The Perfect Build

[Anxietitty]

what is your ideal, end game build? just curious about other people's setups. do you run one specific build or do you plan accordingly?

I run a specific build, and the only time I find myself in a bit of trouble, is during acid storms (whatever they're called).

playing on default, so I'd imagine the builds will have to change on higher difficulties. let's just stick to default here.

car: full armoured doors and panels (olympium is obviously better, but I can't be bothered)
backseat: expanded tank and high cap battery
sides: 3x turbines and 1x battery
bumpers: LIM shield rear and powered front
roof: xl storage and ion shield
lights: bio
tires: offroad

[PakThor]

Well, i also dont like to drive under acid rain, tho it rarely happens.

My build also weak from those acids, from what i know anti corrosive panel is good but not really protects the whole car under long driving, so Repair putty is needed anyways. (Also those green slime explode around the car and im already screaming it to stop)

From my exp., you can drive really close under the roof of some buildings like very tall science station(not sure the name), so the acid weather will not damage car. (just make sure the driving door facing outwards, well uhmm you will know afterw)

And get a lot of Repair putty during early map from those ARDA from the skies and you will be good.

Then, this is my build:
Turbocharged, i need to refill it 2 or 5 times per run, (better when found a Fuel station to skip using that fuel can)
My build still need an amount of refuelling, but electric however never an issue.

Panel: All radiation panel with 3x anticorrosive door(2 front, 1 on crafting table back).
Tried all car armored, front Olmpium panels with LIM shield but very overkill if can avoid tourist or some other just-for-content-situation.

Backseat: Expanded tank and Leak resistant battery
I use Leak resistant battery because I found the other High capacity battery use a lot of Plasma to craft, and both kind battery will turns into a sizzling bomb eventually, so why not.

Sides: 1x Lightning rod (pretty OP against electric tourist early-map, but will craft another Side storage mid-run and store this in for more loot)
1x storage for putty, mchnic kits, sealings tools..
1x storage for anything like plasma charger and loots
1x wind turbine

Bumpers: rear LIM shield and front Olmpium bumper

Roof: 1x storage,
1x radar
Tried the spotlight for eerie darkness weather. But, when i feel like looting, one roof storage is not enoug. So i tried two but bit overkill.
Then right now i try to less loot, more pearls. Hence only one roof stoage, another i choose radar because it "sort of works like spotlight" in eerie darkness.

Lights: 1x reinforced light, yup, one.

Tires: offroad
offroad ftw

Edit: changed the backseat part. Sorry for the long comment.

[Anachronomalous]

There's not really a "perfect build," but there's a lot of competent-to-good ones that'll get you through endgame.
The main reason is that Pacific Drive (as in the default difficulty) really isn't hard enough to warrant "meta builds" or anything like that, although some parts are absolutely better than others. Most damage in this game can be reliably avoided and you can take tons of prep items for mid-run repairs, so damage resistance is largely unnecessary if you just don't take damage to begin with. At that point it's mostly down to resource management (battery/gas), which I've never really had a problem with in default difficulty. If someone told me they made it through endgame with Steel Panels, a Turbolight Engine, and one or two battery/gas capacity add-ons, I'd believe it.
Banking off that: there's a lot of parts that, regardless of difficulty, are overall not worth the investment (anything "Powered" in the endgame tree falls under this) or are so situational they are effectively useless (Paddle Tires), and so there's no real argument for using them.

So while it's easy to make a build that isn't very good, there's a lot of ways to make a solid all-around build and you don't need endgame materials for most of it.

By both my default difficulty endgames I was running the following build items. This was designed as a general all-purpose build that would have buffer room for minor damage from stuff like errant electrical shocks, speeding quickly through Hot Dust when needed, etc. while still having the longevity to make it through full Deep Zone runs.

