Prestige recon armor

Prestige recon armor is a set of power armor introduced by the Royalty DLC that forms a full set along with the Prestige recon helmet. It combines the defensive ability of Recon armor with additional the psychic boosts of Eltex apparel.

Acquisition

As a complicated piece of technology, Prestige Recon Armor can only be made at the Fabrication bench and requires Recon Armor to be researched in order to be constructed. Crafting the armor requires 100 plasteel, 10 uranium, 3 advanced components and 90 gold

Alternatively, the armor can be received as a quest reward, purchased from traders, or found on Nobles and other Raiders.

Analysis

Prestige recon armor improves a pawns Psychic Sensitivity by 5%, and improves the neural heat recovery rate by 0.033 heat per second. This primarily improves a pawns psychic power, but note that it also makes them more susceptible to psycasts themselves, as well as psychic drones. This increase is inferior to the Eltex vest that the prestige recon armor replaces, but in exchange it is significantly more protective.

Protection-wise, the prestige recon armor is exactly as defensive as regular recon armor. Recon armor is the lowest tier of the three types of power armor, the other two being the Marine armor and the Cataphract armor. As such they're both significantly cheaper and have fewer research requirements, while also offering significantly less protection. While they have the same coverage, the recon armor is roughly equivalent to a Marine armor one quality level below (e.g. a Normal Recon armor ~= Poor Marine armor), or a cataphract armor two quality levels below.

Compared a flak vest and duster, the recon armor offers strictly superior protection to the arms and legs when all items are the same quality, regardless of duster material. The interactions of two layers are dictated by the games Armor Rating calculations, and the result is that any combination of duster and flak vest offers superior protection of the torso, neck and shoulders than the recon armor, assuming all items are the same quality. The overall impact of the opposing traits of superior arm and leg protection and inferior torso, neck and shoulder protection on pawn survivability is currently unclear. However in this comparison, it should be noted that several vital organs are in the torso and the destruction of these can result in immediate death. It should also be noted that flak vests come with a movement penalty of -0.12c/s while the recon armor does not, meaning may be a reason to choose the recon armor even with inferior protection.

It occupies both the overgarments, middle, and shell layers, while flak vests only occupy the middle layer - meaning it can't be worn with tribalwear.

Prestige recon armor also appeases the middle and outer torso requirements of all nobles, replacing both the Formal vest/Corset and the Prestige robe.

Stats table

Prestige recon armor	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	55.2%	24%	27.6%	280	-25.6 °C (-46.1 °F)	+7.2 °C (13 °F)	985
Poor	73.6%	32%	36.8%	280	-28.8 °C (-51.8 °F)	+8.1 °C (14.6 °F)	1480
Normal	92%	40%	46%	280	-32 °C (-57.6 °F)	+9 °C (16.2 °F)	1975
Good	105.8%	46%	52.9%	280	-35.2 °C (-63.4 °F)	+9.9 °C (17.8 °F)	2470
Excellent	119.6%	52%	59.8%	280	-38.4 °C (-69.1 °F)	+10.8 °C (19.4 °F)	2960
Masterwork	133.4%	58%	66.7%	280	-48 °C (-86.4 °F)	+13.5 °C (24.3 °F)	3975
Legendary	165.6%	72%	82.8%	280	-57.6 °C (-103.7 °F)	+16.2 °C (29.2 °F)	4975