Got any questions, comments, critiques, or just want to say you enjoyed the list? Feel free to post on this topic! #10 Watch, Don't Run. LA Mod adds a Patrol ability to certain vehicles in the game, allowing them to automatically navigate through one of three pre-set routes on the map. This is incredibly useful because a vehicle on the street can usually respond a lot faster than a vehicle in the station. However, this feature is oft overused, slowing traffic from the massive presence of patrolling vehicles, and sometimes causing the patrolling vehicles to 'bunch up' on one side of the map. The solution is simple: keep your cars 'on the streets', but don't let them roam. The Paramedic Captain, Battalion Chief, and most police officers have the ability to Call vehicles, 'calling' the closest vehicle from the station (in which case it will automatically staff it), a patrol, on Standby, or even off the map (even buying a new one if necessary). Most vehicles have the Standby ability, allowing stopped vehicles outside a station to be called. By placing your vehicles in parking lots, alleys, and street corners, you'll be able to take full advantage of the Call and Standby abilities, while also benefiting from increased response times, and all without added strain to the traffic. We'll get back to the Call ability at the number one thing every LA Mod Player should know. #9 Left Shift-click! If you hold left Shift when right-clicking to move a vehicle, it will move to that location without activating its sirens and lights. This helps when positioning your vehicles around the map because when checking on your vehicles, you might be confused by the flashing lights and assume that a vehicle is enroute to a scene, or got left behind from an earlier one, wasting valuable time that should be spent focusing on other tasks. #8 Calling All Cars! Now that you're positioning your cars like a pro, you're undoubtedly finding yourself in the same dilemma that I did. You don't know who to send where! Sure, it might seem simple enough, just send a bunch of LAPD Patrolcars in random directions. But let me tell you, when several patrolcars respond to the same call, and its time to send them back, you'll be wasting crucial seconds checking around the map, figuring out which spots are open, and deciding who should go where. The trick is to use more than your basic vehicles. Don't just send out LAPD cars, but also CHP, LAPP, and so on, and send these to appropriate places. This way, when you're sending vehicles back after a call, you'll know exactly where to send certain vehicles. For example, if you see your LAPP (Los Angeles Port Patrol) vehicle sitting out, you know that it should be sent back to the port. Don't forget that this can also be done for other departments, with vehicles such as the LAX Ambulance and USFS Engine. Here's a personal example: I like to park Brush Patrol and a CHP Dodge Charger at Randy's Donuts, with a LAPD Motorcycle in the park itself, and finally a USFS Utility Truck in the parking lot next to the apartmens on the bottom left of the map, where it can enter into the park through the gate. #7 EMS Supervisor's Car, Your Para-Paramedic! My second favorite car in the whole game is the EMS Supervisor's Car, and its actually one of the first vehicles I purchase at the start of each freeplay game. Why? Well, it carries twice as many paramedics as an ambulance, moves just as fast as an ambulance, and is small and agile enough to fit through tight spaces. It's basically the Red Cross Hummer, but cheaper and better in almost every way. At the beginning of each freeplay game, I load up this awesome unit with paramedics and place it at Fire station 2, where it works in tandem with the BLS Ambulance. Whenever there's a medical emergency on that side of the map, the EMS Supervisor's Car goes first and takes care of any casualties, with the BLS Ambulance transporting. I also send the EMS Supervisor's Car to police officers after they're involved in a shooting/fight/what have you, healing them quickly so they can go back on duty. #6 The Vintage Ambulance, an Oldie but a Goodie. Strained for credits? Your starting four ambulances aren't enough to go around? Can't justify sending the Mass Casualty Unit? Well, before you deploy your extra ALS Ambulances, you might want to consider the Vintage Ambulance. You start with two free ones, they're staffed with the same personnel as an ALS, they have the same equipment as an ALS (sans floodlights), goes just as fast, and they're quite a bit cheaper to deploy! Of course, if all you need is transport and if you already have enough paramedics on scene, you should probably go with a few BLS Ambulances instead, which are even cheaper to deploy. #5 3 is better than 1! When deploying an ALS Ambulance to a scene, the Paramedics carrying the stretcher can treat a casualty at the same time as the third Paramedic (just use the Heal ability). This results in the casualty being healed at least two or three times as fast as normal, which is excellent for when you need to get the ambulance on its way! #4 Fire Extinguishers, and Why They're Awesome. Chances are though, you haven't been using them. Despite the fact that there are 40 vehicles equipped with fire extinguishers, 17 different personnel that can use them, and that it only really takes two to put out a small fire. The next time you have personnel standing around a fire with nothing to do, give them all a fire extinguisher and have them put it out. I personally route at least one patrolcar to all vehicle and small fires. #3 LAFD Brush Patrol (and USFS), The Game Winner. Got a tight space with a fire? Maybe something too small for a Fire Engine, but too big for a patrolcar and its fire extinguishers to handle? Send in Brush Patrol, the best vehicle in the whole game! Brush Patrol goes where your Fire Engines won't, and faster too! Carrying two FF/EMTs, a myriad of tools, and a single hose connection (which can be split with a gated wye), Brush Patrol is all you need to put out trouble fires BEFORE they become a problem. Oh, and did I mention it can tow the LAFD Equipment Trailer? USFS and Brush Patrol go hand-in-hand. If two hoses isn't enough for you, try sending in the USFS Engine, which has its own hose connections, and can also fit into tight spaces. Even the USFS Utility Truck can make a good quick attack vehicle. #2 SAR Dog Vehicle, The Life Saver. Lives are on the line, and there's no time to waste: you get the call for a medical emergency, but can't seem to find the casualty; or you pack up after a scene and send everyone home, only to realize that a casualty has been left behind. Don't let this happen to you, send Search and Rescue! When the SAR Dog Leader gets out of his car, he'll head to the pack and take the SAR dog out of the back. With the press of a button, this dog can be unleashed, automatically searching the area for casualties that aren't being treated and constantly barks when it finds them. I personally like to send the SAR Dog Vehicle after any particularly hectic scene, where it would be easy for a casualty to go unnoticed. Yes, the map does display an icon on itself whenever there's a casualty, but it's amazing what you can miss when you're dealing with multiple emergencies at the same time. #1 Battalion Chief, Your Dispatch. Now I'm going to drop a bombshell on you: you've been playing the game wrong. Completely, 100% wrong. Why? Because you haven't been using your Battalion Chief right, that's why! So wrong in-fact, that you'll probably laugh at yourself after reading this! Follow these simple instructions: At the start of every freeplay game you should get a free Battalion Chief Vehicle and with it, a Battalion Chief. Select the Battalion Chief as he's running to his car, move him out of the pathway of any vehicles, and assign him to a group so you can select him at any time (I like to assign him to 1, by using ctrl-1). BAM! Just like that, you can use the Battalion Chief's Call ability to call in any of the basic vehicles, anywhere on the map, and at any time. Gone are the days of clicking on the map to get to the station, selecting a vehicle, and then sending it to the scene. I just saved you loads of time.
