| Wheel Suspension 2x2 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Data Controls: | [create] (?) |
Of all wheel suspension types, the 2x2 wheels are the most human in scale. Use them for building everyday cars whose wheels are more functional than tiny 1x1 Wheels, but less tractor- or monster truck-sized than 3x3 Wheels.
Recipe[]
 Wheel Suspension 2x2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | Large Ship/Station Required | Large Ship/Station Optional | Small Ship Required | Small Ship Optional |
 Motor | 6 | — | 1 | — |
 Small Steel Tube | 12 | — | 2 | — |
 Large Steel Tube | 6 | — | — | — |
 Construction Comp. | 15 | — | 7 | — |
 Steel Plate | 25 | — | 5 | — |
Usage[]
Add Wheel Suspension blocks to be able to manoeuvre the grid across a planetary surface using the WASD keys. To enable the cockpit to control the wheels, make sure the checkbox saying Control Wheels is ticked in the Cockpit's Control Panel Screen. Wheeled vehicles use less power than thrusters but are hindered by uneven ground.
Tip: Adding one or more Gyroscopes to the vehicle enables turning and levelling (Yaw and Pitch) with the mouse.
The Remote Control's Autopilot cannot control wheels, but you can remote-control a wheeled vehicle manually.
Tip: When you press and hold 'X' in the cockpit of a wheeled vehicle, the suspensions compress, which can be useful to connect to a low connector or to get through a low entrance. When you then release 'X', the suspensions relax, and the vehicle jumps, which can be useful to get a vehicle unstuck from uneven ground.
Building[]
Proper orientation of a wheel suspension. Note the tread placement and J-shaped support on the bottom side of the vehicle.
Suspensions only attach to grids on the flat side that's opposite the shoe (the place where the wheel meets the suspension).
The two variants of suspension blocks labeled "right" or "left" only matter for cosmetic purposes. Any wheels will still move in the direction of the Remote Control block / Main Cockpit of a vehicle.
When attaching wheel suspensions, it is important to know which side is up. Choose a well spaced attachment point on the grid, the shoe facing outwards, and determine the proper rotation of the suspension block. The "J" shaped frame is the bottom side. The elbow piston-looking "shock absorber" is the top of the suspension.
After placing a suspension on a grid, the wheel block is automatically added at its end. Both Wheel and Suspension must be welded separately to construct them. If no wheel frame appears, make sure there is enough space for the wheel!
A vanilla wheel suspension: Note the "shock absorber" pushing down.
How to orient the Wasteland DLC offroad Wheel suspension: Note the yellow contraption in the suspension shoe is at the top of the device. Yellow hazard triangles also point toward the top of the suspension.
Wheel Suspension Controls[]
The suspension's vertical orientation matters when altering these values. Only if you've placed all suspensions right-side-up, the following controls work consistently.
Tip: Group your wheels on the Control Panel Screen so you can adjust these settings for some/all of them at once. Some of the following options apply to front or back wheels, or only to right wheels, and some apply to all of them.
- Add Wheel -- If wheels commonly break en route, click this button (or add this action to your toolbar) to quickly reattach an (unwelded) wheel. Only works if there is enough free space next to the suspension.
- Steering -- Whether this wheel should turn left and right when the driver presses the A and D keys. Standard is to enable this for front wheels, and to disable it for all other wheels. For long and slow vehicles, you can also enable it on the back wheels. The intensity is controlled by the Steering Angle setting.
- Propulsion -- Whether this wheel should accelerate and decelerate when the driver presses the W and S keys. The intensity is controlled by the Power setting.
- Brake -- Whether the brake is on or off.
- Allow Parking Brake -- Whether this wheel brakes when the driver presses P. See also Cockpit Controls.
- AirShock -- If this vehicle catches air, whether it should automatically extend and strengthen its suspensions in mid air to better absorb the shock impact upon landing and prevent damage of the chassis.
- Invert Steering -- Only if you enable Steer Override, you must invert the steering direction of all wheels on the right side. (bug report)
- Invert Propulsion -- Only if you enable Propulsion Override, you must invert the forward direction of all wheels on the right side.
Most of the following values in the the Control Panel Screen apply to all wheels. The examples decribe two extremes, an ATV versus a race car.
- Steering Angle in degrees -- When the driver presses the A and D keys, how much the wheels should turn. Depends on Steering setting.
- Values from 8 to 16 degrees are typical.
- Higher values turn more sharply but have a high chance of flipping the vehicle.
- Lower values are safer but result in wider turning circles.
- Power in percent -- When the driver presses the W or S keys, how much the vehicle should accelerate/decelerate. Depends on Propulsion setting.
- High values are faster but use up the batteries faster and cause small vehicles to flip.
