Mechanics: Difference between revisions

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This article is about the crafting skill. For a general guide to vehicles, see Vehicles.

You won't beat Spiffo in a race…

Mechanics is a crafting skill allowing the player to repair and modify various parts of vehicles.

Overview

The mechanics skill is used to uninstall and reinstall vehicle parts. Skill can be gained by both succeeding and failing to repair various parts in the mechanics menu of a vehicle. In order to access this menu, walk up to the hood of any vehicle and press E. As their skill level increases, the player can swap out and repair more parts without the possibility of failing and damaging them in the process. Some parts are not repairable, and can only be swapped out with higher condition ones. Most parts also require certain tools in order to remove them.

Character creation options

During character creation, choosing an occupation and traits will not only provide the player with some skill levels in Mechanics, but it will also give an experience boost to that skill depending on the starting level. This bonus cannot be gained after the character is created, making this an important step in maximizing skill point gain.
Starting Skill Level and Experience Boost

Level 0 — 25% (default for all skills)

Level 1 — +75% (100%)

Level 2 — +100% (125%)

Level 3+ — +125% (150%)

Occupations

Name	Starting points	Major skills	Description
Mechanic	-4	+3 Mechanics	Familiar with the maintenance and repair of all vehicle models on the roads of Kentucky.

Traits

Name	Cost	Description	Notes
Amateur Mechanic	-5	+1 Mechanics	Has a detailed knowledge of common and commercial vehicle models, and repairs.

Required tools and materials

Almost all parts require a specific tool in order to be uninstalled from or installed onto a vehicle. Some parts can also be repaired using certain materials.

Item	Description	Classname
Jack	Used to remove tires, allowing access to brakes and suspension.	Base.Jack
Lug Wrench	Used to remove tires, allowing access to brakes and suspension.	Base.LugWrench
Tire Pump	Used to inflate tires	Base.TirePump
Wrench	Used to remove large parts: hoods, trunk lids, doors.	Base.Spanner
Screwdriver	Used to remove small parts: batteries, windows, radios.	Base.Screwdriver
Propane Torch	Used to repair various parts, such as the Hood, Gas Tank, and Trunk Lid.	Base.BlowTorch
Welder Mask	Required to use the Propane Torch.	Base.WeldingMask
Metal Sheet	Used with a Propane Torch to repair certain parts, such as the Hood, Gas Tank, and Trunk Lid.	Base.SheetMetal
Small Metal Sheet	Used with a Propane Torch to repair certain parts, such as the Hood, Gas Tank, and Trunk Lid.	Base.SmallSheetMetal
Glue	Used to repair Car Seats.	Base.Glue
Duct Tape	Used to repair Car Seats.	Base.DuctTape

Gaining skill

Recipe magazines

In order to work on any vehicles at all, the player must first read the recipe magazine that corresponds to the vehicle type. There are three of them.

Laines Auto Manual - allows the player to work on standard vehicles.
Laines Auto Manual - allows the player to work on heavy-duty vehicles.
Laines Auto Manual - allows the player to work on sport vehicles.

If the player picked Mechanic as their occupation, this step can be skipped. If they picked the Amateur Mechanic trait, they will still need to read the sport magazine, but not the other two.

Skill books

To maximize XP gain, it is highly recommended to read the Mechanics skill books first. They can be mainly found in book shops, libraries, and schools, though houses might also have a few.

Mechanics vol. 1 (Levels 1-2)
Mechanics vol. 2 (Levels 3-4)
Mechanics vol. 3 (Levels 5-6)
Mechanics vol. 4 (Levels 7-8)
Mechanics vol. 5 (Levels 9-10)

Scrapping unwanted vehicles

The best way to level the Mechanics skill at lower skill levels is to find a sacrificial vehicle to train on. It is highly recommended to work on junk vehicles first, as the player's lack of initial skill will often result in severely damaging most of the vehicle's parts in the process of training their skills. Wrecking yards are great places to find junk vehicles to work on.

