BlizzForums Game Night: Robo Rally

Game: Robo Rally
Site: Game Table Online
Date/Time: Wednesday, April 8th @ 9:00 PM EST
Channel: Main Lobby
Rules:See Second Post

Game Introduction:


I thought that we would shift our focus on the Wednesday Night Game Nights and just sort of rotate through card games and board games instead just to keep things a bit more lively. This week, we return to the world of Board Games for one of those games that I think everyone will enjoy, as it is all about reaching the flags first while getting in the way of your opponents.

As one of several supercomputers in a fully automated widget factory, you have it made.

You are brilliant.
Your are powerful.
You are sophisticated.
You are BORED.

Time to enjoy a little fun at the factory's expense! With the other computers, program factory robots and pit them against each other in frantic, destructive races across the factory floors. Be the first to touch the flags, in order, and you win it all: the honor, the glory, the grudging respect of the other computers. But first you have to get your robot past obstacles like gaping pits, industrial lasers, moving conveyor belts, and, of course, the other robots!

Issues with Game Table Online:

Q. What are the system requirements to play games at GameTable Online on a Windows-based PC?

All of our games use Sun Microsystems' Java, so you will need a computer that has Java version 1.5, or later. As of this writing, Java-supported platforms include Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris. *Note: we do not provide technical support for Linux and Solaris platforms. To verify your installation of Java, go to: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

The minimum system requirements for GameTable Online games in the Windows environment are:
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, Millennium, XP, and Vista
Pentium 166MHz processor
32 megabytes of RAM
20 megabytes of free hard drive space
An 1024x768 display
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, or Netscape 4.7 or higher
A 28.8Kbps Internet connection

Q. Why is my computer UNABLE TO LAUNCH THE SPECIFIED APPLICATION when I try to play?

This message generally comes up when your computer is not able to utilize Java. Here are some common places to look:

Check that your computer has Java 1.5 or later installed. Java 1.6 is recommend for Windows users and Macintosh users with OS X Leopard. Earlier Mac OS' should stick with 1.5. You can use this link to check.
Check that you don't have multiple versions of Java enabled on your computer. To do this click on the Start button, open your Control Panel, and click on Java. This will open up the Java Control Panel where you should click the Java tab, and then under Java Application Runtime Settings, click View. This will bring up a listing of all the Java Runtime Versions on your computer. You should have only one version enabled. Click Okay. We currently recommend version 1.6.0_07 (8/22/08)

Clear your Java cache. To do this click on the Start button, open your Control Panel, and click on Java. This will open up the Java Control Panel where you should click on the General tab, click Settings under Temporary Internet Files, and then Delete Files to clear their cache.

On Macintosh systems, find Java Preferences (not Java Web Start). On the General tab you should have sections of the page listed as Java Applet Settings and Java Application Runtime Settings. On Applet settings, make sure only one version is selected (usually the newest, but older Mac users may have better results with 1.5). On the Runtime settings you should see J2SE 5.0, J2SE 1.4.2, and the like. Make sure that the J2SE version you want to use is at the top of the list, as this is the preference order that your computer will use Java versions.

If using Internet Explorer as an Internet browser, check that it is accessing Java: From the Tools menu, select Internet Options, select the Advanced tab, scroll down to the Java section and ensure that the Use Java… box is selected.

If using Netscape or Mozilla as an Internet browser, check that it is accessing Java: From Edit menu, select Preferences, click on Helper Applications under the Navigator heading, make sure there is ?application/x-jnlp-file? line listed in the File Types, and that it is set to ?Open using these files using default application.? If the ?application…? is absent, enter a ?New Type? with MIME type set to ?application/x-jnlp-file.? Description should be set to ?jnlp,? Extension should be set to ?jnlp,? and Open with default… button should be selected. If the application line is present but not using default, edit the file type and make it so.

How To Sign Up At Game Table Online:

It is a pretty simple process to get an account at Game Table Online. Just go to: https://gametableonline.com/secure/register.php and fill that out and it will send you an e-mail with your password.

