How is Devilstrand worth it

[Whisper]

A button-up shirt made of plain leather and devilstrand of the same quality has only 12% more sharp damage protection.

That's like 6% more likely to negate damage, and 6% more likely to take half damage, and 8% more average damage reduction.

[Narrowmind]

The differences are more striking the higher quality the item it is.

[HunterSilver]

Devilstrand is one of the lowest techs available in the game, has some of the lowest work inputs of any crops, and clothes made from it go under other armor layers allowing you to stack defenses.

You set it, forget about it, and one day you have red clothes that are better at stopping bullets.

Compared to other high quality materials such as Thrumbofur, Synthread, and Hyperweave you can control how much of this material you get and when you get it as well.

[whatamidoing]

Also for items that have a greater impact from materials (ie dusters). A devilstrand duster is superior to a flak jacket of the same quality. Also, attacks have AP, the effect of which ends up more profound on items with lower armor.

[Steelfleece]

It's a shirt, not an armored vest. 8% damage reduction is pretty impressive for something that light and thin. Now, apply that to a duster, especially a high quality one, and the difference starts to become more evident. It isn't the same as gearing up in marine armor or anything, but as something workers are wearing when they get into an unexpected firefight it may well save a life or two.

Devilstrand also provides better heat tolerance (and slightly slightly better cold tolerance) than cloth, and a lot better protection from heat-based damage like, say, fire some of the mechanoids enjoy using or those new flame bows.

[VoiD]

Originally posted by AFK_TankyMOFO:

A button-up shirt made of plain leather and devilstrand of the same quality has only 12% more sharp damage protection.

That's like 6% more likely to negate damage, and 6% more likely to take half damage, and 8% more average damage reduction.

Not quite.

The higher the value, the more valuable numbers get.

What's the difference between a shirt with 1% and another with 2% sharp protection?
None, every shot in the game will pierce right through them both.

Having a few more % points at higher tiers can be the difference between turning into swiss cheese or just having a ton of bruises after combat, and for that same reason you really don't want to have a poor crafter wasting these valuable resources, use your best crafters for devilstrand (and thrumbofur) Dusters, which cover almost your entire body, then add a decent flak vest and decent pants and you'll realize that you'll have very high defenses, comparable to some late game power armors, much earlier in the game.

This is also the reason why I don't really get why some people like to wear recon armor late game, I mean, sure, you won't get as slow, but then you might as well not even bother with power armor at all.

In vanilla combat, to me, it's either masterwork+ cataphract armor or nothing, if you get something like that on a squad of Tough pawns you're set against max size raids, no need for exploits or anything else.

[alation13]

Isn't better at resisting heat damage?
I had an impoid tribe that kept on raiding my base so I quickly as possible started making nice devilstrand clothing for everyone.

[Egro]

1% more is still 1% more..lol. It is like 1% more point of damage before you lose a leg.

[sono]

Originally posted by Egro:

1% more is still 1% more..lol. It is like 1% more point of damage before you lose a leg. :lunar2019piginablanket:

Unfortunately, that's not how armor calculations work in Rimworld.

But yeah, devilstrand dusters are incredibly good. Wear it with a flak vest, and it's arguably better than recon armor (less protection for your limbs, better protection for torso and neck, which is where a lot of cital spots are).

For the resource investment, it's incredibly good. You have a theoretically infinite supply, so you can keep crafting until you get the best quality clothing unlike synthweave or thrubo fur, so the stats will often be better.

You need marine armor to get better protection, and that slows you down more.

For a basic tech, it's insane value.

[The Blind One]

Originally posted by VoiD:

In vanilla combat, to me, it's either masterwork+ cataphract armor or nothing, if you get something like that on a squad of Tough pawns you're set against max size raids, no need for exploits or anything else.

Getting masterworks is incredibly hard for power armors unless you're using the production specialist or have some way to milk inspirations (tortured artist, psycast). Or am I missing something here?

[Hykal]

Red dusters > cataphract armor

[sono]

Originally posted by The Blind One:

Originally posted by VoiD:

In vanilla combat, to me, it's either masterwork+ cataphract armor or nothing, if you get something like that on a squad of Tough pawns you're set against max size raids, no need for exploits or anything else.

Getting masterworks is incredibly hard for power armors unless you're using the production specialist or have some way to milk inspirations (tortured artist, psycast). Or am I missing something here?

20 skill gives a 10% chance of masterworks being made. Inspired creativity has 37% masterwork, 60% legendary. Specialist gives 50% masterwork, 10% legendary. Specialist+inspiration gives 97% chance of a legendary.

So without a specialist, you either wait for inspiration or waste a lot of resources and time. Over a long enough span, with enough wealth it's feasible. With a specialist, it's nothing noteworthy.

[VoiD]

Originally posted by The Blind One:

Originally posted by VoiD:

In vanilla combat, to me, it's either masterwork+ cataphract armor or nothing, if you get something like that on a squad of Tough pawns you're set against max size raids, no need for exploits or anything else.

Getting masterworks is incredibly hard for power armors unless you're using the production specialist or have some way to milk inspirations (tortured artist, psycast). Or am I missing something here?

Nop, those are the 2 reliable ways I know of.

That and crafting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of them with a lvl 20 crafter hoping for the best.

Granted you don't always need to be a human supremacist, after all, you can also use other ideoligion's specialists if you want to.

[Playzr 🐵]

Providing you can grow all year round and there's no winter it's a good idea to grow devilstrand. You could sell it. It's very little replanting time compared to how long it takes to grow. Devilstrand clothing is better and more appealing than cotton. It's more for luxury than for having better armour stats. Plus you can make some furniture with it. Save your cotton for fine carpets.

[Sossololpipi]

i think red dusters & flak vests can be compared to marine armor

[Cat®]

Protection factor table:

Normal x1
Good x1.15
Excellent x1.3
Masterwork x1.45
Legendary x1.80

An excellent Devilstrand Duster has 54.6% sharp protection.
An excellent Plainleather Duster has 31.59% sharp protection.

That means that if you are wearing an excellent Devilstrand Duster your sharp protection is as if you wore an excellent Plainleather Duster and then 73% of ANOTHER excellent Plainleather Duster. Numbers make fools of us all.