Piloting, riding, sailing, and driving are resolved through Difficulty rolls when the vehicle or machine isn’t overly taxed (high-speed chases, combat, etc.). For example, the USS Enterprise NEVER has mechanical/computer/engine issues when flying through space, but all sorts of systems start falling apart once the action begins. A separate deck of 52 cards represents vehicles - removing the Jokers and any extraneous cards.
Vehicles, like characters, share several standard GamePlay mechanics. Wind power, steam power, etc., still fall under these rules, though in some cases (such as a sailing boat), a lack of wind means no one is going anywhere.
Each suit represents one of four attributes applicable to most forms of transportation - excluding vehicles of special abilities like teleportation or magic. However, some vehicles will use fewer suits unless explicitly modified. Use a separate deck of cards for your vehicle and pull the vehicle’s cards starting with the smallest value - for vehicles, an Ace equals a value of one.
This means, specifically when designing the card stats for a machine or vehicle, you start low and build up to higher-valued cards. Each suit may be moved to another to power it further when applicable (see Diverting Power for more). Unless the vehicle is taxed or under duress, as in the case of the USS Enterprise above, these cards won’t typically come into play. Getting from point A to point B is pretty simple, right? You cannot replenish the deck until all the cards are played.
Power Supply. Any vehicle with a power supply must ALWAYS maintain a Heart in its hand to signify functionality. If taxing the vehicle beyond its standard capabilities, the player may use a Heart to modify the Difficulty Number. Hearts can also further power the Spades by increasing power to the “engines.”
When dealing with a living organism as the source of power, Hearts represent the organism’s state or condition, which worsens to the point of unconsciousness—flogging a horse until it drops or goading a genie to the point of sheer exhaustion.
As another note for Heart cards, the vehicle can be repaired if the vehicle’s Grit is reduced to 0 and Heart cards remain. However, if no Grit AND no Heart cards remain, the vehicle is beyond repair, and you’re out of luck.
If the vehicle has used all of its Heart-suit, it can no longer operate until power is restored - by recovering at least a single Heart card. In GamePlay, this might mean the car is out of gas or has an ignition failure. Replenishing this suit should signify that someone with the skills to fix the issue has done so. Something as simple as running out of gas might explain the lack of Hearts for your car, but getting the gas isn’t as easy as pulling another Heart card from your deck; you still have to find the gas.
Shields/Armor Grit bonus (beyond the Grit of the machine itself). Extra protection for a vehicle - any damage inflicted upon the vehicle must first affect the vehicle’s Armor or shields. When applicable, some vehicles may be able to remove Armor (specifically) to increase vehicle speed. This is accomplished by transferring any or
all Diamond cards to the Spades. In such cases, the Diamond rating moves directly to the Spades and is usable as such; this is an instance of Diverting Power.
Another example of diverting power might be a wooden sailing ship dropping cards from its Diamonds (to represent the steel plating hung on its sides being dropped in the ocean) into its Spades, proportionally increasing its speed.
Represent weapon and damage capability bonuses - indicating how strong or versatile the weapons on a vehicle may be. This suit is used to modify the Difficulty Number during attacks or add damage to an attack. For example, in the case of a Small spacecraft mainly used for transport, it only has an Ace, a 2, and a 3 of Clubs, giving it a total of six. This six could knock a targeting Difficulty down from 12 to 6 or add six more to the base damage of its defensive lasers. Remember that the Clubs don’t denote the weapons themselves but how they are utilized. A vehicle with no weapon capabilities won’t need Clubs in its deck.
Represent the speed and maneuverability bonus of the vehicle. This means distance moved on a BattleMap, in terms of squares, or in RolePlaying, where your little ship is trying to outrun the giant ship. For a BattleMap, it’s a direct ratio of card value to squares moved, but in non-BattleMap situations, it’s slightly different. Remember that each movement round for a vehicle still requires the player to pull one card from their standard deck for initial movement (unless the Age has specific rules), with the Spades being the bonus to that movement. That means a slower-moving ship can catch a faster one if they’re lucky and the cards fall right...OR if they divert power from other suits to help increase their speed.
Some vehicles and machines can divert power from one suit to another to power it further, increase its shields, make it faster, or strengthen its weapons. For this to work, however, the vehicle must maintain at least a single Heart card representing the power to the vehicle AND must be knowledgeable about how to do so.
Taking the tried and true example of the USS Enterprise, they’re diverting power to this or that all the time in the series, but it takes a trained officer or technician. Most pilots and captains have at least an overview of how their particular vessels work, so they can always divert power as long as they’re physically able. Common sense should apply here, but then again, BattleSauce is frequently a place of whimsy, so whatever works best at your table.
First, the size of any vehicle's structure must be determined. The vehicle’s size determines the rest of its capabilities, including combat and speed. There are four size classes: Small, Medium, Large, and Extra-Large—which vary depending on Age—and a specific number of cards designates each size.
This number of cards is referred to as the Card Pull Capacity. Card count is essential here. If an Extra-Large vehicle has no weapons, it still utilizes 52 cards, but the Club suits are designated to other attributes, such as power and speed.
One to two seats, sparse carrying capacity. Examples include a motorboat, motorcycle, exoskeleton mechs, and personal spacecraft.
They have a minimal carrying capacity but accommodate more than two seats. Examples include speedboats, cars/trucks/jet planes, mechs, and space fighters.
Made for carrying a team or small cargo. Examples include large animals, yachts, buses or RV/tank, tank-like mechs, and specialized spacecraft - medical, freight, salvage, research, etc.
It is less about maneuverability and more about capacity. Examples include creatures, barges/ocean liners, tractor trailers/dump trucks, building-sized mechs, and starships capable of carrying city populations.
All vehicles have Grit, which is their structural integrity. As the Grit depletes, the vehicle will be adversely affected—similar to Protein Grit reduction.
Type refers to the primary use of a vehicle when constructed: combat, earth mover, cargo, personnel transportation, medical, research, exploration, etc., and should inform which card suits - vehicle attributes - have the most cards; in other words, if you’re using a tank, make sure the Armor and Weapons are the primary suits. Circumstances depend on the Meal and Age in play.
Modifying a vehicle changes the vehicle’s performance, depending on which suits are modified. This does NOT mean, however, that the type/size class is affected. A ‘Small’ ship remains a Small ship unless modified to the point that it is no longer ‘Small.’ At that point, you have a Medium-class ship.
Card Pull Capacity: Determined by the vehicle’s size class. A Small-Class vehicle can only ever pull from a total of 13 cards.
Suit capacity: The number of cards available to any given suit for a specified vehicle.
Players may choose to modify their vehicle through a variety of means. Vehicles are modified by replacing the lowest card value with the next highest card value of the same suit - not yet in play - and then the pull capacity or card count, thereby increasing the vehicle’s size - proportionate to the mod.
For example, a player has Clubs (weapons) ranging from the Ace to the six of Clubs.
When she finally gets the laser-cannon mods she wants, she replaces the Ace (currently, the lowest-valued card) with the 7 (the next highest card to follow, not already attributed to the vehicle). This process is repeated until the cards max out and the player has reached the highest card in that suit.
Players can use other suits from their vehicle deck if they take the modifications beyond this point. Still, those cards are forever part of the new suit (start at the lowest, as before), or they will need to acquire new cards to add to their deck - gained through Tradesfolk like the Toy Maker or Mechanic and others who dabble in such Trades throughout the Ages.
Vehicles may not exceed their Card Pull Capacity without increasing in size.