Q: Various weapons are damaging/killing friendlies! Is there a way to prevent that?
A: Yes, there are force conditions checking for many of the weapons used here. You will have to look for such options in the corresponding mods, under "Options" → "Mod settings" → "Startup".
Mods to look for is as follows:
- Schall Tank Platoon: Autocannon, Cannon
- Schall Alien Tech: Mega particle beam, Particle cannon, BFG, Plasma
Q: What are the various tiers?
A: The basic tier, MK1, and MK2 roughly corresponds to the technology of modular armour, power armour, and power armour MK2. Such tier labelling is applied to both the tanks in Schall Tank Platoon and the Spidertrons in this mod.
Not only the vehicle grid sizes increase with their corresponding armour technology, other stats like the health, armour (resistances) are also upgraded.
Note that enabling/disabling "Enable Tanks MK1/2 series" options will affect the corresponding Spidertrons series as well, as they are shared by both tanks and Spidertrons.
Q: How are the vanilla Spidertron situated in this mod? What are the differences from Spidertrons here?
A: Vanilla Spidertron roughly resembles Medium Spidertron MK2 of this mod. It does not require any fuel to operate, assumed to be powered by two portable fusion generators (according to its recipe). Its grid size is significantly smaller than the Power armour MK2, which can also be explained by this theory.
Compared to the vanilla Spidertron, those from this mod trade the "free" power for extra grid space for more equipments (such as shields, gun pods). So the combat power of Medium Spidertron MK2 can actually be slightly stronger than the vanilla one.
Q: What are the Spidertrons MK3 series? Why they are in the list but do not show up in game?
A: Similar to the Spidertrons MK2 series, it is an upper tier and another straight upgrade. No downside except for an even very high cost! They are unlocked by the same technology as power armor MK3, which appears when enabling the extension mod Schall Alien Tech. You will also needs to ensure the lower tiers are not disabled in mod options.
Q: What are the weapons like Particle cannon and BFG? Why they are in the list but do not show up in game?
A: They are the feature weapons provided by Schall Alien Tech. Enabling such mod will automatically add such six new weapon choices to the Spidertrons.
Q: Can I use the other equipments on these Spidertrons?
A: Vanilla equipments (and most of those usable on vanilla power armour) would be automatically usable on Spidertrons. Vehicle-only equipments from Schall Tank Platoon are supported and can be used as well.
Gun pods (ammo defense equipments) from Schall Gun Pod are supported too, though still limited to the same class restrictions as the tanks.
Q: How to upgrade the Spidertron to a higher tier?
A: You would have to convert it back to chassis first. This can be done by mods like Schall Uncraft. Holding the Spidertron item in cursor and pressing the uncraft hotkey (Default: U) once, then it will return the chassis and its weapons. Then you can upgrade the chassis through crafting.
Q: How to switch weapons in the Spidertron?
A: You would have to convert it back to chassis first. (See above FAQ.) Then you can mount another weapon to the chassis through crafting.
Q: How are the combat power of these Spidertrons compared to their respective tanks?
A: Double fire rates (at 1.0.0), and without taking time for turret rotations (extremely important for heavier weapons) make them significantly stronger than their-equivalent tanks in terms of offense power.
Spidertrons are more agile in terms of cross-country movement. (You do not fight aliens within your factory, right?) Moving over trees and rocks without hassle. In contrast, tanks are significant slowed by trees and stopped by rocks. Although driving with trees do not reduce tank health, it DOES drain the energy shields!
To balance such big advantages, this mod set the Spidertrons to be weaker in other aspects. These include slightly more expensive in material cost, consumes more power from fuel, slightly smaller grid sizes, slightly lower resistances.
Due to the very different movement mechanism, Spidertrons are much more agile in turning, but in general slower in linear speed. However, if you install enough exoskeleton equipment onto the grids, they could run at insane speeds! (Yup, allowing exos on them sounds weird, but it would be a big discussion topic, just like the productivity modules...)
Overall, the Spidertrons are more agile and offer great firepower, at the price of higher material cost, operating cost and lower durablity.
Technical Details
Weapon Choices
The Spidertrons use a modular system, so chassis of different classes are just the beginning!
With the chassis, there are a total of 13 weapon choices to be installed with!
7 core weapons (from vanilla and Schall Tank Platoon) can be mounted on chassis:
| Chassis | Weapons |
|---|---|
| Light Spidertron | Single machine gun, Autocannon (20 mm) |
| Medium Spidertron | Double machine gun, Cannon (75 mm) |
| Heavy Spidertron | Cannon (88 mm), Multiple rocket launcher |
| Super-heavy Spidertron | Cannon (128 mm) |
6 weapons from Schall Alien Tech can be mounted on chassis:
| Chassis | Weapons |
|---|---|
| Light Spidertron | Particle beam, Plasma gun |
| Medium Spidertron | Particle cannon |
| Heavy Spidertron | BFG 6000 |
| Super-heavy Spidertron | BFG 9000, Mega particle beam |
For details of the weapons, please see the FAQ of the corresponding mods.
