The Absolute State of Armor Encumbrance

[JJG]

Its not that the armor doesn't have a use. It very much keeps you alive. But not wearing armor makes you faster and thats more important than being alive.

Also the biggest enemy when going without armor isn't xenos but FF. A lurker managing to slash you while you are zig zagging all over the place and shooting at it is a lot less likely than simply being shot in the back by a marine.
And getting Shotgun FF in the back will send you back to medbay with or without armor.

[Sulaboy]

Its not that the armor doesn't have a use. It very much keeps you alive. But not wearing armor makes you faster and thats more important than being alive.

Also the biggest enemy when going without armor isn't xenos but FF. A lurker managing to slash you while you are zig zagging all over the place and shooting at it is a lot less likely than simply being shot in the back by a marine.
And getting Shotgun FF in the back will send you back to medbay with or without armor.

There is a way to play marine as a rolling tide, and there is a way to play it as an unstoppable force. With the armor you might not get destroyed from that pounce before your buddies save you, and you can keep pushing into those caves like a badass. A slow continued push can beat Xenos if you make the run out of places to run, and it halts less because medics don't have to revive living people.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

I'm pretty sure getting shotgun FF without armor will legit husk you, not just simply sending you back to medbay.

Now, I don't believe this has been said, but this entire game is balanced around marines having their armor on and being at their current slow speed. If everyone suddenly just removes their armors and rushes the xeno, the devs will find a way to nerf that. Easy as that.

[CABAL]

Well... There should be some armor variety, becouse as a humble PFC main I want more toys to play. Guns are apparently no go as Dookysponut said somewhere.
Variant that is slighty less armoured, but has 4 "slots" for mags, one that is slighty more armoured but lacks any additional slots. Something like that.

Or scrap that shit also and add attachements for armor!
Better batteries: Stronger armor flashlight.
Aluminium construction: Makes armor faster, but less armoured.
Titanium gauntlets: More armor on limbs.
Additional pockets: More space.

Since weapons can be customised and it is "substitute" for more weapons, then do that.

Lighter armor is not required if we would use some new mechanic like "sprint". Macro it and let marines run faster for 5 seconds, but at the cost of being slower for 8 seconds after that and increased hunger. That would be nice. Speed of sprint should be about, or slower than pajamarine and exhaustion should be at the point of being on "yellow" hunger level.

Food would start to be more usefull in addition to removing light armor "debuffs".

[Damous]

You talk about the lack of use armor has, but what happens when a lurker breaks your chest while running past you?

Lmao, this is going to happen with armor or not.

Lurker attack is insanely strong

[Damous]

Well... There should be some armor variety, becouse as a humble PFC main I want more toys to play. Guns are apparently no go as Dookysponut said somewhere.
Variant that is slighty less armoured, but has 4 "slots" for mags, one that is slighty more armoured but lacks any additional slots. Something like that.

Or scrap that shit also and add attachements for armor!
Better batteries: Stronger armor flashlight.
Aluminium construction: Makes armor faster, but less armoured.
Titanium gauntlets: More armor on limbs.
Additional pockets: More space.

Since weapons can be customised and it is "substitute" for more weapons, then do that.

Lighter armor is not required if we would use some new mechanic like "sprint". Macro it and let marines run faster for 5 seconds, but at the cost of being slower for 8 seconds after that and increased hunger. That would be nice. Speed of sprint should be about, or slower than pajamarine and exhaustion should be at the point of being on "yellow" hunger level.

Food would start to be more usefull in addition to removing light armor "debuffs".

Lorewise, the marine armor is made of "Ultralight Titanium Alloy" and some other shit.

So "Modifications" for it would be way cooler.

[Vampmare]

Why go through the trouble of min maxing like this? Just play the game, broski.

It's not about the end result, it's about the journey.

Also the armour is part of the CM setting. Gotta look cool.

