Drum brakes off road bonus?

[Zabhawkin]

I was just wondering why. All of the people I know prefer disk all the way around. Having rear disk brakes really helps when you stall and have to roll backwards down a hill.

Also with the additional beating, dirt, water etc... drum brakes get out of whack pretty quickly.

[Killrob]

Hmm, our line of argumentation, if I remember correctly, is that drums are better shielded against all the dirt and its effects on brake performance. So you recon there should be no bonus at all?

[Zabhawkin]

correct.

[BlastersPewPew]

The only real benefit that drums have over discs is when stopped, they provide VASTLY more surface area to hold the vehicle than a disc brake can due to the size of the shoe vs pads. This is probably the only thing I can think of for a point in the drum category besides cost and ease of service.

[Zabhawkin]

Now that I am home and not on break.

Dust, mud, water will always get itself into just about anything. Disk brakes even though they get hit immediately with everything it either gets flung off, or scraped off by the pads. With heavy mud disks might make some god awful noises for a while, particularly when the mud gets packed in between the splash guard and the rotor, but the brakes continue working just fine.

With drums it might take it a little longer to work its way in, but it also takes longer to work its way out, and they don't clean themselves out as quickly.


Edit to add:
If you do any off road bonus for brakes, I would suggest it be for having more than enough braking... such as being able to hold with half of the total weight on the tire such as when coming down a steep slope either forwards or backwards. You might even consider that for the utility score as well... to have enough braking when loaded down.

[Killrob]

If you do any off road bonus for brakes, I would suggest it be for having more than enough braking... such as being able to hold with half of the total weight on the tire such as when coming down a steep slope either forwards or backwards. You might even consider that for the utility score as well... to have enough braking when loaded down.

Alright, that's some fair arguments, I'll remove the offroad bonus from the drum brakes. The utility score already considers brake fade for a weighed-down car so that should be taken care of to some extent. Probably worth adding a check for changed brake distance too though!

[Zabhawkin]

I noticed something else.

With the transmission off-road gets a bonus with the higher number of gear ratios, and higher spacing... no real problems there.

What I noticed is the top speed doesn't affect it.

Here is why I think it should... for most off-roading (except racing) you only use the first 2-3 gears, first gear really being used for the hard stuff to keep the speed down and the torque up. In reality having a the lowest reasonable 1st gear has more effect than having more gears.

[Killrob]

That was just changed last week in the closed beta, now the absolute tallness of the first gear is what counts. The speed at 1.5x idle RPM is what is measured and scored now. The bonus for more gears stays, of course.

[Zabhawkin]

That was just changed last week in the closed beta, now the absolute tallness of the first gear is what counts. The speed at 1.5x idle RPM is what is measured and scored now. The bonus for more gears stays, of course.

Cool.