So I got a Smilodon

[Xev]

The Drifter Tank Vehicle. Man what a slow beast!

The powers can't be moved around in the power bars as far as I can tell. Soo that's a little bit of a pain with hotkeys.

Railgun 2 is decent dps when I consider how well this hovertank does taking that hit in Lemudian Invasion right before the big guy goes invul and everyone has to go back to the exocets. I just geared it with mods already sitting in my bags and it tanks well enough as-is.

It was a letdown after all this buildup (they're expensive!) tbh but I'll probably use it in LI and SC rampages so it's not a total loss.

If you don't have a vehicle yet don't feel left out. Bikes are probly more fun due to being faster but I dunno how squishy they are.

[Kaos Arcanna]

Yeah, my Smilodon is pretty slow too, but it is a pretty tough machine. Feels like it's just as tough as my Avalanche Hovertank on, but I could really use some more AOE on it. If I were bringing a vehicle to an event in CO I'd still bring my Avalanche.

On the other hand, there's a hoverbike coming that leaves the same flag trail that flag speed does and that's going to fit the concept of one of my characters something fierce so I'm hoping it hits soon. :D

[Xev]

How much faster/dpsier/squishier are the bikes?

[Kaos Arcanna]

Most of the bikes I have do FEEL faster than the Smilodon. (I have 3 I think.) They are definitely squishier. Stuff that my Smilodon can take without a scratch will have the Hoverbikes about ready to explode. The DPS (to the extent that I have noticed) is more depending on weapons than the vehicle. (The exception being an Exocept I got from the Drifter store which feels pretty weaksauce in comparison to all my other vehicles.)

[Xev]

That's interesting about the dps because the deeps are nice but they don't seem so OP like the impression I was getting from reading posts about how OP vehicles are.

Took the Smilodon out for an LI run tonite (got a scale..) and it was fun. I'm in no hurry to get another vehicle but I'll probly gear this one up.

[LaughingAlex]

Bikes, even Mark 2, are very fragile.  I personally enjoy vehicles myself.  Alot of people exagerate how OP vehicles are though, because they don't realise the lack of staying power vehicles tend to have.  They got very weak self-healing, even with medic drone you can and will get worn down if your attacked endlessly in the Lemurian invasion(happens to me in my jets all the time).

In terms of speed, Lemurian subs are the fastest, but the lower energy bar(only 130) and slightly lower base damage makes them questionable, MK2 lemurian subs are the second most fragile.  Bikes have the highest damage, but it's only a slight gain over a jet, and I am not sure if they really are faster.

Jets have the highest energy of the higher health vehicles, and do comparable damage to lemurian subs and bikes.  VTOLs have 130 energy like a lemurian sub, but are tougher as MK2s.  Centurians are a bit more durable, less health and speed.  Tanks only have 100 energy, are slower then everything else.  But I don't think they lose as much damage.  The damage difference I notice tends to be very small % differences.

I personally prefer VTOLs and jets for direct combat.  Bikes if I feel like taking a risk.  But in terms of gearing, it's the mods that make more of a difference than the base model.  A tank with double reconstructive bio steel 6 and double enemy hull scanner 6 is more than likely to out-damage a jet or VTOL without those mods, just as a tank with all speed mods will outrun even lemurian subs that don't have any speed mods.  Thats my overall experience anyhow.

As for weapons, plasma beam is the best cosmic/legendary killer, but sucks at killing anything else.  In fact a couple of plasma beams can easily overpower Grond if the two vehicle users keep up with him.  But they do pitiful damage in any other situation.  People cry OP over that, when in reality it's a specialized weapon made to destroy legendaries and cosmics and not very good at anything else.  Other weapons people use are incendiary rounds and gravity pulse fields for wide AoE.  Flamethrower is a tank weapon, Anti-Aircraft missiles can be used on a high-energy vehicle to buff damage up(often I end up out-agroing other vehicles on my Strike Hawkwing just by using it after each plasma beam use).

Micromunitions can also be used on a high-energy vehicle to enhance your damage some as you can fire it at the same time as other weapons.

Edit: On a funny note, some people even say vehicles do less damage than people on foot do.  But that generally tends to be when you misuse a weapon(like plasma beam on henchmen, the plasma beam will do little) or if your using the base weapon(which is pretty useless).  They just tend to be either specialised like plasma or on par with medium-high damage AoEs(and proportionately energy expensive).

[Xev]

I read through guides, posted questions, etc, and I never knew that some vehicles have a larger energy bar than others. The 100 energy on the Smilodon sucks. That's another gripe I have about it.

It's good to know I can mod it out. I think my next vehicle is going to be something with as much base speed & energy as possible.

I'm going to bookmark this post. I've bookmarked the Unofficial vehicles gallery and read enough other posts on vehicles and this is one of the handiest for my purposes.

Rep +1

[Xev]

All the good mods are expensive! I mean expensive expensive. 2k+ mark 2 Grav Pulses and aren't mark 3's out now?

My worst problem is aoe. Cheapest thing so far I've seen is a 450G Flamethrower.

Time to start saving up for keys again..

And yeah, I don't like pew pewing with Plasma Beam. You can line up some good shots with it but against people with Gravity Pulse it's pretty embarrassing.

I could farm out 450 today.. I like flame..