A/N: Throughout the story so far I have included some information about components within the Combat WarZone video game and what may be faced in the upcoming convention. I've decided to compile a description and glossary here so as not to disrupt the storyline too much with definitions and explanations that some readers may require. This is CWZ reference material only AND NOT A STORY CHAPTER. I may add more to this in further updates.
Please remember that this is all within a non-graphic "mild-T rated" video game, and the next chapter still qualifies as a K+ rating according to the definitions provided.
ALSO: Due to the interest, I am also putting in the modified rules for Monopoly: Juvenile Delinquent Edition. Yes, I really did make this up way back in High School. And yes, it is playable. These are at the end of this Reference Guide. As the name suggests, it is not a 'sane' version so please don't flame me about it.
Combat: Warzone
AAm: anti-aircraft missile
Area-effect or Area-Of-Effect: This is in reference to a weapon that damages everything within a certain radius of its impact. Fusion grenades, proximity mines, mortars, fragmentation and nuclear-tipped rockets all fall into the category of area-effect weapons.
ATm: No, it does not give you money. It's an anti-tank missile. It does... something else. (AT=Anti-Tank)
AW: (Armored) Assault Walker
APC: Armored Personnel Carrier
CAP: Combat Air Patrol. Aircraft on CAP will circle an area around a key asset or territory and engage any hostiles approaching that area.
Demolition Charges: New in CWZ II. A package of high explosives remotely detonated from a distance. Unlike most other explosive elements, these are easily seen due to the flashing warning lights. Unless of course you are on the wrong side of the object it is attached to. Used to clear (or create) obstacles rather than engage opposing forces directly.
Dumbfire: This is launching a guided missile without waiting for the targeting system to lock in a firing solution, thus causing it to behave as an unguided rocket. Unguided ordinance may also be referred to as dumbfires.
GEV: Ground Effect Vehicle. Any vehicle that hovers over the ground by a few inches by manipulating gravitational fields.
HUD: Heads-Up-Display
IFF: Identify Friend or Foe. One of the collars Zim gave to Gaz for use as a signal transponder is an example of an IFF system. Of course that is not what the collars actually are.
I.F.: Indirect Fire. This includes mortars and fragmentation rockets fired up and over obstacles. Always area effect.
LOS or Line-Of-Sight: usually a reference to weapons that require a unobstructed direct line straight to the intended target. These include all projectile and energy weapons as well as missiles that home in on a target such as aircraft or vehicles.
MBT: Main Battle Tank. Comes in two types, Gun and Rocket Tanks
Navigational Compass Headings from 0 to 359 degrees: Zero is north, 090 is east, 180 is south, 270 is west.
NPC: Non-Player (or Playable) Character. Controlled by the game program and nor a serious threat for a team of players.
PPG: No, not Powerpuff Girl. Phased Plasma Gun. Definitely NOT made of sugar and spice and everything nice. An energy weapon mounted on only the sturdiest vehicles such as tanks. It projects a burst of energized ultra-hot plasma to melt through armor plates.
Powered Armor: Infantry body armor using bio-feedback servomechanisms within the joints to amplify both speed and strength. The suits are very heavy, yet allows the user to move faster and carry heavier equipment. Fully encases the character except for the faceplate.
RAG: Rapid Attack Group. A fast group of the lightest scout vehicles usually used to get behind enemy lines and disrupt operations and retreating back to their own positions before they get pinned down by superior firepower. Essentially a cavalry squad.
Respawn: After a unit in the game is "killed" it will reappear after a set time back at a starting point on the map. Usually the main base for that side. If you've ever played a video game then you probably already know this.
Sitrep: Short for Situation Report
Spawn Camp: This is when a superior force sits on top of an opponent's spawn area and immediately targets enemies as they spawn in before they can reach their own vehicles. Everyone agrees it is completely unfair, underhanded and unacceptable, but no one hesitates to use this tactic if given the chance.
VTOL: Vertical Take Off and Landing. New in CWZ II. System enables jet aircraft to hover, slide sideways and even reverse to some extent. Drawback is the fuel consumption rate, but not really a huge issue in a video game. Thrust is directed through several vents and swiveling ducts along the main body and wingtips of the aircraft.
Walker: Any combat vehicle who's main method of travel is walking on two or more mechanical legs.
All projectile weapons of CWZ use magnetic accelerators to fire steel coated tungsten penetrators. CWZ vehicles are equipped with heavier versions and come in two main systems. The automatic rail gun fires a stream of projectiles through a single barrel, has a much slower rate of fire, but is more accurate and manages its ammunition supply better. The Gauss autocannon is an insane ammo hog that fires up to 50 rounds per second through rotating multiple barrels. However accuracy is the tradeoff for the rate of fire. The high speed rotation both simplifies the loading mechanism and allows air-cooling for the accelerator coils within the barrels. Zim has acquired an advanced version of the Gauss autocannon in his restoration project of his Scout Walker, a weapon system which is considered an advanced next generation projectile weapon on Earth but hopelessly obsolete by Irken standards.
