Because it’s #falloutfriday today, and I was feeling rather festive, I decided to try running something a bit different for this month’s game.
One of my absolute favorite locations in Fallout 4 (and maybe any Fallout game I’ve played through) was Easy City Downs, which for those of you who don’t know, was a robot racetrack run by the Triggermen.
Unfortunately, like the Combat Zone, there’s little to no actual interactivity with this otherwise really fun and interesting location. Both Easy City Downs and the Combat Zone really added a lot lore-wise to both the Commonwealth raiders and the society in the Commonwealth as a whole, but the only thing you can do in these two locations in-game is just… shoot everyone there. I felt it was such an under-used location, especially considering the Automatron DLC. There could have been a fully interactive robot racing course you could take Codsworth or Curie or Ada to and have them compete against other robots, but instead it was just another shooting gallery.
One of my favorite things about Fallout Wasteland Warfare, however, is I can take these underused ideas and play them out to the fullest!
Scenario Synopsis:
While the mercenaries might have made a new friend, they were still running dangerously low on caps. If they didn’t land another job soon, they’d have to start robbing settlers for food, and they weren’t ready to become raiders quite yet.
By some stroke of luck, a passing caravan takes note of the heavily modified assaultron among them and mentions a local racetrack nearby that runs weekly qualifier robot races for the regional racing circuit. With great haste, they make their way over.
The clerk, a snappy city-type, probably a Triggerman or an Operator by the looks of him, explains to the gang he’s shorthanded on contestants for the week, so he’ll waive the registration fees. Tickets to watch will still cost them, however.
At the starting line, they notice one of the Rust Devils they encountered previously glaring at them while making last minute adjustments to a heavily armored protectron.
The gang makes their way into the camp. Guards wearing sleek leather jackets and ties fashioned to look like old pre-war suits watch them from every angle.
The team decides to split up until the race starts. The Sharpshooter and Ada talk to one of the Triggermen running diagnostics on an old protectron.
“Normally I’d charge for a tune up, but I’d kill just to get a look at a custom job as good as this one!”
The Ranger takes the last of the team’s caps to the general merchant to stock up on whatever supplies they can afford, while the Commando and the Shi Warrior ogle over the weapons merchant bot’s selection.
“Me and Sputnik been running races for years! We no win much, but we still have fun!”
Eventually, the contestants start to make their way onto the track to prepare for the race.
The Rust Devil is running one of their signature custom automatrons. While protectrons are an unusual choice for an all-robot race, he boasts his has been outfitted with special servomotor enhancements.
The rest of the lineup includes Sputnik the eyebot, a veteran of many races and a local favorite, and a Ms. Nanny owned by a vault dweller and his mechanic. The gang recognizes him as a wealthy caravan owner from the city. The remaining protectron and assaultron are owned by the management, and added in to fill up space on the roster and to keep things entertaining.
Scenario Details:
Because each different robot class moves differently, a simple move-by-move race on an empty track would be rather dull, and with a mixed assortment of robot racers, it would be pretty one-sided. Assaultrons and Mr. Handies both move red distance with green charge, whereas eyebots only move the typical yellow distance with red charge. Protectrons are even slower, with them both moving and charging at only yellow.
In order to keep things balanced, I’ve devised a few simple rules for racing using only the range rulers and the blue special die. Each turn, a model must roll the blue die to check if it gets a “burst of speed”, meaning it can use it’s charge distance to move instead of it’s regular movement distance. This is achieved by rolling a 
star on the blue special dice. Models that roll the double star face get to use their charge distance for both of their move actions.
In addition, instead of a flat oval track, I’ve built a sort of obstacle course for the robots to run through, which has the robots weave through tight spaces, forcing them to use their speed boosts with more tact. It also has several clumps of rough terrain, which according to the FoWW rules, models must move one color slower through.
However, even with the “speed boost” rules, and with difficult terrain factored into play, the movement abilities of the robots are still very stratified, and results still heavily favor Mr. Handies (who both ignore the difficult terrain penalty on account of hovering, and move red distance by default). To balance things out, for this match specifically I have added in a special handicap rule where the participating Ms. Nanny is forbidden for rolling for speed boosts, as she is already moving red distance around the map unimpeded by difficult terrain.
In addition, for both narrative and gameplay reasons, the Rust Devil protectron can test speed boost for green distance, as he is heavily modified and protectrons have no charge movement distance bonus to begin with.
Finally, the prizes for the contestants are as follows: 250 caps for 1st place, 100 caps for 2nd place, and 50 caps for 3rd place. Also, since this is a ‘qualifier’ race, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners get to compete in professional races further down the line if they choose to.
Oh, and this is a two-lap race.