CarPG v0.1.0 Beta rules

Rules reference

Everything the engine uses to settle a fight — straight from the game data, with every rule tagged by where it comes from.

Play

How a battle works

Turn-based tactical car battler. Read the elements, use the terrain, strike from behind.

Format

5v5 · 3v3

Standard: 5 cars per team; Blitz: 3 cars per team. Custom matches take any equal size from 1v1 to 10v10; the arena needs one spawn tile per car.

A turn

Move + attack

One specific car's opportunity to act. It may move up to its Speed and attack, in either order.

A round

Everyone acts

Round ends after all living cars have had their turn.

Victory

Knock out all

All cars on one team are knocked out.

Shorthand

S.R. = Success Roll

Skills marked S.R. roll 1d6 and succeed on 4–6. 50% chance.

Confirmed

Element chart

14 elements. Your attacking element against the target's decides how easily you hit.

Advantage — hits on 3–6Disadvantage — hits on 5–6, −1 damageNeutral — hits on 4–6Not reciprocal in the source chart

Element matchups. Rows are the attacking element, columns the defending element. Each cell reads advantage, disadvantage or neutral.
Atk ↓ Def →	GraGrass	FirFire	WatWater	EleElectric	AirAir	PsyPsychic	IceIce	LigLight	DarDark	GroGround	SteSteel	FigFighting	SpiSpirit	PoiPoison
Grass	Grass vs Grass: Neutral	Grass vs Fire: Neutral	Grass vs Water: Advantage	Grass vs Electric: Neutral	Grass vs Air: Disadvantage	Grass vs Psychic: Neutral	Grass vs Ice: Neutral	Grass vs Light: Advantage	Grass vs Dark: Neutral	Grass vs Ground: Neutral	Grass vs Steel: Neutral	Grass vs Fighting: Neutral	Grass vs Spirit: Neutral	Grass vs Poison: Disadvantage
Fire	Fire vs Grass: Neutral	Fire vs Fire: Neutral	Fire vs Water: Disadvantage	Fire vs Electric: Neutral	Fire vs Air: Neutral	Fire vs Psychic: Neutral	Fire vs Ice: Advantage	Fire vs Light: Neutral	Fire vs Dark: Advantage	Fire vs Ground: Disadvantage	Fire vs Steel: Neutral	Fire vs Fighting: Neutral	Fire vs Spirit: Neutral	Fire vs Poison: Neutral
Water	Water vs Grass: Disadvantage	Water vs Fire: Advantage	Water vs Water: Neutral	Water vs Electric: Neutral	Water vs Air: Neutral	Water vs Psychic: Neutral	Water vs Ice: Neutral	Water vs Light: Neutral	Water vs Dark: Neutral	Water vs Ground: Neutral	Water vs Steel: Advantage, not reciprocal	Water vs Fighting: Neutral	Water vs Spirit: Neutral	Water vs Poison: Disadvantage
Electric	Electric vs Grass: Neutral	Electric vs Fire: Neutral	Electric vs Water: Neutral	Electric vs Electric: Neutral	Electric vs Air: Advantage	Electric vs Psychic: Neutral	Electric vs Ice: Neutral	Electric vs Light: Neutral	Electric vs Dark: Neutral	Electric vs Ground: Disadvantage	Electric vs Steel: Advantage	Electric vs Fighting: Neutral	Electric vs Spirit: Disadvantage	Electric vs Poison: Neutral
Air	Air vs Grass: Advantage	Air vs Fire: Neutral	Air vs Water: Neutral	Air vs Electric: Disadvantage	Air vs Air: Neutral	Air vs Psychic: Neutral	Air vs Ice: Disadvantage	Air vs Light: Neutral	Air vs Dark: Neutral	Air vs Ground: Neutral	Air vs Steel: Neutral	Air vs Fighting: Advantage	Air vs Spirit: Neutral	Air vs Poison: Neutral
Psychic	Psychic vs Grass: Neutral	Psychic vs Fire: Neutral	Psychic vs Water: Neutral	Psychic vs Electric: Neutral	Psychic vs Air: Neutral	Psychic vs Psychic: Neutral	Psychic vs Ice: Neutral	Psychic vs Light: Neutral	Psychic vs Dark: Disadvantage	Psychic vs Ground: Neutral	Psychic vs Steel: Neutral	Psychic vs Fighting: Advantage	Psychic vs Spirit: Disadvantage	Psychic vs Poison: Advantage
