Freeway Fighter - Attempt 10

I'm nearly there.  I'm nearly at the end of this book, I'm sure of it.  It's kind of embarrassing to be ten attempts into a book I've finished multiple times before with no success to be had, but that's what happens when you try to beat these books legitimately.  It's all down to the luck of the dice at this point.

For this attempt I rolled a Skill of 12, a Stamina of 36, a Luck of 11, a Firepower of 8, and an Armour of 32.  Well, the dice had been kind to me at the beginning.  That Firepower was concerning, but I felt like those other stats would be enough to see me through.

Having been through the book so many times, I had my path pretty much set.  I'll quickly run through each encounter in point form just to recap.

• The encounter with Johnson, who is heading for New Hope after the death of his family.  There's not much to glean from this but information, so I usually skip it.
• Joe's Garage.  This is an ambush with little benefit, so I drove right past.
• The Red Chevvy.  With my Firepower so low, I blew it off the road with a rocket.
• After turning right at the first junction, there's a booby-trapped ambulance.  The Highwayman who set the trap has some credits and a pair of knuckle-dusters, so I sucked up the damage and killed him for his stuff.  Luckily, he only shot me once, so I avoided incurring a Skill penalty.
• The two Bikers at the roadblock.  The best way to get through this encounter is to shoot the roadblock with a rocket, but this time I decided to conserve my rocket and drive around.  They mined my car, which did some damage, so I jumped out and had a shootout with them on foot. With my Skill so high, it wasn't much trouble, even though I had to fight them both simultaneously.  On their bike I found some more credits and a pair of handcuffs.
• The town of Rockville, where the biker gang has taken Sinclair, one of the leaders of New Hope.  I passed the Luck test to avoid being hit by the rocket launcher, and returned fire with a rocket of my own (the only way to defeat this encounter).  After that I was able to rescue Sinclair, and find some petrol and a pair of wire-cutters.
• After turning east and south, there's an encounter with an Armoured Car.  An oil slick will knock it off the road unless you roll a 6 on one die.  I've yet to fail this roll.
• After turning west, south, and west again, there's a blitz race that can be entered to win some petrol.  Winning requires a number of Skill and Luck tests, as well as a 50/50 guess right at the end.  I won, sustaining a small amount of damage.  As usual, the iron spikes I dropped to slow my opponent down never deployed.  It requires a Luck test, and so far I've failed every single time, and the consequences are that you get damaged by a grenade.  I was lucky enough to roll low for damage this time, but in other games it's really messed me up.
• South of that is Spark Plug Pete, who will fit your car with a supercharger for 100 credits and two packs from your med-kit.  I happily paid his price.
• Further south is an overturned Dodge on the side of the road.  Investigating this is essential to victory, even though it involves being bitten by a rattlesnake and incurring a -1 Skill penalty.  I sucked it up begrudgingly, and claimed the coil of plastic tubing in the car's glovebox.
• After that is an encounter with a motorbike and sidecar that rides up and starts shooting at you from behind.  I'd been killed previously by the automatic 1 point of damage they inflict, so I took great pleasure in sending them skidding off the road with my last oil slick.
• There's an abandoned police car further south, with a bullet-proof vest in the boot that can offset the Skill penalty from the rattlesnake.  It can't be opened without a crowbar, though, so I kept on driving.
• East from the next junction there's a place that does car repairs.  I stopped in there, paid 200 credits, and had my Armour restored to its maximum of 32.
• East of that, there's a Duellist who has blocked the road with a bus.  He demands that people pay a toll to pass, or else engage him in a pistol duel.  I chose the duel, and he shot me for 1 point of damage.
• East and south is a group that doesn't let anyone pass unless they beat their champion Leonardi in a drag race.  I wonder what they get out of it?  The race involves each side rolling a die, with the first to reach 24 being the winner.  With the +1 bonus per die roll from my supercharger, I barely managed to squeak a victory.
• South of that is an abandoned truck with a full tank of petrol.  I siphoned the tank with my plastic tubing, and was able to continue.
• After that is the encounter with Amber, signalling that you're close to San Anglo, and must infiltrate the camp of the Doom Dogs, a gang that is menacing the refinery.  Amber gave me some energy pills, which restored me back to my full Stamina of 36.

