Non-Mobile Applications of Vehicles

Also known as, “I made a solar kitchen!”

The vehicle mechanics provide some interesting things you can’t get in normal building - for example, you can set up batteries to power stuff. So I decided to just build a stationary vehicle in my kitchen to get this functionality. Once I figured out how to get the solar panels charging, thanks to Kevin Granade, it worked like a treat. Free water and heat for any crafting recipe as long as I’m standing in the kitchen.

I also considered adding wheels to make it an emergency escape vehicle : P.

Has anyone else done or thought about doing something unorthodox with vehicles? I tried to install small vehicles with headlights around the place for light, but I haven’t figured out the intricacies of that yet.

My solution, if I can get far enough, would just be a square.


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Designate the top right to vehicle controls and guns.
Top left is my kitchen with all it’s food.
Bottom right for mechanics and construction materials.
Bottom left for electronics, drugs, etc.
Center area for everything left.

On the outside there is a line of solar panels lining the walls. The front is reinforced with an extra layer of steel. Wheels are located at the corners of the box. I just live in this while it drags along slowly across the country side. This entire thing is powered with whatever electric engine(s) I can find. So dragging all this weight often times is very slows.

I really wish they let you use wood for vehicles like they did in for the old Chryslers to let us take advantage of the vehicular system more easily.

Oh yeah, they added the ability to walk around in your vehicle while it’s moving. A true mobile home. I hear that solar panels are really fragile, though - they might not do well around the outside of the thing.

Your post made another possible application occur to me - if you install your turrets on a small pseudo-vehicle, you gain the ability to turn them on and off. You could make little turret platforms, even use wheels to move them to strategic locations around your base.

Fortunately, with the abundance of abandoned cars in current versions, all you need is a hacksaw, and wrench, and a flatbed truck and you have all the parts you need. It would be great to have options like that, though.

But there is a drawback to the moving in the vehicle while it is moving. Firstly it offset the center of mass (not that important unless you are on a bike) and secondly and more importantly is that after you let go of the controls the speed of the vehicle starts to fall. So I cant wander off and cook my steak while the car is driving on a straight road. But I can do things in the drivers seat, such as eat said steak, drink my beer, shoot my gun from the seat outside the door, tie togeather piece of string to make rope, anything really.

This is actually a bug, hopefully we can get around to fixing it at some point or other.

my longest living character had a vehicle that was practically a bed with a light above it pointing north in the back room of a gas station. i could just turn on the light, have full view of the room and be able to read in it at the same time.

This is actually a bug, hopefully we can get around to fixing it at some point or other.[/quote]

sweet jesus that would be amazing, just turning on the gas, standing up and walking to the back of your 3000 mile per hour death machine, and then taking a nap in the back while you fly by forests at the speed of sound. sweet dreams!

This is actually a bug, hopefully we can get around to fixing it at some point or other.[/quote]
This is a bug? I think you mean a feature.

IRL if I let go of the controls and start napping in the back of my /theoretical/ RV, the speed will fall. So I think that it was well crafted to replicate real life. Also if you let go of the controls the speed also falls (but not as fast, which also replicates real life, such that if I were to let go of the wheel and start firing my /theoretical/ AK out the window, my foot would still be on the gas and so I would press it down so the car goes /about/ the same speed, slowing down when needed.

But apart from all that I think we need a stick, stone and sting to make the car drive straight and at a constant speed. What is that thing called?

This is actually a bug, hopefully we can get around to fixing it at some point or other.[/quote]
This is a bug? I think you mean a feature.

IRL if I let go of the controls and start napping in the back of my /theoretical/ RV, the speed will fall. So I think that it was well crafted to replicate real life. Also if you let go of the controls the speed also falls (but not as fast, which also replicates real life, such that if I were to let go of the wheel and start firing my /theoretical/ AK out the window, my foot would still be on the gas and so I would press it down so the car goes /about/ the same speed, slowing down when needed.

But apart from all that I think we need a stick, stone and sting to make the car drive straight and at a constant speed. What is that thing called?[/quote]

Cruise Control? smug

this whole conversation should be shown to the developers, i believe they could add in a simple craft like what you are talking about. i have no knowledge in coding and i am not gonna talk like i do, but a device used to lock the wheel in place seems simple enough. although seriously thinking, just how useful would moving around in a moving vehicle be? driving 10 mph and making some quick spagetti is one thing, but it pains me to think that it would just be some sort of useless “gimmick”

But … realism. That basically sums up my arguement. Think of all the useful things that you can do while not driving, like making ammo for your town shoot-up, or patching up your arm from the last town. Or maybe fixing your car while it is moving (I dont think this should be possible). Or for simpler shorter term things like training archery from the car door, aiming plain shafts at anything that moves, or maybe steering your /motorbike/ with just your weight (think leaning left/right to steer, only you are running to opposite sides of the thing.

how many parts did you need to craft this? I have not done much car crafting.

Think long term. Like 1-2 in game years if you are fast and aggressive collector.

This is actually only like first summer. It took 9 steel frames, 1 steel plating, 3 solar panels, 1 metal tank, and 1 storage battery. All of these parts can be scavenged quite easily from abandoned cars if you have a hacksaw. I didn’t have much trouble finding a number of solar cars lying around a city, I think one would have sufficed - 3 panels is overkill for just the kitchen unit.

The hardest part of starting vehicle crafting, I think, is finding a welder. They are quite common in garages and public works but you won’t really find them anywhere else.

Oh, I crafted the kitchen unit myself - that requires level 4 mechanics. The hardest part of that was finding a frying pan :P. You can find full units in garages but they are too heavy to move.

I’ve been planning to use headlights to light up bases, though I don’t think you can turn them round without making the ‘vehicle’ driveable.

write a guide how do we set up solar panels…

can i make a battery powered gundam?

pls advise

I kinda want to make a mostly immobile “vehicle” base now, but I feel like it’ll take a LONG time. I forget, can I build furniture? And can I build/drag furniture in(to) my “vehicle”?

You can build furniture but it generally requires it to be indoors, and I think it would build it on the floor under your vehicle if you tried.

Why build furniture at all, you can sleep on the car seat…

You are right, but only temporarily. So just strap a few driving things on it, turn it to face the proper angle, then remove the driving parts. It is that simple. I personally find it too much trouble so I personally just have lights at the south side of my base pointing north.

This is genius. Dang, it never came on my mind… one could have “mobile” flamethrower turrets at his base, just a tiny vehicle with foot crank, kinda like sidecar of a motorbike.