Advanced Tips and Tricks [MudRunner Edition]

First of all, I want to thank each, and every one of you for having purchased this game and supporting this amazing community.
Updated 12/5/2018
A list of advanced things you may not have known you can do that can save hours of your time if you're looking to complete all maps on Hardcore. Bringing in 150h of experience from original Spintires, and some 6 years of real-life truck driving experience, I present you this guide.

Pack Medium Log Cart

As you are probably aware, you can pack the long log cart from the advanced menu, but there is no such option for the medium cart. But you can still pack it, quite easily too, with the help of the most powerful tool in the game - The crane.


Simply use crane to grab the trailer from the shaft, then detach the trailer, and pull it onto the truck. The leave it there, without releasing the crane grab. It should stay onboard the truck. Just remember the truck is a bit top heavy now. And there is another benefit from this as well: You can now attach another trailer onto the truck, because this trailer isn't officially attached at all.

Double Trailers

Quite simple but very useful trick. Just do what we did before, and attach another trailer onto your truck. Works with pretty much all trailers and trucks, with the expection of semi-trailers of course.
On Hardcore, fuel is going to be a big problem, so you can use this trick to very efficiently counter it. Do as follows: Pack the medium log cart with the truck that has the crane attachment. Then, attach a utility trailer with it, since it can hold 600 liters of fuel. Refuel it at the nearest fuel station, and make your way to the log station. Refuel at the log station, unpack the cart and attach it, load up, and make your way to the objective with full fuel. Saves you having to have another truck with fuel nearby.
NOTE: You should spawn the second trailer beforehand, and detach it somewhere nearby before spawning the cart you pull on the truck with the crane. Trying to spawn the second trailer with the cart already onboard the truck will more often than not cause you to only get the "Position your truck properly" error message.

Triple Trailers

Since you can actually winch pull a cart properly in MudRunner, you can "attach" another trailer to your truck using the winch. As a result, you can create some quite creative vehicle combinations. Here, I have a truck capable of carrying medium logs worth 4 points, utility trailer capable of carrying 600litres of fuel AND a short log cart capable of carrying short logs that are worth 3 points.

However, making any use of this requires a lot of fiddling. First of all, the winch pulled trailer is "dumb", meaning that you can't use it for anything until you have it officially attached. You can't load it with fuel or logs, and you can't use it to repair or refuel your truck. You need to detach the middle trailer first, and officially attach the third one to make use of it.
Then, you can, for example as I am doing here, load it up, and use it as you would normally.
As a result, we have a badass big rig worth a total of 7 points.

Some things to point out though:
1. When loading this trailer, remember to load it up first before detaching it. Then load up those medium logs and use the winch to pull the short logs cart
2. You can't use winch to pull your vehicle without the winch pulling this cart being released
3. When unloading, you need to unload the medium logs first, then disengage the medium logs cart, attach the short logs cart and unload it

You can obviously combine whatever you want, for instance, you can create a vehicle combination worth 9 points by having 2 short logs trailers and short log carriage on the truck.



Or you can go insane and do something incredible stupid, like this:

Solo Convoy

You can also pull other trucks instead of your trailers with the winch.
This gives us two options: Drive Mode (default) and Pull mode. In Drive mode, the other truck drives similar speed as the pulling truck is driving, consuming fuel as it normally would. It also auto-steers to follow the puller. It's still smart to take turns a little bit more wide. In Pull mode, the following truck doesn't drive, and is instead being only pulled by the pulling truck. It is the only mode available if the pulled truck has no fuel. You can switch modes from the advanced menu.

Tip Over Shield

The trick is super simple, just use the anchors. Position but don't push. Now the truck is nearly impossible to tip over, and it can still drive quite well. Worth noting that this trick only works with trucks with a crane, but you'll want to use one on Hardcore anyway.

