Welcome, reader! Or, if you've come from my previous guide, welcome back! If not, you should read Cash, Build, Crash before this guide, as it contains essential information I won't repeat.

Now, every car starts the same... we build a frame, right? As we know, there are different types of frames - the light and the heavy ones, the difference being fairly self-explanatory. I will mention, however, that if you're in desperate need of mixing them, try the arrangement in the first image (pic 1) here, as the wheels keep the weaker parts protected.

"What? There's a gap in the frame! Was that a mistake?" Of course not! But why would I build it like that? Look at the next image (pic 2)! I placed one of those fuel tanks in the middle - the rare larger one. Why? Because it's pretty much safe from harm (unless I land on my back, channelling my inner turtle... sadly, this happens surprisingly often!). You can use that to keep some extra ammo safe as well (yeah, you got it! That's pic 3!).



This might open a whole new avenue of vehicle design for you. It's no crime to build underneath your frame... but keep in mind, there are limits! The height of your vehicle above your wheels! Unless you're driving a hovercraft or some legged monster you shouldn't build more than one square beneath your vehicle's frame... why? Because every stone, dune, and ditch will send your vehicle careening to the side or stop you in your tracks.

Every vehicle needs locomotion. Doesn't matter if you use wheels, legs, hovers, or tracks, they all have durability, weight, and tonnage. The only thing that changes is the way you move - as an example, with hovers and legs you can "drive" sideways (strafe) using the "q" and the "e" keys, or by holding down the "spacebar" key whilst pressing the turn keys. With hovers you can even drive over that polluted lake, and small cliffs no longer pose a problem to your vehicle's stability... pretty sweet, don't you think? They have some disadvantages as well; with legs, it's not that easy to turn whilst moving, and if your hovercraft isn't balanced properly, it can be one pain in the a** to drive. Those fancy legs and tracks can turn without moving pretty fast, though, their movement speed is limited, unlike the hovers... yeah, that's why we love to hate them and hate to love them!

but most common are of course wheels... there are many different in sice and shape, form and hp, but only two typs of it... wheels(ST) and wheels... those with "ST" are those you steer with and those without usually increase your max weight a little more than the ST's... as you already can imagine, its kinda important to know how your car behaves depending on how your wheels are mounted... here are some examples...



pic 1: 2 wheels(ST) front, 2 wheels(ST) back
pros:
-very mobile
-fast turns
-even if you lost your front wheels/backwheels, you still can steer somehow
cons:
-needs some practise
-nothing for not-turning weapons if you're not used to that

pic 2: 2 wheels(ST) front, 2wheels middle, 2 wheels(ST) back
pros:
-pretty stable
-if you loose one wheel, dont bother
cons:
-every used wheel slows your max-speed, so do they

pic 3: 2 wheels(ST) front, 2 wheels back
pros:
-increased max weight
-you still can move if your car looses wheels on one side somehow
cons:
-once your front wheels are gone, you cant steer anymore

pic 4: 2 wheels front, 2 wheels(ST) back
pros:
-very mobile if your front is very heavy compared to your back
-you still can move if your car looses wheels on one side somehow
cons:
-if you loose your normal wheels on the front, its sooo hard to steer... kinda strange, right?

another thing you should consider is mixing them... well, not hovers with legs (maybe that would look pretty weird but turn out to be cool?!) but wheels(ST) and catterpillars... why? because if you do, you still can turn pretty easy like a normal car, and turn while standing still... great! some other things i already saw, hovers with one pair of wheels... not that stupid... normaly after loosing one hover, you're crawling the ground like a beaten dog, because the balance is gone... (sorry for that disturbing image :O) with that pair of wheels, you're not totally helpless and still can manage to engage your enemies...

(reedit: i really did it! mixed legs with hovers :P... its one hell of fun! be aware, for the mantis is coming! xD... added it to the gallery (search for "mantis").. its not op, but looks damn cool i think! :D what about you? share your cars! :P...)

now, before we start to do the building part, here's something good to know aswell, for it hopefully will help you to choose the right parts for your playstyle... we already know, we got lots of armor-pieces and most of them dont deserve the name "armor" for they are really just scrap :D



in general there are now two parts of armors, the ones that give your vehicle structure-points, and those who dont, but can be shoot through... well, kinda, i'd say... because if some explosives like missiles or even a well-placed cannon-shot hits it, its gone aswell... what all armor-pieces got in common are the well-known stats powerscore, hitpoints and weight...



as you can see, the left armor increases your vehicle-structure by 51, has a powerscore of 70, the structure itself got 51hp, and its weight is 86kg... so what are those informations good for? first thing we know, after placing it on our car, the max-hp of our car will increase by 51... so does our powerscore by 70... if this structure-part recives 51 points of dmg, it will fall of and its gone, and our cars weight is increased by 86kg... wow, that was pretty simple, wasnt it?

