This section details the final points of using trucks and rigs in Dark Future.
There are several ways in which a rig can separate and the tractor can lose its trailer. The cab can voluntarily ditch the trailer, or it can be lost via a failed control roll. If a trailer does split away from its tractor, then the front stabiliser wheels will automatically flip down so that the trailer will remain on a relatively even keel, with support at the front so that the trailer doesn't scrap along the ground.
If a cab is stationary, then a trailer can be ditched with no problems at all. If there's time for a safe break-up of the rig, then it'll take about ten minutes to disconnect the trailer. If there isn't time, then explosive bolts will take the rig apart in a shoot action. The tractor can then drive away leaving the trailer behind.
A trailer can be dumped while the rig in is motion. This can be because of a control loss result, or it could be due to the driver of the rig using a shoot action to fire the emergency explosive bolts. In either case, the trailer will come free.
A trailer separating while the rig is in motion suffers a hazard check with a 20 mph safety limit.
The moment this happens, the trailer is now separate from the tractor and no longer has any effect on the cab. The trailer will continue moving in a straight line with an initial speed of the tractor, decelerating at 5 mph after each move. The trailer is treated as is it had no driver.
Trailers can hold vehicles as cargo, and sometimes circumstances arise when these vehicles are needed on the road. This is a two-step process - opening in the rear doors and dropping the ramps for the vehicles to exit from, and secondly letting the vehicle depart from the trailer.
For a vehicle to depart a trailer, the outer doors need to be opened, and the ramps need to be dropped. These allow the vehicle contained within the trailer to depart. This process takes 1 full turn - six phases if started within a turn. At the end of the turn, the ramps are extended, which increases the contact zone of the trailer by 1 space.
During the time that the doors are being opened and continuing for as long as the doors are open, any shot attacking the rear of the trailer has a chance of bypassing all armour and directly hitting the contents of the trailer. Roll a die - on an even score, the shot has penetrated the trailers armour and damages any cargo that the trailer is carrying. This includes vehicles. On an odd result, the shot hits the trailer itself and attacks the armour as normal.
These notes generally imply a box trailer is being used for the delivery of the vehicle. A flatbed handles in exactly the same way except that no doors are opened. Normal flatbed rules apply though.
Opening the doors of a trailer and dropping the exiting ramps requires a shoot action from the driver.
Once the doors are open and the ramps are dropped, the cars and bikes may drive out of the trailer. Depending on the way the car was driven into the trailer, it may be reversing out or may drive out normally. When in the trailer, the car is treated at being on zero speed ground, they must accelerate to get out of the trailer. When the car drives off the ramp, it doesn't gain any speed increases due to the speed of the rig.
Bikes follow the same procedure, but they cannot reverse out of a trailer.
Closing trailer doors takes a full turn of six phases. During this time, the contents of the trailer are accessable to enemy gunfire just as if the doors were opening.
Entering a trailer follows the reverse procedure for exiting a trailer. The doors to the trailer must be open and the ramps extended. The car must exceed the speed of the rig to be able to get onto and up the ramps, and then once within the trailer, must immediately decelerate. If it continues moving faster than the trailer, it will ram the front of it from the inside.
Jetcopters may only land and take-off from a flatbed trailer. Use the rules found in the Jetcopter rules section.
