Smoke and Mirrors: Vehicles

Vehicles are a necessity for getting around in a postmodern city rapidly, as well as getting anywhere with serious hardware. Most vehicles will only be used for transportation, but some can be valuable in a combat situation in their own right.

All vehicles have an upkeep cost that must be paid over the specified interval. Military vehicles will generally also require you to purchase the requisite equipment from the black market, or produce it, which makes them very difficult to keep in working order.

Vehicle Types

Compacts in Smoke and Mirrors can possess a variety of vehicles, ranging from civilian cars to attack VTOLs. One must know when to use subtle means and when to use heavy firepower, however.

Legal

Civilian Cars (1 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.25 wealth/year): Civilian cars come in many shapes and forms, but all generally are similar enough to be essentially interchangeable. Fuel cell powered, capable of carrying 4 and a driver, with a trunk that's just about the right size to keep a few machine guns or a corpse inside. Civilian cars come with 2 slots for equipment.

Sports Cars (5 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.5 wealth/year): Luxury vehicles, sports cars have superior handling but generally sacrifice in trunk size and passenger capacity. Toys for the rich and wealthy, these vehicles are often used when one needs speed and maneuverability-in a car chase, for example. Designed for customizability but often smaller and with lower reliability than normal vehicles, sports cars have 1 upgrade slot.

SUVs (2 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.5 wealth/year): SUVs are about as fast as civilian cars and have a lot more room in them, enough to carry a fully armed and loaded squad of soldiers in relative comfort. With tinted windows and some judicious driving to avoid police (or just bribes), nobody will notice the armed and armored assault team until they get out, even. SUVs also make excellent technicals, with 3 upgrade slots.

Trucks/Moving Vans (8 wealth per unit, upkeep 1 wealth/year): Fullsize vehicles can carry more personnel and heavier equipment, and if you are bored out of your mind, can be modified with a fairly nasty arsenal of other gear. Trucks have 4 upgrade slots.

Hovercars (15 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.5 wealth/month): Another luxury toy, hovercars are cars that fly. Although with less cargo capacity and upgrade capacity than civilian cars, and far less affordable, they are useful for extreme speed of response, capable of making speeds easily triple that of a tweaked sports car, and not having to worry about roads or traffic. They are also, most importantly, legal, making them more useful in many cases than a cargo VTOL. Hovercars can mount 1 upgrade.

VIP Sedan (15 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.25 wealth/month): A VIP Sedan is a civilian car, uparmored to give protective qualities, equipped with an overcharged engine, and sometimes with integrated firing ports for the bodyguards inside. The increase in cost is significant-so much so that the authentic leather seats and integrated minifridge pretty much come free. VIP Sedans come with 1 equipment slot.

Illegal

Police Cars (8 wealth per unit, upkeep 1 wealth/year): Although not as capable of performing as sports cars are, police cars are armored sufficiently to resist light small arms-fire, as well as having reinforced bumpers for ramming. Police cars come with 2 upgrade slots. Police cars are also illegal mainly because of their sirens and the ability to use one to masquerade as legitimate law enforcement. This use is extremely important for many operations.

Military Jeeps (10 wealth per unit, upkeep 0.25 wealth/month): Designed with integrated armor, a weapons mount, and overpowered engines, military light vehicles are dangerous but not precisely subtle, although an unarmed one can often be confused with the street-legal kind. Furthermore they aren't exactly maintenance-free, either, and cost a fair amount to keep running in top form. Military Jeeps have 3 upgrade slots and are already equipped with the capability of carrying a light vehicle weapon.

Black SUVs (25 wealth per unit, upkeep 1 wealth/month): Sometimes you need a combination of both discreetness, transport capacity, and combat capacity. A Black SUV is what happens when you take a regular SUV, give it the most powerful engine you can, load it with enough armor to stop anything short of an antimateriel rifle, active defense systems, and hidden compartments, as well as a hidden weapons mount for when you absolutely must hose people down with heavy machine gun fire. Black SUVs can carry a light vehicle weapon and have 3 upgrade slots.

LAVs (120 wealth per unit, upkeep 6 wealth/month): LAVs are military vehicles, often wheeled but sometimes tracked, designed for times when any semblance of subtlety is completely out the window. LAVs are the most heavily armored and armed units in existence, but are inflexible, unsubtle, expensive, and require specialized training to effectively use. A LAV can deliver a squad of armed infantry to a destination, then support it with heavy weapons. LAVs mount 1 heavy and 1 light vehicle weapon, and have 3 upgrade slots.

Cargo VTOLs (100 wealth per unit, upkeep 5 wealth/month): The future equivalent of Black Hawks or Ospreys, Cargo VTOLs can drop a dozen heavily-armed, power-armored specialists wherever you need them, when you need them. Equipped with ballistic armor and active defenses, they're also extremely survivable, although they can be taken down by even fairly cheap firepower. Cargo VTOLs have 2 upgrade slots and can carry a pair of light vehicle weapons.

