Alright, I am convinced this fit is actually a competitive fit, I've now been doing just as good as with my assault. The main problem tends to be getting to the action, since you're so slow, but once you're their havoc pursues. Also there is about a 20k ISK premium over an advanced assault fit, because clearly the Commando is so good it needs to cost more

Ugh . . . no you can't? I have my armor upgrades and shield upgrade at level 4, as I stated in the OP. That brings the base stats from 250 armor / 250 shield to 300 armor / 300 shield. With armor and shield upgrades at 5 then it'd only be 312.5 armor / 312.5 shield (and yes, it does keep track of decimals, it just doesn't display it).

How much higher can you really get the armor/shields than what I have on an advanced commando? I do believe I may be able to squeeze out a complex plate to replace my enhanced plate, but that would be about it.

Also I agree that the large hit box of the heavy is unfortunate, but man I love the look of the Amarr heavy frame so I'm ok with it
It would be nice though if it actually had the base HP reflective of a heavy, because right now even at prototype an assault can out tank you, as well as having the added bonus of an actual armor repair module and a grenade slot. I don't think it needs to be much, just something small like increase base stats from 250/250 to 300/300.

I always figured I'd have two of the same weapon on a Commando. ScR & Assault ScR. Skilling into two Amarr weapons that fill similar roles seems a bit of a waste to me.

Edit: and compact hives are da bomb.

Shield upgrades 5 puts your shields at 312.5 HP. If you then have shield extenders at 5 and commando at prototype and slap a single shield extender, it brings you up to 352.5 shield, but that's a massive SP sink for so little reward. Meanwhile I have my commando at 3 and shield extenders at 3 with shield upgrades at 4, saving my over 2.5 m SP (rough estimate off top of my head), and I'm only 15.5 shield short . . .

I am fairly confident it is 312.5. Here's my reasoning
1) 300 x 1.25 - 312.5
2) When you look at your armor repair rate in stats, it includes decimals. When you watch your armor rep go up in battle, you'll notice sometimes it may go up 4 while other times it may go up 5 (example). This leads me to believe it counts decimals in your HP but doesn't display it.

Also I've been going 23-0, 15-2, 17-0, 36-6 with 2000+ points against organized squads in FW. I mean sure it's not as good as other suits, but it can mildly compete.

Are you not reading my argument? First off, I wasn't saying anything regarding extenders in my reasoning. Also I aknowledged that is says 312, but again this is likely only because CCP figured it would be unnecessary to show. I mean, when you're looking at your HUD do you really want to see decimals?

I bet you 10,000,000 ISK that the game does, in fact, count decimals in your HP. If you care to take me up on that, I will go hunt down a dev.

A little clarification on the above post, Alldin is trying to act all elite by fitting a proto commando with an assault suit mentality, then complaining when it doesn't do as well as the assault suit.

I mean 2 complex damage mods, really? And by doing that requiring a CPU mod for your one low? Are you honestly trying to make a glass cannon out of the largest infantry hitbox in the game?

The Commando is a support suit, not an assault suit. And it does support a lot better than the assault can because you offer a much broader versatility than any other suit (the problem is such support isn't really needed). The commando is a niche role, and if you are going to use it here's a few things you have to do,

1) The low slot goes to an armor plate. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I can already hear the shield tankers complaining because armor makes you slow, well #dealwithit

2) Equipment goes to a triage hive so you can actually rep yourself, unless you have a dedicated logi.

3) Highs go to shield extenders. I don't care what you think about how little it adds or how bad the shield regen rate is, because guess what? You have no passive armor regen. Every bit of buffer to prevent that armor from getting tapped is important.

4) You need weapons that compliment eachother in range. If you want to use AR and mass driver for "stripping away shields then tearing apart armor," well one: you are stupid for picking the AR since the AScR strips shields faster, two: by the time you switch weapons and readjust your aim you could of probably just killed the guy by sticking with your original weapon, and three: this means you are probably trying to assault which is not what the suit is for. If you're going to use a MD and AR, then you're best using the MD for getting people at range then the AR if people get close. Also shotgun on a commando is dumb, because again you're taking a slow suit with the largest infantry hitbox and trying to charge and get up close.

I mean, use what you want, that's what Dust is about, but in my opinion you're just not taking advantages of any of the suits strengths and instead trying to make it something it's not.

Well, I still think you are too close minded with your weapon choices. Too much AR or MD (easy mode assault weapons), not enough of every other light weapon. To be honest, I believe the laser rifle is the Commando's best friend. Very surprised that every time I hear someone discussing the commando they never bring up laser rifle, which is the ultimate mid-range killer, combined with any other more assault-oriented weapon.

And come on, the Commando suit obviously going to always be easy to hit because it's a heavy frame. That's all the more reason to add more buffer! Did you think I was suggesting adding shield extenders will somehow make it easy to strafe? lol. Just find it silly that you will take any heavy frame suit and do nothing outside of passive skills to buff it's HP.

I feel the slime every time I put on my Amarr Dropsuit but manage to tough it out. Just goes to show the Amarr don't have the intestinal fortitude needed to get the job done.