Engine/Power source attachments:

• AMP Engine
  
• High-Capacity Battery
  
• High-Capacity Battery
  
• Hydro Generator
  
• Solar Panel
  
• Mini Turbine
  
• Mini Turbine

AMP is faster than Turbolight but needs lots of dedicated power management options (which is fair given you don't have to worry about micromanaging gas).
Two Mini Turbines are enough when driving at high speeds to offset the worst of the power consumption, and are free gimmes for energy if you get windstorms or thunderstorms.
Hydro and Solar panels are effectively a gimme refill if you encounter either of the appropriate conditions with them on. Which you should. It rains a lot in this game, and you'd need a serious stroke of bad luck to get entirely nighttime runs with no rain (but just in case, you have jumpers, yes?)

Depending on your route traveled, Lightning Rod is also an option. But that comes with the caveat of understanding how the Rod can screw you over if you are relying on shocks to maintain battery charge (shocks hitting the driver when outside the car, any Junction with Shocking Speed becoming a deathtrap, etc.).
It falls off in utility endgame because electricity as a hazard is *mostly* relevant in the Outer and Mid Zone.

I do not bother with the Anchor Energy Converter. It's very useful when needed at 100 kw/kLIM as a last resort, but I have never needed the reserve that badly. You know what doesn't cost precious Anchor energy and can be taken at any time? Battery charger items.

Body:

• Headlights: Bio Headlights
  
• Front bumper: Armored
  
• Panel (engine bay): Anticorrosive
  
• Panel (front, sides): Armored
  
• Front Doors: Armored
  
• Rear Doors: Lead-Plated
  
• Panel (rear, sides): Insulated
  
• Trunk Door: Anticorrosive
  
• Rear Bumper: LIM Shield
  
• Wheels: Offroad Tires

Headlights are mostly preference since they all drain battery equally. I prefer Bio Headlights for high visibility at all times.

The body and door panels are designed to provide fairly even coverage, with a preference for Armored up front since that is where most damage from dings, scrapes, and other impacts usually comes from. The rest of the body kit is there to minimize damage from the elements as that is usually hitting the entire car instead of just the front, taking advantage of how parts will confer partial resistances to other adjacent parts.

The LIM Shield is a fairly late-game item, but is the one powered item I would consider taking long-term. When toggled wisely, it lets you get away with a lot of dumb damage that could otherwise be a problem. No reason not to take it once you unlock the blueprint, really.

The driving dynamics from road handling on the default difficulty do not penalize Offroad Tires enough to not warrant taking them; they are arguably the best upgrade you can make to the car's handling and they are accessible very early in the tech tree.
To put it another way: having slightly worse performance on the road can be worked around. Having bad offroad performance where you need it can lose you games.
All-Terrain Tires are an option as well. In my experience, however, they tend to puncture when looked at funny. Choose wisely. Anything else in the tech tree is basically a gimmicky Summer Tire.

Other:

• XL Roof Storage
  
• XL Roof Storage

Fairly obvious. Holds repair items, spare tires, etc. In all honesty, two is overkill when combined with the Augmented Trunk Storage and you could probably swap this out with something like the Auto Tracking Spotlight.

[Terra Blade]

Personally I just take a lot of jumpers with the anchor energy converter with two wind turbines. That still leaves space for decent storage for packing away materials (which I have a LOT of materials) and as long as I maintain two stacks between runs with associated patch kits I rarely have issues getting my AMP engine to and from my destination. Worst case I can craft or find spares along the way, which found spares I just use to top off my batteries.

It's resource intensive sure, but by end game if you aren't swimming in resources...well you probably weren't playing a packrat with a collective compulsion like I was.

[Lionheartwolf]

Naked build. You can't break it, and they cant steal what isnt there. There is enough free garbage out there to keep you going and trunk/backpack space doesnt break.

[Quill]

What I run typically is Olymium body panels and bumper

Corrosive doors except the driver door which is lead plated

Engine is the Turbocharged engine

Rear bumper is the LIM shield

Reenforced headlights

Backseat is large fuel tank and large battery

Side attachments consist of solar panel, wind turbine, lighting rod, and side storage

Then roof is depending upon run but is usually a Resource Radar and Roof Cargo

All terrain wheels on the front and off road tires for the rear

Has gotten me all the way to the end without much modifications