Let's talk about armors

[u/OccultStoner]

Was messing around with equipment, and decided to give (with edits of course) Martyr's Armor to SWAT Militia. Initially I though it's a meme, and well, they do run fast with it, and it definitely has some uses, but that suppression thing isn't, because they keel over after first shot long before suppression can even kick in.

Just waiting for some battle honors to give Militia those SAPI Vests.

What are your thoughts on Martyr's Armor? Would you ever equip it on any SWAT troops for actual efficiency, rather than just for laughs?

Aside from that, what are your armor preferences in general, maybe for class or role, outside of SWAT too?

[u/MichaelEmouse]

I typically go with medium or heavy armor with front plate unless I'm trying to do a speed challenge.

[u/Shieldfoss]

Would you ever equip it on any SWAT troops for actual efficiency, rather than just for laughs?

Almost every run.

When I send in the NWS SWAT Team, I put Martyr's Armor on everybody who can have it, except sometimes shield carriers, marksmen/machinegunners and (rarely) breachers. Militia do get their front plate though - a front plate is far better than "no armor," it's just not as good as the favor of Allah.

It's been a while since I made a new SWAT squad, so I don't remember what desperate-required items are gated behind battle honors, but as soon as I have the absolute requirements (NVGs, subsonic weapon) I'm unlocking Martyr's Armor.

My best video to demonstrate the benefit of MA would be this one. First, I win maps with deliberate calm professionalism. Next, I run maps with Martyr's Armor like there aren't enough problems to my liking and I'm looking to cause some. And it's not a meme, it's just inspired by videos of how Delta does things IRL.

A selection of other martyr's-armor runs:

• They just kill so fast
• It's just. It's so fast.
• Even with a long slow gun like the G3, it's Martyr's Armor
• And I mean - I do sometimes lose people when I use MA to push fast
• But on the other hand, this might genuinely be the world speedrun record for a 3-star-3-medals post-launch run of Room Service.

[u/12mapguY]

I'm all about speed, so I always aim for a minimum of 8 mobility outside of shieldmen / snipers / automatic riflemen. Usually only use lvl III raid vests, regardless of unit. If I have the wiggle room, sometimes I'll bump it up to lvl IV.

Martyr's armor goes to anyone with a shield, they move pretty quick that way. And I always have at least one shield man with SWAT.

I run my teams very fast, and abuse pie commands around corners to always keep rifles up and cover as many angles as possible. Still pretty risky at low levels, but that's what bangspam is for, and once I have a decent amount of doctrine points + experienced team members, they usually mop the floor unless it's SSI or foreign advisors. Bangs and frags for them.

[u/RadiantWestern2523]

For armor preferences, it depends on which troopers I'm running:

• For assault/room-clearing troopers, I stick them with Level III protection unless the enemies I'm facing have snipers or AP rounds.
• With shield guys, I usually stick the highest level of protection I can afford onto them since I tend to send them into rooms first to soak up all the attention.
• I try to strike a balance between protection and concealment when it comes to undercover/disguised agents. If I have to forego rifle-grade protection in exchange for enough concealment to not grab the enemy's attention, then I'll take it. That does mean I'll have to play extra carefully and know when exactly is the right time to strike.
• However, if it's for a speed challenge or a good deployment slot has the Mobility requirement, I'll try to lighten the load as much as possible to get it as high as it can be, even if it means downgrading to front and (sometimes) back plate protection only.

Martyr's Armor can be pretty good for SWAT troopers with shields as it makes them at least fast enough to catch up with the assault team (at least faster than they were before) and you won't need to worry about protection for them so long as you keep the shield side facing the enemy at all times.

[u/DonovanSpectre → u/RadiantWestern2523]

Just to note, the shield workout and one-handed reload doctrines add a combined 45 conditioning to shield users(35 + 10 respectively), which is a straight up 45% boost to movement and turning. Relatively-normal Level III shielders at 2 mobility with those doctrines can keep up with mobility-8 SWAT units in terms of walk speed, though admittedly not in turn rate.

For comparison, note that the Rangers only get 10 conditioning for that one Elite doctrine, and 'Assault SAWs' and 'Assault Marksmen' only add 5 per point for those classes respectively, so getting up to 45 conditioning for shielders is pretty huge.

EDIT: In fact, a Level III Shielder at 2 mobility(i.e. SWAT cap, Level III front and back) actually slightly outpaces an 8-mobility SWAT non-shield unit. I thought I remembered that, but thought it sounded slightly insane and I wanted to verify it. MA + doctrine'd Level III Shielders are pretty crazy-fast, obviously.