Carbineer Archive
Thread: Armor: Excellent Protection, or Crippling Clothing? Discuss...
So, I put it to you my fellow Carbineers, what's the bottom line on armor? I'm looking for something besides the "check protection vs. encumberance" answer, and perhaps an insight into your combat experience against similarly skilled MOB's wearing and not wearing your armor. Furthermore, if one is not to don a full set of armor, what three or four pieces will provide the best protection while not crippling your abilities to use the special carbine attacks.
Alright, let the posts flow!
Well i'm no pvp'er so can't tell from that point. I'mch alsoand pet does tanking for me so i generally wear clothes, depends of day what I'll wear. Sometimes i use tactical skinsuit along Chitin boots/gloves/chest/helmet or bone if fighting against npc's. That allows fast regeneration even during fight. If i know that I'm going to get hit I'll put my Chitin set on. On pvp I would use full armor everytime.
Thing is that i manage well with or without armor so I most often wear only clothes as it alloys much faster regen. With future changes where you cant keep mobs/npc's knocked down or postured all the time armor will most propably will turn out to be better. Anyways I'm repeating myself but if you are taking lots of hits then use armor, if not then clothes.
Here's my experience with armor (danger: math ahead, you've been warned).
Composite and Factional Armor both typically protect against most attack forms at around 30% effectiveness, so I'll use that number for sake of example (though I've seen Composite as high as 35%).
Depending on the Armor Piercing rating of the attack against you, you'll get different levels of protection.
If you're wearing no armor (or if your armor doesn't protect against an attack type, Armor Rating of none), an AP none attack will do 100% of the base damage. AP light will do 125%. AP medium will do 138% (rounded). AP heavy will do 144%,
If you're wearing armor (all types have an AR of light) with 30% protection against an attack type, an AP none attack will do 50% of its base damage, reduced by the armor's 30% effectiveness to a final damage of 35%. AP light will do 100% reduced to 70%. AP medium will do 125% reduced to 88%. AP heavy will do 138% reduced to 96%.
So wearing good armor, you'll take 65% less damage than if you wore no armor in the best case scenario, to 48% less damage at worst (against only rare heavy attacks like a T21 rifle). This means you can take two to three times as much damage while wearing armor, MINUS the HAM costs of the armor itself (harder to quantify, but still far less than the protection offered).
If the stat reductions of your armor are acceptable for you to receive this level of protection, then armor's for you. And as others have said, have your armor sliced to reduce HAM costs if at all possible. It will take some stat migration juggling to be able to wear it the first time, but once you get that lined out, you'll be set for life.
Fighting style is a big factor to consider here. If you queue up constant special shots, you're going to exhaust your HAM bars quicker with armor on, and you'll need more stims.
I determine whether or not to wear armor for each battle. If I'm in a big group and not getting hit much, or if I just want to do crowd control and shoot melee critters from a distance, I'll go without. If I'm in a critter's face or up against opponents with ranged attacks, I'll wear it. You can configure hotkeys to switch in and out of armor instantly with the touch fo a single button.
Kerux har'Owen
Zabrak Carbineer/Squad Leader/etc.
Sunrunner
For example, Bone armor is only good for pvp, because of the energy only protection. I feel that mabari is not worth it at all, because of the low % protect and the encumberance. To have armor that is worth it you need very good (and expensive) armor, such as Ubese or a good set of Chitin.
its the same whit the rest of it so when you lower your sub stats to wear amor you will regenerate slower and your special moves will cost more if your stamina is lowerd
( sorry for eny spelling mistake's )
Armor sucks.
The only armor in the game worth wearing is the storm trooper armor that is 30% down the line.
That whole 8-30% is saving you from little to no damage.
Not to mention the fact that you will be able to do significantly fewer special attacks while in armor.
Armor looks cool, but it sucks.
I forgot to mention, the only piece of armor I wear is a composite helmet, I do this because my stat pools are set at
H: 1150
A: 1288
M: 400
I found that when using specials, my action pool and health pool would take the most beating, so I rearranged them, the Helm looks cool, but it also helps to cover my a$$ so I can have such a small mind pool.
I wear a tactical skinsuit, which is the equivalent or running around in your underwear, only cooler looking.
Using my elite carbine which has low ham costs, but poor max dmage/armor piercing I am able to solo reds for tons of xp by using alot of my special attacks.
I am currently 2 skills into carbineer (novice , and leg3) and using action shot2, suppression fire, and leg3, i can solo a mountain squill for 3688 xp a pop.
If i was wearing armor i would not be able to do that.
I dont wear armor.
I have yet to experience any npc or pvp battles where it helps out much. The best thing a carbine user has is knockdown. The more knockdowns the better. Armor will limit your number of knockdowns. I actually exhausted my ham in pvp knocking down pos rebels that camp mission terminals, they got up eventually and finished me off. Armor really didnt help. I think armor is better suited for different skill classes that are constantly taking a beating.
In NPC battles, if you are getting hit something has gone wrong or you have attracted the attention of more then one NPC. I send in a pet into a rebel camp of 5, let it attack for 10 seconds, then start single knockdown shot + underhand + burst until they die. Heal yourself, and start over. The only bad thing is if one of the NPC's and a pet run off out of range. OMG you have to chase them.
If clothing skill attachments start to work, i will never wear armor unless fighting snipers.
to tell you guys teh truth, I've found out that wearing no armor is better than wearing armor. especially fighting those challenge lvl 25+ mobs. Since these mobs can easily eat you alive where u stand and our High HAM cost it evens out. But then again, i am a Zabrak Carbineer, so I need all the secondary stats I can get