Light vs Heavy Armor

PaperLantern · 01-31-2007, 03:11 PM

I switched to using the light armour lately and I'm thinking it might help in certain, if not all, situations. I've gotten to the point where I realise staying still for any length of time while engaging the enemy is death in a cup, so I constantly move, even while defending -- ducking from cover to cover, running to rez the dead, moving to take flags, drop mines, flank attackers. And if someone gets the drop on me, or hits me with a vehicle shell, I'm usually going to end up dead anyway, heavy armour or no.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the heavy vs light debate (which I realise isn't really a debate, but I'm trying to stir one up).

**Snail88** · 01-31-2007, 03:25 PM

well for me, i always use heavy armor, with the only exception being when i play recon. Being able to run very far while being camo'ed is extremely important. Especially when youre goin to rdx that walker. But for everything else, as long as you have the sprint upgrades, you should be ok...then again its up to you...remember that the zeller can kill in one shot to the body if wearing light armor.

Its like playing counter strike...goin into a round without buying armor is putting yourself at a disadvantage at the onset. Only wear light when you need a lot of sprint, i.e. recon

**DeimosManifest** · 01-31-2007, 03:36 PM

I used to wear light armor almost all the time while playing the demo. In the full game, I'm always wearing heavy. The difference is -really- noticable without sprint unlocks, but if you have both you won't miss that little bit of sprint.

**Lyramion** · 01-31-2007, 06:01 PM

I am a big fan of Light Armor. Always using it on Recon and Engineer. Recon is pretty obvious since you need that movement for infiltrating and to flee (yes thats IS a tactic) from enemy squads. As for Engineer - either I should be in a Vehicle or somewhere sniping tanks - that dont really care what class your armor is.

When beeing a Squadleader I always wear Light Armor, too. The Movement is great for tactical purpose. Only class I usually wear Heavy Armor is Support.

**Vendi** · 01-31-2007, 08:32 PM

When playing assault or support, heavy armor is critical. Its not about getting hit by a tank shell, or being pounded when someone gets the drop on you. Its for the moments when you spot the enemy at the same time they spotted you - every health point counts. Also, if you have EVER gotten below 20% hp, you can be assured that the heavy armor saved you. Trust me, it happens quite a bit.
For recon, as stated above the zeller kills in one shot. That makes light armor a pain for sniper-sniper conflict. I still usually take it, however, due to the extra running distance.

**Lyramion** · 01-31-2007, 08:54 PM

Light Armor reduces dmg by 10% - Zeller does 100 - you take 90 dmg. Been tested from point blank range.

**Vendi** · 01-31-2007, 09:38 PM

Are you sure it is 10%
(And if not, then that would also imply the zeller normally does more than 100 dmg)... I just remember reading somewhere it was more (I thought 20%; possibly 25% but I dont think it was THAT high).

**negativeshade** · 01-31-2007, 09:42 PM

Moving around and/or wearing light armor is a huge disadvantage because you are probably the one end up dying in a 1vs1 situation. For example, the Baur needs 6-7 shots in the chest(2-3 headshots) to kill. If wearing light armor, it takes only 3-4 chest shots to take you out. I would suggest you to leave it on heavy unless you are playing knife-only servers.

**Lyramion** · 01-31-2007, 11:50 PM

Light Armor opens up new tactical options. For streight forward 1v1 of course the heavy one is better - noone doubted that. Most people leave it on for that purpose making it possible to outrun or flank them. On Medic I often use rocket missiles to kill. I like to have more stamina to be able to run to my SL and get him back up - even after we made a sprint to the next cover.

Its all preference really.

**experiment626** · 02-01-2007, 01:11 AM

I favor mobility (light+all stamina upgrades) over stand up slug fest. But I also play SL almost exclusively. I need the flexibility that huge run distance offers me. I can run behind and shoot Vendi....or I can run and hide from Bomm's rockets

There have been discussions about light armor and mobility versus heavy armor and staying power since, well, since the bronze age

I adhere to the mobility doctrine of the blitzkrieg versus the soviet "big tanks, and alot of 'em".
But even I don't plan on going toe to toe with a couple of Support troopies decked out with Class 4 armor and Ganzes...time to RUN and hide and let my squad whittle them down! At them meat sponges!! Advance and sacrifice yourselves for my, er...I mean, "THE" greater good!

**Iamthefallen** · 02-01-2007, 12:08 PM

If I'm playing AT I'm starting to favor light armor, heavy armor can't stop a tank round anyway, so the ability to sprint saves more lives.

If I'm playing assault with a revive kit, I'll use heavy armor. If I'm playing as a full time medic I'll go with light armor to be able to get revives in the middle of the street.

PaperLantern · 02-01-2007, 03:34 PM

I also think there's situational circumstances for selecting light vs heavy.

Say you're defending a flag as waves of enemies are coming for you. If you're using the rockets to take them out as they approach, and have health packs out and actively healing, the light armour will allow you to move faster and longer to reposition between waves, etc. If you're attacking, you don't always have the time to stop and heal, so the heavy armour could keep you alive that little bit longer while you get to the flag. Although I guess you could also use the exact opposite logic -- heavy for defending because you don't really have do move around much and the extra protection could be the difference between holding the flag and losing it, and light for attacking because it's all about mobility as you run and gun.

Now I've done confused myself.

**kotecki** · 03-07-2007, 05:17 PM

So recently i've been thinking about the inclusion by ea to allow players to take light armor. I never see anybody use the light armor. Now i realize that having more armor is usually always better but i was wondering if there might be any advantage to using the LA. So i've devised a little experiment. For the next week or so i'm going to play using only the light armor exclusively. I have several theories as to how this might turn out.

1. I'm going to get totally owned by everyone and their mother.
2. I'm going to get totally owned by everyone and their mother until i realize that i die faster than a FAV facing a walker, and start really thinking about who and when i engage people.
3. I'm going to be moving around a lot because i can run for so much longer thus suprising people with my ninja like abilty to show up where i'm not expected.
4. I'm going to totally own everyone no matter what and turn the whole battlefield 2142 world on its head and everyone will switch to using LA only.

For the experiment i'm going to play excatly like i noramlly do, ie. usually picking assault or support classes except when i'm on a titan when i use recon.

Now throughout the course of the week i'll probably start noticing things like i die a faster so will try to change my play style to reflect the way i think it ought to work. I'm guessing that i'll be ambushing more people, and using vehicles more.

Any thoughts on this?

Oh and for the people that want to know where an unarmored player is my SN is kotecki and i'll be on the TG server as much as possible.

**Rakkasan21** · 03-07-2007, 05:52 PM

I use light armor all the time and i must say my result is usually choice 4

ok well not really but i do use light armor most of the time

**Vendi** · 03-07-2007, 06:41 PM

What's your role? Heavy armor has some nice advantages as well, mostly in 1v1 fights where you are both surprised. Obviously if you are on a defending team you want heavy armor, or if you are on attacking and going up the middle. If I am in a flanking/fast assault squad; OR if I am in a mobile defense squad (chases down guys who get through front lines) I will take light armor.
I've found that I take light armor more often as recon or as engineer, but not necesarily always. It also helps as squad lead to keep me moving around, but I do have to adjust my playstyle as you've mentioned. It works great when trying to move around and be a sneaky spawn point, but can cause some serious problems when making assaults on flags.