- When going uphill, be ready to crank up wheel power temporarily.
- Strength in percent -- How much the suspension resists compressing vertically.
- For a race car, use a high value so the suspension remains stiff and prevents the vehicle from bottoming-out.
- For a cargo vehicle, you will need to adjust this value every time when it's either full or empty.
- For vehicles with more than four wheels, give the middle suspensions a lower strength so they don't lift the other wheels of the ground.
- For an all-terrain vehicle, use low values, so that the suspension travels more easily, and adjusts finely and keeps traction in uneven ground, at the risk of bottoming-out the vehicle when landing after catching air.
- Height offset in centimetres -- The absolute vertical position of the wheel relative to the suspension.
- For an all-terrain vehicle, you want high clearance, so use a low wheel position such as -32cm.
- For a race car, you want to be close to ground, so you choose a high wheel position, such as +32cm.
- Friction in percent -- How much traction (grip) the wheels have on the ground.
- Increase this value while going uphill or downhill.
- For "drifting" on flat ground, or when using Overrides, or when you want to use (gyroscopic) mouse steering, lower the friction for the wheels to have less resistance against the ground.
- Speed Limit in km/h -- Helps you to not accelerate above the given value.
- For all-terrain and utility vehicles, impose a low speed to prevent them from flipping.
- For race cars on flat ground, allow higher speeds.
- Propulsion Override in +/- percent -- Used for Autopiloted vehicles or for cruise control. Use a Timer Block to enable the Autopilot and its Overrides together.
- Steer Override in +/- percent -- Used for Autopiloted vehicles or for cruise control. Use a Timer Block to enable the Autopilot and its Overrides together.
Toolbar Actions[]
You can add the following options to your toolbar or use them in Sensors and Timer Blocks.
When you set up, for example, an Autopilot sequence, you can enable and disable combinations of the following suspension options using a Timer block:
- Steering On/Off -- Whether the driver can steer left and right with the A and D keys
- Propulsion On/Off -- Whether the driver can accelerate and decelerate with the W and S keys
- Brake On/Off -- Whether the wheels are completely stopped
- Allow Parking Brake On/Off -- Whether the driver can brake by pressing the P key. For details see Cockpit Controls.
- AirShock On/Off -- Whether to enable automatic shock absorbers when catching air.
- Invert Steering on/off -- Swaps left and right when pressing the A and D keys to steer. Currently only used (on the wheels on the right side) when activating Steer Override.
- Invert Propulsion on/off -- Swaps forward and backward when pressing the W and S keys to accelerate. Currently only used (on the wheels on the right side) when activating Propulsion Override.
When you press (G key) and then select your custom Wheel Suspensions group, you have the option to assign the following helpful actions to your quick toolbar slots. Reset/Increase/Decrease are typically used together to smartly adjust settings on the fly while driving.
- Increase/Decrease Steering Angle -- Lets you change the absolute steering angle on the fly.
- Reset Steering Angle -- Lets you reset the absolute steering angle on the fly.
- Increase/Decrease Power -- Lets you adjust on the fly how fast you'll accelerate, for example, while going uphill.
- Increase/Decrease Strength -- Lets you adjust on the fly how much the suspension travels, for example, when transitioning from flat to uneven terrain.
- Increase/Decrease Height Offset -- Lets you adjust on the fly the wheel clearance, for example, to be able to reach a connector, to fit through a low door, or when transitioning from flat to uneven terrain.
- Reset Height Offset -- Lets you reset wheel clearance on the fly.
- Increase/Decrease Friction -- Lets you adjust the traction on the fly, for example, while going uphill or while racing.
- Increase/Decrease Speed Limit -- Lets you adjust the speed limit on the fly, for example, when transitioning from flat to uneven terrain.
- Increase/Decrease Propulsion Override -- Lets you set up accelerating/decelerating cruise control on the fly.
- Reset Propulsion Override -- Lets you switch off accelerating/decelerating cruise control on the fly.
- Increase/Decrease Steer Override -- Lets you set up the turning cruise control on the fly.
- Reset Steer Override -- Lets you switch off turning cruise control on the fly.
What is a Propulsion Override good for? Wheeled vehicles cannot properly use the Autopilot function as spaceships do because the Autopilot doesn't turn or propel the wheels. As a workaround, you can use Overrides to force the vehicle into a sort of Cruise Control. For details see Autopilot#A_note_on_Autopilot_and_wheeled_vehicles.
Tips[]
Which wheel size to choose? Multiple double-layered small wheels have more gripping strength than one big 5x5 wheel suspension, but smaller wheels are slower and their suspensions bottom out much more easily.
Wheeled constructions that work well in singleplayer need to be tested and tuned again for (laggy) multiplayer.