To begin working on a vehicle, simply walk up to the hood and press E to open the mechanics menu. (Shown below)

The player can click on each part in order to get more detailed information about it, which is displayed in the top right corner of the menu. They can also right click to install or uninstall parts, as long as they have the correct tool(s). While most parts require a certain level in Mechanics to be removed safely, the player can still attempt to remove them at lower skill levels with a chance to succeed and a chance to fail. Failing always give 0.25XP. The amount of XP gained for succeeding in installing or uninstalling a part corresponds to the difficulty. The higher the level required or the lower the chance to succeed, the higher the XP. However reinstalling parts has a cooldown. Parts that don't require any mechanics level will give the same XP as failing to remove a part that does. Failing to remove a part does not remove the XP gain for successfully removing it after numerous tries.

XP can only be gained by removing, installing and repairing the same part on the same vehicle, once every 24 hours. For example, if the player removes and reinstalls a radio on a vehicle, they won't gain any more XP from doing that on the same vehicle for 24 hours. This essentially means that the best way to level up Mechanics is to have multiple sacrificial training vehicles based on much time the player wants to dedicate to increasing their mechanics skill, and then strip them of all parts and reattach them once each day. Failing always gives XP, but less than succeeding.

Maintaining vehicles

Installing, replacing, and repairing parts

Once the player has trained their skills on junk vehicles enough to work on a vehicle that they want to use, they can open the mechanics menu to swap out and repair parts as needed. In order to install a part, it must be in the player's main inventory, (not a bag) in an accessible container nearby, or on the floor.

Some parts can also be repaired, and some will also require the player to remove them from the vehicle first before they can be repaired. Some parts are not repairable and can only be obtained by looting mechanic shops or salvaging them from other vehicles.

Shown below is a table that represents the requirements for repairing and replacing vehicle parts. If there are multiple ways to repair a part, each one is written as method a), b), c) and so on. Each item is required from each marking. For example, everything beginning with "a)" is required for method "a)".

Part	Tool	Recipe	Item	Skill
Seat	Screwdriver	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Repair: a) Glue b) Duct Tape Replace: Seat	Mechanics 2
Radio	Screwdriver	None required	Radio	None required
Gas Tank	Screwdriver Wrench Repair: Propane Torch	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Repair: a) Metal Sheet b) Small Metal Sheet x2 Replace: Gas Tank	Repair: a) Metalworking 3, Mechanics 2 b) Metalworking 3, Mechanics 2 Replace: Mechanics 5
Car Battery	Screwdriver	none required	Car Battery	None required
Muffler	Wrench	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Muffler	Mechanics 5
Tire	Jack Lug Wrench	none required	Tire	Mechanics 1
Brake	Jack Wrench	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Brake	Mechanics 6
Suspension	Jack Wrench	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Suspension	Mechanics 6
Trunk Lid	Repair: a) Propane Torch b) Propane Torch c) None Replace: Wrench	Repair: - Replace: Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Repair: a) Metal Sheet b) Small Metal Sheet x2 c) Metal Sheet, Screws x8 Replace: Trunk Lid	Repair: a) Metalworking 1, Mechanics 2 b) Metalworking 1, Mechanics 2 c) Mechanics 2 Replace: Mechanics 3
Trunk	Propane Torch	none required	a) Metal Sheet b) Small Metal Sheet x2	Metalworking 3 Mechanics 2
Hood	Repair: a) - b) Propane Torch c) Propane Torch Replace: Wrench	Repair: - Replace: Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Repair: a) Metal Sheet, Screws x8 b) Metal Sheet c) Small Metal Sheet x2 Replace: Hood	Repair: a) Mechanics 2 b) Metalworking 1, Mechanics 2 c) Metalworking 1, Mechanics 2 Replace: Mechanics 3
Windshield	Screwdriver	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Windshield	Mechanics 5
Rear Windshield	Screwdriver	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Rear Windshield	Mechanics 5
Side Window	Screwdriver	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Side Window	Mechanics 3
Door	Repair: Propane Torch Replace: Wrench	Laines Auto Manual - Standard Models	Repair: a) Metal Sheet b) Small Metal Sheet x2 Replace: Car Door	Repair: a) Metalworking 3, Mechanics 2 b) Metalworking 3, Mechanics 2 Replace: Mechanics 4
Headlights/Taillights	Screwdriver	none required	Light Bulb	none required

Note that heaters are not repairable or swappable. However, the condition of the heater does not affect the effectiveness of the A/C and heat. Radios can be swapped with any household radio from another vehicle or from inside a building.

