3.0 armor is kind of a joke. People actively avoid spec ops and just use normal military or even thief clothing just for storage.
Why is this? Because TTK isn’t impacted enough between types of armor.
I’d like to suggest a somewhat basic tier list for armor that doesn’t just end in regular military, but instead goes a bit further. We’ve already established Excursion zones are going to be hell, so why not some end game end game stuff that comes with downsides but unique abilities? (more on that under Advanced)
I wanted some end game equipment that was a bit more interesting than just bland Spec Ops, and gear that requires a bit of investment in order to get it’s full benefits.
What I'm factoring in for this suggestion
Armor plates that can be swapped out of armor. Higher tiers may not be able to be fit into lower tier vests. More variety at the later stages with dedicated plates for different types of protection alongside regular all purpose plates.
Limited customization for gear, such as clip on lights, pouches, holsters, etc.
The ability for vests to allow for easy access to magazines (therefore all mags in your vest are more easily reloaded, but require you to manually store them in your vest).
That for the most part clothing by itself (tops and bottoms) won’t offer much protection, besides from say the weather (or for biohazard related clothing, blocking out radiation), but later stages can see clothing actually act like armor, and with improvised variants that have metal strapped on at the cost of speed and other factors.
Penalties/boosts for armor/clothing. This would include mobility (how easily you can jump, crouch, go prone, turn, etc), speed (how fast you walk and sprint and for how long), health, reload speed, etc. This would even include vision.
Plates that can be swapped in and out of armor, and come in a few different types. These different types would mainly be based on dealing with a certain type of damage. They would come in 6 tiers (although keep in mind, I also use the tiers as a rating system so not all armors can have plates, they’re just on par with say a tier 3 plate). Higher tier plates would not work in lower tier vests.
Bullet penetration. Higher caliber bullets will be able to penetrate armor, and heavier rounds even if they do not penetrate will still cause blunt damage to the player. Lower caliber rounds, like .22 LR and even 9mm can easily do little to no damage to higher tier armor, but can still cause blunt damage to stuff like Swat and/or can still be a threat to unarmored players or exposed areas of an armored player.
Civilian/Police
Mainly how it is in 3.0. Would include helmets like Construction and Firefighter ones as well as really old WW2 era helmets, Bike/Crash helmets, as well as a basic Civilian vest, various bandoleers, and other knockoff/aftermarket attachments and clip ons for gear.
Firefighter: The helmet would protect against really basic damage but overall wouldn’t do much. The clothing would protect against fire but not completely remove it, only extend the time before you start to get affected by fire and end up getting burned.
Construction: The helmet would protect against a bit more than a firefighter helmet, but the clothing wouldn’t do all that much for you outside of being handy for carrying around tools and such.
Civilian Vest: There’d probably only be one model of civ vest. It wouldn’t feature any form of customization. Tier 1 plate, can’t accept anything above that.
Police: Also similar to 3.0, with a few more options. Overall civilian stuff but a bit better.
Police helmet: A basic police helmet that offers more protection and the ability to attach a clip on light.
Police Vest: Able to take tier 1 and 2 plates.
Militia
Militia: Pretty much civilian but a lot more varied and overall better. Includes a mix of improvised masks/armor, and surplus military gear.
Some of the improvised armor may feature more protection than other more advanced tiers but at the cost of limited or no customizability and heavy penalties.
Militia gear includes old Soviet/NATO vests and gear dating back to the early stages of the Cold War, metal-based masks and vests, various bits of improved civilian and police gear, and overall serves as an intermediate tier, as well as an early example of light vs heavy playstyles. (lightweight gear vs heavier improvised metal stuff). Tier 1-3, but very limited in regards to plates. The tier 3 vests would likely not be plate-based to begin with.
Swat/Riot/Counterterrorist
Basically improved police gear, but with more specialized armor sets. Swat and similar types would be good against general gunfire, while Riot would be more anti melee/blunt damage.
Swat would see decent customizability, with pouches and such being able to be added and removed. There would not be multiple kinds of Swat vests however.
Riot would be somewhat limited in that regard, but would make up for it with decent ranged protection and very good melee protection, although it’d weigh a decent amount.
Tier 3.
Military
Military is where you truly see more customization. There would be two military armor types: Light and Heavy. These would be able to be customized and be able to affect reload speed, storage, etc, with trade offs.
A few examples of what would be available (this format would be used for Spec Ops, and very limited Militia/Swat:
Light Chest Rig
Light Plate Carrier (able to take up to tier 3 plates, has some more room for pouches)
Heavy Chest Rig (can carry more than Light but obviously weighs more)
Heavy Plate Carrier (able to take up to tier 4 plates)
Heavy Body Armor (dedicated for protection, giving up other areas)
A Light vest would always weigh less than a Heavy vest, at the cost of never really being able to compare in terms of protection. In addition, various military grade attachments would be able to be found and would be of higher quality than civilian ones. Military clothing (shirt and pants) would not offer much protection against weapons but would be very useful for overall surviving and with a good amount of room for various things.
