Flack Jacket vs. Carapace Armor:

[[EL] The Emperor]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to give you all my thoughts on an issue that has been bugging me recently in regards to the Flack Jacket, and Carapace Armor wargear purchases for the Lord General.

Note: For both armors the codex does not seem to be completely updated****

Carapace Armor:

Cost: 150 Requisition + 30 Power

Abilities: The Lord General commands his troops to stand firm, making any allied Imperial Guard infantry in radius 30 immune to suppression for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown. Requires the Carapace Armor upgrade.
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Flak Jacket:

Cost: 150 Requisition + 30 Power

Abilities: The Lord General sets his men in a defensive formation, decreasing incoming ranged damage to your infantry in radius 35 by 30% and preventing knockback for 20 seconds. Affects the Lord General and his retinue. 60 second cooldown. Requires the Flak Jacket upgrade. (Need to verify it affects the Lord General model because it doesn't seem to currently!)
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Issue: Though they cost the same when compared they do not offer the same level of benefits as one would expect. The Flack Jacket is a much better choice in almost every circumstance because of its added defensive properties. The Carapace Armor however lacks any added additional benefit which I find makes it rather mediocre in the best of circumstances.

Though the Carapace Armor does give the Lord General another option for suppression immunity it is such a niche choice at this point in time that I rarely purchase it, or ever see any other players use it. It is much better at this point to either purchase the Flack Jacket, or tech to tier 2 immediately.

Now I do see the proposed combinations that this armor can offer in conjunction with flamer guardsman, and destroying an enemy turret. But I feel that even this is silly as flammer guardsman easily get focused down by the enemy, or the turret if there is no opportunity to flank.

I do see the proposed uses of the Carapace Armor but I feel that in practice it is not as easily pulled off as some would have people believe.
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Solutions to this problem: I have three solutions to the the following problems I mentioned above that I feel would balance the armor, and offer it some use to other Lord General players.

Solution #1: Add the defensive properties of the Flack Jacket to the Carapace Armor minus the knockback immunity.

Carapace Armor:

Cost: 150 Requisition + 30 Power

Abilities: The Lord General commands his troops to stand firm, decreasing incoming ranged damage to your infantry in radius 35 by 30% and suppression immunity for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown. Requires the Carapace Armor upgrade.
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Solution #2: Simply reduce the cost of the Carapace Armor to better reflect its value.

Carapace Armor:

Cost: 125 Requisition + 20 Power

Abilities: The Lord General commands his troops to stand firm, making any allied Imperial Guard infantry in radius 30 immune to suppression for 15 seconds. 60 second cooldown. Requires the Carapace Armor upgrade.
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Solution #3: Increase the time that the suppression immunity ability lasts.

Carapace Armor:

Cost: 150 Requisition + 30 Power

Abilities: The Lord General commands his troops to stand firm, making any allied Imperial Guard infantry in radius 30 immune to suppression for 30 seconds. 60 second cooldown. Requires the Carapace Armor upgrade.
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I would love to hear the thoughts of others about this issue!

- [EL] The Emperor of Mankind

[Wise Windu]

(Need to verify it affects the Lord General model because it doesn't seem to currently!)

It doesn't. If you see something like that, post it in the Codex WIP thread as well so I actually see it and can change it.

[Black Relic]

Sadly, you first suggestion of given the squads suppression immunity and range damage resist is way too powerful. Even on paper. The is only one suggestion i would give and that would be increase his energy regen. when purchased.

Now I do agree that flak jacket is usually the better choice since you can also get Grenade launchers for the "move move move" ability and then in t2 get some ograns and give them medi-packs and stuff. (I like going 2 ograns plus flak jacket, GL, Serg and Vox OP to have some fun although its alot of freaking energy).

I have mentioned this to you before. I think Falk jackets is extremely strong. I always thought it needed nerfing by removing the extra health and energy the LG get from this armor. Or at the very least removing the immunity to ability knockback that affected units receive. I am more of a fan of the latter tbh though.

[Tex]

30 seconds is too long. That would be far too powerful.

20 power is too cheap for an outright suppression counter.

I can see a cost decrease of 5 power to provide this wargear with better timings, but small steps usually work better than big ones.

[[EL] The Emperor]

30 seconds is too long. That would be far too powerful.

20 power is too cheap for an outright suppression counter.

I can see a cost decrease of 5 power to provide this wargear with better timings, but small steps usually work better than big ones.

No I would agree with you I just am throwing ideas out there for everyone to mull over.

[Atlas]

Idk, army wide suppression immunity for IG sounds pretty good to me :/

[Adeptus Noobus]

Idk, army wide suppression immunity for IG sounds pretty good to me :/

qft

[Nurland]

Or maybe Flak Jacket is overperforming and needs to be nerfed? 35% ranged DR and KB immunity in T1? Sounds a bit much to me...

Anyway the Carapace could use a small price reduction.

[Tex]

In all honesty though, what sources of knockback are there in T1 that are going to cause problems for GM? If its a grenade, you need to avoid it anyway. If it is a unit that got into melee, your guardsmen will likely need to retreat or take some pretty hefty losses anyhow.

The only times I have made decent use of this wargear was in combination with catachans so that I could counter initiate better against banshees and ASM's. I found however that simply doling out health packs and microing is just as effective, and also much more cost effective.

[bibotot]

Or how about just allow the Carapace Armor to give the Lord General himself suppression immunity? I hate that wargear because the suppressed Lord General keeps falling behind and soon the other units will be outside his buff range, where they will be, in turn, suppressed.

[bibotot]

30 seconds is too long. That would be far too powerful.

20 power is too cheap for an outright suppression counter.

I can see a cost decrease of 5 power to provide this wargear with better timings, but small steps usually work better than big ones.

That is NOT an outright suppression counter. The Lord General does not benefit from this stupid wargear for whatever reason.

[Atlas]

LG not benefiting is totally fine. This is basically an army wide amazing buff. I don't understand why people think that it's UP. LG's far bigger problem is that he has no tools against melee.