Wear and tear

Certain parts are prone to wear and tear with regular use, and their condition will decrease over time. Tire pressure will also need to be maintained through the use of a Tire Pump. Tires, Suspension and Mufflers will gradually degrade over time as the vehicle is used. A random chance of damage will occur when the vehicle is moving more than 10MPH. Other factors considered are: current speed, whether the vehicle is on or off road, the vehicles off road efficiency, steering angle or pitch, and how long the vehicle has been running.

Taken from lua code in Vehicles.lua: vehicle:getCurrentSpeedKmHour(), vehicle:isDoingOffroad(), vehicle:getScript():getOffroadEfficiency().

Part classes and types

Each vehicle part will have a class of vehicle that it belongs to. For example, a sport class battery or a heavy-duty class window. Different classes of parts cannot be mixed.

Most parts also have different types in addition to the vehicle classes. (Standard, Heavy-Duty, Sport). Part types can be mixed, although it is often not recommended to do so. Further information on part types can be found in the article dedicated to each individual vehicle part.

Below is a table that depicts the various types of vehicle parts.

Part	Types	Vehicle Classes
Tire	Valu-Tire Regular Tire Performance Tire	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Brake	Old Brake Regular Brake Performance Brake	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Suspension	Regular Suspension Performance Suspension	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Gas Tank	Small Gas Tank Standard Gas Tank Big Gas Tank	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Trunk	Trunk	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Windshield	Windshield Rear Windshield	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Side Window	Front Window Rear Window	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Door	Front Door Rear Door Double Rear Door	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Hood	Hood	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Trunk Lid	Trunk Lid	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Seat	Standard Seat Big Seat Sports Seat	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport
Muffler	Old Muffler Average Muffler Performance Muffler	Standard Heavy-Duty Sport

Salvaging and repairing engines

Salvaging parts and repairing engines

Engines can be salvaged for Spare Engine Parts that can be used to repair the engines of other vehicles. Engines can be salvaged and repaired at Mechanics level 4/5/6 for standard/heavy-duty/sport vehicles respectively. Note that salvaging an engine for parts will always set the engine's condition to zero, no matter what the engine's previous condition was, how many parts were salvaged, and even if no parts were salvaged.

Engines can be repaired with Spare Engine Parts to restore the condition of the engine, however engine quality, which is determined as the vehicle spawns in, cannot be raised by any means. This means that while the engine's condition may be at 100%, the quality could make it not start as reliably as expected. When clicking on an engine in the mechanics menu, the quality is listed on the top right, separate from the condition. Detailed information on engine quality can be found in the next section.

Note that all the Spare Engine Parts in the player's inventory will be used when repairing an engine. There is no way to prevent this.

It is more efficient to repair an engine at higher skill levels than lower skill levels. Below is a table that depicts the average gain per engine part at each Mechanics level. Further information can be found in the article dedicated to Spare Engine Parts.

Mechanics Level	Standard	Heavy-Duty	Sport
4	1%	n/a	n/a
5	1%	1%	n/a
6	2%	1%	1%
7	2%	2%	1%
8	3%	2%	2%
9	3%	3%	2%
10	4%	3%	3%

Engine quality

Engine quality, not to be confused with engine condition, mainly affects the chance to start the engine and its power. Maximum is 100.
Emergency vehicles (ambulance, fire, police) usually have 90-100 engine quality.
Chance to fail to start the engine on each try is 30 / (quality + 50) * 100%; for example, 65 quality engine has 30 / (65 + 50) * 100% = 26% chance to fail to start.
Engines with 100 quality skip the aforementioned check, but still have a 1% chance to fail to start.
Engines with quality 65 or less, if the weather is too cold, are also more likely to fail to start.