From:	Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	Armor Degradation
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 11:23:31 -0600

:I guess you could just say...damn that armor is looking pretty shabby.
If
:I were you I would buy some more. I would like to have some way of
:determining how much protection it would offer if they did not buy more.
:
: Ed

That's basically the way we've done it- my samurai wore something
along the lines of form fit and an armour jacket most times, and replaces
the jacket once every run or two, to avoid looking scuzzy. That's
probably less than he should, and I'll admit, I didn't voluntarily replace
heavy armor, helmets, and other hard to get stuff. Eventually, armor you
wear all the time becomes a "Distinctive Appearance" flaw, especially if
it has noticeable combat wear- that should keep people changing outfits,
if nothing else.
Sometimes the GM would arbitrarily decide armor was simply unwearable.
Damage from spells could do this (acid manipulations in particular). The
above character was wearing heavy armor, and in melee combat with a drone
that exploded. He lived, (actually, I burned karma and took "only" a
serious wound) but his suit of heavy armor was useless. I was pissed- if
I only took a serous, how bad could the armor be? He decided it could not
be repaired- partly, I think because under SR2, combat pool used for
damage resistance made complete dodges really easy if you wore good armor-
and that character had GOBS of CP.
But thinking on it, even a few dents and some warping at the joints
would make the armor hard to move in. It may sound kinda D+D, like dented
platemail, but it makes some sense that certain armors would hinder the
user (more than SR3 already calls for) if they were not in good repair.
I personally think just keeping track of how much damage the wearer of
a piece of armor takes, and subtracting that injury mod from its value,
would work. If you take two moderates from gunfire, your ballistic armor
would go down 3 points. The one problem with this is that some light
armors are quite distributed. Its unlikey that a light wound taken while
wearing armored clothing damages a large enough part of the outfit to
really matter. I can't see any way to get much fancier without a hit
location system, though.
If anybody DOES come up with something really good for this (armor
degradation), it might be worth adapting to Cyberlimb damage, and damage
to other cyberware like dermal plating.

Mongoose