Flak pants

Flak pants is a piece of armor that provides protection to the legs at the cost a penalty to move speed.

Acquisition

Flak pants can be crafted at a machining table once the flak armor research project has been completed. Each requires 60 Steel, 30 Cloth, 1 Component, 9,000 ticks (2.5 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 4.

Flak pants can also be commonly found on Outlanders, Pirates, Ancients, and Imperial Troopers.

Summary

When equipped, a flak pants reduces the pawn's base move speed by −0.12 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 −0.15 c/s, while a pawn with only 50% Moving would only have their speed decreased by −0.06 c/s. See Move Speed for details.

Analysis

Overall, flak pants can provide useful protection in the early- to mid- game. Low resource costs, accessible research, and the ability to be worn with a duster all give it merit. While not vital, permanent leg damage can severely impair colonists before bionic legs are available. The penalty of -0.12 c/s to movement speed can make it less valuable for day to day life on pawns that need to walk around often (e.g. Growers).

Generally, you should prioritize getting flak vests and possibly flak jackets or flak helmets first. Flak vests have the same material cost while protecting many vital organs, like the torso, neck, and heart. The legs, while important, can be replaced.

Unlike flak jackets, they are not made totally obsolete by devilstrand. Regular pants only equal flak pants with rare, late-game materials in hyperweave and thrumbofur. However, devilstrand pants offer a significant amount of Heat armor, equal to a 45% reduction in damage from fire even at Normal quality.

Note that flak pants are unable to be worn with plate armor or any form of power armor. The exact protection of the legs offered by flak pants vs pants of varying materials and power armor is reliant on the interactions between Armor Rating calculations and is currently unclear. However, devilstrand pants and any power armor provide superior protection.

**Sharp protection by duster and flak pants; with marine armor for reference**
With devilstrand duster	With thrumbofur duster

Stats table

Flak pants	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	24%	4.8%	6%	140	-2.8 °C (-5 °F)	+0.8 °C (1.4 °F)	113
Poor	32%	6.4%	8%	140	-3.15 °C (-5.7 °F)	+0.9 °C (1.6 °F)	169
Normal	40%	8%	10%	140	-3.5 °C (-6.3 °F)	+1 °C (1.8 °F)	225
Good	46%	9.2%	11.5%	140	-3.85 °C (-6.9 °F)	+1.1 °C (2 °F)	280
Excellent	52%	10.4%	13%	140	-4.2 °C (-7.6 °F)	+1.2 °C (2.2 °F)	335
Masterwork	58%	11.6%	14.5%	140	-5.25 °C (-9.5 °F)	+1.5 °C (2.7 °F)	560
Legendary	72%	14.4%	18%	140	-6.3 °C (-11.3 °F)	+1.8 °C (3.2 °F)	1125