Attack VTOLs (150 wealth per unit, upkeep 10 wealth/month): Most organizations embrace subtlety, but some prefer to have firepower available right now. Attack VTOLs are a perfect blend of speed, survivability, and firepower, but are the worst thing that ever existed when it comes to being subtle. Normally armed with anti-armor smart missiles, a turret mounted cannon, and equipped with AI targeting assistance, an attack VTOL is what you use when you either have no other choice or have utmost certainty that you can explain away what just happened. Attack VTOLs have 2 upgrade slots, but can mount 1 heavy and 1 light vehicle weapon.

Vehicle Enhancements

Sometimes you want to improve a vehicle's performance, and there's many, many ways to do that. Some are legal, some... less so. Note that placing a legal modification on an illegal vehicle is nevertheless illegal anyways.

Legal

Supercharged Engine (cost 5): The vehicle has an improved engine that greatly increases speed and handling. This modification can be taken multiple times, but if taken more than once doubles a vehicle's upkeep due to the increased drivetrain stress.

Uparmored (cost 5): The vehicle has a reinforced frame, armored doors and windows, a windshield made of ballistic polymer, armored motive systems, and a reinforced fuel tank. A vehicle with this modification is significantly more durable. Although legal, this is a very suspicious modification and may draw attention. This modification can be taken multiple times. Similar to a supercharged engine, taking this modification more than once doubles a vehicle's upkeep.

Advanced Sensors Suite (cost 10): The vehicle mounts a powerful sensor suite. Similarly although technically legal, advanced sensors are very suspicious because of the relative lack of uses for them.

Cargo Compartment (cost 1): The vehicle mounts additional space for small items.

Illegal

False ID (cost 1): The vehicle has a false registration and ID, making it harder to trace. Smart paint allows it to change coloration on the fly as well, improving its disguise capacity.

Firing Ports (cost 1): The vehicle has ports for its occupants to fire light weapons out of.

Weapons Mount (cost 5): The vehicle mounts a hardpoint capable of carrying one light vehicle weapon.

Heavy Weapons Mount (cost 10): The vehicle mounts a hardpoint capable of carrying one heavy vehicle weapon. This requires two upgrade slots.

Command and Control (cost 20): The vehicle is usable as a mobile HQ. This takes three upgrade slots and eliminates a unit's ability to carry cargo.

Active Defense Suite (cost 15): The vehicle mounts a countermeasure suite that gives it the ability to shoot down incoming enemy fire.

Stealth Characteristics (cost 25): The vehicle is designed for low radar, visual, and infrared signature.

Vehicle Weapons

Although rarely used because of how unsubtle they can be, vehicle weapons are still a vital part of an arsenal simply because it is not uncommon to end up facing something that small arms can't stop, while inside a vehicle so one cannot use anti-tank munitions. Firing ports, after all, do not protect from backblast. All of these weapons are notably illegal.

Light

Heavy Machine Gun (cost 0.5): HMGs are high-caliber rapid-fire weapons for infantry support. A single HMG can cut down hundreds of attackers if properly used (and the attackers are idiots) and can threaten most civilian vehicles with destruction in short bursts.

Light Cannon (cost 2): A light cannon fires 40-50mm projectiles at high velocities and moderate rates of fire.

Vehicle Coilgun (cost 10): A vehicle coilgun is an advanced vehicle weapon, firing medium-caliber rounds at hypervelocity. Possessed of excellent damage characteristics and high rates of fire, the Vehicle Coilgun's only problem is its absolutely immense price tag.

Recoilless Rifle (cost 5): A recoilless rifle fires anti-tank munitions. Effective against hardened targets like heavy vehicles and bunkers, it is however slow-firing and inaccurate.

SAM/AAM (cost 5, single-use): Light SAMs or AAMs are air-defense weapons that are effective against low-flying targets like hovercraft or VTOLs. Although most are multi-shot designs, the relative effectiveness of countermeasures means that they are almost always expended after combat. In a pinch, Light SAMs or AAMs can be used against ground targets, in which case their HE warheads and high velocities render them effective, if inefficient, air support.

Heavy

Anti-Tank Guided Missile (cost 5, single-use): ATGMs are very large high-power missiles that are not intended for shooting down air targets, but busting ground targets instead. A brace of ATGMs is likely to open up just about any ground vehicle like a tin can short of a MBT, no matter how much applique armor it possesses.

Rocket Pods (cost 5): Rocket Pods fire dozens of unguided high-explosive rockets, making them an excellent choice for indiscriminate destruction.

Tank Railgun (cost 20): A tank railgun is a hypervelocity cannon that is intended for killing tanks. Mounting it on anything short of a LAV is pure folly, due to its immense recoil and power requirements. However some sufficiently insane people have tried it and succeeded.

Automortar (cost 10): Indirect fire support. See synonyms: Impractical, insane, collateral damage waiting to happen. Nevertheless, against certain foes you might want heavy weapons that don't need line of sight.