Preaetorian security armor

[Karina]

Anyone unironically wears their armor? I went in expecting a roughly similar sidegrage to my armor and boy i was wrong.

Steel armor with sturdy vest (metal slopping perk) - 42%-22 mechanical resistance, 52 extra health, 42% penalty

Praetorian armor - 40%-20 mechanical protection, 20 extra health, NINETY FIVE armor penalty.

And my armor is not even of particulary amazing quality, not reinforced either. Coolness factor is the only good thing about praetorian armor, but its not enough. Same goes for their helmet - roughly similar but mine is 6% super steel one an theirs is 30%.

[Zeem]

Your run of the mill steel armor doesn't look even remotely as cool. But other than that - yeah, Praetorian armor sucks if you're looking to be a tin can and you're definitely better off with quad tungsten or SS (either quad or single plate w/ specced AS). It can be a decent stopgap straight out of Depot A, but being a proper tin can pretty much necessitates crafted armor.

[Vlad_Tech]

I don't know why anyone would use any of the 3 oligarchs armor for combat, it's all terrible. But it's also available pretty fast on reaching core city so it's pretty low tier in general.

[Virgil]

I do, at least for a short period of time after just arriving in Core City. My favorite build is a metal armor / sledgehammer Paladin type of dude with all three social skills bumped up and some other quirky choices, definitely not a meta build at all (by choice) and I only play on Hard as opposed to Dominating (so far). The only crafting he does is for mechanical repair kits and eventually electronic repair kits for when he eventually gets the Quake hammer, which I use until the endgame. Of course I've never even killed Tchort yet, but he's still parked in DC waiting for inspiration to press onward.

I'll pick it up when I first arrive in CC around lvl11 or so and usually end up wearing it until around lvl13 or 14 when I pick up some metal armor offered by Staff Sgt. Fraser in Fort Apogee that he sells with a Mercantile check. I switch out the Praetorian helmet at the same time for one offered by Fraser.

I'll sometimes use the Praetorian helmet for the bio resist if needed and keep it in my inventory as a backup, but yeah, I'm fully aware I'm not utilizing meta at all by going a non crafting, non psi route and making oddball choices. He also slaughters Abram and botches the Oculus route along with some other non traditional choices.

EDIT: https://underrail.info/build/?HhAEBgoDBAMAMgDCoAAAMmlpAGTClsKWAGQAAAAAAGRkbgg5DmNVLUQfYMKBS1RiKMK2eFDioYcE4qOTBeKligPiq64D378 That's my gimpy little guy right there. The stealth is mainly for DC once he has some items to improve that a bit, I never use it prior. I don't even know why I bumped up the crafting aside from the occasional skill check.

As the Imperial battlemage Sun Tzu famously said, "If it feels good, just do it."

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by Vlad_Tech:

I don't know why anyone would use any of the 3 oligarchs armor for combat, it's all terrible. But it's also available pretty fast on reaching core city so it's pretty low tier in general.

JKK Vest is decent. It is an okay light vest for it's armor penalty with increase in intiative, crit chance and decreased Point Shot AP cost.

[King Fossil]

Originally posted by Esteban Failsmore:

Same goes for their helmet - roughly similar but mine is 6% super steel one an theirs is 30%.

Praetorian helmet is the best thing they offer. It has worse mech DR/DT than a crafted helmet, but it buffs yell so that lowers enemy damage, and it's a gas mask too. The penalty is huge but if you're going ultra tank then you're already at 95% from just your chest armour so you don't care. It requires a specific build but it's good on that specific build, at least. Much better than the Praetorian chest armour which just flat out sucks no matter what.

Originally posted by Vlad_Tech:

I don't know why anyone would use any of the 3 oligarchs armor for combat, it's all terrible. But it's also available pretty fast on reaching core city so it's pretty low tier in general.

JKK jacket is useful for a lot of builds since it has an initiative bonus. Very handy for doing the Arena fights if your plan is to go first and then kill the other guy before he can move, and a lot of people do that. You can get initiative from infused heartbreaker leather too, but that's a lot later and requires super steel to make. JKK jacket you just show up and ask.

[Karina]

Originally posted by King Fossil:

The penalty is huge but if you're going ultra tank then you're already at 95% from just your chest armour so you don't care. It requires a specific build but it's good on that specific build, at least. Much better than the Praetorian chest armour which just flat out sucks no matter what.

Im doing robocop build - metal armor with pistol, so mobility is somewhat useful.

[Zeem]

Originally posted by Vlad_Tech:

I don't know why anyone would use any of the 3 oligarchs armor for combat, it's all terrible. But it's also available pretty fast on reaching core city so it's pretty low tier in general.

JKK armor is great for glass cannon pistol users, especially high AP ones. 10 AP plasma shot each turn is a major boon, and the crit boost is nice too. Coretech one has 3% crit chance boost, but only for epistols. Its +10 to hacking is good for skill checks, though.

[Vlad_Tech]

II guess I'm wrong about the value of the JKK jacket in combat, didn't really consider the initiative use for cheese or AP reduction. As for the coretech vest, 3% crit is not really anything special to me. But I get it, they have more combat utility than none.

[Karina]

Okay, i partially take my words back. This armor is not completely useless. But:

1) You gotta rush to get it immidiatly after Faceless attack.

AND

2) You gotta play very specific build to make any use of it. A full 100% armor penalty tin.

AND

3) You cant find regenerative vest.

Currently level 11 with different character, this armor is about the same quality sidegrage of what i can craft with tungsteen. I will replace it as soon as i find any regenerative vest.