Difference from Vanilla Spidertron
Vanilla Spidertron does not require any fuel to operate, assumed to be powered by two portable fusion generators (according to its recipe). Its grid size is significantly smaller than the Power armour MK2, which can also be explained by this theory.
Compared to the vanilla Spidertron, those from this mod trade the "free" power for extra grid space for more equipments (such as shields, gun pods).
Full List of New (or Changed) Items
Intermediate Parts
- 13 weapon-related:
- Spidertron single machine gun
- Spidertron double machine gun
- Spidertron autocannon (20 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (75 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (88 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (128 mm)
- Spidertron multiple rocket launcher
- Spidertron particle beam
- Spidertron plasma gun
- Spidertron particle cannon
- Spidertron BFG 6000
- Spidertron BFG 9000
- Spidertron mega particle beam
- 4 basic chassis:
- Light Spidertron chassis
- Medium Spidertron chassis
- Heavy Spidertron chassis
- Super-heavy Spidertron chassis
- 4 upper tier MK1 chassis:
- Light Spidertron MK1 chassis
- Medium Spidertron MK1 chassis
- Heavy Spidertron MK1 chassis
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK1 chassis
- 4 upper tier MK2 chassis:
- Light Spidertron MK2 chassis
- Medium Spidertron MK2 chassis
- Heavy Spidertron MK2 chassis
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK2 chassis
- 4 upper tier MK3 chassis:
- Light Spidertron MK3 chassis [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK3 chassis [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK3 chassis [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK3 chassis [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
Spider Vehicles
- 13 basic spiders:
- Light Spidertron - Machine gun
- Light Spidertron - Autocannon
- Light Spidertron - Particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron - Plasma gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron - Machine gun
- Medium Spidertron - Cannon
- Medium Spidertron - Particle cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron - Cannon
- Heavy Spidertron - Rocket
- Heavy Spidertron - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron - Cannon
- Super-heavy Spidertron - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron - Mega particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- 13 upper tier MK1 spiders:
- Light Spidertron MK1 - Machine gun
- Light Spidertron MK1 - Autocannon
- Light Spidertron MK1 - Particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron MK1 - Plasma gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK1 - Machine gun
- Medium Spidertron MK1 - Cannon
- Medium Spidertron MK1 - Particle cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK1 - Cannon
- Heavy Spidertron MK1 - Rocket
- Heavy Spidertron MK1 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK1 - Cannon
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK1 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK1 - Mega particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- 13 upper tier MK2 spiders:
- Light Spidertron MK2 - Machine gun
- Light Spidertron MK2 - Autocannon
- Light Spidertron MK2 - Particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron MK2 - Plasma gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK2 - Machine gun
- Medium Spidertron MK2 - Cannon
- Medium Spidertron MK2 - Particle cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK2 - Cannon
- Heavy Spidertron MK2 - Rocket
- Heavy Spidertron MK2 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK2 - Cannon
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK2 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK2 - Mega particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- 13 upper tier MK3 spiders:
- Light Spidertron MK3 - Machine gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron MK3 - Autocannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron MK3 - Particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Light Spidertron MK3 - Plasma gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK3 - Machine gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK3 - Cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Medium Spidertron MK3 - Particle cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK3 - Cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK3 - Rocket [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron MK3 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK3 - Cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK3 - BFG [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron MK3 - Mega particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
Weapons
- 13 spider weapons:
- Spidertron single machine gun
- Spidertron double machine gun
- Spidertron autocannon (20 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (75 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (88 mm)
- Spidertron cannon (128 mm)
- Spidertron multiple rocket launcher
- Spidertron particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Spidertron plasma gun [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Spidertron particle cannon [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Spidertron BFG 6000 [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Spidertron BFG 9000 [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Spidertron mega particle beam [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
Technologies
- 12 tank-related:
- Spidertrons 0
- Heavy Spidertron 0
- Super-heavy Spidertron 0
- Spidertrons 1
- Heavy Spidertron 1
- Super-heavy Spidertron 1
- Spidertrons 2
- Heavy Spidertron 2
- Super-heavy Spidertron 2
- Spidertrons 3 [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Heavy Spidertron 3 [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]
- Super-heavy Spidertron 3 [unlocked by Schall Alien Tech]