[Trench007]

I'm in favor of adding light armor, never turn down more options to have fun with. Also, I think about all the times I might have survived or escaped had I been just a bit faster (although I might have been dead already without the armor). At the end of the day, having more choices to tinker with your 2D spaceman's setup is nice.

[oprayx73]

you're not wrong in the fact that heavy light and medium armor should exist

[DriedMilk]

Armour is really fucking good chief. Like, I've survived a ton of fucking punishment with normal PFC armor.

And don't get me talking about helmets, they ACTUALLY protect you from slashes. Hell, they have better protection vs slashes than normal PFC armour.

[Damous]

Armour is really fucking good chief. Like, I've survived a ton of fucking punishment with normal PFC armor.

And don't get me talking about helmets, they ACTUALLY protect you from slashes. Hell, they have better protection vs slashes than normal PFC armour.

you can give everyone a b18 armor, if a lurker manage to hit a pounce, you are dead, or severely wounded.

Remember, it only takes two slashes to break your chest (chance of IB along) and send you right back to medbay.

[CABAL]

But with broken chest and IB you can still crawl back to the medic, get splinted, quick cloth and fight again. Without it, you are only good to medbay.

[Madventurer]

I'm going to add here that any unarmored marines yaketysaxing around slower xenos is absolutely hell to deal with without proper sticky, well-placed boiler shot or just plain numbers.

A light armor variant should not be significantly faster than what we currently have, it would make a lot of xenos completely unplayable when the unga swarm can just overtake you and you can do nothing about it. Looking at Crusher here....

[Linukas]

I mean if you are lucky your armor will let you ignore queen slashes, if not well a young runner will chop off your arm with one slash, it all be RNG

[Trench007]

I'm going to add here that any unarmored marines yaketysaxing around slower xenos is absolutely hell to deal with without proper sticky, well-placed boiler shot or just plain numbers.

A light armor variant should not be significantly faster than what we currently have, it would make a lot of xenos completely unplayable when the unga swarm can just overtake you and you can do nothing about it. Looking at Crusher here....

We could balance out the numbers by having them only attainable in limited number inside req for cargo to hand out.

[Damous]

But with broken chest and IB you can still crawl back to the medic, get splinted, quick cloth and fight again. Without it, you are only good to medbay.

Or the lurker will just miss you because you are faster, and you will survive.

[Damous]

Thread is going out of focus...

Cabal's idea about armor modification is where the game should go, because devs wouldn't have to code new armor and ect...

Just more toys for the ungas to have fun with, the more the merrier.

[Renomaki]

You know, if you ask me, I don't think marines need more speed in order to survive. This just supports "lone wolf" player's needs rather than the needs of the squad as a whole. What marines need is FORMATION.

Rather than trying to go faster, they should instead take advantage of their (slightly) hardy nature and firepower in the form of tactical formations. Lines, boxes, wedges, etc etc.

"but why formations? That doesn't make sense in the 22nd century!" you say, and you know what? You are probably right. But hey, this is BYOND, an engine that barely allows us to have the combat we so desire. One thing I noticed in this game is how formations in general are very possible, and as long as a queen or boiler isn't around, it is very easy to keep in formation if you ever had a SUPER organized squad.

Hell, the benefits of formations are plentiful. If a xeno tries to rush you for a melee attack? Multiple people can stab it the second it gets close. Ravager charged one of your members? Quickly engulf with ease due to having a line of infantry within easy reach. Xenos starting to swarm? Form a "cav square" and fend them off 360 degrees!

Of course, I could be wrong, but until such things are attempted, we'll never know the benefit of formations in full. I just think there is a lot of potential for it out there if people were willing to slow down and form up, rather than just resort to being FAST in order to compensate for a lack of tactics and coordination.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

Yeah sure, formations. Tell me about your formations again when you're going up against multiple Crushers, queen screech, and just sticky resin overall; let alone mass neuro spam. Also, this is autism 2d spessman, not an RTS. You can't expect people to follow your intricate plans and strategies, when they're playing this game with their brains off in the first place to relieve stress from RL.

