Flak jacket

The flak jacket is a piece of armor that provides protection to the torso and arms at the cost of a penalty to move speed.

Acquisition[edit]

Flak jackets can be crafted at a machining table once the Flak armor research project has been completed. Each requires 70 Steel, 50 Cloth, 1 Component, 14,000 ticks (3.89 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 4.

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

Summary[edit]

When equipped, a flak jacket 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[edit]

In general, you should prioritize getting flak vests for your all relevant colonists, before making jackets. Vests are cheaper, provide much more armor, and cover everything the jacket does except for the arms - which can eventually be replaced. For reference, a normal flak vest has 100% Sharp armor, compared to 55% Sharp from a normal jacket. As jackets can be worn over a flak vest, this does not mean that jackets are bad, just that vests should be created first.

Overall, flak jackets have low resource costs and accessible research. Combined with vests, and they can provide useful protection in the early-mid game.

There is some comparison to be had to devilstrand dusters. While flak jackets provide more protection and are able to be made with cloth, steel, and components, and they're decent at cold insulation, devilstrand dusters are far better at heat insulation while still having good sharp protection and cold insulation. Devilstrand dusters provide slightly more blunt protection, significantly more heat insulation, protect the legs, and have no movement speed penalty - their only statistical downside being a tiny decrease in cold insulation and reduced sharp protection, 13% less sharp at normal quality commpared to flak jackets. Devilstrand has the advantage of being growable, unlike steel. Mid-late game colonies are often able to grow enough devilstrand for dusters, providing stiff competition against flak jackets. Dusters of late-game materials, such as hyperweave and thrumbofur, are rarer, but are statistically superior to flak jackets in every way except cost and wealth management concerns.

When in hot climates or if making speed an absolute priority, even dusters of strong leathers, like rhinoceros leather may be preferable despite offering slightly less protection to the upper body.

**Sharp protection by flak jacket and vest; with marine armor for reference**

Stats table

Flak jacket	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	33%	4.8%	6%	260	-11.52 °C (-20.7 °F)	+2.4 °C (4.3 °F)	145
Poor	44%	6.4%	8%	260	-12.96 °C (-23.3 °F)	+2.7 °C (4.9 °F)	215
Normal	55%	8%	10%	260	-14.4 °C (-25.9 °F)	+3 °C (5.4 °F)	290
Good	63.25%	9.2%	11.5%	260	-15.84 °C (-28.5 °F)	+3.3 °C (5.9 °F)	360
Excellent	71.5%	10.4%	13%	260	-17.28 °C (-31.1 °F)	+3.6 °C (6.5 °F)	435
Masterwork	79.75%	11.6%	14.5%	260	-21.6 °C (-38.9 °F)	+4.5 °C (8.1 °F)	725
Legendary	99%	14.4%	18%	260	-25.92 °C (-46.7 °F)	+5.4 °C (9.7 °F)	1,450

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

Styles[edit]

Ideoligions allow the selection of styles which then change the texture of the certain items and buildings when constructed by the colony. These style variants can be crafted if the colony has the selected style, or can be looted from raiders from factions with the requisite style.

Base variant
Spikecore variant

Version history[edit]

1.0.0 - Added. Still using jacket art.
Ideology DLC Release - Received styles via new Ideoligion style system.
1.6.4518 - Sharp protection increased from 40% to 55%.

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 ) • Vacsuit (Kid )
Head | Clothing: Bowler hat • Cowboy hat • Face mask • 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
: 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 • Vacsuit helmet