This is my Original Plan for Modifying Heavy Suits:


Heavy Suits will come with 'Starter' Gear that'll allow them Barebone functions for Deep Water Diving. By Default, they'll work much like a regular Dive Suit, just weaker but a little bit faster.

The player can then upgrade and/or modify parts of their suit which will apply small changes to the Suit's stats and/or add a unique defense among a few other things.

There will be different Types of Heavy Suits:

X-ORCA (Medium Overall Defense, High Environmental Defense, Medium Speed,
Experimental Modifications)

M-ORCA (Medium Overall Defense, High Combat Defense, Fast Speed,
Highly Modular)

Mx-ORCA (High Overall Defense, Medium Special Defense, Slow-Medium Speed,
Low Modularity)


Modification types are determined by the Suit Type.
Players can modify their Suits:

Undersuit
Vest
Helmet
Internal Modules (Life Support, Power Source, Visor etc.)
External Modules (Supplementary Armor, Lights, Packs, etc.)
Decorations


It'll be similar to the current Vest and DO Heavy Suit Modifications but far more in depth.
The biggest issue is with Fabrication and Deconstruction.
I'll have to do a *lot* of work on the xml in order to get the Fabricator and Deconstructer working in the way I intend it to.

Shouldn't the X-ORCA be faster than the M-ORCA ? You did mention the fact the the X was meant to be used by offensive roles, and the M by defensive roles.

I think that the offensive roles should have lighter armor, and therefore increased running speed, to sorta run and gun. Whereas defensive armors should be a tad thicker in terms of protection, and therefore slower, so that they can hold their ground.

As for modules, well, if you really wanna make those suits customizable to suit each players' needs, I guess you'll have to add all sorts of mods, such as :
- Stronger armor
- Pouches (for ammo, or meds, or whatever)
- Scanners (like the vanilla health scanner)
- Sonar
- Maybe even some sort of tiny, built-in fabricator, to make tiny things like wires, or electrical components. Handy for engineers.
- And so on, and so forth

Don't quite know what is doable, but that's a start. Maybe even fancy features such as various rebreathers, or a choice in terms of power sources. Like you could use batteries but be limited, or be powered by a nuclear rod but risk radiation exposure if you get attacked too much.

The tricky part will be to not turn the suit into something that's to much of a bother to manage. Managing the sub is quite a busy job as is, and one of the awesome things about the ORCA suits, aside from the looks, is not have to use those impractical diving suits anymore.

Anyway, great job on the last update, mate. Keep up the good work !

You've got it reversed,
X-ORCA is Defensive/Passive.
M-ORCA is Offensive and Prioritizes Mobility over Maximum Protection.

Mx-ORCA is a sort of X/M-ORCA Hybrid. It's designed to be the Special or Unique type of Armor that provides Special Forms of Protection. (Still Expanding on this.)

As for your suggestions,

I haven't thought of Sonar.
I'll see if I can work on that. I'm hoping I'll be able to make the Sonar UI Toggleable because having a giant Circle on your screen isn't the best for Combat.
I'm hoping to do the same with a Powered Combat Medic Helmet.

The idea of a mobile Fabricator is very Lucrative but I don't think that's possible to create.
At least for me.

Thanks for contributing to Suggestions and sticking around, most of your ideas were actually already on my list!

Ah right, I mistook X for M, my bad.

I've been playing around with the new suits in the editor mods. Can't figure out if I like the assault collar or the pouches better. On one hand... thicker, more badass looking suit. On the other... more storage !

The new suits are really awesome, so far.

One thing that you might wanna consider : receiving the "previous" version of a suit when deconstructing a more advanced one. For example, I've got loads of X suits stored, and I wanna craft some M suits. It might be useful to put a Modified X-ORCA suit in the deconstructor, and get a Salvaged Modular Vest as a result.

Don't know what you think of it. Sure, it eliminates the need to buy or find Salvaged Vests, but then again if you're loaded with advanced vests, you're already richer than you'd be with just the basic vests.

That's actually the plan.

If the player Deconstructs Modified Armor, they'll get back the Original Heavy Suit and Individual Custom Parts that they added onto the Suit.

If they Deconstruct the Default Suit or Individual Custom Parts, they'll get Material back from it.

As I do more work on the xml though, it seems customizing armor's gonna have to be restricted too order based modifications. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Alrighty then. I wish you good luck on those .xml blacksmithing sessions !

"Undersuit
Vest
Helmet
Internal Modules (Life Support, Power Source, Visor etc.)
External Modules (Supplementary Armor, Lights, Packs, etc.)
Decorations"

i have a question about this, will it be possible to install multiple ones at a time? Power Source + Visor for instance, or will it only be one from each. Like only one from Internal and one from External Modules

The plan is to allow modifications of all modules.

Could I suggest the basic undersuits to be upgradable to have more carry space?

The next update will have a new variety of undersuits.
The Salvaged Undersuits can be fabricated into these new undersuits.
As of now I've completed:

Security Undersuit
Riot Security Undersuit
Tactical Security Undersuit


I'm hoping to make some more but right now I'm focusing on getting Saber Armament's new update out.

Kk OH can I suggest a helmet for medics (A built in scanner). When you have time.

I am a bit confused if the heavy suits function like dive suits then what will they wear underneath it?

One of the MX-ORCA suits could be an "anti-xeno" armor that kills husk parasites on contact. Maybe it is coated in an anti-parasitic material (immunity to parasites) and/or it has an electrified shark suit (chain mail) for things that bite. Kind of a specialized derelict boarding build. But make it susceptible to electrical. I wouldn't do fire weakness, because of the orb things when you fight a Thalmus.

A diving PAK would be cool. Just strap fins and a turbine to the regular PAK. Boosts the swim speed stats. It'd make organizing scuba gear a breeze if it's also a container.

An artifact PAK would be interesting, so you can hold an artifact in a backpack that also contains the effects.

I love these ideas. I was thinking of making a powered suit that'd have a modification that'd integrate an autonomous medical system that could provide small forms of healing whenever damage is taken. To balance out, healing is very slow and takes time to be put into full effect.
Damage taken in rapid succession or enough to instantly kill will render it near useless.

If the wearer is incapacitated, an automatic defibrillation system will attempt to revive the wearer; Success rate will be on par with a person with low medical skill.


A Thruster PAK is alread in the works. Though it's not turning out the way I'd hope.
Other variants of PAKs and Packs in general will definitely be available later on.

Could we get documentation when the new update rolls out (maybe a .pdf or .txt in the mod files) containing each item's stats, special effects (like pressure resistance, integrated flashlight, etc.), possible modifications and said modifications' effects?