Is the Mastodon a "cheat" vehicle?

[Honorable_D]

This thing is overpowered and should avoid being used if you care about a balanced play through, yeah?

What other DLC trucks are wildly unbalanced and should be avoided?

[Beast of War]

It is not overpowered per definition.

Reason : the game has a lot of choke point that block wide/large vehicles. So to use this vehicle for everything is to be forced to detour quite a distance.

Essentially such vehicles should be used in deep mud/snow where other vehicles would struggle and should avoid. So they enable you to use ALL roads even though they are barely usable for other trucks.

The original challenge of the game was to know when to stop following roads ( when too frustrating and fuel/time wasting to stay on them ) and find solid ground to drive on instead. For this ALL trucks can be used in ALL maps. What the new all powerful 8 wheelers with huge wheels do is remove that challenge.

But you as a player can still use what to use where, and define your own desired difficulty. So i do not think they are "bad" or OP. I do think to enjoy the game you should not use them all the time :-)

[hackintoshchap]

It is a massive go anywhere vehicle that will haul through deep mud, broken roads, ice and it takes every environment in SnowRunner. the three spot bed is great and it has the power to tow a trailer too.

Makes light work of logging and has great range with the must fit additional roof rack with additional spares and fuel.

It is wide and has a slow turning circle, Engine is very noisy and this can be fatiguing.

Overall I love this vehicle and it will make many earlier maps easier. Use standard tires and always fit the big roofrack to every truck you use.

[Talby]

Just use it as a rescue vehicle only, problem solved... Although I am guilty of using it for logging runs myself, as the width helps to prevent tipping over

[Nite69]

yes cause it came out long after most of the game did, ii didn't even buy it, ts for players that are too impatient to level up

[K***boo]

Not really. It's good but it has downsides, like the long nose which gives it same vulnerability as the Azov 7, except unlike Azov 7 it actually takes damage when you eat dirt. Power-to-weight is borderline and, well, simply speaking you can do the same thing as Mastodon does faster, quieter and using less fuel with other trucks.

Only people who call Mastodon overpowered are noobs who bought it after struggling in Michigan and are in awe, and the I-rate-all-my-trucks-in-Testing-Grounds-by-driving-them-into-deepest-mud-possible types.

[Honorable_D]

I see.

Does anyone have a sort of non-DLC truck progression guide? Is there such a thing? Right now I'm in the second region with the dam and have been using the same Fleetstar you get in the first zone (though it has been heavily upgraded).

[Qrazy]

Tayga 6436 is really good right out of the box and gets better with upgrades. White Western Star is another good one but I find it a bit lacking until you can get some upgrades. Luckily WWS can get a lot of its upgrades from Michigan. Azov 64131 is another solid choice.

[Wingnut]

White western star is in the dam region. Buy an ANK and rescue the WWS, be careful the ANK is very tippy until you get dual tires and active suspension.
Best route for towing WWS back to garage is to go anti-clockwise around the map, its longer but you wont get stuck trying to lug it up a hill and through choke points.

[Qrazy]

Originally posted by Wingnut:

White western star is in the dam region. Buy an ANK and rescue the WWS, be careful the ANK is very tippy until you get dual tires and active suspension.
Best route for towing WWS back to garage is to go anti-clockwise around the map, its longer but you wont get stuck trying to lug it up a hill and through choke points.

And if they have the British Columbia DLC map (Duncan Bay) they can just cross the water behind the garage to the service center for a free WWS.

[SlowClick]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

I see.

Does anyone have a sort of non-DLC truck progression guide? Is there such a thing? Right now I'm in the second region with the dam and have been using the same Fleetstar you get in the first zone (though it has been heavily upgraded).

I've bought nearly all the DLC trucks, but mainly just use the trucks that are found as you progress through the maps. What you've done - use the starter Fleetstar in the beginning maps - is a good way to start I reckon.

As for the Masterdon - isn't that a truck one finds in a much later DLC map? If so, wait till you get to that map by normal progession thru the maps. I personally have not found much use for it and I'm well past the 'Masterdon map' - in Scaninavia ferrying movie star trailers ATM.

[Beast of War]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

I see.

Does anyone have a sort of non-DLC truck progression guide? Is there such a thing? Right now I'm in the second region with the dam and have been using the same Fleetstar you get in the first zone (though it has been heavily upgraded).

The Fleetstar when upgraded presents you with the base off road truck type that should be the workhorse in your entire game, if you were to play it with original intended challenge level. It can transport cargo in any map when you learn to AVOID deep mud/snow.

Still, for heavy loads and rescuing from marshes and bog you should use heavier trucks like the P16 or P 12. These offer much greater wheel pressure and command over where heavy semi trailers are going, and won't wheel slip easily or be washed away during river crossings. And don't be decieved thinking the P16 sucks because it is not AWD : it is an example of a vehicle that is so heavy it's wheels almost cannot slip. ( but the special "P" tires help a lot there too )

Light trucks like the loadstar are primarily used fro fast delivery of fuel and repair points in the field, or slip 1 slot cargo through dende treelines or over the few mountain goat path ( only accessible to scouts ) area's the game offers.

All other DLC trucks fall into those categories. The Russian mediums offer permanent AWD/difflock which enables them to be driven in A almost exclusively, but at the cost of a lot more fuel and often have wide large mud tires that you only really need in snow maps other then Alaska. ( Mud tires slip on any surface except deep mud or snow so are a poor choice for almost all other terrain in the game ) but they can be fitted with Off Road tires too.

There are some US mediums with lift axles which serve to resist rolling motion to some extend, which is very usable when transporting medium logs.

A lot of DLC 8 wheelers or huge wheel trucks or tractors serve to be able to plow through roads that were originally meant to avoid as they were trapped with mud or snow sinkholes, or shallow thin ice. These simlify the game so you can take the shortest routes that the original players had to avoid.

But to answer the question : you really don't need anything else then what the base game offers you. When you were to play on hard you will be so poor you really don't have much option then to do just that for a long time. All DLC vehicles that come after it just offer the same with slight variations to their purpose and appearance. You don't actually need Russian mediums with mud tires, even not in the most difficult maps. But it does make it easier to do. Such is the case with most DLC vehicles : they generally make the game easier.

So there is no progression path, but merely the question how hard or easy you want to make the challenge of the game be. You can buy DLC monster trucks and drive through all the mud in Michigan. And learn nothing.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by Qrazy:

Tayga 6436 is really good right out of the box and gets better with upgrades.

i agree same truck i started with, not hard to get to early on either, and just move the sideboard bed from the gmc 9500 ya get on michigan to it and you have a great starter truck

[K***boo]

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

Does anyone have a sort of non-DLC truck progression guide? Is there such a thing?

There's no such thing and cannot be such a thing. The best you can do is to use vanilla trucks in vanilla regions and then only start using DLC ones in DLC regions.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by K***boo:

Originally posted by Honorable_D:

Does anyone have a sort of non-DLC truck progression guide? Is there such a thing?

There's no such thing and cannot be such a thing. The best you can do is to use vanilla trucks in vanilla regions and then only start using DLC ones in DLC regions.

some vanilla trucks are on dlc regions too, the tayga 6436 for example is in tamyr and also in grand harvest season 8

[Wingnut]

Should also point out that some of the really good trucks like the 6436 have upgrades that are level locked and some are quite hard to get to (and without them are mediocre). Whereas early game trucks like the WWS and Fleetstar have easy access to their upgrades and can be upgraded to their full potential quickly.