Freeway Fighter - Attempts 2 & 3

Well, I'm back for another couple of cracks at Freeway Fighter.  Last time I stupidly drive over a bridge that was obviously dangerous.  I tend to get a lot of instant deaths in my early play-throughs, because I am not at all cautious.  What can I say, I like to explore my options and try everything.  Hopefully I'll do better this time.  Obviously the post title gives away the result of Attempt 2, but hey, there's always Attempt 3 to keep you in suspense!

ATTEMPT 2

For this attempt I rolled a Skill of 9, a Stamina of 29, a Luck of 11, a Firepower of 11, and an Armour score of 30.  I can't really remember how tough the vehicle combats in this book are, but I figure those stats are all good enough to get through.  Time will tell.

Starting off on my drive from New Hope to San Anglo, I decided to ignore the initial encounter with the guy who is heading for New Hope.  All he does is give you information, so there's no point now.  I did stop at Joe's Garage, and fought the Thug.  He hit me once (dropping my Stamina to 27).  His girlfriend/accomplice drove off, and this time I decided to give chase.  Unfortunately, she had placed a small mine under my front wheel during the battle, and when I tried to take off it blew up one of my front tyres.  I was forced to replace it with a spare (and also to reduce my Luck to 10).  (I have to call bullshit on this a little bit.  So if I chase here she placed a mine, but if I don't chase her she didn't?  How does that work?  The placement happened before my decision, either the mine is there or it isn't.  It's a bit annoying, but I can fudge it in my head like this: she used a weak adhesive to place the bomb, and if I choose to explore the garage it falls off before I get back to the car.  You're welcome Ian.)

Further up the road I fought a Red Chevvy, which caused me some trouble before I blew it off the road (dropping my Armour from 30 to 21).  After that - and a radio warning from New Hope about the kidnapping of the leader Sinclair - I came to a T-junction.  I'd gone east last time, so I decided to head west.

After a bit the road ended at a bridge over a river.  The bridge was slightly raised, so I'd have to fire my Interceptor up to 180 kp/h to jump it.  I decided to give it a go, and made the jump (with dice roll under my Skill).  Unfortunately, there was an overturned truck on the road on the far side, and I plowed right into it (after rolling over my Skill).  My car was badly damaged (reducing my Armour to 14), but I survived, and was able to keep driving.

I soon came to another junction, and decided to turn south in the direction of San Anglo.  Soon I came to another junction, and turned left.  This was followed by yet another exciting junction, where I turned south again (with no option from the book).  Then my car ran out of petrol, and my adventure was over in one of the most banal fashions ever.

ATTEMPT 3

This time I rolled a Skill of 12, a Stamina of 33, a Luck of 11, a Firepower of 12 and an Armour score of 29.  Those were some cracking stats; as long as I could find petrol I'd be in business.

I blew through the early stages, ignoring the first couple of encounters and blowing the Red Chevvy to bits with one of my rockets.  At the first junction I turned west again, and with my high Skill I had no trouble jumping the bridge and avoiding the overturned truck.  At the next junction I continued west instead of turning south as I had last time.

As I drove on, a man in jeans, jacket and a motorbike helmet ran onto the road and tried to flag me down.  I pulled over, and spotted that his motorbike was lying down beside the road.  I warned him over my loudspeaker not to try anything, and got out of the car.  As soon as I took a few steps, he jumped into a ditch just a grenade came flying out of nowhere to land at my feet.  I avoided the worst of the explosion (with a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 10; the explosion dropped my Stamina to 31), and drew my pistol.  I was in a shoot-out with two Bikers (Skill 7, Stamina 13 and Skill 5, Stamina 14).

Despite being caught in a crossfire (because I was shooting it out with both of them at the same time) I was able to kill them both and come out unscathed.  Searching their bodies I found a throwing-knife, which I slid into my boot.

Continuing west, I came to another junction.  The way further west was blocked by a huge pile-up of cars, but I decided to have a look around before turning south.  I found a crowbar, and started using it to jimmy open the boots of several cars.  At one point I got worried about leaving the Interceptor unattended, but I decided to keep exploring, and was rewarded for my diligence with a can of petrol (which restored my Luck to 11).

Heading south, I came to an east turn but decided to ignore it.  Further south my petrol gauge started running low, but I was able to refill it with my petrol can.  The sun was setting, so I decided to drive off the side of the road behind a wall and sleep in my car (which restored my Stamina to 33).

Further south I drove through some mines completely unawares (avoiding them with a 50/50 roll).  At another junction I turned east, but after 80 km the road ended at a junction and I had to turn south.

While I driving under a bridge, a crazy laughing man pushed a stone pillar off the top, trying to crush my car.  With supreme skill I swerved around it, and got out to deal with this miscreant.  Before I could get to the top of the bridge, he escaped on a motorbike.  There was caravan there, though, and I decided to search it.  Inside I found a tin of corned beef, which I ate, and a grenade, which I pocketed.

Soon I came to a four-way junction.  The way east was blocked with abandoned cars, so I decided to turn west.  Driving 80 km back west, I soon came to the end of the road and had to turn south again, into the desert.

On the side of the road I saw an overturned Dodge Interceptor.  I pulled over, and took one of its tyres as a spare.

On no, it's the Stig!

I decided to open the car and have a look inside, but to my horror I disturbed the nest of a rattlesnake.  The snake bit me.  I was able to stop the poison from killing me, but I was weakened by the ordeal (my Skill was reduced to 11, and my Stamina to 31).  I shot the snake dead (with vengeful glee, the book says) and found a coil of plastic tubing in the glovebox.

As I drove south, I spotted a motorbike with a sidecar coming up behind me.  It had a sidecar-mounted machine gun, and the passenger opened fire on me (reducing my Armour to 28).  I thought about taking them out with iron spikes or an oil spray, but I figured I could handle them with my machine guns.

The Motorbike and Sidecar (Firepower 9, Armour 8) proved more resilient than I expected, and inflicted some damage on my car before I killed them (reducing my Armour to 22).  Fearing they might be part of a gang, I continued south.

At that point my petrol gauge ran low, and I had no spare canister to do a refill.  Once again, with a great sense of anticlimax, my adventure was over.

THE POST-GAME

Attempt 2 was a complete bust, but I did find a petrol canister on the third go, which I consider a win.  The question is, do I have to go that way every time, or is there another canister on an alternate path?  Jumping the bridge requires a roll under Skill, and I suspect that failure will be an instant death.  It's fine to go that way if my Skill is good, but if it isn't I think I'll try the other path and see how it goes.  Knowing Ian, it won't go well, but you never know.

I've also started keeping a map, which I make in Trizbort.  It's designed for mapping text adventures like Zork, but it work's well for gamebooks too.

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