Name of Idea: Armor Design Rework

Deals with: Armor crafting

Idea: Restructuring of the armor crafting process in order to allow for greater diversity.

• Preface:

As many of us have seen, there is a large portion of the Emu community that would like to see some changes made to offer a bit of diversity to pre-CU armor. I'm sure most of us have found ourselves waiting at a shuttle port or buff line surrounded by what could best be described as a swarm of clones. At some points it seemed as if we should have been fighting the Clone Wars since one would be hard pressed to find any major difference in the appearance of most of those in their vicinity.

Due to the rather restrictive crafting system placed on armor, use of the various armor types offered was often over looked in favor of one that offered superior protection. Composite armor and its incredible protective abilities made it the natural choice for anyone that wished to pursue serious battle.

My suggestion is heavily influenced by the system that was brought about by the Combat Upgrade. This is done for simplicity and to show that the system would already be in place for us to take advantage of it. I realize that the simple mention of the CU comes with a negative connotation for many in the community, but please do not rashly judge what is offered simply due to your personal biases.

• Purpose:

I'd like to address the issue of the pre-Cu armor appearance monotony. I'd also like to offer the developers a viable way in which they could incorporate a system which would enhance what the pre-Cu gave us and not offer a wholesale change as the Combat Upgrade did.

• Suggestion:

The way in which SOE attempted to solve this issue was with a rework of the system which, on the surface, seemed to be a radical divergence from that which was already in use. In fact, the primary difference was in the way in which the armor was crafted. The sweeping changes that everyone actually saw were more in response to the restructuring of the damage system that came with the CU. Along with that came a new system of annotating the armors effectiveness and stated efficiency of the different armor classifications which was also instituted by the CU. (These are both ideas that I would NOT want to incorporate into the game.)

The system itself, apart from the rest of the changes dictated by the CU rework, could fit seamlessly with the pre-CU system. It would offer a more varied approach to the crafting of armor and allow for more diversity in what armor would be chosen by those that use it.

This change could actually be implemented in a number of ways. Any component of this rework could be instituted in conjunction or separately from the others. The variations I have listed below are just basic ideas of the complete structure that would need to be implemented. They offer a hand full of options that could be manipulated and used in any way that any of the server communities wanted.

• Implementation:

Personally, I don't see a valid reason for completely changing the way in which armor functions or in the way that this function is expressed. By that, I mean that I would keep the idea of armor having different layers that would offer protection to different types of attack. I would also keep the protection ratings listed in percentages instead of replacing them with an abstract numbering system.

The basic tenants of the implementation would hinge on the makeup of the armor and how this is done during its crafting.

Armor Structure:

The construction of armor would be divided into three main categories:

• Core

The underlying protective property of the armor. This would give the armor its basic defensive structure. Within the construction of the core would lie the possibilities for adding different protection layers for the various types of damage done by pre-CU weaponry (i.e. acid, blast, kinetic).

The core could also be used to define in what category the armor would fall and, if so arranged, what certifications would be needed to use the armor. This is just a possibility. This system as a whole does not hinge on this idea.

• Appearance

The outer most structure of the armor. This is the segment of the armor that would give it a certain look.

This aspect of the process could be handled in different ways depending on the system of implementation.

• Enhancements

Any special aspects that the armor might posses.

Enhancements would have a varied effect on the armor and would depend heavily on other factors that could be included into the game (e.g. bioengineered components, special protection layers).

Enhancements could be further divided into subcategories or could be included as a subcategory of the appearance shell which would also allow for further variants of the armor appearance.



I have included a list of three variations in which this system could be used. I'm not saying that these are the only ways in which this could be done. Rather, I am giving my ideas on the subject and would appreciate any constructive criticism that others are willing to offer.



Continued \/

Variant I

Each segment of the armor structure could be completely separate from the other. In such a system, any armor appearance could be used with any type of armor core.