From this point I'll go back to my regular format.  I had a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 36, and a Luck of 8, and my car had a Firepower of 8 and an Armour score of 32.

As we infiltrated the camp to disable the vehicles of the Doom Dogs, Amber kicked a stone.  The guard on patrol didn't hear (due to a Luck test that reduced my score to 7) and we were able to crawl up to the fence.  I cut through the fence with my wire-cutters, and together we set limpet mines on their vehicles before sneaking back out.

Unfortunately, one of the mines failed to detonate, and the Doom Dogs gave chase in their station-wagon.   I was in good shape (with a Stamina of more than 10) so we were able to make it back to the Dodge before we were caught.

A battle with the Station-Wagon (Firepower 10, Armour 19) ensued, too close for me to fire a rocket, and after three passes I had sustained some minor damage (reducing my Armour to 27).  The Station-Wagon tried to ram me with the huge spike on its front bumper, but (with a successful Skill check) I was able to avoid the worst of it.  Even so, our cars were locked together, and there was no escape.

A challenge came over the Station-Wagon's speakers: fight "The Animal" in hand-to-hand combat, or I'd have to shoot it out.  I thought about it for a while, and decided that shooting it out would be the better option.  (I really did weigh this up for quite a while.  The Animal and I would have been equal in Skill, and I didn't fancy a 50/50 battle.  On the other hand, I was worried that shooting it out would be an instant death.  I took a chance on the unknown option.)

Amber and I opened fire, and the Doom Dogs fired back at us.  There were four of them and two of us, so I had to kill two of the Doom Dogs (Skill 7, Stamina 13 and Skill 8, Stamina 14) myself.  It proved to be little trouble, and I was only injured once despite them both firing at me simultaneously (reducing my Stamina to 32).

Amber took care of the other two Doom Dogs, but we had forgotten that there was one more: the Animal!  He charged at me, snorting through his mask, and caught me in a bear-hug (reducing my Stamina to 30).  Amber tried to hit him with a spanner, but she missed, and the Animal continued to squeeze (further reducing my Stamina to 28).  On her second swing she hit, and knocked him out.  We tied him up (well that's what the book says, but actually I put a bullet right through his skull) and drove the Dodge into San Anglo to a hero's reception.

At San Anglo I was able to rest while the petrol tanker I had come for was being prepared (restoring my Skill to 12 and my Stamina to 32).  I woke up to the sound of gunfire: the remainder of the Doom Dogs were attacking San Anglo's oil refinery!  One of them blew open the town gates by ramming a small truck into it, and the Doom Dogs drove into San Anglo as the townsfolk panicked.  (Didn't we disable all of their vehicles?  I guess they spent the night fixing them up.)

I was able to take charge (with a successful Skill check), ordering the townsfolk to take cover in their cabins.  One of the Doom Dogs ran out from cover, and tried to jump in the tanker's cabin and drive it away.

I gave chase, and was shot in the side in the crossfire (due to an unsuccessful Luck test, which left my Luck at 6 and my Stamina at 31).   By the time I reached him, he had started the engine.  He tried to shoot me, but I was quicker (my Skill was 12 compared to his Skill of 6).  I was able to take him captive, and used that to make the Doom Dogs retreat.  They fled into the desert, and I allowed my captive to follow them.

With the threat of the Doom Dogs beaten, it was time for me to return to New Hope with the petrol tanker.  I had to abandon the Dodge, because I had to drive the tanker, and nobody from San Anglo was grateful enough to accompany me back.

After driving for an uneventful day, I pulled into a motel car-park.  I decided to sleep in the cabin, not wanting to risk leaving the tanker unattended.  In the morning I took off again.  After an hour or so I spotted two bikers coming up behind me, each armed with crossbows.  At first I scoffed at their choice of weapon, until I realised that their intention was to puncture my tyres.  I was able to take one of them out with the tanker's machine guns (with a successful Skill test), but before he died he shot my tyre, and I was forced to stop the tanker in a terrifying skid.  The remaining biker challenged me to a duel, winner takes all.  I liked my chances, so I accepted.

We faced off, revolver versus crossbow.  I was quicker on the draw, and shot him dead.  (This involved each of us rolling a die and adding it to our Skills.  He had a Skill of 7, so there was zero chance that he was going to be able to beat me.)