Tier 3-4.
Spec Ops
Spec Ops grade armor would delve even further into customization, but also into diverse playstyles. Light, Medium, and Heavy would be the core armors. Spec Ops clothing (shirt and pants) itself could provide limited protection against small caliber rounds, in the form of it’s Heavy variant (at the cost of weighing a bit more and having less room). The Light and Medium variants would protect less but have more storage and weigh less, with Medium being a good middle ground.
Spec Ops gear would overall cover more of the player’s body, and the Heavy helmet would cover the majority of the head.
Tier 4-5.
Advanced
Prototype powered armor with various manufacturers. These would be fairly playstyle based, and feature an average amount of customization. Probably would be mainly sourced from Excursion areas, or very hard to access research labs. Their real bonus would mainly be stats. The main idea is you give up more customization and generally speed or something else for a strong bonus. There would be a few notable customization options such as HUD elements.
All Advanced armor would require the user to be wearing a full Advanced Undersuit (think modern day “exosuits”).
This suit prevents you from wearing armor on your body, but is needed in order to use the Advanced armor, as it is designed to pair up with the Advanced armor. It also gives the wearer generic speed and weight buffs, but these buffs obviously get affected once you start wearing Advanced armor pieces.
This prevents people from just wearing one piece of armor in order to get a bonus (like a HUD). All sets would run off a source of power, based in the chest piece/vest of the set. A few customizable options such as mini solar panels would be available, but overall you would need a decent steady supply of power (in the form of Power Cells) in order to fully operate these sets.
Keep in mind they wouldn’t overall be too crazy, and I’d like to try to keep them fairly down to Earth. No fancy laser beams and shit. Just based on tech that is either in development, hypothetical tech, or just stuff that might come down the line in 20-30 years.
EXO Armor: A fairly generic set that overall is better than Military or Spec Ops, but lowers your movement speed. Doesn’t do anything special, but allows for good carrying capacity. Interferes with movement.
Main idea for this set is a generic, fairly common (compared to the other sets) set that isn’t good at much, but is very helpful in getting a full set of powered armor, as the undersuit you are required to wear won’t protect you well, and therefore a full set, mismatched or not, is needed. Tier 5.
STIM Armor: Advanced armor which when a full set is worn will grant the player an additional 20 health, and automatically apply syringes when the user falls below 65% health. The User can also manually trigger healing if need be, but this comes with a built in cooldown of 15 seconds instead of the normal 10 for automatic healing.
One downside to these syringes is that you would have to make them yourself, and make sure your STIM Armor was stocked up on them. Another downside is each time a syringe is used, your active Power Cell is drained slightly.
It would be fairly lightweight and offer somewhat limited protection.
The idea with this armor is a mid to close range playstyle, in which you are able to take a heavy shot or two and live to be able to return fire. It’d be overall a very adaptable set which would allow for some level of flexibility. Tier 4.
Vanguard Armor: Fairly tanky armor which enables a lockdown mode when a full set is worm, and an overall slightly better penalty for movement as you’re wearing a full set that actually locks in together properly.
The lockdown mode would completely cover the user’s head and body, at the cost of nearly cripplingly low movement speed, pretty much making the user a turret, and messing a bit more with vision. This would only last for about 10 or so seconds before the armor would have to recharge the ability.
Normally the user’s face would be at some level of risk, in the form of a visor which is somewhat weak and can be shattered to expose the user’s face. (bulldozer time)
The idea with this armor is fairly simple. Tank damage. It comes with a neat little ability which allows for even heavier tanking, but cripples your ability to do much of anything besides shoot. This armor would really weigh a lot, and interfere with running/walking and other movement. It’d also cover up your vision a tad (so would some of the other armors). This armor would be very good at defending against Turned or even a lot of armed npcs or players, but it would certainly suffer. Probably one of the more ‘extreme’ types of armors. It’d also be pretty power efficient. Tier 6.
Exploration Armor: High tec armor with built in survival systems, allowing the user to retain a good amount of their water. Also comes in with a very well established HUD, and the helmet has onboard nightvision and spotlights. The set would allow for quicker swimming and better movement across bad terrain. Would come with a built in gas mask to filter out radiation. It would keep the wearer’s body temperature stable. In addition the Armor would have good storage space, but fairly limited customizability.
The idea for this set is a more survival based, jack of all trades set. It’d be very good for exploring high end locations without having to worry about bringing a lot of supplies, including looting Excursion areas. This set would be based either around a nomadic/solo playstyle, or perhaps a more supportive role. Main downside is limited combat related abilities nor good protection against weapons.
Tier 3.
Stealth Armor: Armor designed for mid-long range combat, with a built in stabilizer to help steady the wearer’s aim. Improves movement speed heavily. Lightweight and doesn’t impact your ability to turn, prone, etc. Otherwise very low armor, even for powered armor, but fairly efficient at power drain.
The idea for this set is to promote snipers wearing weak armor, providing good bonuses for a long range playstyle. Tier 2-3.
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