Ice	Ice vs Grass: Neutral	Ice vs Fire: Disadvantage	Ice vs Water: Neutral	Ice vs Electric: Neutral	Ice vs Air: Advantage	Ice vs Psychic: Neutral	Ice vs Ice: Neutral	Ice vs Light: Neutral	Ice vs Dark: Neutral	Ice vs Ground: Advantage	Ice vs Steel: Neutral	Ice vs Fighting: Disadvantage	Ice vs Spirit: Neutral	Ice vs Poison: Neutral
Light	Light vs Grass: Disadvantage	Light vs Fire: Neutral	Light vs Water: Neutral	Light vs Electric: Neutral	Light vs Air: Neutral	Light vs Psychic: Neutral	Light vs Ice: Neutral	Light vs Light: Neutral	Light vs Dark: Advantage	Light vs Ground: Neutral	Light vs Steel: Disadvantage	Light vs Fighting: Neutral	Light vs Spirit: Advantage	Light vs Poison: Neutral
Dark	Dark vs Grass: Neutral	Dark vs Fire: Disadvantage	Dark vs Water: Neutral	Dark vs Electric: Neutral	Dark vs Air: Neutral	Dark vs Psychic: Advantage	Dark vs Ice: Neutral	Dark vs Light: Disadvantage	Dark vs Dark: Neutral	Dark vs Ground: Neutral	Dark vs Steel: Neutral	Dark vs Fighting: Neutral	Dark vs Spirit: Advantage	Dark vs Poison: Neutral
Ground	Ground vs Grass: Neutral	Ground vs Fire: Advantage	Ground vs Water: Neutral	Ground vs Electric: Advantage	Ground vs Air: Neutral	Ground vs Psychic: Neutral	Ground vs Ice: Disadvantage	Ground vs Light: Neutral	Ground vs Dark: Neutral	Ground vs Ground: Neutral	Ground vs Steel: Neutral	Ground vs Fighting: Disadvantage	Ground vs Spirit: Neutral	Ground vs Poison: Neutral
Steel	Steel vs Grass: Neutral	Steel vs Fire: Neutral	Steel vs Water: Neutral	Steel vs Electric: Disadvantage	Steel vs Air: Neutral	Steel vs Psychic: Neutral	Steel vs Ice: Neutral	Steel vs Light: Advantage	Steel vs Dark: Neutral	Steel vs Ground: Neutral	Steel vs Steel: Neutral	Steel vs Fighting: Neutral	Steel vs Spirit: Disadvantage, not reciprocal	Steel vs Poison: Advantage, not reciprocal
Fighting	Fighting vs Grass: Neutral	Fighting vs Fire: Neutral	Fighting vs Water: Neutral	Fighting vs Electric: Neutral	Fighting vs Air: Disadvantage	Fighting vs Psychic: Disadvantage	Fighting vs Ice: Advantage	Fighting vs Light: Neutral	Fighting vs Dark: Neutral	Fighting vs Ground: Advantage	Fighting vs Steel: Neutral	Fighting vs Fighting: Neutral	Fighting vs Spirit: Neutral	Fighting vs Poison: Neutral
Spirit	Spirit vs Grass: Neutral	Spirit vs Fire: Neutral	Spirit vs Water: Neutral	Spirit vs Electric: Advantage	Spirit vs Air: Neutral	Spirit vs Psychic: Advantage	Spirit vs Ice: Neutral	Spirit vs Light: Disadvantage	Spirit vs Dark: Disadvantage	Spirit vs Ground: Neutral	Spirit vs Steel: Neutral	Spirit vs Fighting: Neutral	Spirit vs Spirit: Neutral	Spirit vs Poison: Neutral
Poison	Poison vs Grass: Advantage	Poison vs Fire: Neutral	Poison vs Water: Advantage	Poison vs Electric: Neutral	Poison vs Air: Neutral	Poison vs Psychic: Disadvantage	Poison vs Ice: Neutral	Poison vs Light: Neutral	Poison vs Dark: Disadvantage, not reciprocal	Poison vs Ground: Neutral	Poison vs Steel: Neutral	Poison vs Fighting: Neutral	Poison vs Spirit: Neutral	Poison vs Poison: Neutral

Read across: the attacker's row decides the matchup. The chart is attacker-centric — the defender's row is never consulted, so a few pairs aren't mirror images (dots above).