Basic infantry gear within CWZ is standard or powered body armor, primary and secondary weapons. The primary weapon is usually part of the description of the equipment rig such as rocket infantry. Secondary weapons include mini-fusion grenades, proximity mines, and a few small shoulder fired anti-air or anti-tank rockets of various types as basic gear (except for rocket infantry for as they have much heavier versions).
Light Infantry:
Sniper: Armor has much more camouflage, rather than protective, qualities than any other unit in CWZ. Essentially this means that an opponent must be much closer before an IFF tag identifying the player will pop up on their display as well as being more difficult to spot visually. Friendly units do not have this difficulty. One of the fastest infantry units, but light on health points. Its primary weapon is of course a powerful, long-range, semi-auto sniper rifle. A single shot will take down most light and even heavy infantry depending on where they are hit from 600 yards away. Often used as a recon unit to scope out enemy positions and relay that information to friendly units.
Engineer: This is a must have driver of any armor column as it can repair vehicle damages back to half strength. Enough so the damaged unit can make it back to its base for full repairs. It can also lay or clear anti-tank mines. Equipped with an automatic infantry rifle.
Rifle Infantry: Your standard infantry unit. Automatic rifle with an effective range of up to 200 yards but usual engagement ranges are around 50 or less. Medium powered armor. Fairly basic. The opposite of the Rocket Infantry.
Heavy Infantry:
Rocket Infantry: This rig is equipped with heavier powered armor and a much larger rocket launcher than standard rifle infantry units. Equipped with a large number of various shoulder fired missiles. Useful against armored vehicles and aircraft, but not so much against infantry. Thus usually escorted by friendly units.
Heavy Infantry: (Yeah, I know.) Slow moving, but very tough and equipped with an ultralight version of the Gauss autocannon. Horrifying at close range, but lacking accuracy from farther away. Of course with such a high rate of fire, who needs accuracy? Perfect for he maniac type. An assault unit for taking fortified positions. Often must retreat for more ammunition. Has the highest health points of any infantry unit.
CWZ Vehicles:
All vehicles within CWZ are GEV's and may carry a driver and a gunner, but usually run by a single player operating both functions. Most of the time the two-player method is used to pick up a teammate who was forced to bailout of their vehicle and run them back to base for another. Or just enough for to run back safely. After all, most players have better things to do than play taxi. Vehicles may become flipped over and are labeled as disabled. They disappear only after one side is left remaining in the area and respawn back at their base.
Scout GEV: A fast, maneuverable but light GEV roughly equivalent to a Jeep. Has a single automatic rail gun mounted on the roof. Used most often as transportation to ambush positions, searching out opposing forces, and for rapid attack groups.
Armored Personnel Carrier: This is a unique unit as it can carry up to six players, but is absolutely never used that way. Slower than Scouts, but faster than Tanks and equipped with a medium Gauss autocannon in a roof turret. This can be devastating to any infantry caught in the open, scout cars, effective against aircraft and can wear down tanks although slowly. Two mortar tubes in a hatched mini-turret in the back can launch I.F. fragmentation rounds effective against infantry and stationary scout cars but useless against anything else. Mostly used to escort tanks against infantry and aircraft as a support unit.
Main Battle Tank: These are the main armor force in CWZ. Tough and carrying a lot of firepower, but the slowest vehicle and least maneuverable. The primary weapon is a turreted phased plasma gun. The PPG is a purely an anti-armor system and ineffective against infantry unless they should take a direct hit. Has a 300 yard maximum range as the damage potential drops over distance. The MBT comes in two types. The Gun Tank is equipped with two light autocannon located on top of the PPG turret and is sort of an "escort" tank, but fairly common. The autocannon are effective against infantry but not heavy enough for aircraft or armored vehicles. Then there is the Missile Tank which has unguided rocket pods located along the side of the turret. This is more of an assault unit as it can fire missiles on to infantry positions like a mortar, but from three times the range. However it must be at a complete stop to compute an I.F. launch calculation. Or it can fire, while moving, line-of-sight straight into a target. The drawback is that the pods can carry only a total of eight missiles with no tracking system to guarantee a hit. It is designed for stand-and-shoot tank duels beyond PPG range or to soften up a position before going in.
Aircraft of CWZ I: These are fairly basic, and considered difficult to use effectively. Easy to take off, difficult to line up on a single ground target, and impossible to land. Most players just bail out over their base when finished. Equipped with a single heavy Gauss autocannon and two missile pods for fire support. Can also be flown upside-down and used as an eye in the sky for friendly units. They are not seen as a primary component of the game.
Aircraft of CWZ II: The vehicles and the game interface have been improved to balance the air support aspect of the game. Aircraft may include VTOL Fighters, Transports for NPC Paratroopers, and Ground Attack Bombers. The Fighters carry both AA and AT homing missiles as well as the original two unguided rocket pods and heavy autocannon. Bombers carry, well, bombs as well as heavy fragmentation rockets and as homing ATm's. Cruise Missiles for assaulting base defenses may also be carried. It's drawback is a lack of a cannon which usually requires an escort Fighter, but which is made up for by flares to draw off missile attacks.