[WinterClould]

I've had a mixed relationship with armor. It's saved me in the past, I love the extra inventory slots it gives you, but.. I feel like, in the end, in all my time playing and watching every neft and every change... armor is kinda gay and speed is very powerful. The devs know this and they don't want you to know it/be able to take advantage of it.

All it takes is one stun to get ruined, might as well follow the British doctrine of "Speed as Armor" and just avoid getting hit in the first place. It didn't work to well for them irl last I remember but our game is a whole other beast so it actually works.

RNG might bless you one day with armor that blocks a dozen queen slashes, but let's be real. If you some how manage to survive still after it blocks those slashes YOU GOT LUCKY. It's not a regular thing that happens, most of the time those slashes will have cut through you like a knife through hot butter. Might as well go the route of maximum luck/maximum risk avoidance when the only things that keep you alive is RNG, Your skill, and most importantly your enemy's incompetence.


I used to just break into the PO's office and loot their kit for its light armor and slick looks but most of all its speed. Because speed is king.

Stick a flashlight in your pocket, wear that badass flak jacket, and roll around with your boom stick knocking heads. Put in work, it's all for the kids after all.

[Damous]

I've had a mixed relationship with armor. It's saved me in the past, I love the extra inventory slots it gives you, but.. I feel like, in the end, in all my time playing and watching every neft and every change... armor is kinda gay and speed is very powerful. The devs know this and they don't want you to know it/be able to take advantage of it.

All it takes is one stun to get ruined, might as well follow the British doctrine of "Speed as Armor" and just avoid getting hit in the first place. It didn't work to well for them irl last I remember but our game is a whole other beast so it actually works.

RNG might bless you one day with armor that blocks a dozen queen slashes, but let's be real. If you some how manage to survive still after it blocks those slashes YOU GOT LUCKY. It's not a regular thing that happens, most of the time those slashes will have cut through you like a knife through hot butter. Might as well go the route of maximum luck/maximum risk avoidance when the only things that keep you alive is RNG, Your skill, and most importantly your enemy's incompetence.


I used to just break into the PO's office and loot their kit for its light armor and slick looks but most of all its speed. Because speed is king.

Stick a flashlight in your pocket, wear that badass flak jacket, and roll around with your boom stick knocking heads. Put in work, it's all for the kids after all.

armor is kinda gay and speed is very powerful
This is a literal rule of robustness for all SS13 based servers.

[liltiptop]

I agree with having multiple types of armor you could get. Standard armor, Light armor (like specs use), or heavy armor (but no where near as powerful as the B18)
Standard armor is standard.
Light armor doesn't let you move as fast as the spec varients, but still an improvement over standard, with lower protection.
Heavy slows you down just as slow as a B18, with a little less damage resistance than B18 armor.

[Avalanchee]

everyone knows that speed is the key to victory in SS13 combat.

I steal M3-Ts, M3 Recon variants and M56 Harnesses from dead marines all day long.

[WinterClould]

The smartgun rig is a really good balance of getting speed while keeping armor, shoulder light, and two small inventory slots. If you see a smartgunner decapped and wasted, totally loot that shit all day long. Just don't drop your gun or ff someone since it's not leaving your hands.

[misto]

movement has both offensive and defensive uses (if you have the room to maneuver) so it is hardly surprising that more and more people are choosing to do without their armor or scavenge lighter armor from dead people

so the lurker will definitely gut you in one pounce instead of only -probably- gutting you in one pounce? it's harder to pounce a target that is moving at a quicker rate, though.

imagine a whole team of no armor marines. boilers wont have time to set up good shots into them before theyre on top of em, and wont be able to retreat fast enough to survive. if the humans pressed in together with all their speed and refused to show fear they'd have the aliens cornered in no time. they'd have more to fear from the guys behind them FFing them than the aliens for the most part, frankly.

the only problem with adding multiple armor choices for PFCs is the fact theyd all roll light armor so you might as well remove the others at that point