Grass

Strong vs: WaterLight
Weak vs: PoisonAir

Fire

Strong vs: IceDark
Weak vs: WaterGround

Water

Strong vs: FireSteel
Weak vs: GrassPoison

Electric

Strong vs: SteelAir
Weak vs: GroundSpirit

Air

Strong vs: FightingGrass
Weak vs: IceElectric

Psychic

Strong vs: PoisonFighting
Weak vs: SpiritDark

Ice

Strong vs: AirGround
Weak vs: FireFighting

Light

Strong vs: DarkSpirit
Weak vs: SteelGrass

Dark

Strong vs: SpiritPsychic
Weak vs: LightFire

Ground

Strong vs: ElectricFire
Weak vs: FightingIce

Steel

Strong vs: LightPoison
Weak vs: ElectricSpirit

Fighting

Strong vs: GroundIce
Weak vs: AirPsychic

Spirit

Strong vs: PsychicElectric
Weak vs: DarkLight

Poison

Strong vs: GrassWater
Weak vs: PsychicDark

Z-Boss

Special source label

Appears on Skull Crusher in the car database. It is not one of the 14 elements in the strengths/weaknesses chart.

Every matchup involving it is neutral until a design decision maps it. Preserve this source label and require an explicit game-design decision before mapping it to an elemental type.

Combat

Every attack is one d6 to hit, then damage. The battle log shows each roll and modifier.

Hit roll (1d6)

Most restrictive hit threshold wins; Difficult Terrain requires 5-6. Damage modifiers are additive.

Neutral
50%Confirmed
Elemental advantage
67%Official
Elemental disadvantage
−1 damage
33%Confirmed
Target on difficult terrain
+1 damage taken
33%Official

Critical hits

Add (attacker.attack - target.defense) to damage. The widest applicable range is used.

Any attack
17%Official
Attacker is airborne
33%Confirmed
Target is prone
33%Official

Attacks against a prone target crit on 5-6; this does not mean a prone attacker has an improved critical rate.
Do not improve the attacker's critical range merely because the target is airborne.

Damage, step by step

Confirmed

Roll 1d6 base damage.
Add default +1 damage.
Save this pre-critical damage result.
If critical, calculate Attack - Defense; if adding it would reduce the pre-critical damage result, ignore the critical modifier and keep the pre-critical damage result.
Add backstab +2 if applicable.
Apply elemental disadvantage -1 if applicable.
Apply defender terrain/status modifiers.
Clamp final damage to minimum 0.

Negative critical modifier Confirmed

If adding the critical modifier (Attack - Defense) would reduce the damage result, ignore the critical modifier entirely and retain the damage result from the initial 1d6 + default +1 roll. Other applicable modifiers are then resolved normally.

Backstab +2 Official

Attacker is on the tile directly behind target relative to target facing; +2 damage.

Minimum damage: 0; a successful attack cannot deal negative damage.

Which die sets base damage
The hit roll only decides hit and critical; base damage comes from a separate d6 roll.
A second d6Confirmed

Turns & movement

Initiative is per car, not per team — the fastest car always moves first.

Initiative

Confirmed

Descending Speed, then descending Attack, then descending Defense. Stable seeded/randomized order, displayed to players.

Movement

Confirmed

Up to the car's Speed in tile steps. Draw route by dragging or clicking consecutive tiles; route's final direction determines facing.

Attack range

Official

Orthogonally adjacent tiles have distance 1; diagonally adjacent tiles have distance 2; ordinary attacks require distance 1; prone targets may be attacked diagonally.

Blocking

Confirmed

Allies: drive through, but you can't stop on them. Enemies and walls block the path. Airborne cars fly over walls but must land on an open tile.

Facing & backstab

Confirmed

Facing is the direction of a move's final step; attacking turns a car toward its target. Attacker is on the tile directly behind target relative to target facing; +2 damage.

Status timing

Confirmed

Resolve start-of-turn expiry before the affected car acts.

Terrain

Five terrain types plus walls. Terrain never slows a car down — it changes the fight.

Terrain does not cost extra movement; each traversed playable tile costs one step unless a skill/airborne rule overrides it.

Normal

No modifiers.

Difficult terrain

Attacks against a car here hit only on 5–6.
It takes +1 damage.

Launch pad

Ending a move here launches the car: airborne for 2 turns.
Airborne attackers crit on 5–6.

Elemental surge

Next attack gains elemental advantage; consumed after use.

Shield zone

A car here takes −1 damage from attacks.

Wall

Cannot enter/pass through unless a skill allows it or airborne flight permits passing over; cannot end on an invalid tile.

Out of bounds

Outside the arena. Never traversable, even when airborne.

Statuses

Every status uses a frame shape — hexagon buff, octagon debuff, square state — so colour isn't needed to read it.

Pronedebuff

Knocked down. Attacks against it crit on 5–6 and may come from diagonal tiles.

Airbornebuff

In the air. Its attacks crit on 5–6 and it can fly over walls. A crit knocks it prone.

Elemental Surgebuff

Its next attack counts as elemental advantage, then the surge is spent.

