According to the Crossout wiki, tonnage is the ‘soft cap’ in which you need to keep under in order to maintain ‘optimum power’. Adding movement parts ups the tonnage and raises the ‘soft cap’…
So basically, if I keep my weight under the red line, my vehicle should maintain it’s power or acceleration, however, I have noticed that every single piece of armor that I add to the vehicle nerfs the acceleration - which is total BS, because if I want a fast car, I need to basically leave it unarmored, which means it gets basically one shotted by anyone!
I’ve tried adding engines that boost the cabin power by 40 or 50, yet every single piece I add to armor the vehicle still reduces the acceleration. Even a light armored version of the vehicle with basic armor, I’ve noticed a reduction of about 30% of the base accelaration!
This is a broken mechanic IMO. I weigh about 100 kilos. If I get into my dad’s v8 camaro, he isn’t gonna notice the difference when he takes off and does 0-60… i’m not saying there WOULDN’T be a difference, because in real life racing, everything including extra seats, radios, etc is ripped out to gain maximum velocity… But the difference is negligible - maybe 1 or 2 kph every couple hundred kilos…
My point is this:
if I see that the acceleration is at 70% then if I add a big honking engine like the cheetah, I should comfortably be able to add a few thousand kilos of armor and STILL maintain the 70% acceleration of the base. In this game, even after adding 40 or 50 cabin power, and a big engine, the acceleration takes a massive nerf if I want to be able to have even basic armor on my vehicle! I shouldn’t have to accelerate like a semi truck if I want to be able to survive a few hits!
I just don’t see a workaround… and it sucks very much!
It’s just the way it works in the game, but congrats for figuring it out early!
One tip I could offer is that the acceleration reduction is on a curve. Which means that you will see the greatest speed reduction as you get closer to your mass limit.
So get your tonnage up to the maximum (but don’t use too many wheels to do this), then add mass but stop with some breathing room before the limit.
Also, pay attention to the power and top speed of the cabin. Acceleration is related to top speed, and cabins with more power aren’t as heavily impacted by mass.
Cheetah is definitely best for speed, but Red Hot and Oppressor can both feel pretty peppy with the right cabin and wheels.
Also on the subject of wheels, remember that non-ST wheels provide more tonnage and draw less power. The fastest layout is always going to be 2 ST wheels, and 2 non-ST (yeah trikes exist, but not really practical in Crossout). Of the epic wheels, buggy wheels and hermits are the best choices for speed.
Edit: I forgot about Sabbath and claw wheels, oops. If I remember correctly, Sabbaths have higher power draw than hermits or buggy wheels, but their perk kind of makes up for it. I don’t like how they steer, so I got rid of mine. Claws might be an option, but I don’t like how they handle either.
There’s nothing broken about it, you added 3000kg of mass, that’s 1.5k raw cab hp. Do you want snappy acceleration, or more durability? Acceleration in this game is everything, if you can have all that acceleration in addition to a slab of hp you are overpowered.
To get the most out of your armour, pay attention to the mass to durability ratio. Many light parts may not give much HP, but their ratio is good, so just pile more of them on and you can get a more durable build without sacrificing speed.
I also tend to use a lot of structure parts that take up more space, even if they don’t have that much HP. Helps keeps explosions away from your delicate bits, without having to resort to panels of spaced armour.
A tonnage engine works well. And only use just enough movement parts to get your tonnage up to where your car is a desired mass. Also fuseing a cabin for power is very helpfull.
Yep. Everyone wants fast and tanky builds. Make fusions for power a priority in your development as a player. You feel every 2-3 points of power you save or add.
If you upgrade cabins you can try for +20% Power. (great on every cabin imo ).
You can also upgrade for Mass limit to increase the acceleration curve.
You can upgrade movement parts for - to power penalty.
On the subject of codrivers:
If your car is already capable of hitting 120kmh, Phobos won’t make you go any faster. Falcon or Grizzly will increase your acceleration though.
I can’t remember which co-driver boosts tonnage, but that one is sometimes the fastest choice if you can’t get your tonnage to the maximum with four wheels and an engine.
Best way to test is to set up a drag strip in your garage and use the timer thing. Do a few runs with each setup, as there’s always some variation. Also worth experimenting with the length of your track. If your priority is rapid acceleration, a shorter drag strip may provide more useful data.
thanks for the tips, albeit I don’t have the experience to take advantage of many of the suggestions, I’m too low a level for a codriver, I don’t have enough playing time or spare parts to ‘fuse’ anything, and the only epic wheels I have are the big foot ones I bought on the marketplace…
just a comment about the one suggestion to add more wheels to up my tonnage so i can get more out of the ‘acceleration curve’…
more wheels drain more cabin power. less cabin power means less acceleration… or am I missing something?
basically I want max acceleration, I DGAF about max speed… if I can quickly accelerate up to 80 km/h, i’m fine… I just want to be able to put some distance between me and the enemy if need be…
Acceleration is the time it takes to get to the top speed, which in game means that top speed has a huge effect on your acceleration.
As far as tonnage goes, maxing it out means you can carry the armour and weapons you need. With a fast light cabin, it doesn’t take many wheels to get up to the max, especially if you are using at least two non-ST wheels.
Of the non-epic wheels, ones with less power draw is usually what you want, but you also need to get enough tonnage from them that you don’t need to pile on too many wheels.
I used to love racing wheels on low PS builds, and if you go up to special you have a some good options of various types. Sometimes good to mix wheel types to get tilt and/or maximize your tonnage.
I don’t know what the market looks like on your platform, but on PS4 buggy wheels are cheaper than most special wheels. They are actually the fastest epic wheel, but for some reason aren’t popular. You might be able to get four of them for a good price. If you do, get two ST and two non-ST. Should let you max out tonnage on most light cabins without adding more wheels.
Keep in mind that less wheels means you can’t lose many wheels and still be mobile. So keep moving if you’re playing a fast build.