This would make for the most diversity, but would also eliminate the purpose of awarding different armor appearances at different levels of progression within the Armorsmith profession. Another issue that could spawn from this particular variant is a confusing and possibly overwhelming loot structure. Both of these problems could be easily overcome with some of the additional ideas that follow.



Variant II

The segmentation of the armor structure would be dealt with in a manner similar to that in Variant I. The marked difference would be the relationship that certain parts of the armor construction would have with the others.

Example

Each appearance would have a set number of cores that could be added to form the basic structure of the armor. More advanced forms of armor, such as; Composite and Padded would allow for more layers than the simpler armors, such as; Bone and Chitin.

This could be handled as follows:

Bone: 1 core
Chitin: 3 cores
Tantel: 5 cores
Padded: 8 cores
Composite: 10 cores
Note: Each subsequent core might only increase the over all protection by as little as 5%, there by giving a slight advantage to using the most complex appearances for more protection.

Another way of maintaining the delineation between armor types would be to allow the higher, more complex armor types more options for enhancement.

This could be handled as follows:

With the inclusion of “Biological-Mechanical Cartridges” (an area of the original armor layout that was never actually implemented), would come the possibility of allowing the more complex armor appearances the ability to have these enhancements. The number of enhancement slots could also play a role in keeping a reasonable difference between armor types.

Continued \/

Variant III

This variation of the system would require armor to be divided into different categories. These categories could be handled in a myriad of ways and could offer a bit of flexibility which I will explain further along.

I've also worked in the idea of certain armor types aligning themselves with specific profession lines. If implemented in the way that I have outlined here, it would not be necessary to actually include certifications as was done in the CU.

Author's note: I personally would rather not have certifications that govern what armor can be used since I find it restricts my personal influence on how my character is played.

Categorization of Armor

Similar to the way in which armor was differentiated after the Combat Upgrade, armor could fall into one of three categories: Recon, Infiltration and Assault. Unlike the system used in the CU, these categories would not determine the basic qualities of the armor, they would characterize the encumbrance aspects of the armor instead. In addition, each type of armor would not be placed into one particular category or another. Instead, these categories would be based on the way in which the armor itself is created. There would be some restrictions on certain types of armor, but overall, the categories would be very flexible as to how they relate to the armor's form.

Explanation of Armor Categories:

Recon. Armor

The Recon. variant is meant to be lightweight armor that allows for maximum dexterity and freedom of movement.

• Low speed encumbrance
• Low movement encumbrance (terrain negotiation)
• No attack restrictions

Infiltration Armor

This variation of armor is meant to be used in quick strike operations where increased protection, as well as; a moderate amount ofspeed and dexterity are needed.

• Moderate speed encumbrance
• Moderate movement encumbrance
• No attack restrictions

Assault Armor

Assault armor is a primary infantry battle armor who's design focuses on high protective abilities. Subsequently, this comes at the cost of some mobility.

• High speed encumbrance for melee/moderate encumbrance for ranged
• High movement encumbrance
• Some restrictions on melee attacks

Encumbrance penalties in this system would apply to other character ability modifiers (this could be in addition to HAM encumbrance), such as; terrain negotiation, weapon speed, and possibly weapon accuracy, as well as; restricting certain special abilities. The inclusion of these encumbrance modifiers would make the need for certification unnecessary since it would behoove certain professions to use certain armor types, but not restricting the player from making his/her own decisions.

Armor appearances wouldn't necessarily need to be placed specifically into just one of the categories listed above (e.g. Composite = heavy, tantel = medium). The actual variation in the armor would be best handled, in this case, through the use of different types of cores or different amounts of cores used (see Core in Variant II).

To increase the flexibility of this idea, thereby increasing the overall diversity of armor, each armor appearance could be made to accept more than one type of core or different amounts of cores. This would further blur the line between armor types, but still offer a way of keeping a valid differentiation between the levels of armor. The higher levels of armor would offer more possibilities.

