Well, well, well, look what the rustrats dragged in. Another would-be with a chip on their shoulder…
Welcome to Verona IV. Maybe you’re a fair driver who didn’t fit the rank-and-file of the GDF. Maybe you’re ex-corpo private security who got sick of rolling suits around in an armored car. Or maybe you’re just a punk ass wheel booster and got a bug up your ass to do something bigger.
Your background doesn’t matter. You came here to be a Crasher, and in this arena, you either are one, or you’re not.
Our initiative is simple: the Xenians got defenses we can’t get through. Projectiles are no good. Vehicles are no good. But we got one thing that works. These neofiber alloy bombs. Scrapped ‘em together from salvaged Xen tech. We need drivers to get these bombs into close range and through the defenses.
We’ll test your driving. We’ll test your reflexes. We’ll test your endurance. We’ll test how you perform and how you work together. We’ll test just how far we can push you and just how well you can fling a fucking bomb into a goal.
Grab a vehicle, strap in, and fire the engine. You’re not a Crasher yet.
The briefing
Four on four. Eight drivers to a trial, two crews: VOLT and RUST. You win together or you wash out together.
Drift to boost. Slide the corners to charge your boost. Then light it up.
Take the bomb. Ram the carrier, knock it loose, rip it away on the move.
Put it through. Get it past their defenses and into the goal. That’s the job.
Four trials
Delivery
One bomb, two goals. Carry it through their defenses. Knock it off their carrier. Steal it back. First crew to seven takes it. Still tied when the 12-minute clock dies? Overtime, next goal wins. Every goal gets an instant replay, so everybody sees who choked.
Convoy
Some bombs are too big to carry. This one rides an armored truck, and the truck only rolls while your crew outnumbers theirs in its ring. Three checkpoints to their reactor, a slow-motion finale, then you swap sides and try to stop them. Push farther, win.
New trial
Bomb Rally
Your bomb. Your lane. Three gates. Lob it over or lose it.
This one’s a race. Every crew gets its own bomb and its own lane. Run it from your garage to the Uplink, first one in wins. The catch: nobody drives a bomb through a gate. Lob it over to a crewmate waiting on the far side, then do it again. Take the square corners too hot and the snag hooks rip the bomb right off your rope.
They can’t steal your bomb, but raid routes cut across the divider, so they can come wreck the driver hauling it. Send raiders and you’re a driver short on your own run. Fall behind and the Uplink throws you a comeback surge. Pull ahead and the scrap starts falling on them.
Xen Bastion
New trial
Breach
Break the bastion. Or hold it.
This is what we train you for. One crew storms a walled Xen bastion with live bombs. The other crew holds it. Then you swap sides.
Attack. Run a bomb past a Xen defense node so the bomb on your rope swings through the glowing socket. First hit breaks its shield and its turret. Second hit breaks the node. Break nodes A and B and the inner gate opens. Behind it waits the Bastion Core. It takes three.
Defend. You can’t carry their bombs. So wreck the carrier. Sit on a dropped bomb to defuse it. Hold a damaged node’s ring to patch it back up.
Win it. Break more nodes than the other crew, or break the same number faster.
Pick your rig
Every rig has a job: a weapon, two abilities and an ultimate. Learn yours.
Courier
Bomb runner
Fastest thing on Verona IV. Nitro, oil slicks and a railgun that slows anyone dumb enough to chase you. You carry the bomb. Don’t drop it.
Striker
Damage
Full-auto rifle, shock mines and a missile barrage. Where the Striker goes, the fight follows. Try to keep up.
Bulwark
Tank
Rockets, a ram and a shockwave that throws cars and bombs aside. Park it in the goal mouth and dare them.
Tumbler
Support
A beam that patches your crew and burns theirs, plus a repair drone. The reason your crew is still breathing.
Also on the range: online trials on dedicated servers. Between trials, the crews vote on what’s next. Most votes takes it. Nobody votes, the range picks for you. Bot matches for when you need the practice. Basic Training for greenhorns: a short drill for every trial. Finish them all and you’re TRAINING CERTIFIED. Doesn’t make you a Crasher. Five arenas: Interchange, Neon Tide, Blackwater Dam, Splitwave and Xen Bastion.