Shieldedbuff

A shield absorbs or reduces incoming damage.

Chargingneutral

Charging up a skill.

Stat changeneutral

One of its stats is temporarily changed.

Dodgebuff

Evades incoming attacks while charges remain.

Skill disableddebuff

Its skill cannot trigger or be used.

Damage over timedebuff

Loses health at the start of each of its turns.

Stalleddebuff

Loses its turns while this lasts.

Invulnerablebuff

Cannot be damaged.

Redirectneutral

Damage aimed at this car is taken by another car instead.

Guaranteed critbuff

Its attacks are critical hits.

Damage boostbuff

Its attack hits deal extra damage.

Elemental shiftbuff

Changes the elemental matchup of its attacks, or of attacks against it.

Hazeddebuff

Each of its attacks may miss outright.

Movement boostbuff

Its movement range is changed.

Untargetablebuff

Cannot be chosen as an attack target.

Switched sidesneutral

Temporarily fights for the other team.

Copied skillneutral

Temporarily uses another car's skill.

Skills

Each car carries one skill, preserved word for word from the source database.

Skill types

Passive — always on: stat, range or movement rules.
Triggered — fires on an event (being hit, a turn starting…).
Active — the player activates it on the car's turn.
S.R. — Success Roll: 1d6, succeeds on 4–6.

Do not infer that N/A usage frequency means a skill is an activated unlimited-use skill; classify trigger semantics from the skill text.

Implementation status

Treat a skill as unimplemented unless its behavior has been implemented and tested. Unimplemented skills are labelled on every car and have no effect in battle; their source text is always shown.

Implemented197
Partial0
Not implemented0

Where each rule comes from

Rules are tagged Official when they come from the official source rules, Confirmed when the designer confirmed them for this version, and Assumption when the prototype had to decide.

Official source rules

Critical hit

Natural attack roll of 6; status-specific critical rules may also allow 5.
Add (attacker.attack - target.defense) to damage.
Base attack damage is user-confirmed as a 1d6 roll.

Elemental advantage

Attacker element is strong against target element: hit on 3–6 (normal terrain).

Difficult terrain

Hit on 5–6; the car on it takes +1 damage.

Prone

Clarified

An attack against a prone target is critical on 5 or 6.
Enemies may attack it from diagonal tiles.
Expires at the start of the affected car's next turn.

Airborne

Clarified

An airborne attacker scores critical hits on 5 or 6.
A critical hit on an airborne car knocks it prone until the start of that car's next turn.

Backstab

Clarified

Attacker occupies the tile directly behind target relative to target facing. +2 damage.
Note: Facing and rear arc are not fully defined in source rules.

From the source · 8

Hit roll with elemental advantage
Attacker element is strong against target element.
3–6
Hit roll against a car on difficult terrain
5–6
Backstab bonus damage
Attacker occupies the tile directly behind target relative to target facing.
+2
Extra damage taken on difficult terrain
+1
Critical hit roll
Add (attacker.attack - target.defense) to damage.
Natural 6
Critical roll against a prone car
An attack against a prone target is critical on 5 or 6.
5–6
Airborne car takes a critical
Prone until the start of that car's next turn.
Knocked prone
Diagonal attacks on a prone car
Yes

Confirmed by the designer · 27

Hit roll, neutral matchup
4–6
Hit roll with elemental disadvantage
5–6
Several hit thresholds apply
Most restrictive hit threshold wins; Difficult Terrain requires 5-6. Damage modifiers are additive.
Most restrictive wins
Base damage
Roll 1d6, then add +1 default damage.
1d6
Which die sets base damage
The hit roll only decides hit and critical; base damage comes from a separate d6 roll.
A second d6
Default damage bonus
+1
Damage at elemental disadvantage
−1
Damage taken on a shield zone
−1
Negative critical modifier
If the critical modifier would reduce damage, ignore the critical modifier and use the pre-critical damage result (1d6 + default +1), then resolve other applicable modifiers.
Ignored
Critical roll for an airborne attacker
An airborne attacker scores critical hits on 5 or 6.
5–6
Backstab position
Attacker is on the tile directly behind target relative to target facing; +2 damage.
Directly behind
Facing after a move
Draw route by dragging or clicking consecutive tiles; route's final direction determines facing.
Final step
End a move on an ally's tile
No
Launch pad airtime
2 turns
Elemental surge tile
Next attack gains elemental advantage; consumed after use.
Next attack has advantage
Success Roll (S.R.) succeeds on
Roll 1d6 when a skill calls for an S.R.: 4, 5 or 6 succeeds; 1, 2 or 3 fails. Set by the client for this release (earlier development builds used 5–6).
4–6
Initiative order
Descending Speed, then descending Attack, then descending Defense.
Speed › Attack › Defense
Initiative full tie
Stable seeded/randomized order, displayed to players.
Seeded order
Moves per turn
1
Attacks per turn
1
Drive through allies
Yes
Airborne cars fly over walls
Yes
Prone lasts
Until the start of its next turn
Prone from a critical while airborne lasts
Until the start of its next turn
Initiative recalculated every round
Yes
Spawn tiles a map needs
There is no fixed minimum map size. Each team needs at least one valid spawn tile per car it fields — an NvN match needs N per team, 2N in total. Checked before every match starts.
One per car
Team size
Equal teams only. Standard (5v5) and Blitz (3v3) are quick picks; Custom takes any size in range.
1v1 to 10v10