the other structure-part got even a slightly higher powerscore, but wont increase your vessels hp and even got lower hitpoints... how come? well, i guess its because of the low weight and the ability it got... i like to use these parts to connect my outer-armor... (why? read my first guide, thank you :P)

now lets stay at this pure logic-thing... so if a car got more hp, it will be harder to kill, but the more weight i need to move, the slower i get... still simple logic... so what armor do i want to use? what structure part is best? clear answer, none, and all... not a very satisfying answer, i know... :D... if you want to build a fast vessel, use lighter parts, if you want to drive some badass-tank with lots of hp you might need to use the heavier parts... again, pure logic... :P

only thing you really can separate the armor-pieces is by faction... usually "the lunatics" got the light parts with low weight and lower hp, "the scavangers" give you the really heavy-sh*t that can take some dmg before saying goodbye, and the nomads are somewhere in between...

my personal suggestion, mix them! try things out and watch your max-hp, weight and speed while building (yea, and watch out for your powerscore aswell... why? again! read my first guide x.x)... so you totally find out yourself what fits your playstile best... do not just place weird things because you can, and think about using cosmetic-structureparts aswell... why? though they are a one-shot they still got hp too... so one hit less your vehicle takes...

As mentioned before, i dont want to talk about things in my last guide, even though those things are necessary as hell... this now is more about how to buld and protect your guts more efficient... so more about how and why you place things you do...

we already know, everything got hp and weight... about the weight-thing we will talk later, for now only the hp are important... and the usecase of your placed objects... its some difficult topic though, because the parts totally depend on how you play and what kind of weapon you want to use... lets call that synergy... (we'll talk about that later aswell :D...)

so simply keep in mind, what part is the most usefull for me? what gives me the most benefit? and of course, what piece is most in danger... generators as an example will blow up, once they got destroyed... and that sucks pretty much, because if you got every other important part next to it, they are gone...



so what can you do? of course you can wall up like hell, and build two or even three layers of walls... clever you say? pretty heavy i say... most strucure-parts got kinda low hp, compared with some other stuff like a cooler for example... well, here are some solutions...

solution1 is in case i fear destruction of my generator most... sure, my coolers might get shot first, but i'm still alive and my weapons should still work proper... the cooler even got more hp than most of the armor... so not such a bad choice...

solution 2 is a bit more walled... but coolers near bottom and next to cabin will help to get them through battle... why? because all covered up your behind is an easy target for sure, and usually they wont aim for the lowest part of it... for most players the thing they want most is just to hit you as easy as they can... skill-shots are pretty hard though...

keeping that in mind, solution 3 would be my choise... the generator is hidden in the frame, and my coolers are kinda "save" aswell...



my engine would be placed on that cooler, i'd think, so it might get shot first... its cool to be fast, but its not that important to shred my enemies... allthough it usually got nice hp aswell, and so my a** is save from getting easily penetrated :P...

again! this is just an extension of the first guide i wrote, so i already come from u guys know my opinions about connectivity and placement in general...

and one small addition, because i often hear people complain about some drivers useing more than one barrel... yea, its right, you wont get more fuel from it, for their effect wont stack, but its not useless aswell... for selfdestruction-purpose it deals additional damage! no part you place is without use!

(and honestly, if you just see some misbehavior in things like that, you are in great danger my friend, for you'll get traped easily... always be suspicious... :o... mark those words! *some dramatic music*)

now the promised "weight" things... its pretty simple though... every cabin shows you how much your car can carry... you can increase that by adding wheels and engines... as mentioned before, wheels also decrease your max speed, so keep that in mind...

pretty simple so far, right? but what if i tell you theres more? where do you place all that heavy stuff? sure it will effect your driving... the higher you build, and the tighter your car is, the easier it will tip... pure logic... also if your back is pretty heavy and you start to move, do not wonder if your front goes up and your a** is scratching the ground, giving off sparks :D...



so what to do if you have a heavy car-tower thingy? how about making the base bigger? actually this helps pretty much... its even a good idea if you like to drive from a cliff... so you might not tip that easy... but if your front is too heavy, better got some speed, or you start a half-finished somersault and instead of driving one badass-car, you'll ride a helpless turtle...

we all know what synergy means, right? if not, in our case its the thing where one piece works perfect with the effects of an other thing you use... this could be weapons with other weapons, but more common, useables(including weapons) with tools... here is one example of a car...

its designed to shred one enemy and still be alive to do some minor damage or harass enemies... so how does it work? you got two options... shot the fist armor away and destroy the guts with the sticks, or the other way arround... as you see, those different types of weapons work quite well as a team... (yea, you could use more sticks aswell, or some melee-stuff, but hey, i like to shoot things :D)
as you can see, even some normal melee parts are added, so i still can do at least "some" damage ramming someone... purpose clear, i'd say... thats what your enemies think aswell... so add some surprises...



