2059 Cadillac

[Velox]

My posse (player group) in my Deadlands: Hell on Earth game will soon be fighting a horrible villain who lives in an old Hellstromme Industries corporate arcology/laboratory. They'll be looking for a ride back to Junkyard, the last city in America. I thought of rewarding them with a neat and wacky car - the 1959 Cadillac. Well, since the bombs dropped in 2081, I made it a 2059 Cadillac, but with the exact same look. Maybe the company was feeling lucky, or maybe they knew the world was going to end and didn't give a damn. Anyway, there it is, preserved in the employee parking garage. I know at least one player will be ecstatic about tail fins, acres of chrome, and bullet-style tail lights.

   

I have a few important questions:

What kind of cool features should a luxury car from 2059 have? It's civilian, so not so much on the weaponry or armor, but big on every convenience you can imagine (and hopefully some I couldn't).

I've already decided to make it look like a hard-top. However, the top is actually composed of very long and thin sections that retract into the trunk for open-top driving, but look completely seamless when deployed.

What else?
GPS, Compass, instant climate control, small personal computer, drink cooler, heated seats, security systems...

Ooh, lets get creative with the security systems! I want a multi-tiered violent-as-hell theft prevention system, perfect for when society is corroding into barbarism. Electified chasis, some kind of chemical spray/gas, intruder detection systems, little grabber arms/tentacles inside the car... not quite ridiculous enough...

Should I put in an ejection seat? Would that be too much?

Finally: What color should it be?

[Stargate525]

What else?
GPS, Compass, instant climate control, small personal computer, drink cooler, heated seats, security systems...

Autopilot linked to the navigation, virtual bartender built into the floor (lifts the drinks up pneumatically). Heated, cooled, vibrating, and massaging seats. Wheels that allow it to drive sideways (for those tough parallel parking jobs). ANd make it amphibious; that's a must.

Ooh, lets get creative with the security systems! I want a multi-tiered violent-as-hell theft prevention system, perfect for when society is corroding into barbarism. Electified chasis, some kind of chemical spray/gas, intruder detection systems, little grabber arms/tentacles inside the car... not quite ridiculous enough...

Should I put in an ejection seat? Would that be too much?

I'd give it the ability to call the police (probably is useless now), and the ability for it to start itself and run away.

In addition to the whole poison gas/electrocution/and the simple audio warning. The retreat systems would be for those PERSISTENT thieves who don't know when to quit.

And mythbusters proved ejection seats actually work, so throw one or five in.

Finally: What color should it be?

All of them. Give the thing a panel that allows the color to be changed on the fly.

[Numinous]

Finally: What color should it be?

The Panel could alter the reflective properties of the cars paneling, reflecting only the colors the driver wants people to see.

Voice operated conveniences are also awesome for this sort of thing.

[SDragon]

Remember mood rings?

Yea, make it that color. Only, play it up a bit, making them actually mood (or even intent) sensitive, instead of just vaguely heat sensitive.

And the autopilot should be able to be overriden by the steering wheel, to figure in things that navigation couldn't predict (accidents are still somewhat possible in 2059, and probable in your game).

[Epic Meepo]

Only, play it up a bit, making them actually mood (or even intent) sensitive, instead of just vaguely heat sensitive.

too[/i] telepathic, and tends to respond a little too quickly to the driver's subconscious. Also, it uses car theives' greatest fears against them as a security system, or just alters their minds so they don't really want to steal it after all.

As for color, it's whatever color the viewer thinks it is.

[Stargate525]

Make it telepathic, designed to respond to the driver's thoughts... only the 2059 model is too telepathic, and tends to respond a little too quickly to the driver's subconscious.

I dunno, wouldn't that give away some major stuff about the driver to enemies? I can imagine the car-pirates looking at cars with this feature:

"Oi, One-Eyed Jack! The car's turned yeller, we got 'em scared an' runnin'!"

[Hibou]

Make it capable of repairing itself?

[brainface]

for theft prevention, it should look like a rusted hulk of metal until the keys are placed into the ignition. :)

[Velox]

Damn good ideas. Thanks alot guys!

I like the virtual bartender. I think I'm gonna combine that with the oh-so-important "Voice Commands" suggested into a sort of virtual dashboard valet; a little dude, a la "Battle of the Planets" Invader Zim, talking martian head thingy. Ahem. He'll act all snooty, help the players plot routes, tell them how to properly make a martini, and act really surprised when the group gets in a fight with road gangers.

Question: What should the valet look like? Little monopoly guy? John Travolta from "Grease"? Maybe the Pip Boy from Fallout. What else? Any ideas?

Also, I like the "drive sideways" and the "amphibious" ideas plenty, and I will implement these relatively simple but potentially important ideas. Amphibiousness will be somewhat limited to driving along the bottom with an airtight and oxygen supplied interior. Of course, the seats will provide every comfort we can imagine; heated, cooling, vibrating massage...

As far as all the color changing... good idea, it just seems too advanced. Programmable color changing materials are just too military, and while I see the consumer appeal, it's simply too advanced and too exploitable by some clever players.

The telepathic thing, however, is kinda neat and crazy. I'm just giving the players a cool ride , but maybe they'll run into an evil car one of these days. Imagine a psyhcic zombie drug addict brain enslaved by a small AI computer and forced to perform menial telepathic/empathic scans on everyone near the vehicle to operate it's various driver preferance/security features. Im thinking crazy chameleon evil car that hunts and kill people. Just like "Predator", except a car. You with me?

