Change place/retrieve mech:
Placing Vehicle leave Retriever in inventory. Using Retriever on Vehicle pick it up to inventory slot, used by Retriever.
This way you will always have slot available and Vehicle can be unbreakable.
thought about it like that but then there would be all this stuff about which boat goes with which retriever? and is that possible code wise? if the devs want it that way its not like i can stop them but i think the way in the OP is the simplest way to pull it off
To get out of Vehicle use Jump to jump on top of it. Vehicle still stay and keep your weight, waiting for you to jump to beach and retrieve it.
exiting is something i didn't consider to simplest way is just to say it gives temporary fireproofness for like 10 seconds but how do you explain that? your idea is good to but even with it accidents will be common. I GOT IT! have the Integrated Heat Dispensers turn the lava into a 3x3 cobble platform when you exit that way you can jump safely.
Should it spend energy to high speed? No Iridium in recipe?
first its a boat that is propelling you through molten ROCK I don't think high speed is an option and second its a boat if it was a lava submarine then we can slap some iridium on there
Shouldn't the recipe use refined iron instead?
it does have refined iron almost every piece has an alloy component and refined iron is in alloy
CiderCraft while the boat does need to be charged its still just a boat so i was planning for it to be able to hold a charge for a few day of constant use there is no way to add a hud and people can't have the gui open to monitor coolant at the same time as driving. try to think more user friendly