Rules Modifications
As with any popular game, people are developing rules modifications to better suit their style of play. The most important improvements you will find in the FAQ, some were already incorporated into the main rules in the 'Armed & Dangerous' rulebook. Here are some of our own, that we use in addition.
The FAQ suggests that in case of ambiguities robots should fire in the order of priority of their movement cards for this turn. That's not enough mayhem for my taste. ;-)
I'd rather have them all fire (and hit) simultaneously. I really think that this is the way it was intended, it's no more ambigous than the FAQ version and it's actually less trouble. Just find out who's firing at whom, assign all damage and then do all the pushing and shoving that results from some of the special weapons. (In the example given in the FAQ, this would mean that the poor robot takes the full two points of damage in addition to being pushed, regardless of movement priorities. In the second FAQ example this means that 2 points of damage are lost on the already pulverized bot, too bad. ;-) )
I really wonder why they introduced virtual bots into the rules. They confuse the hell out of new players, they add some mighty strange text to the 'Armed & Dangerous' rulebook (p.7) and what's more important - they are a lot less fun than 'real' robots. Virtual bots don't interact with other bots which makes them rather boring.
And this actually gives them an advantage over the other players: If in RoboRally two players plot to take the exact same courses from the start for as long as possible, they can remain virtual for quite a long time. During this time, they don't have to worry about any surprises, as they will only interact with board elements and - randomizers aside - these are completely predictable.
IMHO virtual bots are bothersome, boring and unfair. How can you play without them?
It's simple: It must never be possible for two bots to be in the same square. This only happens in two situations:
| At the start of the game: | We usually make up as many separate starting locations as there are players. It should be roughly equally hard to get to the first flag from each of them. Assign them to the players randomly. All initial archive copies are all in the same spot, however. |
| When two or more bots reincarnate at the same archive location: | Randomly set up an order in which they will be placed or do it in the order that they've died: If there happens to be no real bot occupying the archive location, the first bot is placed there. For all other bots, set them one square away in a random direction. (Use a D4 or draw one of Move 1, Rotate Right, Rotate Left and Back-Up). If this square is occupied or is not an empty square (without any board elements), repeat. Do this until all bots are placed. |
more stuff coming soon...
back to my 
page
RoboRally, Armed & Dangerous and 'Wizards of the Coast' are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
send me e-mail at eney@cs.tu-berlin.de