General · guide
vehicle combat
also: countermeasures, jamming, missiles, tuning, vehicle levels
Fighting from a vehicle. Its guns fire for you every round, hit or miss, each using its rounds (or the battery's charge). Choosing guns. guns lists every weapon and what it has left. safe <gun> holds one (it stops firing and saves its ammo), and arm <gun> (or arm all) lets it fire again. Works mid-fight. Missiles. A missile rack never fires on its own: fire missiles launches one at whoever you're fighting (or fire missiles at <target> to start a fight). One a round. Guided, so they hit more often than guns, and hard, but flares can decoy them. Some creatures fire missiles back, and some carry flares of their own: against those, a missile is a gamble. Countermeasures. Each lasts a few seconds, then needs a moment before it's ready again (guns shows when): evade hard maneuvers: much harder to hit (pilot only; burns 2 fuel; your Reflex makes it better). Any vehicle. flares incoming missiles chase the flares instead of you. VTOLs carry 4; a flare launcher part adds 6. Rearming (service) restocks them. jam radar jamming: enemy aim drifts, missiles lose you almost entirely. Stealth scouts have a jammer; anything can fit a radar jammer part. Uses 10 battery. The pilot (or a co-pilot) and a gunship's gunner can work them. Vehicles that level up. Some models learn as you fight: every kill made from one gives it XP, and each level after the first is a tuning point. In a garage, tune <stat> spends one on hull, armor, handling, targeting, fuel, ammo or battery (up to 5 points each); tune shows its level and tuning. A wreck costs it half its progress toward the next level, so bring it home in one piece. Stock models don't level up. specs shows all of it. Examples: guns safe 55mm cannon fire missiles flares tune hull
In the game, help vehicle combat shows this too.