Create-a-tank Introduction In the game of create-a-tank, a team of one or more judges creates the requirement for an Armored Fighting Vehicle, Infantry weapon, Airplane, etc and puts out a call. Several teams of one or more members, each team choosing a different nationality, works over a given time frame to produce an AFV to meet the standards set forth. The standard game lasts a week - see under "Playtime" for details. Neutral Nation – The neutral side should start with a short story, or description, explaining their country and its situation/needs. The explanation should then be followed by another explanation of minimum standards for the new vehicle. Note that if you desire a certain weight, you should give an approximate weight limit and give an actual occurring vehicle as an example. It is up to you, as the buyer, to decide if a design is ultimately too heavy or light for your tastes. If Speed is a factor, it is up to the designers to see how weight effects speed given their choice engine by using occurring vehicles as an example. If an engine with a certain HP in true history produced a speed on a tank of a certain weight, it would be logical to add/subtract tonnage accordingly and determine through simple math what the new speed would be. The simplest way to do this would be to refer to vehicles of different weights using the same engine. Examples would be the Tiger IE, Panther, and King Tiger. Or the M4A3 Sherman and the M26 Pershing. Selling Nations – It is important to read the situation the country is currently in and design accordingly. For weight and engine speeds, you must use your own judgment to not exceed the limits set forth by the buying nation. Remember, it is ultimately the buyer’s choice if a limit has been exceeded so use caution. After game 1, it was noted that designing a new vehicle is difficult using existing items and some modifications may be required. To this end, players will officially be able to modify existing chassis and equipment and will furthermore be able to even design their own minor implements (Example: Extension of the hull for, say, a turretless tank.) However, this will 100% require a picture for these changes to be taken seriously. The basic chassis and armament has to be those actually used by (and preferrably built by) the nation you represent. Experimental vehicles that were actually constructed as prototypes, or whose development was stopped due to the war's end are allowed. Any weapon actually used by a nation's armed forces is allowed, providing no major mofications are made (ie: turning an L/48 gun into an L/70 gun). You must stick to the year specified. Existing designs that already fit the requirement are not allowed; they can, however, be modified. Make note that the buyer is completely in his rights to let his final pick be influenced by a pretty display. A quick picture of your vehicle in paint, even a simple one using a bunch of straight lines, can do wonders. More complicated displays may feature the diagrams from www.onwar.com being cut and rearranged. Picture is entirely optional, but may improve your chances. Final display should have a short explanation featuring the pros to selecting your product followed by estimated technical specs. Stages of gameplay Pre-game prep The pre-game prep should include basic information on what general type of vehicle is to be designed (Tank, aircraft, ship, etc.) For the sake of simplicity and swiftness of getting the game started the Neutral Nation should pre-select what countries will participate so players can quickly get into their teams with little fuss or confusion. Play time Self-explanatory. The due date of any given Game is set by the judges and only subject to change by personal, timely request. This is just to make sure that people have a limited amount of time to design their vehicle, and a limited ability to peek at other designs before posting their own. Unveiling and Presentation After the week-long designing race, it is time for the teams to present their product. Note: Rules are always open to change based on input from fellow forum-goers.
I would like to object to the rule that existing design must be used, as this requires that the entire existing design is re-drawn (using existing drawings is not possible for obvious reasons).
Existing designs are used because they are assumed to work. When using the drawings openly hosted on Onwar.com and other websites to create a picture of your adapted tank, you are not violating the original design or designer in any way. On the other hand, when you use a completely untested design there is no evidence whatsoever that it will work in practice, which is what using exsiting designs will ensure. By the way, these rules are just an updated version of the rules we've had all along.
I agree with Christian. When creating a new chassis, one should make sure that it is reasonable, and give more detailed specifications. Ultimately, it is up to the judge to decide if it is feasible or not.
That certainly isn't true. It is definately a copyright violation to download and modify the drawings, and then opload them again. It's called a deriative work, and is illegal unless the author has given permission or copyright has expired. Just check the Berne convention.
It is true that explicit permission for the use of George Bradford's origional drawings is not given (in fact he has a website where he sells the pictures for $2 each). However, this does not mean that we should lift the ban on only using vehicle designs that existed. The point of this game was to design 1930s / 1940s vehicles using adapted 1930s / 1940s equipment. If we start simply creating our own vehicles from scratch then each & every submission will be perfect, rather than being the best that a specific country can manage from modifying existing stock. After all, most of the fun of the competition is in playing 'hack & slash' with AFVs...
Well, actually, having had a quick look through the entries so far I could only see around 5 entries that were not 'drawn' by the team member - in 10 games that is not bad*, and obviously some pictures will have permission to use them granted. *In terms of how often a pre-drawn picture is needed, not in terms of how often the law is possibly broken. My point is that it is more common that people are able to either knock up a picture (by hand or by MS Paint) or to not post pictures. Admittedly a non-picture entry has a slight disadvantage in terms of presentation, but if the specs are good enough...
I'm gradually (very very gradually) (re)drawing all tanks (whatever I can find enough information on) into my CAD system - if anyone is interested I can offer basic parts (hulls, turrets, guns) as I complete them. Just PM me and I'll give you a list of what I currently have. And state what format you want the drawings, DWG, DXF, JPG, whatever. I can convert from CAD to anything Paint Shop Pro will handle. I'll allow reasonable personal use (just credit me if you use it elsewhere) and unlimited use in the game of all images. Edit: PS I'll also do "commissions" - if you have a specific request then I'll do my best to get a drawing done of that vehicle, it'll increase my data base.
