Guard Outfits are Overpowered, there's no reason not to wear them

[Engineer Gaming]

Right now there's very little reason to not wear a Guard Outfit. You still get counted for all periods (even rollcall!), the +1 heat when passing a guard is negligible since you lose that the same second, and it nullifies the heat of skipping an activity (instead of +10 per guard for missing an activity). Ontop of all of that, there's no risk or planning in putting them on, as guards will not react to you changing infront of them.

So currently, he only reason to not wear a guard outfit is contraband detectors, which are not a problem in most prisons anyways. Guard Outfits should not count you for events, and guards should react to you putting on and taking off a guard outfit, maybe max heat? That way there's a reason to put back on your inmate outfit after you first jump a guard, and you have to step out to change so the guards don't notice. While the +1 heat CAN stack pretty fast if the security level's higher, it's still a little weak, so maybe being near the same guard after the +1 gives you additional heat? So you can't just stand around and act like a guard.



To add to this, the Medic/Infirmary uniforms are kind of underpowered. While yes, they give you the same heat resistance as a Guard Uniform, a Medic Uniform is easy to get for no reason, and the Infirmary Uniform seems to only serve as a crafting ingredient, and there's little reason to get both. Why go out of your way to get an inmate outfit (either through quest or ruining your own), and then find bleach and ink, when you can just jump a guard? USUALLY the easiest way to get an extra inmate outfit is to loot a fellow con, and to do that you usually need to have an idea of how combat works, a weapon, and decent stats, all of which you can just as easily use to knock out a guard and take his unfiorm, get a free mid-tier weapon, and usually other loot aswell.

I suggest that uniforms become more developed. The infirmary uniform should be just a lower-tier medic unform, giving you more heat than a medic uniform, but be craftable with a face mask and rubber gloves. The medic uniform should let you into the medical room, and should give you less heat than a guard unfiorm, at the expense of not being able to go into guard-only areas. Guard uniforms should get heat quicker than medic uniforms, since a Guard's more likely to know another guard than a medic, but give you more freedom; a medic can't go into the back areas, and a medic can't search desks, but a guard can't lift bodies or hold tools.

Another suggested addition is a Utility Uniform. The protective covers found on H.M.P. Offshore could be an ingredient, and the other two could be an Infirmary Outfit (white-collared shirt) and a hardhat, which I believe is already in the game but if not it can't be hard to make the sprite. The utility outfit would let you do things like unscrew vents and move thout getting yelled at, and you wouldn't gain any heat (why would a guard even LOOK at a utility guy?), but you'd gain heat if you're in an area with prisoners. This would make it a good option for sneaking around at night, but during the day it'd be very risky, especially if you plan on not raising security level.



On the other hand, there's some other benefits wearing a uniform of any kind should give you. While (obviously) you can't have different heat stats for each outfit, if you jump a guard outside for his uniform and get targeted by snipers, you should be able to run into a building, put on his uniform, and walk out acting like a guard. Maybe there should be other aspects to lowering heat with different uniforms, like holding a baton as guard? I don't know how the code goes with holding items, as currently you can walk around with a weapon out with no added heat, but it'd be a nice feature.

Finally, the inmate outfit should not be the only one armorable! Duct-tape and Metal Plates make you a tank, but only in a con's uniform, which is useless since the benefit of an Inmate's uniform is to get past contraband detectors without a Contraband Pouch, but combat is simple even with initial stats as you can easily avoid damage. Maybe not the Infirmary Uniform, but the others should all be craftable into armor the same way an inmate's outfit is, as they're already contraband and it gives you reason to actuall wear armor; why craft a cushioned inmate's outfit when you can avoid combat with multiple guards first?


TL;DR There's no reason to not wear a guard's uniform, and there's no reason to wear a medic/infirmary unfiform. Guard's uniforms should have drawbacks, medic uniforms should be functionally different than guard's uniforms, there should be utility uniforms, and they all should be armorable. Also, the uniforms should give you cover from snipers/guards chasing you, and you should get in trouble for changing infront of guards.