Here, I'll give you another tidbit of info to try to help you guys out with your efforts over there.

The deminishing returns work by taking into acount the lowest percentage first. My guess is that this is because the speed penalty is a negative effect, where as, something like a damage mod would work the opposit way: taking into account the module with highest percentage first, resulting in a higher return. For instance:

Ferroscale plate 1: 100% of 0.0%
Ferroscale plate 2: 87% of 0.0%
Reactive plate 1: 57.1% of 2.0%
Reactive plate 2: 28.3% of 2.0%
Vanilla plate 1: 10.6% of 10.0%

This is how it is currently working. This seems very well balanced.

So your saying if I have a complex and a enhanced plate I wouldn't lose 10% speed?

But why do shields recharge faster and have more hp and it been proven that extender net more benifits then damange modifiers unless your a sniper.

I'm thinking:

Complex Ferroscale Plate 1: 100% of 0.0%
Basic Armor Plate 1: 87% of 3.0%
Enhanced Armor Plate 1: 57.1% of 5.0%
Complex Armor Plate 1: 28.3% of 10.0%

With Armor Upgrades 4 that would result in 608 hp of armor with only an 8.3% movement penalty! (Need a logi for reps though.)

Can I direct you to the beginning of the thread? Fitting more then one plate on a proto assault gal means two reppers, a max 12.5 hp a sec and a smaller buffer then a shield tank with just complex extenders and you have a slower speed (even if that is slightly curtailed now). Yes your gal logi does okay with a natural 5 hp a sec and 5 lows, but that is an exception, not the rule of armor tanking.

Yes those weapons do more damage to shields not armor but, as we've discussed, the problem is the hard swing. For instance hybrid weapons, the AR and Shotgun, do 110% damage to shields and 90% to armor. That is a pro. Explosive damage, grenades, flaylocks and mass drivers, do 150% to armor and 80% to shields. That's a pretty hard swing of a con. Maybe I should focus on the pro here, but contact grenades keep exploding in my face.

First off, +1 for death to shield tanks.

130 to 70 is a 60% swing to my 70% both are quiet large. Also, how does one play to your strengths in dust? I think this will reveal me as a terribad player but I often don't get to choose who I'm fighting. I can't look out across the field to find the scrambler rifler suits and I defiantly can't avoid a good scout with a flaylock. Explosive grenades are ubiquitous, every militia suits gets one, plus they are easy to fit so how do I avoid those, I mean from the obvious don't walk on the grenade indicator.

I apologize if I seem overly aggressive or anything, I welcome discussion, it's just been a frustrating day. That said take the next part with a grain of salt.

If you can only play to your strengths then you can't play an armor tank. Decent reps require either standing on a kill me beacon (nano hive which easily shows up on enemy mini maps) or to hug a logi-bro (everyone should get a hug). Without a fast recharge I have to avoid encounters until I repair, however I am slower even with shenanigans, then the people who want to kill me. Even if I take cover, it can take up to a minute to refill my buffer. 60 seconds is a long time to hide if someone is looking for you. I can't out buffer my foes, I can't out rep them. I certainly could equip dedicated anti-shield weaponry but if I do that why shouldn't I just shield tank? My sp is invested, if I am going to change my skill plan why bother with armor at all? I

I think that post that say "armor is good in a group" or "it's balanced you just can't see it" are outright fallacious and damaging to creating any semblance of balance. Why? The create false parallels that ghetto-ize the armor tankers. They say you can't play like the rest of us but it's okay, you have your niche. But math and experience shows that the niche does not exist and no amount of platitudes about play style will change that.