As far as build process goes mines similar but I normally stress test the framing before I start armoring so that middle wheel that monkey has probably wouldn’t be on a 2x part as it is. I normally just ram whatever I’m working on with a batch of test drives seeing how the damage works out to the movement parts. Then I do a fire testing i.e shooting it with cannon rounds all before I start working out armor.
I also really like to drive test my frame outs a lot too. If they don’t preform well with portions of frame missing I try to sort that out before bothering to armor it.
Post that the process is similar though I’ll often float armor parts in positions that I want and then remove and move the supports around as I flush out the build unless I’m building a tight build (opposite of spaced). For the tight builds it’s generally more straight forward placement. Most of my build tend to be very symmetrical though.
I also use pretty much the same technique with all my builds, whether they’re big monsters or little art cars.
Cabin/frame/wheels, then test how it drives. Then I add whatever pass through parts I need for weapon mounts, figure out where I can squeeze in my modules, and then wrap up the whole thing with structure pieces, making sure any vulnerable frames and/or explosives are protected by bumpers of some kind. Then I add lights/exhausts/paint, and do some final testing to make sure the handling is still good and that I still have the firing angles I want.
I don’t tend to think too much about spaced armour. Sometimes it happens naturally, but I tend to prefer my builds to be as compact as possible, as I really hate getting stuck on scenery. I’d rather be nimble and able to escape than to sit there trading shots and hoping my armour holds up. Having said that, even my little cars can generally tank much more damage than people expect.
I believe that the principles of spaced armour can be used without doing conventional spaced armour. Basically it’s about positioning things so that projectiles are more likely to hit unimportant things before the important things.
When I’m talking about drive testing I noticed the garage building blocks have imperfections that snag low hanging parts. There’s a few raid maps that still haven’t been completely fixed for these imperfections too. Which makes laying out a road way with them a easy way to detect if your going to be bottoming out in those conditions.
Some of the modules for me are portions of the armor sometimes. Players shouldn’t be as freaked out as using them as such as long as the Dur to Weight ratio is good. Like a lot of people don’t realize you can get nearly a 1:1 weight to durability ratio with the upgraded 3m coupler. They are a small square and make a great out skin last part. Same with modules that are upgraded with damage resistance they make good support structures for other armor.
I have at least one build where I used an upgraded cooler to mount a bumper to. No other place to put it and it holds up well.
I tend to work these in as I’m armoring but I do it not for the exp bonus but for the reward bonus. Like Monkey was saying he doesn’t add them because the exp isn’t worth it for him at this point in the game. However it does translate into how much scrap or plastic you earn each match too.
When I do spaced it’s kind of quasi-spaced it’s not just uprights but also horizontals that mate up it just includes air pockets or empty space so to say in the build. It’s really good for soaking some types of hits. A lot of my builds fit into the little yellow box too. I really like doing smalls.
Yeah, I think about modules similarly.
Like if I’m making a car-that-looks-like-a-car, mounting the engine in front of the cab, and then bumpers in front of that gives you at least six pins of space. Bumpers come off before the engine, which means that by the time I lose the engine, my mass is low enough that I’m still fast enough.
Reload boosters or cooling modules usually in the back, protecting the explosive bits that are buried deeper (usually under/behind the cabin).
Good tips about using the range building to test dragging problems. I like to eliminate those issues before I have to take it into combat, but it’s hard to test it using just the regular scenery in the garage. One of the ramps used to do it, but I think they fixed it or something. Or maybe I’m just better at judging how much clearance I need.
I do a lot more rear engines builds since they made that one motor update change but I use to love putting them in front and using standard car layouts. It’s just more visually appealing to me. Putting the engine in the rear though has me often using them as weapon mounts with passthrough parts on the sides of the engine. I did that with the small miller buggy build that hold up pretty well. I found a lot of times I end up flipping the engine in the case of the oppressor and cheetah engine and and making frame spaces for the air intake to mount it lower into the body.
If I can I try not to use them or I use the least of them. Upgrades for ammo packs is a must when getting past the point of just starting out in my own opinion. When I do use them I try to frame them in with pass through parts around them under the build with armor beyond those. The only time they are really ever exposed is when jumping of cliffs. I broke all my rules with my shotgun cerb build but it only has partial framing and I have to compensate via how I drive and avoid being hit. It drives so well though I don’t really want to change the shape of it.
