For the mission of the same name, see Catch-A-Ride (mission).

Catch-A-Ride is a vehicle creation system which can provide up to two Outrunners at one time, allowing versatile overland transportation. Catch-A-Ride terminals are scattered around Pandora in areas with well established roads or open, drivable expanses. Catch-A-Ride terminals use digistruct technology to create vehicles.

Overview

Scooter will initiate contact early in the story and ask the Vault hunters to investigate and repair the Catch-a-Ride terminal at Fyrestone. Two missions are offered in sequence that must be completed in order for the Catch-A-Ride to function. These are:

• Catch-A-Ride (mission)
• Bone Head's Theft

Using the Catch-a-Ride

Runners can be spawned at Catch-A-Ride terminals after completing the mission, Bone Head's Theft. This is done by accessing the Catch-A-Ride, selecting either "Vehicle 1" or "Vehicle 2" and then selecting "Spawn Vehicle". The selection panel will also offer options to toggle between a Machine Gun or a Launcher for the Runner's turret weapon as well as a selection of eight paint schemes.

If a Runner has been left somewhere, they can be instantly accessed from any Catch-A-Ride in the area. Rather than spawning a new Runner, a character can be teleported to an existing one by accessing the Catch-A-Ride, selecting a vehicle and using the "Teleport to Driver Seat" or "Teleport to Gunner Seat" option. Outrunners with no occupants will not be persistent if characters travel to another instance and their vanishing will mean having to spawn a new one for the new area.

Travel between instances normally must be achieved on foot. Once unlocked however, some of the gates from one instance to the next can be triggered by driving up to them in the Outrunner, without the need for the character to exit the vehicle. Typically gates with roads leading directly up to them can be accessed from the vehicle.

Outrunner Options

Outrunners may be outfitted with either a Rocket Launcher or a Machine Gun when created. The vehicle comes in eight paint-jobs including:

• "Range Racer"
• "Vehicle X"
• "Blue Sky" Blue/White
• "Mean Green"
• "Blaster Master" Red
• "General Flee"
• "Fuego"
• "Flamingo"

The Secret Armory of General Knoxx

The Secret Armory of General Knoxx introduced three new vehicles, the Racer, the Monster and the Lancer. The classic Outrunner is not among the options, although players are at little disadvantage since the three new vehicles each outclass the Outrunner in at least two of the attributes of durability, mobility and firepower.

Most of the Catch-A-Ride stations in this DLC are red models pictured on the right, more consistent with Crimson Lance aesthetics than the Hyperion-yellow models seen in the original Borderlands areas. The Parched Fathoms terminals differ from their counterparts in that they supply three entirely different vehicles, rather than one with two turret options. The Catch-A-Ride interface's armament selector becomes its means of selecting the vehicle type, therefore the turret armament for each of the three new vehicles have no modification options.

The paint schemes of these three vehicles follow the same eight-colour pattern for each vehicle. Even if a new vehicle type is selected to replace an old one, the same colour option will carry over to the new vehicle.

Each vehicle type can only be accessed after completing a certain mission. In order of appearance, they are:

• Monster - Greasemonkey
• Racer - Prison Break: Road Warrior
• Lancer - OMG APC

Notes

• If a vehicle is left somewhere and a player uses "Spawn Vehicle" to recreate it at their current location, it will actually bring the existing vehicle to the Catch-A-Ride rather than generate a new one. This includes any battle damage the vehicle might be under the effects of.
• Due to the previous point, in the event both vehicles are in use, the only way to hasten the natural recovery of a vehicle's hit points is through the use of Roland's Cauterize while a teammate is occupying the vehicle.
• Although the "use" prompt will appear, the Fyrestone Catch-A-Ride is in fact unusable until Bone Head's Theft is completed.

Trivia

• The Catch-A-Ride network is maintained by Scooter.
• The slogan "Catch-A-Riiiiide!" might be a reference to the "Hitchhiker" sub-story in Creepshow 2, in which the undead hitchhiker constantly tells the main character "Hey lady, Catch a ride!?"

See Also

Vehicle