Mobile Log Station

Title says it all. Just fill up your truck with logs without loading up, and use these logs to load up another truck. You can use any logs, for instance load up long logs onto a Cart with crane, and use these logs on another truck with the correct attachments:

Multi-Loading

Hands down the most powerful trick in the book. So powerful in fact, that using this is morally questionable. You can actually load up a truck, then stack up additional logs on top of that load. For instance, I have short logs load here, worth 3 points, and on top of that a long logs load worth 6 points. And this is just one way, you can make some really creative combinations.

You can also stack up logs that you can use on the same truck as well, like I've done here. I have 12 additional short logs with my short log load. 12 logs is the maximum you can spawn. Switching trucks can also make these logs disappear.

I have made a much more in-depth guide about this trick specifically in original Spintires. Everything there still applies in MudRunner. Here's the link:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=716124401

Fast Loading / K-700 Loading Tip

The thing that really speeds up the loading here is the simple fact that you can actually spawn multiple logs by hitting the spawn button multiple times:

Works with all logs, the maximum amount you can spawn is the amount of logs required to make a single load:


Saves you from having to do this multiple times...



Works well with the crane as well:
Another thing worth mentioning about the crane. First of all, the crane doesn't rotate a full 360 degrees indefinately. It only turns about 560 degrees and then hits an invisible limit. So when you hit this limit just turn a full 360 degrees the other way, so you can do a full 360 both ways again. As for the grabber, it also has such limits. It can only rotae 180 degrees both ways. So always try to keep it "centered". It's hard to do because nothing really indicates the center position, and in real life it doesn't work that way.

As for loading with the K-700... well the camera is utter ♥♥♥♥, let's be honest. In the night, you can't see ♥♥♥♥. And loading long logs is a nightmare, since they just roll over all over the place. The only real tip I can give here, is to raise the arms as high as they go, and rotate it all the way home. When unloading, first rotate it towards the truck and release the grab, so they should fall in. Use the articulated steering to slightly steer the logs in place if they are a little off.

Super Light Logs

Just do not load the bloody things up, and they basically weigh nothing. Crane grab should hold them in place.
Other way of doing is using the "Drop Load" option from the Advanced Menu:
Then you can drive up this steep slope as if your truck was empty... And pack up the same logs when you reach the top.

Worth mentioning that the logs can slide off quite easily, and if don't have a crane nearby, it's very risky to try this, because losing or misplacing even one log means you have to drive all the way back and pick up a new load. (Or try and fish out the missing log, whatever strikes your fancy.)

Jack-Knife Turn

More of a maneuver than a trick... The goal is to be able to make a U-turn with a trailer without actually having to reverse, or in a spot too tight to do so. It's simple really, you just need to turn the front axle of the cart 90 degrees from the truck with the cart being 90 degrees from the front axle. 2x90 degrees equals 180 degrees.


It sucks here, since for some reason you can't really jack-knife the cart's front axle at all without it hitting an invisible obstacle. As for semis, it works as well as one might expect:

Just to clarify, this is how a jack-knife turn should look like:

Differential Lock and All-Wheel Drive

There has been some controversy about the effect of All Wheel Drive. Some say it only affects your ability to steer in the mud, and that it has little to no effect on your ability to move in the mud. However, this is utter bullcrap. Having All Wheel Drive has a massive effect on your ability to move in the mud, and of course, dramatically increases your ability to steer. In casual mode, having Diff Lock on however, impairs your ability to steer, because it forces all of your wheels to rotate at the same speed, which makes it problematic for the truck to turn correctly. Sometimes it's worth disengaging it to make a tight turn, unless you are in very deep mud. On Hardcore, front-wheel diff lock is always off, so it's effect on steering is minute at best.

It's also worth mentioning that All Wheel Drive consumes more fuel. A LOT more fuel. But you should always have an ample supply of fuel available anyways, so it's much easier and smarter to keep the All Wheel Drive on. It saves you a lot of gray hair, and more importantly, time. Feel free to disengage it on hard surfaces when you don't need it.