These are just QOL parts (quality of life) I work these in where ever I can. a small cooler has 63 dur so it’s actually better than some armor parts. Ka-2 flyweel 232 dur… Most of these will be fine with a passthough part in front of them doing some of the soak. I like covering them with the bladewings and sometimes the thorn parts for the passthough. The 2M contact module is 90:100 dur:mass for to for a 4 pin part that’s amazing. Same with some of the radars like the large doppler is 431 that can take a good partial cannon hit before it falls off…
The ramp with platform part still has the imperfection. It’s what I made the upper test track level of of my garage out if mostly. It’s mostly the smallest wheels that introduce the clipping clearance problems. I was hoping they would fix it when they put out the steel champ pack but that even clips still via the underbody lights. I really like to test for this though because it looks ridiculous when your seeing someone skip around in raids. It also tosses aim off a lot so you end up losing points for no real reason other then trying to drive.
If they had 9k “Ranked” Arena every week, then that would become my main game mood. The arena event they had was the most fun I have in Crossout besides Clan Wars.
But I do not like Regular 9k PvP missions. To many clubbers OR dudes that just don’t know how to build cars.
If your making a car that looks like a real car from earth then it makes perfect sense to put the engine in the front.
But if we are building the way that the Crossout world works then it’s not a good place in most builds. Engines do way more then just add mass and I want the benefit of those perks and speed the whole time I’m alive.
For me, it depends on the build.
The change of engine perks allowed most of my builds to still be fairly functional after losing an engine, but there are still some situations where I’ll put the engine in the rear.
Putting it in the front is only partially about looks. In a small light four wheel vehicle, I have limited space to put modules, so all the non-explosive modules have to function as armour. Engines are bigger than most modules, which helps me get that extra space between the front of my car and my guns/explosives. For most of my current builds, the reloader or cooling are more vital for me to be able to continue to fight.
Keep in mind that my fast cars are usually underweight, so losing some tonnage or mass limit isn’t generally a huge problem if my engine blows. I know you’re more likely to max out your mass, so engines become more vital.
My heavy builds are actually more dependant on engines than my light ones, so on those I’ll hide the engine more.
Sometimes it’s better to have your engine in front of your cab. For example I have some builds I put the track engine in front of my cab a block below the frame. My frames and my appollo take priority over the engine. It’s great vs fire dogs.
another huge mistake by builders is putting the ammo packs deep in a build.
The fact is Epic Ammo boxes make great armor.
They can be built in a way that when they explode they do less damage to the build with the explosion then they already took in regular damage. Or they can be built in a way that the ammo boxes fall off your build as the armor around it gets blown up. Depending on the size of the build I will do one of the above.
Also, ammo in this game is used from the boxes first then the car. So if a box explodes before you have used all your ammo you don’t really lose anything or that much, because the ammo pack is already empty or close to it. Why would I armor something deep in my build that after half the match it is empty of ammo anyways and all your doing is protecting a bomb in your build.
This sounds like a good argument for that articulating trailer hitch bots got and some of us want. It’s probably a nuance that wouldn’t work well in high PS matches, but it might be fun to take into sub 7K matches. I think some of the games features work better there, personally (like passive melee for example).
I don’t disagree in that point, but to my mind, the durability of epic ammo boxes means that they rarely get blown up if they’re buried in my build, which means I don’t have to worry much about what their explosion could damage.
But your strategy is definitely valid as well.
I just prefer to hide them because when I see exposed ammo boxes on enemy builds I automatically target them out of reflex, so I assume other people are too. Also, my builds are typically a lot more flimsy than yours, which means an exploding ammo pack is usually the end for me, no matter where I put it.
I’ve been using Falcon a lot lately, so I’m a bit obsessed currently with targeting explosives.
Well, most guys don’t know how to place ammo packs, so they should be punished with Falcon.
When I build a car, one of the tests I do, over and over again, to make sure my car passes is the “explosive test”. I get behind my build and I shot out the Generator of my car and the ammo packs.
when I shot out the ammo packs and/or the generator if something’s happens like losing a gun, or losing movement parts that make it so I can’t drive, or bust my build in half lol then I change my build.
I feel like a well built build could have a scorpion player shot out all of the explosives and the car should be able to drive away and still be combat capable.
I do this too after I do the cannon testing on the frames. The genny and any explosives are normally some of the first parts I mount. So I normally go around the entire build trying to pop them via the explosions.
Sometimes I’ll go on the exhibition to use stuff that I don’t have while testing too.
Not mad max
