Adding DR to armors: good idea or bad idea?

[Her Imperious Condescention]

For a while, I've been debating to myself if adding DR to armor is worth it or not and if it is, if it upsets the balance of the game too much to use freely.

The idea is to add some DR to armors that look like they'd at least give some extra protection than they normally give in order to increase the survivability of the wearer; for example, Metal Armor. Although it weighs 30 pounds, is in the heavy class and gives out a -1 agility penalty, its 12 DT is a stark difference from the 36 DR that it boasted in Fallout 3 (and it slighty outclassed the combat armor, while it is now outclassed by it), while it also looks like it could handle bigger, more powerful projectiles than the Combat Armor (which looks like it's more suited for weaker rounds).

Thoughts?

[LT Albrecht]

look at Xodrap's XFO armour module, he tried it. Whether it works or not is personal taste.

[JaxFirehart]

The original fallouts used a combination of both, so I can't think of any reason why not.

[Her Imperious Condescention]

Well, if so, I can take a look at XFO's Armor Module, do some alterations/additions into a separate module and see how it works.

[Her Imperious Condescention]

Welp, after messing around with FNVEdit, I made a sort-of prototype that adds Damage Resistance to all playable armors in the game, with a few non-playable versions getting the DR fix here and there. If anyone's found a balance inconsistency or something that's just plain wrong, feel free to add a suggestion on how to fix it. Although I didn't add DR to clothing and cut armor, I can do that if there's demand (for clothing, I'd do something like a "1 DT + 1 DR" sort of thing, while with the cut versions, I'd do a comparison with the non-unique, non-cut version of a similar armor and put a fitting value).

[TrickyVein]

This is an idea worth pursuing. I'll test this out and see how it feels.

Could you say more about what you've done, for instance where you obtained values for DR and which armors are affected?

[Computerrock1]

Perhaps you should look at how the original games used DT, DR and AC. I realize Armor Class isn't part of the system but it's something to take into account. The armor class was kinda like a roulete game with the wheel going from 1 to 100 and actually changes the chances of getting hit. Now the issue with implementing something like this is that it's out of date, seeing how only vats could take AC into account... But something like it could be used to accurately combine DT & DR together. 

Get what I am saying or am i just rambling???

[TrickyVein]

It wouldn't necessarily have to use VATS, but you'd find yourself missing, or dealing no damage with weapons pretty much all of the time. And it would be much harder for enemies to land a blow on the PC. Imagine a stealth player lining up shots only to deal absolutely no damage, only to give away her position - it really would depend on what armor anyone was wearing, which may make for some pretty interesting gameplay. 

It could work, I think but probably wouldn't feel right for the much faster-paced, real-time combat of later Fallout games. That's my armchair opinion - if someone implemented armor class I'd be eager to try it out. 

[Computerrock1]

I think the way that Armor Class could be tackled is not by missing the shot, but instead of the armor completly absorbing the damage taken. Kinda like getting shot in the head while wearing a riot helmet. Depending on the condition and its AC ideally bulletproof plexyglass can take most bullets without the wearer feeling much of anything...

EDIT: And I would definetly be game if someone re-introduced the AC back into fallout!

[Her Imperious Condescention]

TrickyVein: I took the values from XFO's armor overhaul and Fallout 3's armor DR table and tweaked them a little bit so that they can fit a little better with Fallout new Vegas' DT system. As for which armors I tweaked, well, I tweaked all of them. Everything that was an armor (or at least, expected to protect you) or a protective helmet, it was given DR. Clothing was not given anything as you can't expect clothing to even remotely protect you from bullets (maybe they'd protect you from BB rounds, but not by much).

Computerrock1: Hmm, a chance of lower-powered bullet doing no damage whatsoever? I dunno about that, to be honest; I think DT with a mod that eliminates bleed-through does the job adequately enough.

EDIT: Do know that what I cooked up is merely a prototype and a final version may have drastically changed DR values and rules relating on DR scaling. You've been warned.