Vehicles and Air Support

Overview

One of the most visually striking aspects of Kingmakers is the sight of modern military hardware rolling across a medieval battlefield. Vehicles are fully functional gameplay tools that give the player an enormous tactical advantage over forces that have never seen anything more advanced than a horse-drawn cart. At Early Access launch, three vehicles are directly drivable by the player, and several additional military assets can be called in as support. Every vehicle interacts with the game's physics-driven destructible environments, meaning that crashing a tank through a castle wall or ramming a convertible through a wooden gatehouse produces real structural damage, not a scripted animation.

The destruction is calculated by the physics engine in real time, which is one of the core reasons the developers chose Unreal Engine 4.27 for its processing speed with these calculations. A motorcycle clipping the corner of a wooden shack will knock out that corner. A tank driving straight through the center will bring the whole structure down. This physics-based approach creates emergent moments that play out differently every time and has genuine tactical value: punching a hole in a wall with a vehicle opens a new path for your medieval units to flood through.

Drivable Vehicles

Motorcycle

The motorcycle (also described as a dirt bike in some developer footage) is the fastest ground vehicle in the game. It allows the player to cover large distances across the battlefield in seconds, which is useful for responding to threats on different flanks, scouting enemy positions, or simply getting from one end of the map to the other without spending several minutes walking. The motorcycle can crash through wooden structures and fences, and players can pull off jumps by launching off hills and terrain features.

The rider is fully exposed and can be hit by arrows and other projectiles, making it a speed tool rather than a combat platform. In its current state, the motorcycle is indestructible (the player can take damage, but the bike itself does not break), though this may be adjusted before or during Early Access based on balance feedback. Its primary value is mobility. Getting to the right place on the battlefield at the right time can be more important than bringing extra firepower, and the motorcycle makes that possible.

Convertible Car

The convertible car is the most interesting vehicle choice from a design perspective. The original announcement trailer featured a pickup truck, but the developers replaced it with a convertible for gameplay reasons: the open-top design allows the player (or co-op partners riding as passengers) to fire weapons in a full 360-degree arc while the vehicle is in motion. A pickup truck's cab would have blocked shooting angles, limiting the vehicle's combat utility. The convertible solves that problem while, as the developers put it, looking awesome in the process.

Unlike the motorcycle, the convertible is destructible. Smashing through soldiers, obstacles, and structures deals damage to the car over time, and it can eventually be destroyed if the player is not careful. This creates a risk-reward dynamic: the convertible is a powerful mobile gun platform, but aggressive driving through enemy lines will wear it down. In co-op sessions, the convertible becomes significantly more effective. One player drives while others fire from passenger seats, creating a moving gun platform that can circle an enemy force and pour fire into it from multiple angles simultaneously.

The developers have noted that the pickup truck may return in a future update based on community feedback, potentially as an additional vehicle option rather than a replacement. Players who prefer a more rugged, armored look over the sports-car aesthetic of the convertible have been vocal about wanting the truck back.

Tank

The tank is the most powerful ground vehicle in the game by a wide margin. Its main cannon can destroy fortifications, walls, buildings, and clusters of infantry with a single shot. Its armor is effectively impervious to anything the medieval world can throw at it: arrows bounce off, swords glance away, and even siege equipment like trebuchets cannot reliably damage it. Driving a tank into a castle siege is about as one-sided as combat gets in Kingmakers, which is very much part of the appeal.

The tank is slower than the other two drivable vehicles, and its size makes it less maneuverable in tight spaces like narrow streets or forest paths. It is a blunt instrument, best used for breaking through heavily defended positions where other approaches would cost too many soldiers. A common tactic is to use the tank to breach a castle wall, creating an opening, and then switch to strategy mode to send infantry flooding through the gap while the tank continues to provide fire support from outside.

Air Support

Air support in Kingmakers provides devastating firepower from above. At Early Access launch, the player cannot directly pilot aircraft, but they can call in air support that arrives on the battlefield to deal heavy damage. Medieval armies have absolutely no anti-air capability, which makes aerial assets essentially untouchable during their attack runs.

