Hello everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve last made an in-depth post regarding 4.0, and this has been a Google Doc project while I was in class for the past few days. Thought I’d finally unveil it. Some degree of automotive knowledge is required to fully understand this post, but I’ll do my best to make it as simple as possible for the layman.
Table Of Contents:
Parts
By far the most complex and in-depth part of this post is going to be swappable automotive parts and what they do. Not going to include car modifications (spoilers, bug catcher superchargers, etc) but that may change depending on the reception of this post.
Tools
A small expansion upon automotive-related maintenance tools.
Mechanics
An expansion upon how cars will function and what external factors will affect them.
Parts and what they do
Yes, I know there are a lot of these and it’s going to be an utter pain in the ass for Nelson to create all of them, but it’ll give vehicular maintenance and upgrading in the apocalyptic landscapes of Unturned II a new dynamic feel and new dimension to play.
- Engine parts
I’m going to keep this simple and say that not having every piston and push rod be individually customizable down to the millimeter, but rather the engine itself will be a singular part. Trucks, cars, and other vehicles will have their own engines that can be swapped throughout as long as it fits the transmission and relative size of the engine bay.
a) Engines
Stock engine - Think of the standard 3.0 car. Nothing special about it. Simple, durable, reliable, but it’s plain.
Performance engine - An engine designed to use higher revolutions and smaller cylinders to achieve higher performance, think of a 2JZ-GTE. More prone to breaking but rewards the player with a faster car and extremely quick acceleration.
Diesel engine - In contrast to the performance engine, Diesel engines burn cleaner, leaving less emissions but resulting in soot. Uses larger cylinder bores and longer engine strokes (Think of a 6.7L Powerstroke) to give the player more torque, allowing steeper slopes to be climbed and more towing potential.
EV Kit - Now I know this isn’t an engine per-se, but it’d replace a fuel-burning combustion system with motors and batteries to convert it into an electric vehicle. Very rare and would have some downsides, but many positives including faster acceleration and much quieter. Performance engine parts (Intake/exhaust, cooling, transmission) would not affect the performance of the EV Kit.
- Intake and Exhaust parts
Because an engine needs clean, fresh air to work at peak efficiency, and an effective way to remove carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and water.
Intake parts
Air filter - attaches to intake to clean air. Would degrade as it’s used similar to the Gas Mask Filters from 3.0. Would clean air allowing for the engine to more efficiently burn fuel.
Supercharger - Belt-powered to directly inject more fresh air into the engine. Offers instant boost but doesn’t scale as high as a Turbocharger can.
b) Exhaust parts
Turbocharger - Uses exhaust leaving the engine to force fresh air into the engine, increasing power. Needs a tune-up to work at maximum efficiency. Takes time to spool up.
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Electrical parts
Because an internal combustion engine uses electricity to ignite the air and gas in a cylinder, a properly working electrical system is needed to make sure your car doesn’t die in the middle of the road (Diesel is a special case and I’ll dive into that can of worms later in this post)a) Alternator - Would charge the battery while the car is running. Removal would mean the battery will still work but slowly die as it is used instead of normal use in 3.0.
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Cooling
a) Intercooler - A large radiator, required for an engine to run or else oil will overheat and the engine will seize. Another smaller one is used to cool the air coming in from a Turbocharger. Performance Intercoolers can more effectively dissipate heat.
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Transmissions
Select more efficient gear ratios at your current speed and RPM. I’ll get into the mechanics of these later in the post.a) Manual - Requires manual shifting of gears. Requires more user input but offers a greater degree of control over the vehicle.
b) Automatic - The inverse of a Manual. Allows players to take their mind off shifting gears but offers less control over gear ratio.
Tools
In 4.0, an improvement over the current system where Blowtorch = repairs, Tire Iron = Tire removal, and Battery = electricity could definitely be used moving forward. Some ideas may be that tire jacks can actually lift the car in a certain direction instead of flinging them into the lower stratosphere. Another tool that can be added is an ECU Tuner. When a Turbocharger or Supercharger is added or new engine is put in, it needs to be zeroed in and calibrated for maximum efficiency or power delivery in the current configuration. This could help new players easily set up custom cars and allow experienced players fiddle around with specialized settings.
Bulletproof windows and tires could be found at military or militia locations in garage/repair areas and would increase the durability of the car overall and protect the player from harm at the cost of decreased performance due to additional weight and possibly even slower door opening/closing animations also due to weight (Bulletproof glass is H E A V Y).
Mechanics
Unturned II/4.0 is going to be a major step up from Unturned 3.0, and with that it’s confirmed that it’ll be more realistic and gritty. This means that one major obstacle moving forward in it’s development will be making cars function in a realistic and immersive way. Obviously new buttons will be needed to control new features and I’m sure there’ll be player-controlled button customization so I’m not going to bother to say what key should be what since it’ll vary between players.
As for manual transmissions, I personally consider this forum post to be a very good description of what I’d image UII would have if this was included. Vehicle suggestions/ Gearshift/ UI concept
The Stereo system could be used as a walkie-talkie in-game so that players could hear player conversations (but not communicate) if they find the right frequency. This could also mean that players can broadcast music through a radio and players can listen to that in their car, but that’s a discussion for another post.
Batteries should slowly run out while the car is not in use. Trickle chargers could hook up to a generator if electrical plug ‘slots’ are added to them and can keep a car charged even while not in use so that a brand new battery is not needed. Dead batteries cannot be recharged via alternator and will require an external, generator-powered charger to recharge it. This is because the alternator is not strong enough to fully restore a charge.