Prototype assumptions · 14

The source rules don't cover these, so the prototype makes a call. Each is a single switch in the ruleset and is flagged for the designer to confirm.

Assumption

When launch-pad airtime ends
Counted in the airborne car's own turns, checked at the start of its turn.
For 2 of its turns
Same car twice on one team
Each roster entry can appear at most once per team.
No
Move after attacking
A car may attack first and then move with its remaining turn.
Yes
Extra moves share one Speed budget
Skills that grant another move don't refill the car's Speed steps.
Yes
Skill activations per turn
1
Airborne cars cross the void
Airborne cars may cross walls but never out-of-bounds cells.
No
Airborne cars fly over enemies
Enemy cars still block an airborne car's path.
No
Being knocked prone ends airborne
Yes
Prone limits a car's own actions
A prone car can still move and attack on its turn.
No
Re-applying a status
Re-applying refreshes the duration instead of stacking a second copy.
Refresh
Tile effects trigger
Launch pads and surges trigger on the tile a move ends on, not tiles passed through.
Where a move ends
Teleport, swap or pull onto a trigger tile triggers it
Yes
Ground terrain affects airborne cars above it
Difficult terrain and shield zones still apply to an airborne car over them.
Yes
A car revived mid-round still acts
Only if its initiative slot hasn't passed yet this round.
Yes

Data notes

Where the source data needed care, here's exactly what the game does about it.

Column-shift correction

Confirmed

In 18 rows of the source car table, a model number slipped out of the name into the Attack column and pushed every stat one column right. Those cars are re-aligned (Attack ← Defense, Defense ← Speed, Speed ← Health, Health ← Current HP), the model number returns to the name, and the original values are kept for reference. The designer confirmed this correction.

sourcePorsche · ATK 71 · DEF 5 · SPD 3 · HP 7fixedPorsche 71 · ATK 5 · DEF 3 · SPD 7 · HP 6

Air Dolphin 2
BMW 507
Camaro 69
Charger 500
Charger 70
Chevy 52
Chevy 55
Chevy Custom 69
Corvette 19
Ferrari 333
Ford 32
Impavido 1
Mach 5
Mach 6
Missile Mk. 1
Porsche 71
Porsche 917
Wily 41

Z-Boss label

Appears on Skull Crusher in the car database. It is not one of the 14 elements in the strengths/weaknesses chart.

Preserve this source label and require an explicit game-design decision before mapping it to an elemental type.

Non-reciprocal chart pairs

Wateris strong vsSteel— not mirrored in Steel's row
Steelis strong vsPoison— not mirrored in Poison's row
Steelis weak vsSpirit— not mirrored in Spirit's row
Poisonis weak vsDark— not mirrored in Dark's row

Source data notes

Car skill descriptions and usage frequencies are preserved from the PDF extraction; inspect against the PDF for any extraction artifacts before production.
Current HP values are nullable because the source table's Current HP column is blank for most entries.
Source wording and spelling are preserved in skill.sourceText where available.
Z-Boss is preserved as a special source label, not assigned to the 14-element matchup chart.
Car IDs are normalized slugs and disambiguated with numeric suffixes where source names normalize to the same slug.
Ruleset v1.1 contains user-confirmed combat, initiative, movement, map-builder, roster, and local multiplayer decisions.
Color variants are distinct roster entries; opposing teams may use different variants of the same base car, but not the same exact variant.
Campaign collection/story progression is future scope; keep architecture extensible but do not implement now.
Ruleset v1.2: default damage is 1d6 + 1. If the critical modifier Attack - Defense would reduce the pre-critical damage result, ignore that critical modifier and preserve the pre-critical result before resolving other applicable modifiers.
Vehicle sprite references should map CarPG roster names to real Hot Wheels counterparts only when a reliable match exists; otherwise create an original die-cast toy-car design and label it as unmatched.