car fights don't seem fair

[Jumboman]

I just got my head absolutely smashed in by 4 or 5 buzzards who each have 2 or 3 times my hitpoints. My car dies in 4 or 5 blows, I get run over 8 times (how he survives that is a miracle) while my buddy repairs, and the second I get back into the car, BAM, it's back to 40% hp. I can dish out one or two good hits which only do like 2 milimeters of health damage before I get busted AGAIN.

I am really trying to enjoy this game on my second playthrough but usually when you have to fight dozens of mobs, they are balanced by having less health (melee combat in this game is like that). Why are these NPC cars so tanky as hell, even if I ram their sides with full speed and boost?

[Denniss]

no armor on your car?

[chasicles]

Originally posted by Denniss:

no armor on your car?

Do u got armor at all? cuz that could be why u keep on gettings ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

[Jumboman]

Originally posted by chasicles:

Originally posted by Denniss:

no armor on your car?

Do u got armor at all? cuz that could be why u keep on gettings ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

yeah the first tier armor but doesn't it only give like 10% reduction?

Edit: I actually have the 2d tier armor which gives 10%. 3d tier is locked but doable, 4th tier is locked by story. I could get an extra 5%.

That means instead of dying in 5 hits, i'll die in 5.3 hits. yay :D

[Valden21]

Ramming them isn't the only way to attack. If they've got a fuel tank on the back, shooting that with your shotgun is a one-shot. If you have the harpoon, you can pull off the driver-side door, and once your harpoon is recharged, you can pull the driver out. There's lots of ways to handle vehicular combat in this game.

[Cinder_Dragon929]

just dont be bad

[[BLK] Telu]

Yeah, car fight are the most badly designed one. Harpoon can't fire in fuel tank. Shotgun have limited ammo. You need to explosive harpoon to do everything and you can't use the harpoon if the car have an armor of 1 or 2. That mean than the only way is to use explosive harpoon.

[Jumboman]

Originally posted by BLK Telu:

Yeah, car fight are the most badly designed one. Harpoon can't fire in fuel tank. Shotgun have limited ammo. You need to explosive harpoon to do everything and you can't use the harpoon if the car have an armor of 1 or 2. That mean than the only way is to use explosive harpoon.

I gotta say after playing a bit more I think I got the hang of it. Once you get the tier 4 harpoon, you can just remove the tires. If the tires are armored, one good strong hit will remove it, or you can even shoot the armor away. This applies to armored doors as well.
And yeah, you do need to upgrade your ammo capacity, that's really important. Upgrading the springs also helped to reduce a lot of falling damage.

the only thing that I still find very annoying is that if I try to use the grinders, a lot of cars will just break to a standstill, which is just really awkward in a 1v3.

[[BLK] Telu]

The only really good tool is the explosive harpoon. You can't use your standard harpoon on armored cars, you need to drop the armor first. And even the high end grinder is a joke. I mean, it do mostly no damage at all. Even if you grind for more than 5 seconds.

They give you TON of tools but you can't use them. It's really only design to destroy convoy. If you want to destroy every cars you cross, you will have a lack of ammo pretty quickly and the other way to destroy cars without the ammo don't really help you.

[Γαῖα]

There is another way which is to get to the nearest structure (ie wrecked ship/balloon etc, even certain rocks) as this will generally prompt them to stop and get out of their car. This means you can fight them instead while chum repairs your car.

[[BLK] Telu]

Yep. Or force them to get an accident with something.

[DarkEternal]

I have no clue what game y'all playing, cuz I absolutely destroy everything in my path with the car weapons and a shotgun. Don't switch regions too quickly or you'll be overwhelmed by strong enemies. Stick to Jeet's region and work your way south to north through his areas. Get the cleanup crew built first so you don't have to stop and put yourself at risk while gathering scrap from destroyed enemy vehicles. Then, go for survey crew so you can see all of the scrap points in the region. Again, work south to north since enemies in the south tend to be weaker. Build up those Griffa tokens and make yourself into a god on foot. At the same time, you'll be unlocking car upgrades through ranks and by lowering the threat level in Jeet's region. Do his side missions up until you're forced to go to Gutgash region to mark sulfur and saltpeter. Then, finish Jeet's region completely lowering threat to 0.
By that point, I had a maxed Max (haha) and nothing could stop me on foot. My car was as maxed as possible and I was one shotting even armored vehicles (the ones with white hp bars and level 1 armor, which are the most prevalent in Gutgash region). Move on to Gutgash and repeat the above process, trying to stay within his region until it's clear of threat. Then, Pink Eye. By that point, your car should be strong enough to take on rank 2 armored enemies all the while every melee battle is a breeze, allowing you to take down 4 and 5 skull camps without issue.
Then, just progress through side missions and main missions (side first, then main when available) to continue building your car up. Then, take on the final missions.
This game is ridiculously easy if you don't rush to the other regions too fast. Jeet's region is your safe zone, so to speak. Build yourself up there, then move on.

[peremptor]

Yeah if you're not that good at the car combat you can just drive to somewhere you can climb and force them out of their cars to fight you and the like. Also gives time for your car to repair as well.

[Γαῖα]

Originally posted by peremptor:

Yeah if you're not that good at the car combat you can just drive to somewhere you can climb and force them out of their cars to fight you and the like. Also gives time for your car to repair as well.

Not to mention give you a chance in the early game to collect certain cars/trucks.

[[BLK] Telu]

It's not than you are not good at car combat. It's just the car combat who is wrongly designed.

[greyzeb]

For vehicular combat, I find by keep the car moving is the best. Escape tight corners by using nitro boost and hit the road. You should find an area that is wide enough, maybe a plateau or whatever. Start circling them chasing cars, again use boost and hand brake for sharp turns to avoid being rammed while you ready the thunderpoon. Alternate turning left and right and shoot. Keep moving and don't get hit! Only get out if your Opus is severely damaged. It is still perhaps not balanced, but you will find the fight more enjoyable (and sometimes, damn movie like, which is cool).