The self-repair idea would be a huge seller of any car, and isn't impossible. Have to elaborate on that though... self repair is just too powerful in a post apocalyptic game. I'd like to implement it later, when the players have earned the hell out of it, but the Caddy won't have a  Self-Repair-Unit right off the factory floor. At least, the non-psychic one wont.

I'm just looking for a really cool ride from the near future, something to give them a sense of how neato-cool futuristic things were before the bombs dropped.

[Stargate525]

Question: What should the valet look like? Little monopoly guy? John Travolta from "Grease"? Maybe the Pip Boy from Fallout. What else? Any ideas?

I always imagine my butlers looking like Alfred from Batman. That or Q.

Also, I like the "drive sideways" and the "amphibious" ideas plenty, and I will implement these relatively simple but potentially important ideas. Amphibiousness will be somewhat limited to driving along the bottom with an airtight and oxygen supplied interior. Of course, the seats will provide every comfort we can imagine; heated, cooling, vibrating massage...

To be honest, it's alot harder to design a submersible car than it is an amphibious one. Underwater you've got problems with flooding and getting enough oxygen to the internal combustion engine, not to mention the exhaust.

As far as all the color changing... good idea, it just seems too advanced. Programmable color changing materials are just too military, and while I see the consumer appeal, it's simply too advanced and too exploitable by some clever players.

I dunno, color-changing is pretty close to a reality. Give them maybe an eight or ten color selection ans there shouldn't be too many problems. I mean how often do you see a 2059 Caddy rolling down the street anyway?

The telepathic thing, however, is kinda neat and crazy. I'm just giving the players a cool ride , but maybe they'll run into an evil car one of these days. Imagine a psyhcic zombie drug addict brain enslaved by a small AI computer and forced to perform menial telepathic/empathic scans on everyone near the vehicle to operate it's various driver preferance/security features. Im thinking crazy chameleon evil car that hunts and kill people. Just like "Predator", except a car. You with me?

an automotive villian... quite interesting, especially if the players' car and the evil one were 'friends' or some such thing.

The self-repair idea would be a huge seller of any car, and isn't impossible. Have to elaborate on that though... self repair is just too powerful in a post apocalyptic game. I'd like to implement it later, when the players have earned the hell out of it, but the Caddy won't have a  Self-Repair-Unit right off the factory floor. At least, the non-psychic one wont.

it does depend on the amount of repair you give it. I'd say giving them something like a 30-second flat tire fix wouldn't be too overbalancing, and still give them a teaser for the possibilities.
 

I'm just looking for a really cool ride from the near future, something to give them a sense of how neato-cool futuristic things were before the bombs dropped.

Futurecar on the discovery channel. It's on this afternoon, and on Sunday I believe. Lots of great ideas there.

[SDragon]

The self-repair idea would be a huge seller of any car, and isn't impossible. Have to elaborate on that though... self repair is just too powerful in a post apocalyptic game. I'd like to implement it later, when the players have earned the hell out of it, but the Caddy won't have a  Self-Repair-Unit right off the factory floor. At least, the non-psychic one wont.

it does depend on the amount of repair you give it. I'd say giving them something like a 30-second flat tire fix wouldn't be too overbalancing, and still give them a teaser for the possibilities.

"there's a bad guy in the car? OK, I drive it straight into those barrels of explosives, diving out of the car at the last moment."

"KABOOM! oh, and five minutes later, not a scratch."


great cinematics, terrible game balance......

[Stargate525]

"there's a bad guy in the car? OK, I drive it straight into those barrels of explosives, diving out of the car at the last moment."

"KABOOM! oh, and five minutes later, not a scratch."


great cinematics, terrible game balance......

There's a difference between repairing and rebuilding the car. I'd say the most it could to would repair the damage from a fender-bender, maybe a bit of frame warping.

[DeeL]

And what about fuel, anyway?  Should the car run on petroleum, or on something more advanced/exotic?  Maybe the power plant is something nearly inexhaustible, but what the players load up on at the station is coolant..

How about making the car's self-repair system a limited commodity?  Perhaps a nanosystem that hunted out damage, expended itself by repairing it, then needed some kind of recharge?  If a recharge took some time to get to, it might leave the players with some frustrating choices to make.  Fix the axle and hope the carburator (or whatever) hung in there for a bit, or fix the carburator and try not to drive over anything too bumpy?

This might be a little too hard to narrate, but what about a metamorphic car?  I don't mean a fully shapeshifting one, but say the car lengthened and narrowed slightly as it went faster, to improve streamlining?  At rest, it might look much as it does above, but at high speed it might have more of a Grand Prix look.

[Wensleydale]

Nuclear-powered car... that's actually an interesting idea. The back would have to be extended to include a kind of mini-reactor, and it would of course require technology we don't currently possess, but, if it's futuristic...

[Stargate525]

Nuclear-powered car... that's actually an interesting idea. The back would have to be extended to include a kind of mini-reactor, and it would of course require technology we don't currently possess, but, if it's futuristic...

make certain that the generator only produces 1.20 gigawatts of power, and maxes out at 87 mph, otherwise you'll open up a whole can of worms...

In all seriousness, I'd vote for a turbine-driven engine, with an electrical backup for acceleration. That way, in post-apocalypse world, they can burn any combustible liquid, and reach insanely high speeds besides. the electric generator could simply be charged by the turbine.