piloting

Bikes, VTOLs and mechs. You need to be level 20 to buy or pilot one,
and a license: a driver's license to drive, a pilot's license to
fly. Examiner Okafor tests you at the Driving School, north of the
Proving Grounds hangar (help licenses).

Three kinds, by how they get around:
  Ground   bikes, cars, walkers: roads and landing pads
  Air      VTOLs, gunships: fly anywhere there's airspace; take off
           from and land on any open ground (not indoors)
  Hybrid   jump mechs, hovercars: drive the roads, and fly a few moves
           at a time on their thrust. Thrust drains a point a move in
           the air and refills on the ground. Run out in the sky and
           you crash: the higher you were, the harder you hit.

Flying. takeoff climbs into the air over where you are. Then
fly with directions: north, east... over the rooms below, and up
and down between levels, from +1 (20 m) to +5 (1000 m). How high
depends on the area and on your vehicle (jump mechs stay low).
land sets you down on the room just below, from the lowest level
of air: air vehicles on any open ground, hybrids on a road or a pad.
Nothing lands indoors. Cities have no airspace: land at the port
outside and go in on foot or wheels. Your map and HUD show your
altitude.

How far a move goes. Out over the open wilderness, the higher you
fly the further each move takes you: a square at +1, your vehicle's
most at +5 (a scout goes further than a gunship). Come down low to
pick your way to something exact. On the ground it's gears:
up and down (or gear up / gear down) shift, first gear a
square at a time, top gear as far as your vehicle goes. Shifting
doesn't change your height; hybrids take off with takeoff.
Your HUD shows your gear or pace.

Landing pads. Out in the wilds the ground is rough: landing there
burns a little extra fuel and can knock the hull about. Pads are
always a clean landing, and they have:
  service      pay to refuel, recharge and rearm (no fuel cells
               or crates needed)
  fly to <pad>  autopilot from a pad to any pad you've been to
               (air vehicles), for fuel by distance. fly to
               lists them. On the webclient's map world, click
               a pad (H) to fly there: it only offers trips you'd
               finish with fuel to spare

You can't take a vehicle indoors, into the sewers or down an alley:
disembark and walk. Some routes are gaps (a collapsed bridge, a
wall) that only something flying can cross, and the sky can't be
reached on foot at all.

Buy one from a vehicle dealer. It's parked where you buy it, and that
garage is its home. Wherever you leave it, your maps show it (V on
map, a pink diamond on the webclient mini-map), even in places you
haven't explored, so you can always find your way back.
  board            climb in and take the controls (or embark)
  disembark        get out (not in mid-air)
  takeoff, land    hybrids only
  refuel           fill up from fuel cells (every move burns fuel)
  repair           at a mechanic, 2 credits a point of hull
  vehicles         yours, and where they are
  hud              your heads-up display (hud off: only when asked)
  specs            everything about it on one screen: gauges, fight
                   numbers, crew, parts, guns, ammo, cargo, top-up costs

Parts and garages. In a garage, fit <part> bolts a part onto your
vehicle and strip <part> takes it off; loadout shows what's on.
Every vehicle has a Grid: how much it can carry and power. Each
part uses some, and stronger parts use more, so a Grid of 10 holds
ten small parts or one big gun. Every gun fitted fires each round
(safe holds one); missiles fire when you say. See help vehicle combat.
Smart parts (targeting computers, guided missiles) also use your
Bandwidth: how much networked tech your mind can run. It comes
from Tech, your level and neural implants (score shows it). Short
on Bandwidth, and the smart parts fitted last stay offline.

Ammunition. Every gun uses rounds each attack, hit or miss, and an
empty one doesn't fire; with nothing left, you can't attack at all.
Rounds fill the ammo bay, and big ones take more room: a round's
caliber in mm over 10 (a 12mm round takes 1, a 55mm shell 5). Carry
crates and load them (not mid-fight); unload takes rounds back
out into a loose crate (vendors won't buy those). Lasers and sonic weapons
drain the battery instead: recharge with power cells, or pay
to plug in at a garage. loadout and the HUD show what's left.

While you pilot, the vehicle fights for you: its guns replace your
weapon (with half your Tech added), its handling adds to your Reflex,
its armor and targeting count, and hits land on its hull, not you.
At 0 hull it's wrecked: you're thrown clear and it's towed back to its
garage for repairs. Your prompt shows hull, fuel and thrust.

Examples:
  board kestrel bike
  takeoff
  fly to Outskirts Landing Pad
  land
  service all