be in New York with $2000 dollars and not much else. There are basically two ways to approach this, the hard way (think legitimate) and the slightly easier way (think cheating). Lets just say the easy way involves a trip to Atlantic City and some reloading. More in v1.1 E2 : Hitting the road V1.1 will deal with highway bandits and getting the most from your courier missions. (more in v1.1) E3 : Prestige Prestige is the stat that tracks your progress throughout the game. There are several ways to raise it. Killing hooligans, arena combat, and courier missions are the main ones. Higher prestige allows you to advance the storyline. It also qualifies you for the more lucrative courier missions. (more in v1.1) E4 : Mr. Big The baddest of the bad. This guy will eat you for lunch, assuming your prestige is high enough for you to even see him. (more in v1.1) F. Closing thoughts and credits When I look back, this is the game that made me make the transition from rolling twenty sided dice, to sweating it out over a monochrome computer screen. This is also the first FAQ I've submitted to GameFAQs. It's kind of appropriate for me to come full circle here. (more in v1.1, maybe) Thanks to: www.google.com www.gamefaqs.com Happy Cynthax Nautilus Beowulf@aol.com Whoever transcribed the Autoduel manual 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 (79 characters in mono spaced font)