AH-64 Apache Helicopter

The AH-64 Apache is an attack helicopter equipped with the M230 Chain Gun, a 30mm automatic cannon that is the Apache's primary anti-ground weapon in both real life and in Kingmakers. When called in, the Apache orbits the designated area and engages enemy forces from the air. The Chain Gun's rate of fire allows it to sweep across formations, cutting lines through massed infantry. Against large, slow-moving formations of heavy units like Men-at-Arms, who cannot scatter quickly enough to evade sustained fire, the Apache is particularly lethal.

The Apache represents one of the biggest power advantages the player holds. Balancing its use against whatever resource, cooldown, or request system governs it will be one of the key strategic decisions in longer engagements. Using it too early on a minor skirmish means it will not be available when a larger force arrives. Saving it too long means troops die in fights the Apache could have ended quickly. The developers have designed these support assets to be powerful enough to matter but limited enough to require thought about when and where to deploy them.

F-16 Airstrikes

The F-16 airstrike functions as an area-of-effect bombardment. The player designates a location on the battlefield, and after a short delay, the strike arrives with devastating force. The developers have compared this mechanic to the airstrike system in Helldivers 2: you mark where you want the bombs to land, then wait for delivery. This delay is the balancing factor. The player needs to predict where the enemy will be when the strike lands, not just where they are right now. Hitting a stationary siege line is straightforward; hitting a moving cavalry column requires leading the target.

F-16 airstrikes are ideal for destroying clustered formations, siege equipment in fixed positions, or fortified defensive lines that would be costly to assault head-on. Combining an airstrike on one section of a castle's defenses with a ground assault on another creates multi-axis pressure that is extremely difficult for the AI to handle. The airstrike does not discriminate between friend and foe within the blast zone, so careful placement is necessary to avoid hitting your own forces.

Other Military Vehicles

Armored SUVs provide a balance between speed and protection, functioning as transport vehicles that can also serve as improvised battering rams against lighter structures. They are useful for getting troops or the player through areas where arrow fire or melee ambushes would be dangerous on foot.

The Humvee, equipped with the M2HB Browning.50 caliber heavy machine gun, is a more dedicated combat vehicle. The.50 caliber rounds have extreme penetration, capable of punching through walls and armor tiers that would stop lighter rounds from small arms. Against medieval forces with no equivalent firepower, a Humvee with a.50 cal turret can hold an entire section of the battlefield on its own. The M2HB can also be used to suppress specific areas, pinning enemy forces in place while other assets maneuver around them.

Vehicle Physics and Stunts

All vehicles in Kingmakers are subject to the game's physics simulation. This means they interact with terrain, structures, and soldiers in ways that are not scripted. The motorcycle can launch off hills and ramps, catching significant air. The convertible can drift around corners, scattering infantry formations. The tank can plow through buildings, leaving rubble in its wake. These physics interactions create unscripted moments that are often the most memorable parts of a play session.

Running over soldiers with vehicles is a fully supported mechanic. Driving the convertible through a formation of infantry at speed will scatter and kill soldiers in its path. The tank simply crushes anything it rolls over. Even the motorcycle, the lightest vehicle, can bowl over foot soldiers at high speed. The physics engine calculates these collisions in real time, producing different results depending on speed, angle, and the weight of the vehicle versus the mass of whatever it hits.

Vehicles in Co-Op

Vehicles take on a new dimension in co-op multiplayer. The convertible is the standout here: one player drives while up to three others fire from passenger positions. This turns a single vehicle into a mobile squad that can engage targets in every direction simultaneously. Coordinating a driver focused on positioning with gunners focused on targets creates a gameplay loop that feels distinct from anything either the shooter or strategy mode offers on their own.

In broader co-op strategy, vehicles allow players to specialize. One player might handle the tank, breaching fortifications and drawing attention, while another operates on a motorcycle as a fast-response scout. A third and fourth player might stay on foot or in strategy mode while the vehicle operators create openings for infantry to exploit. The combination of vehicles, modern weapons, medieval armies, and cooperative play is where Kingmakers' various systems interact most dynamically.

Planned Additions

The post-Early Access roadmap includes pilotable helicopters and planes. The developers have confirmed that they want players to eventually fly these aircraft directly rather than calling them in as support only. This would add a full aerial combat and CAS (close air support) dimension to the game. No release date has been set for these features; they are part of the longer-term development plan. The developers are also considering bringing back the pickup truck from the original trailer as an additional vehicle option alongside the convertible.