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and as dusk approached, I drove the tanker into New Hope.  With the petrol the town would be able to flourish, and do some small part in the process of restoring civilisation.  I had also rescued Sinclair, so my mission was a complete success.

THE POST-GAME

Finally!  I was just reaching the point where I was starting to get sick of playing through the same stuff over and over again, so victory came at about the right time.  There was one final hurdle at the end, where I was asked if I'd been bitten by a rat on the return journey.  I suspect that this would have happened at the motel, so I'm pretty happy that I decided not to go inside.

Ten attempts is not so bad, I guess.  One of those was the result of going somewhere I shouldn't, and a few more were the result of running out of petrol.  Most were down to the numbers, which is somewhat out of my control.  I'm just glad that the book has plenty of options for avoiding vehicle combat; my Firepower score was low, but between rockets, spikes and oil I got through.

NEXT: After the wrap-up post for Freeway Fighter (just one, because it's not set on Titan) I think I'm going to check out "The Dark Usurper" from White Dwarf.  It's a shame to put off my long-awaited return to Allansia in Temple of Terror, but I want to cover everything in some semblance of chronological order.

Freeway Fighter - Attempt 7

After six attempts, I've reached the point with this book where I know what do and where to go. The only thing stopping me from completing it - bar some dirty tricks towards the end - is a lack of decent stats and luck with the dice.  I'll get there eventually, but there's no telling how long it'll be before the dice fall my way.

ATTEMPT 7

I rolled pretty well this time around: Skill 11, Stamina 31, Luck 9, Firepower 8 and Armour 34.  My only real worry was that low Firepower score, but that can be offset with the use of rockets.  Other than that, I was feeling like I had half a shot at victory.

Things got off to a bad start almost immediately.  The Red Chevvy at the beginning hammered me, dropping my Armour from 34 down to 20.  I didn't want to use a rocket, as I was determined to rescue Sinclair, and using that path requires the use of two rockets early on.  With only four at my disposal, I didn't want to waste any.

It got even worse when I stopped to investigate the booby-trapped ambulance (which I did because I wanted the credits from the resultant encounter).  The Highwayman who set the trap shot me up bad, leaving me with just 13 Stamina, and a Skill penalty from being shot multiple times.  I was banged up, my car was banged up, and things were looking pretty bleak.

I rescued Sinclair from the biker gang without much trouble, and following that I turned west, going by a different road than usual.  After refilling my car with petrol I decided to spend the night at an old roadside cafe.

I had the choice of sleeping in an upstairs room or an outhouse.  I went with the outhouse, figuring that I shouldn't sleep too far away from my car.  Unfortunately (due to a failed Luck test), I had gone to sleep on a nest of redback spiders, and was bitten during the night (which reduced my Stamina).  I had to use a pack from my med-kit to stop the venom.  I spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car.

The next morning I decided to search the cafe, but found nothing of use.  As I stepped back outside, I saw a man in robes emptying a can of petrol over my car, some sort of cultist determined to cleanse the world of its decadent past.  I was able to knock the match from his hand before he could set my car alight (with a successful Skill check).  He ran off, and I drove away before he could return with more of his ilk.

After that my mission proceeded pretty smoothly for a while; see previous posts for more details on the encounters to be had.  Eventually I neared New Haven, and was met by a woman named Amber.  She told me that New Haven's refinery was under threat from a gang known as the Doom Dogs, and we'd have to sneak into their camp and disable their vehicles to have any hope of completing my mission.  We waited for nightfall, and I took the chance to heal up.  (At this point I had a Skill of 9, a Stamina of 29, a Luck of 7, Firepower of 8, and Armour of 19.)

Amber and I approached the camp of the Doom Dogs on foot after dark.  Amber noisily kicked a rock, but (with a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 6) the guard didn't hear it.  After he passed by we crawled up to the fence, and I cut it open with some wire-cutters that I'd taken from the gang that had kidnapped Sinclair.

We mined the vehicles, and fled the camp, with the Doom Dogs none the wiser, but when the mines went off one of them failed to detonate due to a faulty fuse.  We ran, as the sound of an engine starting sounded from the camp.