Armored Assault Walker: This has been covered extensively in chapter 5. There is only one per map located in the middle between opposing bases. It has defenses against any unit in the game, including incoming missile fire. However, as its parts become damaged, they eventually become disabled. This includes the both the arm weapon mounts, the backpack missile system and the leg propulsion units. It is also equipped with homing anti-air, anti-tank, and unguided fragmentation missiles. Also the only unit armed with two nuclear-tipped unguided missiles. These are defined as "low-yield" tactical warheads with "only" a blast radius of 600 yards, but still devastating to a group in most environments. Anything less than an APC and Heavy Infantry (hiding behind a large rock on the outer edge of the blast radius) is simply toast. Damage increases to 100% even for tanks approaching ground-zero of the detonation. Even the Walker will take heavy damage if it is too close. Always used as a last-ditch effort against a critical position being overwhelmed due to the extreme danger of friendly fire to one's own team. But then again, that's the normal way to play...
Monopoly: Juvenile Delinquent Edition:
This version can either take forever, or end really fast due to the fact that anyone can rob the bank as well as rob and perform drive-bys on other players to try and force them out of the game. Plus there are opportunities to land in jail. Many, many, many such opportunities. It all depends on the roll of the dice. Keep in mind that it's good to have friends in this more "competitive" version of Monopoly. Feel free to make up some rules yourself if you give this a try.
Setup: Just like in Normal Monopoly, but it is required that the title deeds for properties be shuffled into random order and into a single pile. You will need coins or other small objects to reflect which properties are Slumlord developments. Writing yourself some $1,000 bills in paper money is also optional.
Robbing the Bank: You know we've all wanted to do this. When you pass Go you do NOT collect a $200 dollar salary. You are a delinquent, therefore do not have a job! You rob the bank instead. Roll one of the dice. 1-2: Go to Jail. 3-4: Roll one die to see how many 50's you stole. 5-6: Roll two dice OR attempt to steal a property. To steal a property, roll one die again. What ever the roll is, that is which one you may collect from the top of the bank's property deck. When you land on or pass FREE PARKING you may choose to do this again, but may NOT roll two dice for the payout or steal a property from the bank.
Slumlord Housing: When building houses, you may choose to build Slumlord housing. You CANNOT mix regular and slum housing on a single property, but you may upgrade to regular buildings later on simply by paying the bank the rest of the building cost. Slum housing costs only half of a normal house. The downside is that you may only charge half the rent, may not build a hotel until upgraded, and the buildings are a fire hazard. They have a chance during an arson attack of spreading the fire and may even take out the whole block!
Arson Attacks: When a player lands on a rival's property with housing, they may commit arson to lower the rent rate, retaliate for some action, or just to say hello. Roll one die. 1-3: Go to jail after paying the rent to the player. 4-5: FIRE! Lose a house. 6: If a slum, the fire spreads. Roll again to see how many houses are lost. If rolls another 5-6: The owner collects insurance money for the FULL cost of a normal house for that space. NOTE: A player may use this against themselves to collect the insurance money on any house or hotel! Roll a die. 1-3: Go to jail. 4-6: Lose one building and collect the insurance for the FULL cost of the house.
When passing another player, you may conduct one of two attacks. You may rob their private residence (using Rob the bank rules) or do a drive-by. (And yes, if you manage to steal a property with houses on it, you get those too!)
Drive-bys: You may choose to do this when passing another one other player's token. When your movement is complete (and before anything else is done such as paying rent), roll one of the dice. 1-2: Go to jail. 3-4: You missed and nothing happens (unless the other player has a good memory). 5-6: Success. Roll again. 1-5: They go to FREE PARKING (the hospital) and lose this many turns of movement (NO drive-bys in FREE PARKING, JAIL, or GO! 6: (optional) Roll again. If you roll another 6 they are out of the game and everything they had goes back to the bank.
Going to Jail: There is no bailing yourself out for players like you! You have to try to roll doubles once per the next three turns and pay the $50 fine, or attempt to escape. The escape attempt roll goes first. And REMEMBER! The roll for doubles is per jail sentence. Trying to escape has certain risks (or advantages if you are outnumbered by enemies)
Escaping from Jail: When it is again your turn, roll a die. 1-2: You are caught and another three turns are added to your sentence (you may want a pen and paper to keep track of the jail time remaining). 3-4: Failure, but you manage to make it back to your cell and destroy the evidence before you are caught. 5-6: Get out of jail free and roll for movement.
Breaking a friend out of Jail: If you pass Jail and have a friend inside, you may attempt to bust him (or especially her) out. Roll one die. 1-3: Failure! You immediately stop the rest of your movement and turn, hiding in the bushes from the alerted guards. 4-6: Your friend is released at once without paying the fine.
Landing on Chance or Community chest (optional): You may do any of the above options (or again if you already did some such as robbing the bank).
Building limits: There are none. When you are a slumlord committing robbery, arson and other such activities, are you really going to sweat over building permits? The dreaded Boardwalk Hotel may now be a building complex with a hotel and several other buildings. You will have to figure out the math yourself, but it gets really ugly really fast (Three hotels on Boardwalk? Rent=$6,000). You may need random small objects to represent houses and hotels if you go this route. You may want to write up more paper money for the game as well, such as $1,000 bills.