I'm not yet sure what my ultimate goal is in AutoDuel, but I'm sure there's more to it than fighting battle royales in New York - unfortunately, in the months I've spent accumulating victories, cash prizes, and mechanic lessons, the regional brigand problem has gotten worse. So I figured it's time to try my luck on the roads; I have a backup clone, and enough spare cash for a better car.
One last duel in CHUD, division 10 this time, yields a particularly good haul, and after selling I have about $20,000 to spend on an interstate vehicle, and construct a high powered, decent capacity pickup dubbed RUM TUGGER with reinforced front armor and three types of guns, plus a rear-mounted machinegun. I figure that on the highways there won't be much room for fancy maneuvering.
The courier has a few jobs available. The best-paying of them available to me is a roulette table to be delivered to Atlantic City, NJ. All the others are out of my way, so I take it, and only it.
Next stop, Philadelphia, and then Atlantic City.
Turns out, the rocket launcher sucks, and the recoilless rifle isn't much better. Too slow, too little punch. The stock machine gun is just all around better, and way cheaper to reload.
The Atlantic City Expressway is a bit of a maze, and I get lost in a confusing detour of farmland, but eventually find it before my batteries or deadline expire.
The payoff from the delivery is not enough to cover the cost of repairs, and there isn't even a weapon shop for me to rearm, but the truck stop does give me a possibly important clue - that I should visit the weapons shop in Scranton. Which is three bandit-infested roads away.
I also visit the casino, which offers blackjack and poker. Blackjack is a sucker's game; a blackjack pays 3:1, but you lose on a tie, which, if you aren't familiar with standard rules and odds, massively shifts the odds in the house's favor. Do not play this game, not in AutoDuel or in real life.
Poker is fairer, but strange. Rules are draw poker with no other players, you wager before the draw, break even on a pair, collect at odds on anything better, and lose otherwise. You can in theory collect some fantastic ratios on fantastic hands, but it's probably best to completely forget about straights, and only go for flushes when you have four in a suit and no pairs. It's difficult to say whether this favors the player or not; initially I bet modestly, found I was winning more often than losing, and then started getting bolder with my bets and continued to rake in cash, but eventually hit a losing streak and ultimately left the casino poorer than I went into it.
At the very least, the ride back to New York is easy, and the salvage collected from the kills I made in both directions earns me a handsome $19,400 - plenty for a new anti-tank gun, laser, and a third machinegun.
Surprise - the AT gun is also utter garbage! It's just a slower recoilless rifle. The laser, on the other hand, is pretty good, instant and highly damaging, but the fact that it draws from your engine power instead of ammo makes me worried about its viability on long trips.
Failure to guard my flank got me killed by a well-armed bandit in a wilderness between New York and Scranton. At least I have my clone.
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