Mud Crawling

A very useful technique when driving in deep mud or in a steep slope. When driving, constantly steer back and forth. This allows the tires to find traction better than they would simply driving straight. This is even more useful on Hardcore, since differential lock doens't apply to the front tires. Steering back and forth constantly switches the tire the torque is applied to, effectively making both wheels drive.
UPDATE: Apparently Hardcore no longer disables front-axle differential lock, making this tactic slightly less effective, but it's still worth a shot if you're about to get stuck, or driving with automatic in Hardcore.

Advanced Gearbox Usage

Near crucial skill to master on Hardcore, since you can't use Diff lock on automatic. The manual 1st gear and 1+ will be your best friends. I noticed that some people use the gearbox by clicking on the gear lever with mouse, but it's quite inefficient and cumbersome to do. Easiest way to shift, is to hit R button, and simply move your mouse towards the gear you wish to select. It's important to shift quickly enough to not lose too much speed.

You can also see these white lines on the Manual 1st and Manual Reverse gear. There are a total of three of these "ticks", that you can use to limit your top speed of that particular gear. The way it works is quite simple, the more ticks are highlighted (the further you push the gear lever towards the desired gear), the higher the top speed is. I haven't personally found any use for this feature, but it's there. Perhaps when reversing in a tight spot?

Cart vs. Semi

There are few cases where you can choose between cart and a semi. I will cover the core differences with cart and semi before going into detail.
A cart, or full-trailer, is a trailer with a front axle, and is attached to the puller truck via shaft. Semi-trailer is, as the name implies, a half-trailer, meaning it has no front axle, because the puller-truck's rear axles act as it's front axle. Now, a breakdown with the core differences:

Semi	Cart
+Easier to reverse	-Very hard to reverse
-Very poor off-road capabilites	+Much better off-road capabilities
-Requires a lot of space	+Requires very little space
-Harder to winch pull, because parked trailer's front is lifted with anchors. Pulling it makes it nose-dive, it can easily tip over and is hard to pull.	+Easy to winch pull, but only from the front. Winch it from the pulling shaft. Pulling from behind makes the front axle jack-knife, and can tip it over.
-Harder to detach, all the goods are in trailer, offers little to no flexibility	+Easy to detach and re-attach, shares goods with puller, meaning you can ditch the trailer once it's resources are exhausted, and you can have a mix of different resources since trailer can carry different stuff than the puller

Now for the more specialized choices.
1. Garage parts:
Semi carries enough points to unlock a garage on a single run alone, and it drives well enough, so it's the superior choice here.
2. Fuel:
Now this takes a little more thought. Either pick a Cistern Semitrailer, with insane 3200 litre capacity, or pick Fuel cistern (There are two options: the orange, inferior one has a capacity of 900l, and the better, green one has 1400l capacity) with Utility cart (600l) totaling 1500-2000 litre capacity. Well, the capacity for the semitrailer is insane, literally. Because it's unusual you would ever need that much fuel, unless you're burning it by the gallons with Type E or D truck. There a few advantages with cart as well. First of all, the utility trailer carries 600 repair points. That is a lot, and it can save your ass if you make an error. Second of all, after consuming all the fuel in the trailer, you can just ditch it and continue with the puller truck alone, making things all the much simpler. So my advice, go with the cart again, unless you need tons of fuel for some reason.
3. Utility:
I've never needed either of these particular vehicles myself, but they have more interesting options than the rest. Utility semitrailer carries 900l of fuel and 1200 repair points. Going with the Utility attachment and Utility cart you can carry whopping 1400 repair points and 600l of fuel. Again, going with cart makes it easier to make it to your destination, but 1400 repair points is a overkill unless you need to bring a whole convoy back to life. Recommendation, utility semitrailer.
4. Logs:
Short Log Carriage with Short Log Trailer is super overpowered. It carries the same amount of points (6) as the conventional LONG log cart combination, but it's literally impossible to tip over, and it drives like a tank in mud. It has one major flaw though: You can't load it unless you have another truck with crane. Therefore, here my recommendation is mixed. If you a possibility to load up a short log combination, always go for it. Otherwise, Medium logs combination with a crane is the best choice.
UPDATE: My prayers since the original Spintires has been finally answered, since after the Valley DLC you can now attach a cart to a truck with Log Crane Carriage, making it even more ridicilously overpowered combination. It is superior to the conventional options in every single way, first of all, you have the crane. Second of all, like stated before, it drives like tank and is impossible to tip over. You also have two choices, most trucks you have the option to have Log Crane Carriage with Short Log Trailer, but the new C-6317 truck allows you to have Log Crane Carriage with Medium Log Trailer, giving the combination a total worth of 7 points, higher than any other combination available.