When you are ready to join the actual room, just click on the Play Games! tab at the top of the Game Table Online site. It will take you to a main lobby area where you will just need to look for the game created by SpaceDominator.

If you have any questions, do NOT hesitate to ask.

Thanks a lot,
SpaceDominator
 

Rules: RoboRally

SUMMARY OF PLAY

Get ready to boot up the RoboRally robot racing game! On each turn, you’ll draw random program cards, each featuring an instruction for the movement of your robot. Secretly choose five of those cards to plan out your robot’s moves across a perilous course, with the goal of being the first to touch all the flags in order. Getting to the flags isn’t always easy, though, because you’ll execute your secret moves at the same time as all the other players. Robots will get in each other’s way, push each other off course, and shoot each other with lasers. Sometimes the biggest challenge is just surviving!


HOW TO PLAY

Do the following in order each turn.


1. Receive Program cards.

2. Arrange your Program cards face down among your

five registers.

3. Announce intent to power down or continue running NEXT turn.

4. Complete each register in order: execute the Program

cards, complete board movements, resolve all

interactions, and touch flags and repair sites.

5. Clean up any end-of-turn effects.

1. Program Cards

Each player who doesn’t have any Damage tokens gets nine cards. As robots accumulate Damage tokens, their ability to accept programs is reduced. For each Damage token a robot has, that player is dealt one fewer Program card. For example, a player with one Damage token gets eight Program cards, a player with two Damage tokens gets seven, and so on. (For any robot with five or more

Damage tokens, see Locking Registers, below). Don’t look at any of your Program cards until all players have been dealt their hands.

2. Program Registers

After all players have been dealt new Program cards, you can look at your hand

and choose the five cards you want to use this turn. Order those cards in the registers on your Program Sheet, face down, from left to right in the order they’ll be executed. (The registers are numbered 1 to 5.) Discard any cards you have left over. When you finish programming your registers, announce that you’re done. Once you’re done, you can’t look at your cards or rearrange them.


3. Announce Power Down

A player with a damaged robot may choose to power down. A power down announced this turn takes effect on the next turn. Indicate that you’re powering down next turn by putting a Power Down token on your Program Sheet. At the beginning of the turn when your robot powers down, all your Damage tokens are discarded. The robot doesn’t receive or execute Program cards and doesn’t move while powered down, but board elements still affect it. For example, a robot that powers down on a conveyor belt will still be moved by that belt, even though it’s not moving on its own. Other robots can push a powered-down robot, and the robot can still be damaged (such as by laser fire), Because of that, a robot that’s powered down may receive new Damage tokens during the turn.


If you announce a power down for the next turn but are destroyed before then, you can choose to reenter play that turn, either powered down or not. Before the Program cards are dealt each turn, players whose robots were powered down last turn may decide to leave them powered down if they wish (because of

new Damage tokens, for example). At the beginning of each turn that a robot is powered down, all Damage tokens are discarded.

4. Complete Registers


Complete the five registers in order, from left to right. For each, follow this register phase sequence:

A. Reveal Program Cards

B. Robots Move

C. Board Elements Move

D. Lasers Fire

E. Touch Checkpoints


A. Reveal Program Cards

Each player reveals his or her Program card for that register at the same time.


B. Robots Move


Movement

Move each robot as its Program card indicates. A Move 2 will move a robot forward 2 spaces, a Back Up card will move a robot back 1 space, and so on.

Priority

The priority numbers on each Program card indicate a robot’s priority for that register phase—how quickly it moves. Whenever robots are likely to bump into each other, the priority numbers are used to determine which robot moves first. A higher number means faster movement, so a robot with a 200 card would move before a robot with a 100 card.


Pushing Other Robots

When robots collide, one will push the other. Robots can be pushed anywhere on the board (or off the side!), even into a pit or onto a conveyor belt. A robot can’t be pushed through a wall, though, so the movement of a pushing robot will simply stop if the pushed robot runs into a wall. Robots can run into walls all day long without taking any damage from it, so they don’t accumulate Damage tokens this way.


