Whilst not totally applicable for standard Dark Future games, range is fairly important in a role-playing environment, especially when every penny counts and you're having to pay for your fuel. Thus knowing how far your vehicle can go before refuelling can be quite useful.
The range of a vehicle depends in part on its fuel consumption, and its fuel consumption is based predominately on the engine size and extras attached to it. The following table lists the fuel consumption for engines in miles per gallon.
Obviously these ranges are greatly simplified but can be considered average for engine types.
The MPG is the cruise value - that of driving the vehicle around town and not achieving optimal speeds. To get the highway value - that of the vehicle using all fuel economy gears - add a third again to the value. Jetcopters do not have a highway bonus.
The next factor in determining a vehicles range is the amount of fuel that the vehicle can actually carry. For cars this varies from 25-40 US gallons - assume an average of 30 US gallons unless mentioned in the following table.
| Engine | Fuel Tank Size |
|---|
| Bike | 5 gallons |
| Civilian Car | 25 gallons |
| Interceptor, Renegade, Rollcage | 40 gallons |
| Short Tractor | 150 gallons |
| Standard Tractor | 200 gallons |
| Sleeper Tractor | 250 gallons |
| Small Jectopter | 100 gallons |
| Standard Jetcopter | 130 gallons |
| Large Jetcopter | 200 gallons |
1 US gallon equals 3.785 litres.
While a vehicle has its own inbuilt, self-sealing fuel tank, some drivers feel the need to expand on this with additional externally mounted fuel tanks. This obviously has the benefit of increasing the vehicles range, but has the risk that this external tank can be hit and damaged in combat, with potentially catastrophic effects.
A car can mount up to five external fuel tanks - on the side, rear wing or tailgate weapon mounts. Big rigs don't really carry external fuel tanks, although they can mount additional 40 gallon tanks in space of their passive mounts (at a 1:1 ratio). Jetcopters can mount 40 gallon external tanks instead of bombs (on a 1:1 ratio), or can mount fuel tanks of up to 200 gallons on side mounts.
| Fuel Tank | Cost | Weight | Armoured |
|---|
| 20 gallon fuel tank | $3,000 | 110 | +10 |
| 40 gallon fuel tank | $5,000 | 220 | +20 |
| 100 gallon fuel tank | $12,500 | 480 | +50 |
| 200 gallon fuel tank | $20,000 | 1,090 | +100 |
All prices are with an empty fuel tank, all weights are with a full tank of gas. One gallon of fuel weighs roughly 4.
Armouring a fuel tank makes the cost double, and the weight is increased by the amount in the Armoured column.
External fuel tanks are mounted on weapon mounts, but obviously can only mounted on hard points that don't currently have weapons there. When mounted, the type of fuel tank must be decided upon. Either the fuel tank is standard, or it can be linked to the engine.
A standard external fuel tank is simply that, a fuel tank mounted on the vehicle. When the vehicles main fuel tank runs dry, the vehicle must stop and refuel from the external tank. This is the safest option as there is no chance of burning fuel getting into the engine and causing a major explosion, although there is still the chance of the tank exploding in combat.
A linked fuel tank is one that is plugged into the vehicles main fuel tank. The advantages of this include the fact that a vehicle doesn't have to stop once the main fuel tanks run dry - it simply switches to the external tank and keeps going. The downside is that connected directly to the engine, there is a chance that the burning fuel may feedback into the engine causing a major explosion if the tank is hit.
A fuel tank is hit on a weapon critical hit. If the fuel tank has fuel in it, roll on the Fuel Tank Critical Hit Table. A standard fuel tank has a -1 modifier to the die roll.
Obviously, if the tank is not supplying the engine, then it can never be disabled. An exploding standard external fuel tank does not cause the vehicle explode, but does cause the vehicle to take an immediate +8 HE hit. In addition, roll one die. On an odd result, the vehicle catches fire and must take additional damage as if it had been hit by a flame-thrower.
An armoured fuel tank is less susceptible to taking damage. This means that whenever the tank is hit roll a die. On an even result, the armour soaked up the damage and no critical roll is made, but on an odd result, make a standard Fuel Tank Critical Hit as normal.
Bikes may mount additional fuel tanks as normal, but because of the construction of the bike, these fuel tanks do not take up weapon mounts. Instead, they just add weight and cost to the bike. The costs are slightly higher due to the custom building of the tank to the bike. Bike tanks are not hit by weapon critical hits, only the standard fuel tank hit. A bike may mount a total of 3 additional 5 gallon fuel tanks.
| Fuel Tank | Cost | Weight |
|---|
| 5 gallon fuel tank | $1,000 | 25 |