Example:

Armor name: Bone
Core type: Light
or
Number of cores: 1

Armor name: Mabari
Core type: Light
or
Number of cores: 1

Armor name: Chitin
Core type: Light/Medium
or
Number of cores: up to 2

Armor name: Tantel
Core type: Light/Medium
or
Number of cores: up to 2

Armor name: Padded
Core type: Light/Medium/Heavy
or
Number of cores: up to 3

Armor name: Composite
Core type: Light/Medium/Heavy
or
Number of cores: up to 3

Continued \/

Here is a more detailed version of my idea for a rework of the armor crafting system. Please, offer any criticisms that you feel would enhance this as an offering to the community as a viable change to the basic pre-CU code. This is a detailed offering for the way in which Variant I would be used in the game.

Suggestion

Specific Change to Armor Crafting

The crafting of armor will primarily remain the same as it was in the pre-CU game environment. As it was at this time, the construction of armor will be broken down into three distinct elements: Protective Layers, Armor Segments and, finally, the Armor Form. Each element of the armor construction will be used in the subsequent element; culminating in the final crafting of an actual piece of armor (e.g. Protective Layers will be used in the construction of Armor Segments and these Segments will be used in the creation of the Armor Form).

In order to diversify the performance of crafted armor, protective and encumbrance characteristics will no longer depend upon the final Armor Form. These properties will be primarily controlled by the crafting process itself. By slightly changing the armor crafting procedure , the Armorsmith will have the ability to dictate not only the special protective aspects of armor; but the base effectiveness offered by a particular suit of armor as well. This is done by changing the basic role played by the Protective Layers used in the armors construction.

In both the pre- and post-CU game environments, the use of Protective Layers was considered optional. These Layers were the basis for simply increasing the base effectiveness of the armor and establishing the special protection properties that it offered. In this system, Protective Layers will become required components and will be the sole basis for determining both the base effectiveness and special protection aspects of armor. In addition, Protective Layers can be used as a means of increasing the protective properties offered by both of these resistance categories during the last stage of construction.


How will this be done?

Changes to the crafting procedures and materials of the following items will offer Armorsmiths more control over the crafting process and allow for greater flexibility in armor fabrication.

Protective Armor Layers

As I stated before, Protective Layers will still be used in the crafting of the Armor Segments. At this point of the construction, the Layers will be used to determine the base effectiveness of the Armor Segment. This means that any piece of armor utilizing this Armor Segment will then have a base effectiveness determined by the Armor Segment's protective properties. It will no longer matter what type of armor is created (i.e. Composite, Padded, Bone), in the end the effective protective properties will be completely controlled by the components put into its construction.

Example

In order to create an Ubese Left Bracer, an Armorsmith must first create an Armor Segment. In order to give the segment base effectiveness against Kinetic, Blast and Energy, he uses one Protective Layer for each of those damage types (three separate Layers). When this segment is used in the creation of actual Ubese Left Bracer, that piece of armor will have a base effectiveness against those three types of damage.

Example for an Energy Protection Armor Layer Schematic
Required:

• Armor Layer Frame: 20 units of Metal
• Ablative Damage Absorption Medium: 8 units of Polymer
• Energy Sink: 8 units of Known Inert Gas
• Second-tier Insulation Medium: 5 units of Low-Grade Ore

Armor Segments

In this system, Armor Segments will play a very important role in the creation of armor. It will be this basic component, instead of the armor type alone, that will determine the protective nature of the final product.

Since the basic element of the Armor Segment will be the same no matter what type of armor is being created, Armor Segments will no longer be based on armor type. Instead, they will be placed into three distinct categories: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. As this would imply, each category of Segment is incrementally better than the category before it. The nature of these categories is simply based upon the number of slots it has available for Protective Layers.

Armor Segment Categories

• Basic: 2 Protective Layer Slots
• Intermediate: 3 Protective Layer Slots
• Advanced: 4 Protective Layer Slots

Note:
There will be no limitations or restrictions placed on armor to keep them from using any of these three types of segments.

