Advanced Deathmobile Building

[NFossil]

Battery compartment mod could be a compromise. They take regular car batteries and can be recharged without UPS conversion.

[darktoes]

Battery compartment mod is easily the best thing ever if you can find a car battery for each of the tools you want (plus a couple extra) and don’t mind swapping them out here and there. Which is actually a big pain in the ass considering it doesn’t let you pick which battery to install…

[DeWolf]

You can choose one other battery if one is in your inventory and one on the ground. Also the extra battery mod allows you to reload battery from car batteries?

[darktoes]

Yes but the only way to ensure you put the right battery in is to have the empty one in your inventory and drop any others, since it will happily take them from a modified tool. I’ve installed fully charged batteries by accident countless times, since it seems to prefer those.

The storage battery mod allows you to install a small storage, motorbike or car battery into a modified tool and drain charges from that instead of using battery items.

[DeWolf]

Do you get the battery back when the charge is depleted?

[hobophobe]

Worth noting, generators have been added to the game. You can take any electric motor or an actual generator and install it in the same slot as your engine to quickly charge batteries. The gas or diesel engine just needs to be big enough to run the generator, otherwise the engine will start and then immediately stop.

I haven’t tinkered with these too much, so I’m not sure what the skill requirements are or if installing a generator significantly increases gas usage.

[hobophobe]

As a fan of light and mobile small to mid-size deathmobiles, I’ve found there’s three vehicle-mounted tools you really need; the welder, a chemistry/cooking station and a refrigerator. For everything else you can get by on standalone tools and the integrated toolset CBM (which is the most useful CBM in the game IMO).

[darktoes]

Do you get the battery back when the charge is depleted?

Yes, you do.

I haven’t tinkered with these too much, so I’m not sure what the skill requirements are or if installing a generator significantly increases gas usage.

Basically, generators/alternators passively sap a flat amount of your engine’s power. Installing one on a small engine powering a small vehicle will make a fairly substantial difference to it’s max speed and fuel consumption when moving or idling. If you have a large engine powering a large vehicle you probably won’t notice much difference unless you install all the different types of generator at once.

[Zanos]

Rollers are ridiculously strong but IIRC weigh more than any other vehicle part. They will tank your max speed unless you’re sporting a v12 or some other high powered combination.

You can crush a couple tiles worth of trees without them breaking though, and they can chew zombies pretty much all day without a problem.

[Walegrin]

I’m unsure if they make any difference but I almost always end up with two steering axles whenever I can. And four tires on each axle.

[hobophobe]

It should be that multiple axles would reduce your turn radius, and tank style treads allow you to spin in place, but there doesn’t seem to be any actual difference. Even very long vehicles like buses and flat-beds can turn on a dime. Wouldn’t be surprised if these mechanics are already planned for the game.

[NuG]

Did the bug with the camera system which allowed enemies to see you through the camera get fixed?

I was thinking about this yesterday, and was curious about this as well.

[Walegrin]

Well drat! Wont stop me from adding them when I can though. I just like the mental image it.

[hobophobe]

Always good to add an extra axle or two anyways, as blowouts do happen and this will greatly prevent becoming immobilized.

[NuG]

Does anyone know if the “enemies being able to see you through your security cameras” bug has been fixed?

[Submarine]

Silent Hybrid Humvee. Lean on fuel, no problem to keep the batteries charged while driving. No solar panels installed or needed.

[DeWolf]

So most of the horse power is from the electric motor. Nice.

I can’t wait for the ability to tow vehichles mainly so I don’t have to waste either batteries or artillery on wrecks to quickly get them out of the way.

[psyxypher]

It’s been so long, I can’t even remember where to find those generators. Any tips on where?

[hobophobe]

Public utility type buildings, I think they just need a parking lot for the generator cart to spawn.

e: but you can use any electric motor as a generator!

[Walegrin]

I usually see them in garages.