TGMC:Guide to vehicles

This page is a part of the TGMC wiki. TGMC is a project based on the CM-SS13 codebase.

Welcome to using mobile machineries in TGMC! This guide will get you familiar with how to use each vehicles and ensure that you can beat the xenomorphs back to their hives!

You may be daunted by the unfamilar gadgets in front of you, but that's okay; everyone has to start somewhere.

What is important is knowing the responsibility of each vehicles. Not knowing what you need will have marines yell at you for being incompetent.

Tadpole

The Tadpole

The Tadpole is a compact support vessel, used to quickly and accurately provide aid to marines in any open-air battlefield scenario. The primary differentiating feature of the Tadpole versus the Alamo is landing capability. The Tadpole has the ability to land in any unobstructed, open-air area, drastically increasing the deployment flexibility of any marine force that choses to use it over the Alamo. This comes with the downside of defense, as a the Tadpole can quickly be overrun if caught out of position, as well as the downside of size. Being a small vessel, it can be tricky to load a substantial amount of cargo onboard, and the ship will quickly get cluttered if over capacity.

The controls are accessed through the central console. Transit is performed similarly to the Alamo, with the caveat that the Tadpole doesn't go directly to the ground. After a transit phase, and Tadpole will wait in low atmosphere, designated by the surrounding clouds. From here, using the console will bring up the landing interface. After selecting a landing point and touching down, the Tad can be sent back into low atmosphere to reposition, or sent back to the ship from low atmosphere.

The control console interface.

Landing the Tadpole

The Tadpole can land in any unobstructed, open-air position. When using the landing interface, accessible by using the central console in low-orbit, you will see a birds-eye view of the battlefield, and an outline of the Tadpole in the center of the screen. If the entire outline is green, you have a viable landing area; if any tiles are red, they are obstructed, and the Tadpole cannot land in that position. You can rotate the landing outline using the rotate button at the top of your HUD. Once a landing field has been selected, the outline will turn blue, indicating that the Tadpole will arrive there shortly.
Fully green landing indicator. You're clear to land.

Partially red landing indicator. The landing zone is obstructed.

Blue landing indicator. The landing zone has been selected.

Installing modules

If you want to install a module or reload a weapon, you will need a powerloader, this is how you install a module, it works the same for ammunition:

• Right click the powerloader and click “Enter powerloader”
  • Alternatively, you can clickdrag your sprite onto the powerloader.
• Move infront of the module and left-click on it, you can carry two modules, simply switch active hand to carry another one.
• Move to the right slot and click left click on it, that’s it, you installed a module.

Drop Pods

The Drop Pods serve as a rapid one-way deployment system for shipside marines to reach the field. Click with an empty hand to enter a pod, and the UI will automatically open, allowing you to input coordinates, verify your location, launch, or exit the pod. If you close it, you can reopen the menu through the tabs in the top right of your chat window.

Pods can only be launched after the Alamo first reaches the surface. Be sure not to launch before the shutters are down, or you'll likely get swarmed and instantly die.

The console at the entrance of the Drop Pod bay isn't just for show - it can launch all manned drop pods simultaneously, for coordinated strikes.

Drop Pods' UI

Communicate with your team in order to get viable drop pod coordinates. Set them by either manually inputting the X and Y coordinates in the relevant fields, or by dragging the field up and down to increase or decrease the number.

To make sure your selected area is viable to drop to, press the "Check drop point validity" button. It will warn you if the area is roofed, inside terrain, or otherwise inaccessible.

When ready, press the "Launch Droppod" button. Otherwise, you can exit with the "Exit Pod" button.
Don't tell anyone, but you can use the Webmap for accurate drop coords.

Motorbike

The premier in marine transportation technology - besides the Alamo, Tadpole, and every other transport vehicle. Allows full running-speed movement for one marine, upgradable to two with a sidecar, in exchange for fuel. Contains an internal storage bay for your convenience. Refueled using a jerry can, most immediately accessible through stealing them from the Condor. Don't steal all of them, or the PO will "accidentally" CAS you at the first opportunity.

Unmanned Vehicles

Sometimes the best choice is not to put yourself on the firing line. Sometimes the AI wants a chance to shoot, too. Sometimes the Captain wants to kill Xenos, and the OB just isn't doing it. In these cases, the Unmanned Vehicle system shines.

UVs come in three chassis variants:
Light chassis: High speed, 300 health.
Medium chassis: Intermediate speed, 400 health.
Heavy chassis: Low speed, 500 health.

These are combined with the cannon, which comes in two variants:
Light cannon: 20 Damage, 0.5 Sunder
Heavy cannon: 40 Damage, 5 sunder

These are ordered separately from the Engineering section of requisitions, and must be combined when the crates arrive.

Alternatively, you can order a bipedal combat drone, or a bipedal scout drone. Note that the scout drone does not have any armament, though it does come with a built-in cloaking system. Best used for detpack bombings, if you can spare 40 points per drone.

Combat Droids will come equipped with a droid weapon, so there's no need to order one alongside them. The droid weapon you can order is for the expressly for reloading the combat droid, and cannot be equipped on the scout droid.

The assembly can be driven automatically by the AI, or using a vehicle controller (Also orderable from requisitions). Note that AI control and Controller control are mutually exclusive; once one operator has selected the vehicle, it cannot change to the other operation type.

All types of UVs can be repaired using a welding tool. In the event that they survive long enough to run out of ammo, more can be ordered from the Engineering section of requisitions, though it must be installed manually.

TANKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

What you could've been driving

Hey gamers. You're probably wondering where tank is. The problem with tank is that tank is an unbalanced piece of shit that never deserves to see the light of day until it gets rebalanced.