Example for an Advanced Armor Segment Schematic
Required:

• Armor Segment Layer Assembly Plate: 16 units of Colat Iron
• Armor Segment Mounting Tabs: 5 units of Polysteel Copper
• Armor Layer Weld Tabs: 8 units of Kiirium Steel
• Armor Base Protective Layer: 1x Protective Armor Layer (excludes any layer previously used)
• Armor Base Protective Layer: 1x Protective Armor Layer (excludes any layer previously used)
• Armor Base Protective Layer: 1x Protective Armor Layer (excludes any layer previously used)
• Armor Base Protective Layer: 1x Protective Armor Layer (excludes any layer previously used)

Note:
Because they are being used to establish the base effectiveness of the armor at this point, duplicate
Protective Layers can not be used in the construction of Armor Segments.

Armor Forms

This is the final step in the armor construction process. It is at this point that a specific armor appearance will be chosen and the particular piece of armor is created. Unlike the system used during the post-CU incarnation of SWG, the application of the armor's appearance will have an affect on its overall performance.

With the determination of the armor's base effectiveness governed by the Armor Segment, this only leaves one final aspect of the armor's protective properties to be manipulated: Special Protection. The special protection offered by a piece of armor will be determined by the application of Protective Layers in the final phase of construction. The number of slots provided for these special protective layers will depend on the form that is chosen.

Note:
The availability of optional equipment could provide a way of justifying the difference in armor complexity and schematic acquisition at different levels of Armorsmith mastery.

Special Protective Layer Slots Available by Armor Type

• Bone/Mabari: 0
• Chitin/Tantel/Faction: 1
• Ubese/Padded/Composite/Faction: 2

Notes:
Armor types added would be assigned a number of special protective layer slots which would befit their complexity.
Slots available to Faction Armor would vary depending on complexity.

Example Ubese Armor Boots Schematic
Required:

• Auxiliary Coverage: 30 units of Iron
• Body: 30 units of Steel
• Inner Liner: 30 units of Leathery Hide
• Hardware and Attachments: 15 units of Neutronium Steel
• Bindings and Reinforcement: 15 units of Polymer
• Padding: 15 units of Wooly Hide
• Armor: 2x Identical Armor Segments
• Load-bearing Harness: 1x Fiberplast Panel
• Reinforcement: 1x Reinforced Fiberplast Panel

Optional:

• External Protective Layer: 1x Protective Layer
• Additional protective Layer: 1x any Protective Layer
• Bio-mechanical Enhancement: 1x Bio-mechanical Cartridge

Notes:
Optional equipment would vary depending on complexity of armor type.
Bio-mechanical Enhancement option used purely for demonstrative purposes.

Continued \/

This variation is in direct response to input offered by Sound, a member of the SWGEmu community. He outlined the logic behind the pre-CU armor system. His criticism of a reworked armor crafting system made me think about a very simple way to fight the 'armor clone' feel of SWG.

Suggestion

To offer a more varied pool of high end armor for use by the player base, the simple addition of new armor types or enhancements for armor appearances could be offered.

Additional Armor Types

There have been a number of comments posted in most of the Emu forums calling for the addition of new types of armor. Some of these call for the use of specific armor types that already exist in the Star Wars Extended Universe, and some call for the inclusion of armor offered in the NGE. Both of these are very solid and viable ideas, but they mostly refer to armor that would be considered faction specific or rare elite types of armor such as Mandalorian or RIS armor.

Another approach would be to offer simple variations to the ‘standard’ SWG armor forms. The armor types could use any form of nomenclature, but following typical Star Wars cannon, I’m using the MARK x identifier to differentiate these additional armor types. An example of such nomenclature would be: Composite Armor Mark II.

The construction of these new armor variants would be identical to ‘standard’ armor types. They would use the exact same schematic information and would possess the same properties as the typical armor form.

Example

Composite Armor MKII Left Bracer (Schematic)

Required:

Resources:

• 25x Nabooian Fiberplast
  
• 20x Beyrillius Copper
  
• 50x Intrusive Ore
  
• 20x Wooly Hide
  
• 50x Known Solid Petrochem Fuel
  
• 30x Aluminum
Subcomponents:

• 1x Reinforced Fiber Panel
  
• 1x Synthetic Cloth
  
• 2x Composite Armor Segment/Advanced Composite Armor Segment

Note:
All materials and subcomponents are identical to the standard construction of a Composite Armor Left Bracer.




