The most significant upgrade a player can make at the start of the game is to add a second weapon mount. The robot CPU is capable of operating two weapons. The Harvester Mk II simply lacks a place to attach a second weapon. The easiest way to do this is to remove the existing mount from the top and then add one to the left and right side of the block it was attached to. These laterally (side) mounted weapons work well enough, however it does limit how far the weapons can traverse to the left and right.

This design takes it a bit further by providing two vertically placed weapon mounts, with space between them, allowing them to rotate a full 360 degrees. This is typically more important on slow turning vehicles. In this example, the weapon mounts were added by removing the Clone of Light Frame component and adding two customized Girder Frames.

Link: New Player Example

This is a modification of the Harvester Mk II. I designed it using concepts I ran across while learning. It provides examples of several elements of part design. I'm uploading two versions for the two assembly modes. This is the 3D printed (Snap mode) version. For those who may be interested, here is a link to the linear production version: New Player Example (Linear).

Summary of changes:
* Two vertical weapon mounts.
* Replaced Light Frame with an Armored Plate of roughly the same size.
* Removed Resource Extractor to avoid the expense on a combat vehicle.
* Moved the Skymagnet to the front, which allows units to reorient comrades slightly more easily.
* Added two additional Lightweight Flat Plates for more hit points and armor.

New custom parts provide examples of scaling on X, Y, and Z axis, and of bending.

This unit is also fully capable of handling the early part of the campaign.

I strongly suggest first cloning the starting Harvester Mk II and then altering the clone. This will allow comparing the two during the design process, as well as allow for starting over, if the need arises.

1) The Light Frame component was removed and replaced with a customized Armored Plate. To see how it was made, first clone the default Armored Plate, then add three Scale modifiers. Set the first one to X with a 1.6 multiplier. Set the second one to Y with a 1.15 multiplier. Set the third one to Z with a 0.5 multiplier. X is the length, Y is the width, and Z is the thickness. An X of 1.75 and Y of 1.25 is actually the closest match to the Light Frame's size, but I removed some to save on pellets. 2 (double) is the maximum and 0.5 (half) is the minimum for each Scale value. I chose the minimum thickness to provide as much clearance as possible beneath the battery, since high centering is a thing in this game.

2) With the size of the Armored Frame established, the rest of the vehicle framework and wheel assembly remains unchanged from the Harvester Mk II. The resource extractor is removed, and the Skymagnet is moved to the front. The original weapon mount, C6 Adapter Cube, and Clone of Light Frame are removed.

The next custom component is a curved Girder Frame. To see how it was made, first clone the default Girder Frame, then add a Bend modifier and a Scale modifier. Set the Bend modifier to the Y-axis and 190 degrees. This angle was chosen because it is where the two ends line up evenly. Attach the now-curved Girder Frame to the top of one of curved Armor Plates on top of the wheels. Adjust the Scale modifier until it lines up with the top of the other wheel. In this case, it ends up being 1.67. Attach a weapon mount to the top of each, for a total of two.

It's important to make sure the wheels are configured. Set the rear wheels to Always On for power and None for steering. Set the front wheels to Always On for power and Direct for steering. These are the most stable settings for this particular design. Poor wheel settings for a vehicle will often lead to less stability, and in some cases, frequent roll overs.

Last is the addition of customized Lightweight Flat Plates. To see how it was made, first clone the default Lightweight Flat Plate (make sure it's the one with "Lightweight" in the name), then add a Scale modifier and a Bend modifier. Set the Scale modifier to the Y-axis with a multiplier of 2. Set the Bend modifier to the X-axis and 118 degrees. Now attach it using one of the anchor points on a flat edge and attaching it to the side of the custom Armored Plate we started with. It should face upwards and curve over the top of the CPU.

You should now have a little familiarity with how the scaling and bending modifiers work and the kind of varying results you can get by adjusting values on different axis. You can experiment in safety by going into the Sandbox mode under the Campaign menu. There are no enemies and you have infinite resources while in there. I would suggest cloning the design and experimenting with the clone, so that the original remains available for comparison.

Keep in mind that the weight balance (center of gravity) plays an important role in how well vehicles maneuver.

Good luck and have fun!