Locust armor

Locust armor

A variant of recon armor with an integrated burst rocket for short-ranged flight. Locust armor is slightly less protective than standard recon armor. Each jump consumes a burst of fuel, so the armor must be reloaded after several uses.
Unlike most ultratech military units, locusts train primarily with melee weapons. They usually avoid static shootouts, preferring to jump straight into enemy fortifications and fight hand-to-hand. They do poorly in static defense or confined quarters, but excel in mixed cover or shipcracking operations.

Base Stats

Type

Gear – Armor

Tech Level

Spacer

Market Value

2230 

Mass

9 kg

HP

280

Apparel

Insulation - Cold

32 °C (57.6 °F)

Insulation - Heat

9 °C (16.2 °F)

Armor - Sharp

87%

Armor - Blunt

35%

Armor - Heat

41%

Coverage

Torso, Neck, Left Shoulder, Left Arm, Right Shoulder, Right Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg

Layer

Middle, Outer

Creation

Crafted At

Required Research

Jump packs, Recon armor

Skill Required

Crafting 6

Work To Make

45,000 ticks (12.5 mins)

Resources to make

120 + 10 + 3 + 3 + 100

Technical

defName

Apparel_ArmorLocust

thingCategories

ApparelArmor

thingSetMakerTags

RewardStandardHighFreq

defaultOutfitTags

Soldier

tradeTags

HiTechArmor

Locust armor is a set of armor added by Royalty DLC that allows its user to make rapid rocket powered jumps to a tile within range and in line of sight while also protecting from attacks. It is a variant of Recon armor and forms a full set with the Recon helmet

Acquisition

Locust armor can be crafted at a Fabrication bench once the Jump packs, Recon armor research project has been completed. The required techprint can be obtained either by trade or completing quests for the Empire. Each set requires  120 Plasteel,  10 Uranium,  3 Advanced components,  3 Components,  100 Chemfuel, 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) of work, and a Crafting skill of 6.

Alternatively, the armor can be received as a quest reward or purchased from traders.^[Which?]

Summary

While less protective than recon armor, locust armor contains an integrated burst rocket that, similar to the jump pack, allows the user to make up to 5 jumps before needing to be refueled. Refueling costs  20 chemfuel per charge and is performed by select the armor's wearer and right-clicking a pile of chemfuel. The user can jump anywhere within line of sight, so they can jump over rock chunks but not Walls. There is a short 30 ticks (0.5 secs) warm-up before jumping. A pawn cannot be injured mid-jump, even by explosions right under them, but can still get hit during a short warm-up before jumping.

Pawns will never automatically use the rocket - instead it must be manually activated by the player by use of the "Jump" gizmo, similar to using Utility items. This gizmo will only appear when the pawn is drafted. NPCs will never use the jump capability at all.

Downed allies can be carried during a jump.

Unlike the jump pack it does not occupy the utility slot, and so can be worn with all other utility items such as the shield belt.

It is currently unknown if lower quality packs are actually faster than other methods of increase movement rates, such as Archotech legs, however the i-frames offered by jumping offer an advantage to offset any speed delays.

The distance the user can jump is dependent on the quality of the armor. Note that it has the same range as a Jump pack of the same quality.

Quality	Awful	Poor	Normal	Good	Excellent	Masterwork	Legendary
Range	17.9	21.5	23.9	25.3	27	28.4	29.9

Analysis

The locust armor is less protective than recon armor. The downside of locust armor is its atrociously low sharp armor, standing at only 87% on a normal quality armor, beaten by the flak vest by a handy amount (13%), although flak vests only cover the torso. Compared to dusters, however, it is 1.5x more protective than a thrumbofur duster, and more than 8x more protective than a simple cloth duster. The most protective and relatively common duster variant (assuming you are in the temperate forest biome) is the rhinoceros leather duster, being half as protective as locust armor. Your decision of whether or not to choose the locust armor over a flak vest/duster combo depends on what is more important to you and what textiles are available: the arms of your pawn, which can be replaced with bionic arms late game but renders a pawn almost useless in the early game, or the torso, which is irreplaceable and kills your pawn instantly if destroyed, but has more hit points?

That it be combined with utility items makes it an effective way to get melee users into the fight. Or to deploy a strategically placed low-shield pack or orbital bombardment targeter. It can also serve for shooters to get out of harms way, as one jump covers a large range fast.

Stats table

Locust armor	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality
Awful	52.2%	21%	24.6%	280	-25.6 °C (-46.1 °F)	+7.2 °C (13 °F)	1115
Poor	69.6%	28%	32.8%	280	-28.8 °C (-51.8 °F)	+8.1 °C (14.6 °F)	1670
Normal	87%	35%	41%	280	-32 °C (-57.6 °F)	+9 °C (16.2 °F)	2230
Good	100.05%	40.25%	47.15%	280	-35.2 °C (-63.4 °F)	+9.9 °C (17.8 °F)	2730
Excellent	113.1%	45.5%	53.3%	280	-38.4 °C (-69.1 °F)	+10.8 °C (19.4 °F)	3230
Masterwork	126.15%	50.75%	59.45%	280	-48 °C (-86.4 °F)	+13.5 °C (24.3 °F)	4230
Legendary	156.6%	63%	73.8%	280	-57.6 °C (-103.7 °F)	+16.2 °C (29.2 °F)	5230

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

Version history

• 1.2.2719 - Added
• 1.2.2753 - Now require enough chemfuel to provide their initial fuel and one more component.

See Also

• Jump pack - A utility item that offers a similar capability.
• Recon armor - the base model. Slightly more protective but without the jump pack.
• Prestige recon armor - a variant of recon armor that both pleases nobles and improves psychic ability.

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Apparel

Torso | Clothing

Button-down shirt • T-shirt (Kid ) • Tribalwear (Kid )

Corset • Eltex shirt • Eltex vest • Formal vest • Formal shirt

Slave collar

Sash • Kid romper

Armor

Flak vest

Legs | Clothing

Pants (Kid )

Armor

Flak pants

Shell | Clothing

Duster • Jacket • Parka (Kid ) • Robe

Cape • Eltex robe • Prestige robe

Burka • Slave body strap

Heavy bandolier

Lab coat

Armor

Flak jacket • Marine armor (Prestige , Grenadier ) • Plate armor • Recon armor (Prestige , Locust , Mechlord ) • Cataphract armor (Prestige , Phoenix )

Head | Clothing

Bowler hat • Cowboy hat • Hood • Psychic foil helmet • Tuque • Tribal headdress • Veil • War mask

Beret • Coronet • Crown • Eltex helmet • Eltex skullcap • Ladies hat • Stellic crown • Top hat

Authority cap • Blindfold • Broadwrap • Flophat • Headwrap • Shadecone • Slicecap • Tailcap • Torture crown • Visage mask

Airwire headset • Array headset • Gas mask • Face mask

Ceremonial hood • Ritual mask

Armor

Flak helmet • Marine helmet (Prestige/Samurai helmet ) • Recon helmet (Prestige , Mechlord ) • Simple helmet (Kid ) • Cataphract helmet (Prestige ) • Gunlink • Integrator headset • Mechcommander helmet