Armor Appearance Enhancements

A variation in armor appearance could be handled in a different way as well. Instead of offering new static armor appearances, the creation of a new craftable Armor Appearance Enhancement could be used.

These subcomponents of the armor form would be used in the final stage of armor crafting to add subtle variations, such as ridges or altered panels, to the armor’s visage. They would be optional components that would play a purely cosmetic role in the creation of the armor. That means that they would have absolutely no affect on the defensive characteristics of the armor itself.

Note:
Any of you who continued to play SWG during the CU will recognize this idea. Please, do not let this bias your opinion. Since these optional components are simply for cosmetic purposes, they would not server to change the combat system or the effectiveness of the armor in any way.

Example

Armor Appearance Enhancement (Schematic)

Required:

Resources:

• 5x Fiberplast
  
• 5x Copper
  
• 5x Ore
  
• 5x Aluminum

A Further Variation of Armor Appearance Enhancements

To reflect the different materials used in armor construction, these enhancements could be specific to the armor types in which they would be used.

Example

Bone Armor Appearance Enhancement (Schematic)

Required:

Resources:

• 5x Leathery Hide
  
• 10x Bone
  
• 5x Ore


Composite Armor Appearance Enhancement (Schematic)

Required:

Resources:

• 5x Fiberplast
  
• 10x Beyrillius Copper
  
• 5x Intrusive Ore

Notes:
Since the Armor Appearance Enhancements would play such a minor role in the creation of armor, it would follow that their construction would be rather simplistic.

ill admit i didnt read this entire post because i am tired. but scanning through it alot of this seemed good to me.. i dont know if you covered this, but for the light, medium and heavy armors. does your plan allow for players to wear any type they want to? or will it be class restrictive like in the CU and NGE? i would prefer that players be able to choose whatever type of armor they wish to wear. other than that. at first glance these are good ideas. ill read them more thoroughly tomorrow. thats just one concern ive always had about an armor revamp.. which is needed.

I do cover this concern in the original post, but I would like to reiterate that I don't really like the idea of restricting armor by adding profession certifications. I prefer to let the players make the decisions for themselves based on their style of play and what they feel works best for them.

Holy schmoly that was a lot of thought put in!

I guess only a master armorsmith would really know the in's and out's of what you're talking about specifically, but it all sounded great to me as a "layperson". I didn't see anything that I felt would hamper combat gameplay, and what I did see really addressed the diversity issue. I like what you wrote under the "variants" especially Variant one "Each segment of the armor structure could be completely separate from the other. In such a system, any armor appearance could be used with any type of armor core." Seems to make sense. Great ideas!

Awesome detail. I'll reread it again when I'm not half dead from work.....

Doesn't sound too hard to implement. But different Cores would support more layers correct?

The actual construction of the core could again be broken down into different variants. You could subdivide the cores so as to allow for different protective layers, different amounts of protective layers or different basic protection (kind of like the way cores worked in the CU).

When I get a chance, I'll write up some more information pertaining to the breakdown of each section of the armor construction beginning with the cores.

BTW thanks for the input.

I like your idea, l'aasin. I had one similar that may or may not simplify what I believe you are trying ot suggest. Take what you will of it, you won't hurt my feelings

I figured we could just incorperate the CU system into the pre-CU combat style just by putting a "soft cap" on the protections the different armors provided.

During CU there were three armor types - Recon, Battle, Assault (Light, Medium, Heavy, basically).

Recon protected you better from energy-based attacks, Battle was a mid-ranged defence, and Assault was protective against kinetic attacks. Elemental attacks like acid, heat, blast, cold, electricity, etc. were a separate consideration protected from by the use of armor layers.

