The Great Vehicle Upgrade Debate

Ok maybe its not such a big debate, but I loved the title.

I'm currently in the great white north courtesy of work unable to assemble or paint anything so I guess its time for a tactica article. I though I'd share my thoughts on vehicle upgrades. Are they worth it or not? Which are worth taking? etc.

Now personally I'm a minimalist. I believe that you should only give a vehicle the absolute minimum that it needs to be effective. I feel this gives me an interesting take on this subject because I analyze each and every single upgrade mathematically and tactically to decide what I think is worth it or not. In my opinion unless a vehicle upgrade gives you a significant advantage that applies in most games, then you shouldn't bother taking it. At least from a tournament standpoint.

My major reasoning behind this is points. Lets say you take 4 hulls (4 transports) in your army. If you average 30 points of vehicle upgrades per vehicle 30 x 4 = 120 points that you spend on said upgrades. That is easily the cost of a transport or maybe 2 depending on the army. 30 points of vehicle upgrades is not that difficult to get either. What you should ask yourself is "Am I taking advantage of these upgrades in the majority of my games?" If it just has a random effect that only applies 1 of every 4 games, do you really need it? You'd be surprised how many points you can free up with this logic.

So what kind of vehicle upgrades are there?

Just about all vehicle upgrades can be broken down in a few categories listed here
*The upgrades listed are used for example only
1. Mobility
     - Reinforced Rams, grot riggers, dozerblades, star engines, red paint
2. Weaponry
     - pintle mounted storm bolter / heavy stubber
3. Armor
     - Armor plates, extra armor, spirit stones, 'ard case, blessed hull
4. Close combat
     - Wrecking ball, boarding plank

Mobility Upgrades are anything that helps keep your vehicle moving. These tend to be more useful for scout vehicles and transports as opposed to tanks. As you want to always keep your transports and scouts mobile.
Typically these upgrades have an effect to either negate, re-roll or repair immobilized results. What is important to note is that immobilized is statistically the most common damage result aside from destroyed. This happens because you have to factor in the extra chances of being immobilized while moving through difficult ground.
I'm really fond of giving difficult terrain re-rolls to the vast majority of my vehicles because A. our tournaments tend to have tables with dense terrain and B. because it gives you the tactical advantage of being able to jump into cover with relative safety.
Now for skimmers this isn't as much of an issue as difficult terrain is entirely a different beast. With the exception of Tau 'landing gear' or whatever its actual name is I probably wouldn't bother with difficult terrain based upgrades at all on skimmers because the chances of requiring them are much smaller. However one must always tailor ones army to the playing style and given situation.

Difficult terrain re-rolls can really be beneficial to vehicle squadrons. Since immobilized results are counted as 'destroyed' for vehicles in squadrons, the re-rolls help make them a bit tougher.

The other type of mobility upgrade are those that give extra movement like red paint and star engines.
Upgrades that give an extra D6" movement or more (even at the cost of shooting) can be very helpful to close a gap or to contest/capture objectives especially in the last turn of a game. This is something that you shouldn't discount, however the cost per upgrade may be prohibitive for putting it on all your vehicles.
Red paint on the other hand I consider useless. 1 extra inch of movement has never been to my advantage. Now some players claim that extra inch is everything for getting into assault fast but I disagree. I tend to play my transports more like gunboats and only striking when appropriate. I don't like to throw myself at the enemy. I position my transports to strike at the right moment so having an extra inch just in case I'm too far away isn't required at all.
Keep in mind that extra inch of movement doesn't count towards your movement rates either (it gives you 19" total movement, but you can still only move 12" and shoot one weapon) If it did then maybe it would be more useful. It's a very colorful upgrade I'll give it that, but it's not the end all be all that some people think it is. /end rant

Weapon upgrades are often very tempting because who doesn't want more guns? What you have to keep in mind is will this weapon be beneficial to the vehicle? If your chimera is always moving a pintle heavy stubber won't be that useful because it will never shoot (being a main weapon) but a storm bolter will fire being str 4.
Same goes for something like a predator annihilator. If your tank has nothing but lascannons to kill tanks, is a pintle storm bolter really to your advantage? if you feel it is then absolutely go for it, but this should give you something to think about.
Where as a pill box tank like a chimera acting as a 'wall of iron' or a leman russ exterminator could very much benefit from a little more firepower.
But as always be mindful of the points. Those pintle mounted heavy stubbers can add up to 100 points quick!

Armor upgrades is anything that helps reduce or negate damage from shooting. Close topped for Ork trukks and extra armor are the classic examples.
Do you want your tanks to last longer on the battlefield? absolutely you do. But the price you pay is alot of points and in the case of closed topped you lose alot of features of the trukks. So it is a balancing act.
I remember extra armor used to be THE upgrade for marines to make sure they had the mobility to get into hth. But luckily the days of space marines on skateboards is over, and extra armor is 15 points now instead of 5. Now it's an upgrade you actually have to think about taking. Personally I'm not fond of it given that being stunned is a fairly low chance compared to being destroyed or immobilized and since your guys can just jump out of a stunned vehicle anyway I don't see it as a big deal. Especially not for 15 points a tank! Whereas on something like a landraider I can definitely see the benefit because you definitely want to keep an expensive tank like that mobile and able to strike.
I'm really not a fan of close topping Ork vehicles though. Although being open-topped makes them more vulnerable (especially in this edition) the benefits in my mind far out weigh the downsides. Being able to shoot with every man onboard and being able to assault the turn you disembark are HUGE advantages that you can't take lightly. So I always take the risk. The only exception is if I'm taking a vehicle strickly for its gunz which is rare.
Another thing to keep in mind is you get the 'extra armor' upgrade for free on your vehicle squadrons. Its a nice perk but you have to remember you have it.

Close combat upgrades are upgrades that give vehicles close combat attacks. I am not fond if this concept at all! Unless your vehicle happens to be a dreadnought. I'm really not fond of the idea of charging my tanks into hth for any reason, especially with hth attacks always hitting rear armor now.

So what have we learned?
Ask yourself what is your vehicles roll? and is this upgrade going to help it accomplish that roll? If not, then you should probably save the points because as always, be mindful of the points!