as an example, i got one turret in the back... why? because no one cares about a turret if you stick right in the side of a car, blasting around with shotguns... so the turret may bug others, or, if its just you and that other car, its hard for him to push you back, because your turret will block the way back... clever, right?

so this would be an example of how weapons create synergy... now lets get to the useables and tools... first, lets take a look at the machinegun-car... as you might noticed, while useing this weapon, it heats up pretty fast... to prevent that, you got an active cooler... so your weapon overheats slower... the effect is even higher while driving...



next, the whirlwind-car... normaly you stand still and shoot from some distance to max the benefit of this weapon... of course you could use the active cooler here aswell, but because of you standing, you'll never max out the active-coolers effect... so you should think of the passive cooler... after your weapon is overheated, it cools faster, so you can reuse it again quicker... best effect if youre not moving at all... i guess you get my point? and dont be shy, use more than one... the effect stacks!



now the all-hated drone-cars... most dronecars are pretty op, until they need to recharge, right? drone-drivers, fear no more! for cheetah is your tool of success! every 100m you drive, your cooldown is reduced by 20%! what a nice engine! perfect synergy with drones, turrets, chargers, and even cloaking device... do i have to say more?

and synergy leads us to roles! na, its not a roleplay, just roles, but not like those you might know from mmorpgs... sure, you still can be a "tank", but in this game its something different and there are no healers so far... :P...

in this game its all about your speed, health, dps, AND obviously your skill driving that hot stuff you call "car"... nontheless, somehow there are different types of "roles", but i'd rather call them styles (because what vessel you drive depends on the style you wanna play, right?)...

for example the melee-style:
there are more options to build a car like that... most hated are those with explosive sticks and cloak... they are fast, unseen and deadly once they reach you... "pop" and u're gone... next are those with augers or buzzsaws... for those beasts its not that important to be fast, but to have loooots of power... why? because they need to be stronger for you're unable to push them arround... once they got you, you barely escape... third melee-style i would call more something like a brawler... shotguns, shotguns and even more shotguns... best mixed with one active cooler to shoot more often while driving to your next victim, and one passive cooler to reduce cooldown, once you rammed your enemy and stoped to shoot his weapons first...

the speedys:
the name says it all... fast, mobile, normaly compared with drones, turrets, granades, missiles, lots of machineguns, or a weird mix... annoying as f*ck, but not unbeatable... shoot the drones/turrets, take out their wheels, or what so ever... allthough this "role" can be pretty though and usefull... this guys are those who do the fast hit-and-run attacks, lure kill-hungry enemies into their death, rush into enemy-groups to distract them, and they usually are the first ones to capture the enemy-base... of course these guys are really helldrivers without fear and they go for the arttilery aswell... (guess what sort of driver i am? :P)

speaking of, next is arttilery or lets call them ranged?:
as you might guessed it, they are usually placed in the back... can be some cannon-guy, missiles, the real-arttilery-thing, auto-targeting-missiles (really? how gay is that?!) and, even though its not classic arttilery-style, autocannons... yea, they got a huge range aswell, and autocannons can be quite usefull if some speedy rushes in (so can be missiles if placed in right hands)... suggestions how to build those cars? use the proper engine/supportive tools for your playstyle (hot-red if you use cannons/missiles, passive cooler for autocannons, radar for gay-autotargeting-missiles)

and last but not least, the heavy ones:
this guys you actually can call tanks! in both ways... they often drive a tank, and they totally can take lots of enemy-fire... why? because cannons usually got lots of hp, and those guys wear at least 2 epic, or 3 rare, of them... catterpillars instead of wheels (because they are also very durable) and a heavier cabin (because their max-movementspeed is already reduced through of the catterpillars)... really, dont build a heavy-one with normal wheels if you just got cannons that cant turn... why? because wheels arent very durable, and once they are gone, how do you want to aim? pretty though :o...

those are actually just stereotyps... be aware, they all come in different sizes, shapes and with their own strengths&&weaknesses, for there are no rules of combining tools and weapons... always be ready to get surprised...

yep, suggestions aswell... :D... but this time not so many!

try things out! experiment! build awesome cars, share them, drive them, shred them to pieces 'cuz this is what its all about! and if you find out some new mechanics or habits, share!!! i'm one curious guy whos interested in such sh*t!

again i hope to helped you out or brought up some new ideas... if so, like and feel free to show me what you've built! thx for reading my sh*t and as always...

...drive fast, hit hard, and dont forget to kiss the frog... :-*

see ya all!
Froghog