I figured if you just made the "recon" or "light" armors have a higher "soft cap" against energy, and a lower cap against kinetic, and vise versa for assault or heavy armors, you'd create a diversifying system with only a few quantitative changes in the coding, which already sort of existed. Pre-CU, the more advanced the armor, the more overall effective it was against -everything-. Bone - gave you about 5-15% protection against all attacks, vs. Composite which gave you 90% protection against all attacks.

What I propose would look like this:

Three types of armor, broken into two tiers, with varying protections based on tier and type -

Recon
Light
-Bone (Energy - 10%, Kinetic - 5%)
-Mabari (Energy - 15%, Kinetic - 0%)
Advanced
-Ubese (Energy - 65%, Kinetic - 25%)
-Faction (Energy - 70%, Kinetic - 20%)

Battle
Light
Tantel - (Energy - 10%, Kinetic - 10%)

Advanced
Maurader (Energy - 55%, Kinetic - 45%)
Padded (Energy - 45%, Kinetic - 55%)
Faction (Energy - 55%, Kinetic - 55%)
RIS (Energy - 60%, Kinetic - 60%)

Assault
Light
Chitin (Energy - 0%, Kinetic - 15%)

Advanced
Composite (Energy - 25%, Kinetic - 65%)
Bounty Hunter (Energy - 35%, Kinetic - 65%)
Mandolorian (Energy - 50%, Kinetic - 70%)
Faction (Energy - 20%, Kinetic - 70%)

Caveat - These are not hard caps on the percentage of protection. Simply a baseline to go by. Experimentation, resources used, and the skill of the AS would determine the true protection of the armor, which may vary by as much as 15% in either direction. Note that with this newer system, it should be nearly impossible to reach 90% protection in anything. Also note that experimentation in the protection of one aspect should lower the defense of its opposite.

Obviously, this is a rough idea, and would need testing and tweaking to figure what a good baseline would be for the sake of balance. And I am sure I didn't list all the armors available, but the ones that are missing should be obvious as far as where they should go.

thats all i needed to know. great ideas =)

Shadrach,

I had thought about just taking the CU system and converting it into the pre-CU structure. Once I really began thinking about this, I realized that there are some major issues that keep the two from meshing properly. One big problem with this is simply due to the fact of how weapon damage was handled in the CU as opposed to pre-CU.

The pre-CU system saw weapon damage with a much wider variation than its CU counterpart. In pre-CU times, all damage types were considered as primary damage, meaning; a FWG5 pistol only used heat to provide its damage, just as using a Steel Pole only dealt kinetic damage. Post-CU, damage types were lumped into two main categories: kinetic and energy. Every weapon's damage type was placed into one of these two main categories. In addition to this primary damage, some weapons dealt a subsequent elemental damage (e.g. heat, cold, electricity) on top of the initial damage. This secondary elemental damage then had a rating of how much damage it could possibly deal on each attack (usually quite low).

This meant that armor didn't really need to tailor itself to any other damage type besides the two main categories (energy and kinetic). This made dividing armor into categories based on their performance against a certain type of damage somewhat simple. That doesn't really work very well in the pre-CU system. With the possibility of 7 different primary damage types (not including Lightsaber), the categorization of armor based on this factor would be more complex than it need be. In that case, the ranking of armor and division of armor types must then fall upon other factors.

It is for this reason that I felt that a system that somewhat mirrors the post-CU armor crafting process yet based more on the overall protection provided by the armor would be better in the pre-CU environment. Utilizing a systems that takes advantage of the benefits offered by both incarations of the game, prior to the NGE, I felt to be the best option.



Now, I'd like to send out a request to all of you ex-armor smiths out there. To complete the full brake down of this system, I need some more information from pre-CU armor crafting instances. Unfortunately, I have lost all the pre-CU crafting screenshots that I took, so I'm hoping that some of you out there still have some of yours.

If you have any pre or post-CU crafting schematics or screenshots of the crafting process could you please PM me. I would seriously appreciate your assistance.

I've made a few changes to the information found in Variant III. Please, review this and offer any feedback that you feel necessary.

Thank you.