C. Board Elements Move


Order of Board Elements

Board elements move in the following order:


1. Express conveyor belts move 1 space in the direction of the arrows.


2. Express conveyor belts and normal conveyor belts move 1 space in the

direction of the arrows.


3. Pushers push if active.


4. Gears rotate 90? in the direction of the arrows.

More than one board element may affect a robot in any register phase. The Factory Floor Guides include a complete listing of all the board elements and what they do.


Conveyor Belt Priority

Normally, all robots on a conveyor belt are moved simultaneously; because these movements aren’t from Program cards, they have no priority rankings. ometimes, however, more than one conveyor belt will converge onto the same space and robots being moved by the belts may arrive there at the same time. Robots being moved by conveyor belts never push other robots, so in these cases the robots both remain on the conveyor belts. Similarly, if a robot is already in the space, another robot would be moved to by a conveyor belt, the robot on the belt stays there. If it’s not clear what you should do, don’t move either robot.


D. Lasers Fire

Board Lasers


A robot that ends a register phase in a space that has lasers going through it receives 1 Damage token for each laser in that space. Lasers don’t pass through robots, so if multiple robots are in the path of the same beam, only the robot closest to the source of the laser is damaged. Robots can move through lasers undamaged. Only robots that are still in the path of a laser after all the board elements have moved receive Damage tokens. (See Damage & Destruction, below, for details on the effects of damage.Robot Lasers).

In addition to the lasers shown on the boards, every robot has a main forward-firing laser. Any robot in another robot’s line of sight is automatically damaged by that robot’s main laser and receives 1 Damage token. To be in a robot’s line of sight, the other robot must be in front of it with no obstacles (like a wall or another robot) in between. Robot lasers fire across the board until they hit something, though, so it doesn’t matter how far apart the robots are.


E. Touch Flags & Repair Sites


Any robot that has survived the mayhem to this point and is on a flag “touches” that flag. Starting next turn, it can move on to the next flag, in order. Any robot on a flag or repair site has an Archive marker added to its archive location. If the robot is destroyed before reaching another archive location, this is where it will reenter the race. That completes a single register phase. This sequence is repeated for each register (left to right).


5. Cleanup

Timing

After finishing the last register phase in a turn (register 5), it’s time to clean up the mess from this turn and prepare for the next.

Repairs & Upgrades

Robots on a single-wrench space discard 1 Damage token. Robots on a crossed wrench/hammer space discard 1 Damage token AND draw one Option card. When you draw an Option card, read it aloud to the other players and put it in front of you, face up. (See Using Options to Prevent Damage, below, for more on Option cards.)


Wiping Registers

Discard all Program cards from registers that aren’t locked. (See Locked Registers, below.)

Setup for the Next Turn

Players whose robots were powered down this turn choose whether their robots will remain powered down on the next turn. Each robot that was destroyed this turn reenters play in the space containing its Archive marker. The player chooses which direction the robot faces. Robots reentering the race receive 2 Damage tokens (plus any Damage tokens taken while powered down). A player may decide at this time to reenter the race powered down for the next turn (to discard the Damage tokens). After you’re done with cleanup, begin the next turn

MULTIPLE ARCHIVE MARKERS ON THE SAME SPACE

If two or more robots would reenter play on the same space, they’re placed back on the board in the order they were destroyed. The first robot that was destroyed gets the archive space, facing any direction that player chooses. The player whose robot was destroyed next then chooses an empty adjacent space (looking orthogonally OR diagonally) and puts the robot on that space. That robot can face any direction that player chooses, except that there can’t be another robot in its line of sight 3 spaces away or closer. Ignore all board elements except for pits when placing your robot in an adjacent space. You can’t start a turn with your robot in a pit. They suffer enough as it is.



