Schall Armoured Train

Summary

Adds sturdier (armour and vehicle grid) versions of locomotive, cargo wagon and fluid wagon. Also adds unarmoured nuclear-powered locomotive. Also adds armoured draisines, which were tanks fitted with special rail chassis, able to traverse on rails.

Introduction

This mod provides more defense and vehicle grids to trains. It can be seen as a continuation of Schall Tank Platoon and Schall Alien Tech mods, where the upgrades of power armors are applied to vehicles.

Armoured Locomotives

Armoured locomotives are the same as vanilla locomotives in most aspects, except they are sturdier. These include more health, better resistances, available vehicle grid, at the cost of being much heavier and more costly to make. Because of these, they are NOT direct replacements of vanilla locomotives. Armoured locomotives are best for trains which may go deep into enemy territory, or you "exploratory" train. Vanilla locomotives are still the better in the "safe" area.

Armoured Cargo Wagons

Armoured cargo wagons act in the same way as vanilla cargo wagons. They are made sturdier like the armoured locomotives. However, the cargo capacity is halved (20 slots) in order to make space for various armour upgrades. Like the armoured locomotives, you may reserve this only to the frontline trains. Vanilla cargo wagons are still the better in the "safe" area.

Armoured Fluid Wagons

Armoured fluid wagons are introduced per user request. They act in the same way as vanilla fluid wagons. They are made sturdier like the armoured cargo wagons. However, the fluid capacity is greatly reduced (10,000) in order to make space for various armour upgrades. Like the armoured cargo wagons, you may reserve this only to the frontline trains. Vanilla fluid wagons are still the better in the "safe" area.

Upgrades

The MK1, MK2 and MK3 upgrades are similar to those in the parent mods. For more details and stats, please see the FAQ sections of Schall Tank Platoon and Schall Alien Tech mods.

Nuclear-powered Locomotive

Armoured locomotive MK3 is nuclear-powered, like other MK3 vehicles from Schall Tank Platoon mod. Since some players (including myself) may want to use nuclear-powered locomotive for "civilian" daily transportation in the safe area, an unarmoured version is also introduced! Compared to vanilla locomotive, the nuclear-powered locomotive is heavier (+50%) for the weight of nuclear reactor, but also has triple power output! Vanilla uranium fuel cell is the default fuel, which can be used for an extreme long time but no speed nor acceleration bonus. Particle fuel cell (from Schall Alien Tech mod) can provide the extra speed and acceleration for express transportation, at the expense of life span of fuel cell.

Armoured Draisines

Armoured draisines were tanks fitted with special rail chassis, able to traverse on rails. They were used to patrol and guard the rails, or to escort the trains. They could move alone (like a locomotive) or as part of a train. Historically, they were used by various countries (USSR, Czechoslovakia, Germany) between the wars. More information can be found on Wiki page.

This mod adds such railroad tanks to the game. Works best with “Schall Gun Pod” mod, using its train-dedicated gun pods as main gun (since such locomotive type was not allowed to mount a real gun).

Uninstallation

This mod do not modify the existing content in the save game. This mod should be safe to be disabled/uninstalled at any time.

Known Issues

• Armoured draisines guns: No guns are supported (by game) to locomotives or wagons currently, so gun pods from Schall Gun Pod are perferably installed to offer the firepower. Another approach would be applying the concept of compound entity (sticking an additional turret entity), but it is at the expense of UPS and can be wonky in keeping the turret position. So I consider the gun pod (equipment) the most UPS-friendly and easiest solution.
• Armoured draisines length: The length of two draisines are supposed to make up exactly one vanilla locomotive or wagon, so being compatible with the existing train stations. In practice, they may align perfectly with the grids only sometimes, but mismatch in other occasions. If you have any clues, please let me know.

Mods Dependencies

• Schall Tank Platoon is strictly required, since the vehicle grid system is provided by it.
• Schall Alien Tech is optional but recommended. The MK3 upgrades of armoured locomotives and cargo wagons will only appear if this mod is installed.
• Schall Transport Group is optional but highly recommended, since it puts vehicle-related items into a new group tab, making the crafting menu more tidy.
• Schall Armoured Train: Nostalgia is a graphics skin DLC. Options on replacing graphics of vanilla locomotive, nuclear-powered locomotive, armoured locomotives, or any mix of above, with nostalgic graphics used till 0.12.
• Schall Gun Pod is an extension mod, introducing several ammo-consuming turret equipment, designed to work with tanks. Still