Dev Log #19: New Armor Type

[Styg]

Hi guys, I'm still down in the cellar working on the Lower Underrail. Things have been a bit quiet and slow recently, but these times come and go and are nothing to worry about. To break the monotony of working on barren hostile areas all the time, I've added a new armor type.



Riot Gear armor is a medium encumbrance armor that specializes against firearms and melee attacks (+100% damage threshold vs. firearms and +50% damage resistance and threshold vs. melee attacks). Like the tactical vest, it's crafted from a carrier vest and a ballistic panel and an optional overcoat fabric. You can also add metal plates to include a shield as well (will add other materials for this purpose at some point) which will increase encumbrance, but will give you a 20% chance to block certain amount of mechanical melee damage (depending on the quality of the material used). While using a riot gear armor that includes a shield you can only wield one handed weapons though (pistols, knives, crowbars).

Also here's a couple of minor changes and bug fixes:

• Increased duration of thermodinamicity to 2 turns
• Reduced damage of spikes and blades when mounted on a metal armor suit, but increased their damage when mounted on boots
• Fixed spikes of doom bug
• It's no longer possible to refresh the duration of stun, fear and short-circuit effects
• Fixed the scaling of Bilocation psi ability

In the next couple of weeks I'll add few more items and creatures and probably do some AI work. After that I plan to release a new version. The Lower Underrail is not fully ready yet, but it should be fun to snoop around nevertheless.

[LazyMonk]

Looks good, Styg.
Cant wait to build a character around that armor.

[UnLimiTeD]

That sounds like the low weight armour we've been waiting for.
Interesting choice on protecting against both bullets and melee attacks.
I suppose the shields resistance, if it triggers, will be affected by the threshold multipliers? Well, or not, but at least it should add up then. 
With the buff to boots, this kind of armour could work great with a hammer. Or with springs.
I still wonder what Force Fields will do in the future, and how that'll work with with the different armours.
Will we get ABC suits and special armour against Energy weapons at some point, too?

[joejoefine]

I kept coming back waiting for the next update, happy that things are still progressing!  Once you release the new version I'll definitely enjoy a new playthrough to see how things are shaping up. I think I'll probably focus on crafting this time.

[Eliasfrost]

Awesome news! I really like the new armor type.

[Styg]

That sounds like the low weight armour we've been waiting for.
Interesting choice on protecting against both bullets and melee attacks.
I suppose the shields resistance, if it triggers, will be affected by the threshold multipliers? Well, or not, but at least it should add up then. 
With the buff to boots, this kind of armour could work great with a hammer. Or with springs.
I still wonder what Force Fields will do in the future, and how that'll work with with the different armours.
Will we get ABC suits and special armour against Energy weapons at some point, too?

Blocking is a separate mechanic so it won't be affected by the threshold multiplier. However it does stack with the armor's damage threshold, that is you can still resist the damage you didn't block.

There won't be a specific anti-energy armor since that will be covered by energy shields. There will be certain materials (probably just metals) that will be more effective at resisting energy based attacks, though.

I plan to introduce a biohazard suit once toxins get into play (probably in the Deep Caverns), but it will probably be a non-combat armor with fixed properties (not variable or craftable).

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, there is a Bio suit already, and it's hugely useful in the old junkyard. Or would be if it protected against anything else.
I always wondered why I can't wear a carrier vest underneath.

[Fenix]

Well, a full line of Bio suit - it would be very good. I mean different grade - Bio A, B,  maybe hand-made Bio..

[Styg]

Well, there is a Bio suit already, and it's hugely useful in the old junkyard. Or would be if it protected against anything else.
I always wondered why I can't wear a carrier vest underneath.

The current bio suit is quite useless actually and is only in the game because there's an armor model for it for flavor purposes. It only shields against bio damage, but only bio damage currently in the game is poison and it bypasses armor.

[Hans_Sanitizer]

Just curious about some aspects of this gear.

If say you pick up a riot suit or craft it with a shield, can you store the shield in your inventory when you want to use a weapon bigger than a pistol?

Wouldn't it be better if the shield was an individual item to be equipped in one hand?

[Styg]

Just curious about some aspects of this gear.

If say you pick up a riot suit or craft it with a shield, can you store the shield in your inventory when you want to use a weapon bigger than a pistol?

Wouldn't it be better if the shield was an individual item to be equipped in one hand?

It would be better, I agree. But since I haven't planned on having a shield slot (not counting the energy shield ) this was easier to implement.

[JeffTheShark]

What is the spikes of doom bug?
is that some kind of thing with armor spikes?

[Kaerius]

What is the spikes of doom bug?
is that some kind of thing with armor spikes?

If you wore armor with armor spikes, and boots with armor spikes, the boot spike damage would be cumulatively added to the armor damage, until you had armor that had bonus damages in the hundreds.