DAMAGE & DESTRUCTION


Because being lasered, rammed, pounded, or pushed into a pit tends to affect a robot’s ability to “think,” damaged robots get one fewer Program card for each Damage token they have. And when a robot accumulates 5 Damage tokens, things really get interesting. . .

Damage tokens Effect

0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt nine Program cards

1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt eight Program cards

2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt seven Program cards

3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt six Program cards

4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt five Program cards

5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt four Program cards, lock register 5

6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt three Program cards, lock registers 4 and 5

7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt two Program cards, lock registers 3, 4, and 5

8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt one Program card, lock registers 2, 3, 4, and 5

9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealt no Program cards, lock all registers

10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Destruction!

Locked Registers

If a robot has 5 or more Damage tokens, its registersbegin to lock up, from register 5 all the way down to register 1 (in reverse order). Mark a locked register by placing the Damage token above the register on your Program Sheet. Once a register is locked, the Program card in that register stays there until the damage locking the register is repaired. When that happens, discard both the Damage token and the Program card. You must unlock registers in reverse order, from lowest (register 1) to highest (register 5). A robot with all its registers locked still moves—the Program cards from the previous turn stay in place, and that program is simply executed again.


Using Options to Prevent Damage

If you want, a robot with an Option card can discard it to avoid receiving a Damage token. (The Option takes the damage instead of the robot.) You can do this for as many Option cards as you have, but you have to make the exchange when the Damage token is received. Stack the discarded cards face up next to the Option deck.


Destruction
A robot is destroyed when:

* It receives its tenth Damage token.

OR

* It moves or is moved into a pit.

OR

* It moves or is moved off the edge of the board.

A destroyed robot immediately loses an Option card of the player’s choice, and the player discards a Life token. When that player discards the robot’s last Life token, it’s permanently out of the game. Otherwise, the robot reenters play on the space of its Archive marker in the Cleanup step.

LOCKING REGISTERS DURING POWER DOWN

Because robots can still bedamaged during a power down, they can sometimes accumulate enough Damage tokens for a register to lock up before they reenter play. Registers that become locked when your robot is powered down are immediately programmed randomly: Draw a card from the top of the deck and put it in that register, face up.


WINNING THE GAME

The winner is the first player to touch all the flags in order. The game can end as soon as the winner touches the last flag, or play can continue to determine runners-up.
 

heh, this looks like fun. I'll try to show up.
 

Yeah, this is one I've been looking forward to trying for a quite a while. As I was talking with Kacaier, we're not ready for Kill Dr. Lucky again as he was quite adept at creating server lag.
-SpaceDominator
 

can't make it SD, got a girlie coming over
 

Real men and real girls play board games and card games. Besides, you know you want her to be put under the scrutiny of the rest of the BF community instead of doing all of that other "fun" stuff that boys and girls do. ;p
 

yeah i mean, you guys are cool and all but like this is just a chick im looking to put one into quick and have that be the end of it and we all know how sexy internet forums are.
 

Alright, I'm ready to get my collective robotic rear handed to me tonight. My first two experiments with this game went horribly wrong.

We'll see you all in the factory. :P The link again: http://www.gametableonline.com When you get into the lobby, I highly recommend PRELOADING Robo Rally, by going to Play -> Load Robo Rally and then execute the Preload.
-SpaceDominator
 

K so this was fucking fun and I think we need to do it again soon
 

I agree. I had a blast!

Thanks alot SpaceDominator.
 

From what I could tell Izzy and Kacaier who also showed up shared the view of you two of this being great. Despite the fact that I was horrendous at it, it was fun. However, is it a game that I personally would enjoy playing consistently? In my view, it's definitely not my cup of tea. I prefer a game where I actually have an understanding of why I won or why I lost. In my view, I found this to be even MORE luck based than Acquire, and really I thought it lacked very much depth. It was entertaining though.

As they say though, different strokes for different folks. I'm glad you all enjoyed it and we'll probably end up doing it again because I think you all enjoy playing games that I'm horrible at.
 

I don't remember the bolded part. :-) I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.