Summing up, cart is almost always the superior choice. Feel free to experiment, find out what suits you the best.

Trucks that allow you to have Log Crane Carriage (short logs) plus Short Log Trailer:
C-255, C-256, C-260, C-6317

Trucks that allow you to have Log Carrier with Crane (medium logs):
C-4310, C-65111, C-375, C-4320, C-432010

Trucks that allow Long Logs:
C-65115, C-255, C-256, C-260

And of course the only truck that has Log Crane Carriage plus Medium Log Trailer is C-6317

Always remember to combine the correct trailer with the correct attachment on the truck!

• Log Carrier is combatible with Medium Log Cart and Long Log Cart (if available), and one is REQUIRED to carry any logs at all
  
• Log Carrier with Crane is only compatible with Medium Log Cart, NOTHING else. It's a common mistake to take it with a Short Log Trailer. You can still load it, but you're only pulling a trailer with an empty truck, thus wasting a lot of time and points.
  
• Log Crane Carriage is nowadays compatible with trailers. So you can have Short Log Trailer, which you should take most of the time, but also Utility or Garage trailer. And unlike Medium or Long logs, you can drive logs with the puller truck alone, giving you a lot of flexibility

Detaching Trailers

Pretty self-explanatory. You can do it from the advanced menu.

It's worth doing when you are stuck, and have no winch points. Detaching the trailer usually allows you to drive the truck a bit forward, to a better terrain, from which to pull the trailer back with you.

Attaching Carts

For clarification, a quick tip on how to attach carts. It works quite well and realistically in my opinion, but some people have had problems with it.
Simply reverse the back of your truck, you can see the towing hook with the white dot, onto the shaft of the trailer (the black dot).
Since you can also winch pull the cart, you can use it to force the truck in the right position.

Attaching Semis

Same as above. However, a bit more tricky to explain if you're not familiar with semi-trucks.
You need to actually drive the back of your truck under the semi-trailer:

Doesn't have to be straight.

Trespasser (Slipping Past Blockposts with Lumber)

Annoying? Well, not anymore, with this trick.
This really puts the "trick" in "tricky", because this is extremely difficult to pull off. It takes quite a lot of fiddling and advanced crane handling skills. First of all, it's important to understand exactly how these blockposts work. They have a certain detection range of lumber, loaded and unloaded. So you can't simply unload your logs and fool it that way. However, this detection range is not that long, and it's limited to the center point of the logs (red/green dot on the center of the log).
(Doesn't open. The devs aren't that stupid.)


[EASY MODE, Two Trucks] (Requires one truck with carriage with crane, for the other anything goes.)

First of all, drive the unloaded truck (carriage with crane) past the gate, then reverse the loaded truck as far as you can go. Like this:

Unfortunately, as you start grabbing the logs, your truck will respawn further away from the blockpost. You are still close enough to grab them however:
Pull them towards you, towards your truck and over the blockpost. Stack them aboard your truck with the crane, and drive away from the blockpost.
After that, simply switch back to the other truck, drive past the blockpost with your unloaded truck, and reload these logs back, and we are through.

[HARD MODE, One Truck] (Requires medium logs with crane and advanced crane handling skills)
This time, you have to manually unload your logs, and slip them by, like this:




That causes that center point of these logs to be too far away for that detection range.
(No logs. Go on)

Let the fiddling begin:

Muahahaa! NOTHING CAN STOP MRPLOWKING! (And it's closed behind me again.)

