Cataphract armor

Cataphract armor is a type of power armor introduced by the Royalty DLC that can effectively block gunshots, cuts, blunt trauma, or burns at the expense of a penalty to move speed. It forms a full set of armor along with the Cataphract helmet.

Acquisition

Cataphract armor can be crafted at a fabrication bench once the cataphract armor research project has been completed. Note that this research requires two techprints. Each requires 150 Plasteel, 50 Uranium, 6 Advanced components, 75,000 ticks (20.83 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 8.

Alternatively, the armor can be received as a quest reward, purchased from traders, or found on Imperial Cataphracts. Acquiring it through fighting the Empire is difficult due to their ubiquitious Death acidifier implants and the general difficulty of killing the pawns wearing this armor and carrying the empire's best weapons.

Summary

When equipped, a cataphract armor reduces the pawn's base move speed by −0.80 c/s. As offsets such as these apply before multiplicative effects such as from Moving capacity, the actual impact on move speed can be larger or smaller than this value. For example, a pawn with 125% Moving would have their speed decreased by −1 c/s, while a pawn with only 50% Moving would only have their speed decreased by −0.4 c/s. See Move Speed for details.

Analysis

Cataphract armor is the strongest power armor in the game - but as expected, one of the most expensive. Like recon armor and marine armor, it covers the limbs and torso, for great overall protection. It provides roughly the same protection as a marine armor of one quality level above its own (e.g., a normal set of cataphract armor is roughly equal to a good set of marine armor), or of recon armor two quality levels above its own. Cataphract armor also allows a pawn to reach the cap of 200% sharp protection at Legendary quality, and offers the highest blunt armor available in the game.

The armor provides a significant Move Speed debuff of −0.80 c\s, double that of marine armor and over six times that of a flak vest, making the armor impractical for every day wear by some pawns. A moving factor of +125% is needed to counter this penalty. This can be achieved by installing 2 bionic legs or 1 archotech leg on the pawn.

Compared to flak vests

Compared to a flak vest and duster, Cataphract armor offers strictly superior protection to all body parts when all items are the same quality, regardless of duster material. Cataphract armor, like all power armors, covers all limbs, unlike flak vests, which only cover the torso, neck, and shoulders.

However, the high protective value of cataphract armor is offset by its extreme cost, length of time to craft, and the substantial move speed penalty of −.80 c/s. Flak vests and dusters are, by comparison, significantly cheaper and only incur a move speed penalty of −.12 c/s. The cataphract armor research project also requires 2 techprints to be purchased and applied before it can be unlocked.

Compared to phoenix armor

Phoenix armor is a sidegrade to cataphract armor, unlocked from the same research. Phoenix armor has −5% Sharp and −5% Blunt armor, but +15% Heat armor, before quality. This discrepancy increases at higher quality. However, at legendary quality, both phoenix and cataphract armor offer the maximum of 200% Sharp protection, the most common form of damage. Phoenix armor costs 75 steel, 4 components, and 75 more than marine. Steel, components, and chemfuel are likely easy to produce for a colony producing power armor, so the material cost is not terribly significant.

Phoenix armor's main defensive advantage is that it reduces a human's flammability to 2%. Fire is a large threat to colonists - not because of its damage, but because it causes them to run around wildly. Phoenix armor reduces the chance of ignition from 70% to 2% - a massive benefit. Enemies with flame damage aren't terribly common (especially without the Biotech DLC). But 5% armor doesn't make a big difference, either. An extra 5% armor would translate to 2.5% chance to halve damage, and 2.5% chance to prevent all damage at the most. Phoenix armor, by comparison, nearly eliminates a dangerous type of threat.

Phoenix armor also has an integrated flame launcher. It explodes into a 5x5 blast of fire, with each bolt costing 40 chemfuel.

Overall, the difference comes down to if you want to (nearly) prevent fire, or if you want some extra protection. This comparison should favor phoenix armor, especially at higher qualities.

At excellent or better, phoenix armor reaches the (100% + weapon AP%) Sharp threshold for all ranged weapons. This is enough to always halve incoming sharp damage. In turn, this prevents all one-shots that could be prevented by any amount of armor. Past this threshold, armor has a reduced impact on protection: it only reduces chance to prevent damage rather than both chance to halve damage and chance to prevent damage. See Apparel for more details.
At legendary quality, phoenix armor reaches the cap of 200% Sharp armor, making phoenix armor a no-brainer. While it still has less Blunt armor, blunt damage is comparatively rare. Blunt armor is never checked by any ranged weapon, only Sharp or Heat. Phoenix armor also has better Heat protection.

Stats table

Cataphract armor	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	72%	30%	36%	400	-28.8 °C (-51.8 °F)	+9.6 °C (17.3 °F)	1560
Poor	96%	40%	48%	400	-32.4 °C (-58.3 °F)	+10.8 °C (19.4 °F)	2340
Normal	120%	50%	60%	400	-36 °C (-64.8 °F)	+12 °C (21.6 °F)	3120
Good	138%	57.5%	69%	400	-39.6 °C (-71.3 °F)	+13.2 °C (23.8 °F)	3620
Excellent	156%	65%	78%	400	-43.2 °C (-77.8 °F)	+14.4 °C (25.9 °F)	4120
Masterwork	174%	72.5%	87%	400	-54 °C (-97.2 °F)	+18 °C (32.4 °F)	5120
Legendary	200%	90%	108%	400	-64.8 °C (-116.6 °F)	+21.6 °C (38.9 °F)	6120

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

Trivia

Cataphracts were heavy armored cavalry used in ancient warfare by people in Eurasia, including the Byzantines that inspired the Empire.

Every set of cataphract armor found on an Imperial Cataphract will be white.

Version history

Royalty DLC release - Added.
1.1.2647 - No longer meets the clothing requirement of nobles, replaced in that role by prestige cataphract armor. Stellic Wardens and Defenders no longer spawn with a regular cataphract armor, and instead spawn with the prestige version.
1.2.2753 - Icons of spacer armor now display as off-white instead of dark gray.

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

Cataphract armor

Contents