Editing User:Fifth/Notes (section)

=== Setting Up ===

Engine
In general, you want at least a 4L engine or a 3.2LV8. A full-sized muscle with a 3.2L engine isn’t a muscle at all, it’s a coffin.

Armor
Max out your front, put 5 on your top and bottom, and distribute the rest evenly between your sides and rear. Class B - NEVER C. A-class armor is tempting and gives a nice speed boost, but is awfully expensive to keep repaired. 

Fuel
A 2-unit tank is sufficient for most muscle operations.

Tyres
Offroad all the way. Handling is everything to a muscle. The exception to this is if you’re working in rough terrain, then you need Reinforced.

Crew
Driver and gunner. Putting in 2 gunners takes up too much valuable space. Your driver should have at least 20 skill, but 40 is really preferred. With more driving skill, you’ll accelerate faster and you’ll be more stable. Your gunner should have at least some Gunnery skill, but muscles are a good way to train gunners.

Weapons
Front, front, front. You want your weapons on the FRONT. A side-mount is a tempting prospect, but the recoil will throw you all over the place. Rear mounts sound good on paper, but they’re actually very difficult to use in practice.

Here’s your menu of killware:

[[Machine Gun]] - The vanilla option. Don’t knock it, a pair of these on the front of a muscle can really chew through enemy armor over the long run, and they have decent range and accuracy. The downside is, you need a pair to make a decent punch, and your driver will have to man one of them. Your accuracy with that gun will be lower.

[[Gatling Gun]] - The [[Machine Gun]] on steroids. The downside is, its range is shorter and you NEED two of them to make a decent punch, so your driver better have decent Gunnery skills.

[[Micromissile Launcher]] - Like the Machine Gun and Gatling Gun, the MML is small enough to be fitted in pairs, or mixed with a MG or GG. However, I don’t recommend doing so. Having an explosive round is useful in some cases, but there isn’t enough punch to outweigh the low ammunition capacity.

[[Medium Machine Gun]] - My favorite muscle weapon. Decent damage, manageable recoil, good ammo supply, and low bulk. You will NOT have enough room for 2 of them, but that’s not a bad thing, you’ll be able to fit several reloads or a One-Shot secondary. Putting in just one gun lets your gunner concentrate on killing properly.

[[Heavy Machine Gun]] - One of the heaviest weapons available to muscles, the HMG should be deployed with care. Its recoil is hard enough to seriously affect your handling, and its 40 bulk will limit you to a single reload. On the other hand, its sheer power and ammo capacity can sometimes outweigh its bulk.

[[Rocket Launcher]] - The Rocket Launcher is a sledgehammer of muscle weapons. Peeling 3 or 4 off an enemy with a single hit is very tempting, to say the least. But the 10-round clip means you’ll be reloading mid-fight, and you generally will only have room for a single reload. Having only 20 rounds of fire means you have to hit Every. Single. Time.

[[Heavy Gatling Gun]] - Rare and powerful, the HGG is better mounted on an SUV than a muscle. Its fierce recoil will throw you all over the place.

[[Car Rifle]] - The Sniper’s Best Friend, the Car Rifle is feared for good reason. But in the high-speed muscle fights, you will NOT have enough time to line up a proper shot, and the 15-round magazine means you’ll have less sustained fire. Use a Medium Machine Gun unless you have some very skilled Snipers.

[[Flamethrower]] - The Flamethrower is another weapon that looks better on paper than it does in combat. As long as you’re running like you’re on fire, why not set everyone else on fire too? But unless you like being quite literally on fire, avoid the Flamethrower. Its damage is not high enough to justify its short range and small clip size. Also, ANY damage to the FT will set you on fire. Avoid unless you are making a suicide/novelty car.

One-Shots - I’m using this as a catchall for the [[Mini|Mini Rocket]], [[Light|Light Rocket]], [[Medium|Medium Rocket]], and [[Heavy|Heavy Rocket]] Rockets and their respective Racks and Pods. A One-Shot mounted next to your primary weapon can give a low-armor opponent a serious case of the breaches. Given that you’ll need to use your driver to man it and you only have a single shot with them, you need to time your shots carefully to hit an enemy’s weak side from close range. But a well-placed rocket can shorten a duel by several turns. My personal favorite is a toss-up between a [[Light Rocket Rack]] (3 shots, triple the fun!) and a single [[Heavy Rocket]]. (Make a Big Bang!)
As appealing as One-Shots are, NEVER compromise your primary firepower to fit in a bigger One-Shot. Your main weapon is your cake, your One-Shot is your icing.