Tank Mechanic Simulator Tips I Wish I Had Known

Identifying Things You Can Interact With

Just as you begin the game in the workshop, press the G key which will highlight objects in the workshop you can interact with. Some of the objects include a ladder where you can change the appearance of your workshop, including posters, floor, pillars, banners, and walls. (There is an option to import your own images and art.) Another item is the tool drawers where you can assign your reputation points to perks.

Fixing Holes With The Welding Torch

It may seem silly, but I spent the longest time not knowing there was a welding torch on the floor in the workshop. This tool will not be added to your tool-belt and must be taken near the tool table. At the same time I noticed large shell holes in tanks with burn marks around them, but didn't realize there was a torch I could fix them with. I don't believe this (or many other things) is explained in the tutorial.

Skill Perks

As you gain reputation, you can spend it at the tool drawers on a wide variety of perks. While your strategy and where to invest is up to you, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Invest first in the perks that increase your reputation gains. Grabbing it early means you will grab additional perks faster. Conversely, if you wait till you have most of the perks already, then this one is largely wasted as you won't need reputation after all the perks are gained.

If you want to gather as many collectables (badges, rifles, machine guns, helmets, etc.) as possible, invest in the GPR and drone. (Discussed more under "Excavations and Collectables")

The 'E' Key Is Your Friend

When restoring tanks, the 'E' key comes in handy, especially when you are first learning. This will change the natural colors of the tank, to a color scheme that reflects whether a part needs to have rust removed, be sanded, primed, or painted. Doing your work with it turned on can make ensuring you have covered every piece much easier.

The Tank Analysis Page Is Your Friend Too

The Tank Analysis page is very handy, and should be another regular for you. From here you can see exactly which subsystems still have issues. When you see a faulty item in the list, you can left click on it to show where it is located in the tank. Additionally, when you locate an item this way, you can remove or add the item without other items obscuring them. This can be very helpful when working in tight spaces such as the engine.

From this same page, you can buy all the missing parts for the tank as well. But be aware if you have the blueprints for the tank and a craft table, then when you select purchase parts you can select to craft them instead. This also requires enough spare parts, but can save a lot of cash (except for the purchase of blueprints which are expensive!)

Stocking Tanks

When I first saw a machine gun mounted on a tank I found, I was excited to restore guns to their mounts on other tanks. But it took me time and scouring the internet to figure out how; and the solution provided was to click on the gun mount where a menu will appear. I got this to work a few times, but it was finicky and required that you knew where exactly a gun mount was located.

But there is a much easier way again through the Tank Analysis page. Simply hit the resupply button and you will be presented with the menu. Not only will it allow you to put guns on all the mounts (if you have found them; see the excavation section), but it also allows you to restock ammo into the tank. This further helps the tanks look fully restored, and it's cool to see all the shells placed in their storage locations within the tank. Unfortunately, it appears that when you move a tank any ammo on the shelves will disappear; hopefully this will be a fix in the future.

The Paint Room

Once you unlock the paint room, you can further customize the painted look of your tank using the small table in the room once you've moved a tank to the room. It gives you the freedom to color the tanks with any color you like, applying decals, and choosing from a selection of camoflauge types. But another item of note is that there is a paint schemes button, where you can select from a few mostly historically accurate paint schemes.

Broken Items

Almost all tanks will come with parts that are beyond your repair ability. While you can send these parts off to be refurbished by other contractors, note that you don't necessarily have to replace them at all. I find that on many refurbishing jobs you get through email, often you can successfully complete the task without ever touching the broken parts. Try restoring all of the tank except the broken parts first, and then see if you can complete the job successfully then. If you can complete the job, then don't worry about the broken parts which will save you the contractor fees of having them restored. If it appears you still cannot complete the task successfully, then have the broken parts fixed. (This is for jobs received through email; I try to restore the tanks I own to 100% perfection as most do.

On the other hand, to maximize your profits and reputation, try to return the tank in 100% condition. If you first purchase missing parts and get them in rusted condition you'll save a lot of cost, and you can then refurbish the complete tank and receive very large completion bonuses.

The Junkyard

Between jobs, try to remember to make regular trips to the junkyard out back. In addition to finding spare parts in the junk piles used for crafting new parts, you can acquire new tanks here. Usually, in addition to whatever tanks you have stored in the yard, there will usually be one or two broken down tanks that don't belong to you. When you approach them, no information will come up; but select the context menu to go to its tank analysis page, where you can purchase the tank. They usually only cost a few hundred bucks, and give you another free tank to work with. Sometimes you may even find rare gems like the Maus sitting out back.

Tank Management Screen And Getting Around

From the context menu you can see all of the tanks you currently own or have a contract for. However, you can also travel from this menu. There is a go to option that allows you to fast travel between all the locations in your shop, including the workshop, museum, yard, and warehouses.

Tank Warehouses

As you unlock perks you'll eventually unlock the warehouse. But this perk is the only one that allows you to continue putting perk points into it, until maxing at 100. Not including the workshop, paint room, and yard; a maxed out warehouse allows you to store up to 600 additional tanks. Using the goto option from tank management, you can travel to each and every one of these warehouse to view tanks you have on display there.

Excavation And Collectables

I love the excavation portion of the game, but I have learned many things there to make it even more enjoyable.

Once you have the drone and GPR, the general process on excavation locations is:

Scan and locate metal deposits

Pick a few you want to retrieve first and place markers on them with the drone

(Optional, but it makes digging up things easier) Use the push GPR to investigate and place accurate markers. (The GPR runs in two modes. The first is "GPS", which just displays a little map like the one you see in your tablet. Hitting X though takes you to the more useful display, that literally lets you see under ground. I investigate the collectables sites and place more accurate markers directly over found items.

Dig up and retrieve all collectables; some can be very small like assault badges -- using the push GPR can help find these (even on the GPR, some items are tiny)

Identify and mark the tank. (I use push GPR here again, just to make things easier; plus I just enjoy seeing the tank underground for the first time.

Dig up the tank as much as possible

Call excavation crew

Clean the tank and return to the shop

With that in mind, here are more detailed excavation tips:

Always investigate and retrieve collectables before you mess with the tank at all; once you call an excavation team to dig up the tank, you will not be able to dig in the ground anywhere anymore! Get all your digging done first.

I have read that using the G key will reveal items underground as well. I was only able to get this to work in the tank area, but it may work elsewhere as well. I prefer not to use it though to keep things a little bit more realistic and fun. It's a game afterall. :)

Every blip has a collectable or tank. Every one. The tank is identifiable on the GPR map as a larger metal cluster.

I have found as many as 10 collectables on a site in one visit, and collectables you find will match the nationality of the tank.

Not all of the blips will be inside of the circle on the map. In fact, I typically find most of the collectables outside the circle. This is where GPR and the drone come in handy. The first thing I do on a site is sweep most of the map with the drone. You really can find a lot.

When I first dig and discover the tank, I try to dig all around it exposing the wheels and tracks. If you do not, much of the tank may still be covered in dirt and harder to clean after the excavators dig. If you dig it out first, much more will be exposed for cleaning.

But if at cleaning time much of the tank is covered in dirt, and you are having a hard time getting to 30%, try aiming the hose into the dirt down to where the tracks and wheels would be. The water travels right through the dirt cleaning what is underneath.

To find additional areas to clean to get to 30%, you can often open hatches on the tank and clean some inside as well.

Closing

I hope this guide has been helpful, and that you are getting as much fun from the game as I am!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2758466538

Tips I Wish I Had Known