| Car Design Guide | |
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Car design is actually a very individualistic process. Noone can really
tell you want you will fight best with, but there are some guidelines
that can help you on your way to a kickin' car design.
General Design Process: Ok, these following steps are a general process to follow when making a car for AVA divisional combat. Sometimes good cars can come out of a modified version of this process but in general following this will get you started. The first step is to pick the body, or at least narrow your choices. The first decision is usually made because of armor factors. All cars can be classified into the 20, 40, 60, or 80 average armor factor range. From this some basic classifications arive. The 20 range of armor usually can only be useful at Division 5 or maybe 7.5. Beyond that it tends to have too little armor to survive unless you can drive like a bat out of hell. The 40 range is very useful in the Divisions 7.5, 10, and even 15. Cars with an average of 60 points of armor are the most versitile (and thus the most often seen) as they can handle divisions from 10 to Unlimited. Finally the 'tanks' of the game, the 80 average armor vehicles are usually not seen until Division 20 and on up, although they have been known to make appearances in Division 15. Now you should have a list in your mind of what cars are worthy of the Division you are building for. The next step is to remove from this any cars that do not meet your requirements. Think about your driving style, the weapons you are good with, and other factors (such as car bodies you don't like how they handle). Use these facts to bring down the list even farther. For example if you are really good with droppers, remove all cars from the list that don't allow them. If you happen to have a mean rear morter, then make sure you have a rear slot. Good, now you should have a small list of cars that will meet your needs as a driver. Now comes weapon choice which is more specific to the individual than body choice was. Everyone has weapons that they are good with, and ones they are not. Look over the price list and knowing the Division you are aiming for pick a set of weapons that will work well with you and that fit within the division. Now go through your list of bodies and pick one that can hold that weapon load. In general you want to pick a car that can hold JUST what you want and no more as having empty weapon slots is wasted money in the body cost. Now go to the car designer, choose your body type and add in the weapons you chose. Now it is time to tweak your ride. Start adding/upgrading components that you need. You want your tires to be at least 15" as anything else can be blown away too easily. The 16" tires are great but can be slightly expensive at times and thus 15" must when money is tight. If you feel the need for excessive speed, handling, or braking increase those sections to a higher level. Handling is always a great help as it can keep you with control of the car instead of spinning out of control getting pelted with fire. Speed is useful depending on the map and you style of play. In general you want to be near or faster to the speed of your opponent. If you are too fast you will lose them too easily when you want to pace with them. If you are too slow you can end up being a sitting duck. Braking is an issue that is up in the air. How often during a 1-1 duel do you try to come to a complete stop? E-brake spinning is usually used to point you in another direction while keeping some momentum. The main use of better brakes comes into play after loosing control of your vehicle. At that point a good set of brakes and get you stopped still, and ready to start again with the car in control quicker than anything else. Now look at the price of your car. If it is too high you need to start downgrading things until you get it beneath your limit. If you still have spare room, great! Its time for accessories. Use accessories to fill in the price of your car. If your car price is low enough to might even consider adding another weapon or upgrading one of them to something more powerful. Some of the accessories like the Cup Holders and Curb Feelers can really be lifesavers at times, and if you have a weapon with very limited ammo (Cluster, AIM, Dr. Radar) some Heated Seats can play a major role. Other more expensive Accessories such as Structo Bumpers, or Nitros can be very powerful also if you have the money for them and use them well. Now you should have a finely tuned fighting machine. Treat it well and it should take care of you as well. Weapon Discussions: Machine Guns - The machine guns in I76 are good all around weapons. Easy to aim with they can often whittle down an opponent making then quicker to destroy. Machine guns work very well as turrets where they lock on quickly and deliver constant punishment. The .30 cal does hardly any damamge and should be avoided at all costs. The .50 and 7.62 actually end up doing just about the same damage, only the 7.62 has alot more ammo. Cannons - These slug-throwers can do massive damage. They are slow to fire, but each hit can potentially punch through armor. You need a bit more skill to use these effectively because of their slow firing rate, but once mastered can be deadly. The 20mm and 30mm are the best choices of these monsters. The 25mm doesn't seem to do much more damage than the 20mm plus has a slower firing rate and less ammo. All in all not a good choice. Missiles - Some of the most powerful weapons in the game. The missiles are accurate and do lost of damage. Fire-Rites can do amazing amount of damage if you can manage to hit with all 3 volleys they fire. AIM-Nein missiles really pack a punch, especially when 2 or 3 of them are linked together on a vehicle. The trick with AIMs though is that they lock on and hit when the opponent is moving directly away or directly towards you. They also can lock on a target that is sitting still. Dr. Radars pack the most punch of any weapon in the game, however all your opponent has to do to stop them from hitting him is turn off his engine. Flame Throwers - Devestating yet limited. These weapons will gut another car passing right through it defenses to reach its internals. However two problems arise, one is that the weapon is slow to fire (although once firing can be held down continously), the other being that it has a very limited range. Maybe a car's length out from you. I reccomend using the flamethrower instead of the other two as it has a longer range and more ammo. The other's increased damage just isn't worth it. Morters - The undesputed king of damage. These are the equalizers. The morters are awkward to aim, but once practiced with are a horrific weapon on the battlefield. Their parabolic curve means that no bumps on the ground will stop their aim (as it does with missiles), their explosion radius also means that you don't have to be a perfect aim, only close. They also can hit all sides of a vehicle (at once with the cluster bomb) thus picking on any weak areas of the armor. Droppers - The droppers are great utility weapons but rarely (except by masters) used as a primary weapon. The firedropper can quick bring a car who runs through its field down to red such that the .45 gun can finish it off. The oil slick is great at both discouraging pursuit was wounded as well as making the other person become a sitting duck for morter/missile fire. The Bloxdropper is useless, it hurts cars chassis instead of armor, and it does such little damage that it would be impossible to really hurt someone with it. The Land Mines on the othe rhand are one of the most over-looked weapons in the game. They do a considerable amount of damage as well as having two great side effects: They don't disappear like oil/fire and thus as long as you are good at avoiding them your opponent can still hit them, and once your opponent hits one he is sent flying into the air, slowing him down, and making him lose sites on you for a moment. | |
| Pages created by: Eli White (HyPeR) | eliwhite@home.com |