FIELD MANUAL / 01
Drive the outrider
Move to matter
Weapons fire automatically. Draw raiders away, screen the hauler and break formation only when the route is safe.
Dodge the volley
Boost protects you from gunfire during a brief surge. The tanker is solid: steer around it. Contact with enemies damages both hulls, yours more, even while boosting.
Pulse the field
Erase hostile rounds and shove nearby enemies. Save it for pressure, not noise.
Seal the leaking tank
Steer into the cyan ring beside the leaking tank, then release the steering pad. Keep your skimmer centre inside the ring: normally 2.5 seconds, or 2 in Last Ration. Engineer kits reduce patch time by 20%. Autofire continues. Watch the SEALING countdown. The seal confirmation means leakage stopped; lost water does not return. If no tank is leaking, there is no hole to patch. Boost away to break contact. Refill at service stops. Last Ration contracts disable paid water refills; their supplies and water modifications still work.
Choose the risk
Gold crates fund repairs; teal crosses repair your hull; blue droplets refill tanker water. Ivory gun crates grant 18 seconds of Repeater or Scatter fire, then your normal weapon returns. Collecting another gun replaces the current one.
Read the formation
Scouts close in, gunners fire spreads, mortars mark blasts and brutes punish close range. Puncturers fire a warned shot at tank panels: pulse or destroy them before it lands. Siphoners tether the hauler and block patching: PULSE breaks the tether, or destroy the siphoner. Road blockades halt the tanker: destroy the marked weak point; your gun targets it automatically when you approach. The narrow twin-fork Interceptor commits to a warned charge: dodge the lane or pulse it before launch.
Another convoy needs you
Deliver the water to unlock three harder threats. Each is a fresh nine-encounter run with separate records. Daily routes always use the normal threat.