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Wheeled vehicles [ edit page ]
Variations
Wheeled vehicles come in many different sizes and variations:
Cranes
Cranes are useful for loading vehicles onto trains and ships, as well as for stacking shipping containers in pairs or more on top of said vehicles to maximize money earned at the destination in career or classic mode. Cranes generally require a wide base and an active counterweight system to avoid tipping over. They are awkward if not impossible to use for moving cargo longer distances, especially over uneven terrain, so they rely on other vehicles for that.
Forklifts
Forklifts are useful for moving shipping containers short distances around a train yard or port, and can generally directly load a cargo container onto a train or a player-made flatbed trailer behind a truck (without necessarily being able to stack containers).
Trucks
Trucks are used for long-distance towing or hauling. They generally tow a trailer, which can be a source of income in classic or career mode. In addition to the built-in trailers to haul for money, a player-made flatbed trailer for a shipping container can also be used to expand the range of cargo that can be profitably hauled. They are typically used to move cargo by road around one of the two large islands, the Sawyer Islands or the Arid Island.
Some trucks are alternatively built for search-and-rescue (SAR) missions, like firetrucks, and may incorporate fluid cannons, medical equipment, and firefighting gear for land-based rescue missions. Other trucks are built to transport only a single, specific cargo, e.g. tanker trucks built to move diesel.
ATVs
All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are small, cheap land vehicles that are used for traveling around any of the large or medium-sized islands. They mainly just offer a way for a player to quickly travel from one area to another which can be very useful for visiting areas likely to contain loot crates. Like the SAR trucks above, some may also include limited storage for medical and firefighting equipment.
Due to their small size, ATVs are easy to accidentally flip onto their sides when driving off-road, but they also tend to be small enough to be easily flipped back upright by pushing them up against a nearby wall, tree, or steep slope. A simple friction pad on each side can provide an easy pivot point to support rolling it back upright.
Cars
Cars are generally wider, flatter, faster wheeled vehicles usually designed just for traveling over flat terrain or roads. They are a decent way to move around on the big islands with less risk of flipping over on bumpy roads, although unflipping them is also much more difficult unless they have a self-righting mechanism.
Miner
A mining vehicle uses a mineral drill to mine for ore. This is commonly coal or uranium used to fuel coal- or nuclear-powered ships in the career or classic game modes. Coal ore may also be sold. With the Industrial Frontier DLC, other ores including aluminum, iron, and gold can be mined, processed, and sold.
Design
Gearing requires special attention for land vehicles since they are so often used for towing and frequently need to switch between driving uphill and downhill. See the discussion of automatic transmission on the gearbox page.
For traveling over uneven terrain, it helps to have good ground clearance to prevent getting stuck. However, it also helps to have a low center of mass to prevent getting flipped, and this can be at odds with maintaining good ground clearance. To resolve this, note that ground clearance matters more for areas further in front or behind the wheels (including the area in the middle). Placing the heaviest components (e.g. engine, batteries, flywheel) down low in between pairs of left and right wheels (or even using weight blocks there) can help to combine low center of mass with good ground clearance.
Note that larger wheels also make it easier to travel over bumps, small rocks, and curbs.
All wheel drive and using wheels with suspension is also helpful for driving off-road or climbing up mountains.