Notes:
1. It won't open, even if you are carrying logs incompatible with your current attachments
2. You can't use the crane to manually haul them through one by one. It only works when the log is far enough from the truck. Therefore, this is the only way.

Thank You

Thank you for reading. I'll be updating this guide if new tricks come along, and feel free to post me your own.
If you liked this one, here is the link to the original Spintires guide:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=895366129
And here's some speedrunning videos:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=906272406

[DrPlowKing]

Thats exactly how I used to use it as well. However, I cant recall ever using even half of the capacity before finishing the map, unless there was like 3-4 of us just goofing around.
But it still has its use that way. Thanks for the comment Grimm.

[GrimmReaper]

one of the main uses of the fuel semi trailer that i've found is to put it on a truck you arent gonna use and put it at a stategic point on your logging route, with its 3200 litre capacity its best use is as a pop up fuel station

[Lord of the Sanitizing]

There is one thing you missed. If you have a trailer full of logs but not packed, you can pack the crane carriage with only one log. The opposite applies as well. Meaning, you can fill all the lumber yards with just 9 logs.

pic:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2907323764

[᲼]

I guess I wouldn't take pride in being drunk.

[DrPlowKing]

Thanks HuskyDynamics, those are some neat tricks. I've used the winch trick a lot personally, I just never thought to add it here.
As for the Old-Timers, I don't think I even own the DLC. It's been quite a while since the last time I played.

[HuskyDynamics]

Okay, here's a really specific one (probably too specific for this guide but I wanted to share it anyway).

If you have a truck with the American Wilds flatbed trailer AND a scout vehicle with the Old-Timers Scout Trailer attached, you can actually stick the two together somewhat, if aligned properly. If the Scout Trailer is centered at the rear of the trailer with the attachment point sticking out between the flatbed's ramps, the Scout Trailer's axles will keep it from being pulled through the opening, and you can drag a scout behind the flatbed trailer. This can come in handy if you need to transport something that takes up the whole trailer (e.g. Western Star 6900XD), as well as a scout.

Here's a picture that hopefully gets the idea across: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2850442943

[HuskyDynamics]

One trick I use a lot (probably too much for my own good) is moving the winch from one tree to another without releasing it in between. This technique is great for crossing steep slopes (or even some less-than-vertical cliffs) that would otherwise immediately cause the truck to roll.

The best way to do it is to winch the uphill side of the truck to a tree a bit ahead of the truck. Drive forward while constantly pulling the winch in, until you are aligned with or slightly ahead of the tree. WITHOUT disconnecting the winch, connect the uphill side of the truck to another tree about a truck-length ahead, and IMMEDIATELY start driving and pulling in the winch. Rinse and repeat until the ground is flat enough to no longer risk rolling the truck.

Here's a screenshot of a B-66 employing this tactic to navigate a steep riverbank: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2848709521

[Mitch-Mash]

A note for the Advanced Gearbox Usage:
the ability to limit speeds is only useful for keyboard players where you're unable to 'feather' the throttle like you can with a controller or wheel. this helps with mud crawling as the spinning wheels start to dig holes, but easing off the gas (most of the time) causes the wheels to climb instead of spin

[DrPlowKing]

Yeah, that works as well, since only having logs near the blockpost will prevent you from proceeding through.
I haven't had the time to play MudRunner in quite a while, so I'm not familiar with any of the newer maps. I did notice however that the range at which you can have logs on before respawning further away is significantly larger than back when I first made this guide, so it might be necessary to do the fiddling further away from the post than in my screenshots.

[[TBM]TheJackal]

Great guide! Another trick for bypassing block points that i used on one in particular on the map Dangerous Roads was to drive the truck to the fence beside the blockpost and toss the logs over the fence, then pick them up on the other side. Less fiddly than trying to do it right where the gate is, since the gate can sometimes mess with your truck as you're moving logs past it.