We were able to reach the Dodge before the Doom Dogs could catch up to us (because my Stamina was greater than 10).  I started the car just as their Station-Wagon appeared, armoured with thick plates of steel and mounted with machine guns.  The Station-Wagon (Firepower 10, Armour 19) was formidable, and too close for me to blow it away with a rocket.  I managed to survive the initial battle, taking only minimal damage.  (I had to fight the Station-Wagon for three rounds. Despite its higher Firepower, it only beat me in one round, reducing my Armour to 15.)

We broke apart and the Station-Wagon tried to ram me. I was able to avoid a head-on collision (with a successful Skill check), but was still rammed in the side, and the vehicles were locked.  Over the loudspeaker came an offer from the gang's leader, the Animal: fight him in hand-to-hand combat, or I'd have to shoot it out.  I figured I'd have a better chance of winning a fist fight, so I accepted his offer.

The Animal was an imposing figure (Skill 11, Stamina 16), wearing a facemask and gloves of studded leather.  I used my knuckle-dusters, but it did little good.  The Animal pummeled me to death, and my adventure was over.

THE POST-GAME

Well, that was my best attempt yet, but the Animal was too much for me.  I'm not entirely sure how to play that battle.  The rules for fist-fighting state that a combatant is knocked out after losing 6 Stamina points, but the entry where you fight the Animal says that it's a fight to the death.  I ended up fighting until my Stamina was reduced to 0, as in regular Fighting Fantasy, but I probably should have ended it earlier than that via knockout.  I would have lost either way.  From now on, I'll use the knockout rules for this fight.

SURPRISE ATTEMPT 8

I missed my post last week, so I decided to throw in an extra attempt this time around.  I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 28, a Luck of 8, Firepower of 7, and Armour of 28.

I followed the same path as before, which involves rescuing Sinclair from the biker gang.  I destroyed the Red Chevvy with a rocket to avoid that fight, but the battle with the Motor Cycle at the barricade did not go well at all.  My Firepower was a little higher than his (7 vs. 6), but I was damaged badly, finishing the fight with only 5 points of Armour.

That was my score when I limped into the blitz race later in the book.  I had to win it to have any hope of continuing, and I did it with just a single point of Armour remaining.  My only hope was if I could somehow make it to the car repair shop without taking any damage at all.

Unfortunately, that's impossible.  Not long after the blitz race, there's an encounter with a motorbike-and-sidecar that rides up behind you and opens fire with its guns.  It can be easily taken care of with an oil slick, but that opening salvo is unavoidable, and inflicts - you guessed it - one point of Armour damage.  This might be my most embarrassing death in this book yet.

DOUBLE SURPRISE ATTEMPT 9

Since my last try was quick, and I'm kinda getting sick of this book, I decided to give it another go.  I rolled a Skill of 9, a Stamina of 31, a Luck of 8, Firepower of 7, and an Armour score of 24.  Pretty bad scores all around, to be honest.

I decided that Sinclair could fend for himself this time, and took the easier route.  The major obstacle here is a jump over a bridge, but I was able to clear that (with a Skill check) and continue on my mission.  I reached Amber and the infiltration of the Doom Dogs' camp with a Skill of 9, a Stamina of 28, a Luck of 6, Firepower of 7, and an Armour score of 12.

When we approached the camp and Amber kicked the stone, I failed the resultant Luck test.  The guard heard and came to investigate, so I jumped up to silence him.  I didn't have any knuckle-dusters, but I was still able to knock him unconscious with a single blow (with a successful Skill check).

We scrambled up to the fence, but I didn't have any wire-cutters to get through.  I was forced to skirt around close to the Doom Dogs camp.  Unfortunately (because I failed a Luck test), I was spotted, and the Doom Dogs surrounded and captured us.  Once again, my mission was a failure.

THE POST-GAME

Done in by a failed Luck test yet again.  I'm still bitter about the couple of Luck tests Ian forces on you just before the infiltration of the Doom Dogs' camp.  Perhaps I am better off rescuing Sinclair, and thus getting the wire-cutters.  It'd leave me with fewer rockets, but I'd still have enough to get me through to this point I think, even with low scores.  The question is, what awaits me after escaping from the Doom Dogs?  Are there more difficult vehicle combats?  I can't remember, so I have no idea what to do.  I'll have to weigh up my scores to decide which path to take next time.