...While at the same time, the basic plates are wow? I mean, going from STD to PRO, the stats line up like:

STD: 85 hp 2% penalty
ADV: 110 hp 3% penalty
PRO: 135 hp 5% penalty

So you get a STD plate, it gives you awesome HP for a negligible penalty. From STD to ADV, you gain 1% more penalty and 25 more HP. So that's 50% greater penalty and ~30% greater health. ADV plates are useful, but less efficient than STD plates. (I would expect higher tiers to be more or equally efficient, wouldn't you?) Then the big problem. The leap from STD to PRO is a 150% penalty increase, with a ~59% HP increase. So that means complex plates are incredibly inefficient compared to STD plates. Two STD plates give more health and less penalty than complex, and even use less CPU/PG to boot.

So I was wondering what people would think of nerfing basic plates and buffing the complex plates? Here's how I would do it:
Make each percentage point of penalty equal a set amount of health. I was thinking 30 HP per 1% penalty, and then multiply the amount by the number of percentages that are stacked. When I wrote that, I even confused myself, so how about an example?
A basic plate is 2% penalty, and then each percentage point is 30, so 30*2 is 60. Then your total penalty is 2%, so multiply the armor by 1.02, making it 61. The idea behind the multiplier is to benefit the 5% plate, so it will have more health, however slight that health may be.


So it would then look like

STD: 61 HP 2% penalty --> 67 w/maxed skills
ADV: 93 HP 3% penalty --> 102 w/maxed skills
PRO: 157 HP 5% penalty --> 172 w/maxed skills

So now the people that stack those basic plates to brick tank while losing very little speed have been nerfed, and people that are willing to forfeit their speed have been buffed.

Look at it think way: If you stack a basic and an enhanced plate in our current system, you end up with equal penalty to the complex plate, but 214 health, that's 66 more health. A whole complex shield extender more health, and you even end up using LESS PG than a complex plate would, and equal CPU. In the new system, you can stack a basic and enhanced plate to get the same penalty and get 169 health, while the complex gives 172. That 3 HP difference isn't actually that useful, but it makes it so the combination of the other two don't overpower the complex. It makes the complex plate more than just viable, but really useful.

TLDR; Nerf basic and enhanced armor plates, buff complex armor plates.


Also, let me just point one thing out. Some people may be thinking: "If people are willing to sacrifice two module slots, why not let them have the health of one module, even if it is supposed to be better?" The problem is that they are sacrificing two module slots to get the equivalent of two better modules. They are getting the same penalty and armor as a complex armor plate, while also receiving an extra amount of HP that is equivalent to a complex shield extender. So they are receiving the benefits of two complex modules at the expense of the penalty of only one of those modules. I'd hope that isn't working as intended.