Idea for riot armor in Infusion

[harperfan7]

In underrail, riot armor is probably the worst of the four main armor types for general use, at least most people see it that way.  It is good in specific situations, but rarely outside that.  One of the biggest complaints is that shields are only useful against melee attacks, and even then they aren't too reliable or much good, frankly. 

So, I was thinking, why not combine riot armor and tacvests into one armor type, and make shields either an equipable weapon slot item or an optional 5th component slot item.  Vest + panel + armor + cloth (+ optional shield slot, potentially).  No matter what, the armor gives x3 DT vs bullets.  The armor slot can either be used for tacvest armor options (beetle carapace, antirifle, etc), or it can be used for some "riot armor" component(s) that gives extra defense vs melee attacks.  Shields, regardless, give extra defense period (not just against mechanical melee attacks) at the cost of more armor penalty and only one-handed weapons, with different shields having different qualities. 

Also, police in some countries have started to wear chainmail tunics under their regular gear because they keep getting knifed.  Would be cool if chainmail was a component you could add to these armors.

[Turbodevil]

Nah for combining Riot and Tactical armour. They both have distinct look and purpose (light anti gun vs medium nice-against-guns-and-beast-against-melee).

What holds Riot back is 4th slot being shield rather than something useful. Shields are nice when specialised into shield bash, but I'm already wearing anti melee armor, I don't need anti melee tool on top of it. Riot gear should be distinct armor type with craftable 4th slot (can be padding, plate, or something unique to Riot Gear. Shields should be equipabble item where you get extra tool/defenses in exchange for armor penalty.

[harperfan7]

Remember in infusion everything will be visually distinct.

[Guehlfirf]

Blocking in general is not very useful as you don't need to worry about melee much. Allowing shields to block ranged attacks would be a great buff to riot armor. I might even consider playing shield build myself then.

I can easily see a feat called something like Full cover. Allows shields to block damage from mechanical ranged attacks. You can even go farther and make more feats to allow blocking ice and fire attacks.

[ShoggothWhisperer]

Riot armor needs to occupy a bit more of a niche for it to be good. Metal armor has Good DT and high DR, but has massive armor penalty and can’t protect well against certain damage types like acid, cold, and electric. Leather armor offers mediocre protection most of the time, but makes up for it by giving unique bonuses based on leather type. Tac vests offer good DT against mechanical ranged weapons and are light weight, but have poor resistance against anything that isn’t a gun. Riot gear offers good protection against melee, but it’s armor penalty is so high you may as well be wearing a worse version of metal armor. Riot gear would really benefit if Shields didn’t add to armor penalty/added a lot less to armor penalty. Wielding weapons dosen’t increase armor penalty, so a shield really shouldn’t add as much penalty as it does. Shields already have enough of a drawback by restricting you to 1 handed weapons, so the massive armor penalty they give is just overkill. It would also be helpful if different types of shields gave unique effects, like if a psi beetle shield reduced damage taken from certain effects, or if a psi crab shield gave you the chance to block certain psi abilities such as electrokinesis and pyrokinetic stream. Being able to block multiple damage types with a shield like electric or energy instead of just mechanical damage would also be great.

[Tytyger]

the only change is shield go in the arm like any weapon

[ItsChon]

Just tweak shields a little more and Riot Armor will be just as viable as all the other builds. There are many different changes that can be done as have been suggested ITT.