» Mon Dec 01, 2014 1:49 am So, a little background. One of my favorite little-known armor mods is http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/37476/? - it takes an unused armor model (the "Pit Armor" stashed away in a test cell and in the CS) and uses it as a replacer for vanilla armor (maintaining that armor model for the Thieves Guild). I love that armor model, but I wanted more than what Xtyfe did with it. So, I figured I'd go into the CS, spruce up the Pit Armor reference (I named it Colovian Leather Armor and set it up between Chainmail and Mithril stats-wise), throw it in a few leveled lists and be on my merry way.
Then, I decided I wanted to rebuild all of the leveled lists for armor my way, instead of going for a more heavy-handed overhaul like OOO or Frans. And rebalance the stats of every piece of armor to jive with how I want to distribute the armors in those leveled lists. Last night I started work on a spreadsheet organizing almost every armor piece in Oblivion, their pertinent information, and what changes I intend to make. I started work last night... it's about 7:30am right now here in beautiful Arizona. >.>
Without further ado, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1duon8cOwwU8RtR8cB4Uzbc5WF4p-0b5ooFHXpzzbXVs/edit?usp=sharing I hope you like the colors. Hints: Light Armor is the yellowish group of columns, Heavy Armor is the blue-ish group. The vanilla statistics are all there, with my intended changes under them in italics. The order is generic gear, then specialty/unique gear "organized" underneath that, and then any new armors at the very bottom in green. The "Tiers" are arbitrary guidelines for me and others to get an idea of what each armor's general quality is, and where it belongs in leveled lists. For any special armor that scales with your level, like Madness Armor or the Divine Crusader's gear, I recorded stats for the highest leveled version. I was pretty thorough, otherwise; if there's anything missing (generic enchanted gear, unique individual pieces, Umbra's Armor, and DLC gear that isn't from KotN or Shivering Isles is excluded), please tell me.
For those among us that don't want to pour over a spreadsheet some schmuck posted on the forums, how do you feel about edu-tainment? I'll do little write-ups of each armor that should justify any changes I did or didn't make. If you catch any lore discrepancies that just break your heart, tell me and I'll change either my justification or the armor itself. I won't cover everything here, since a lot of changes were just to stay consistent within this plugin.
To start, the biggest general departure from vanilla is that I restructured what's durable and what's not. Light Armor is slightly less pathetic, and in many cases competitive in stats, compared to how much a beating Heavy Armor can take. This is a more gameplay-oriented change, but I don't think any of the changes I've made are egregiously UnTamrielistic. The progression, from least to most durable, is Fur
Rusty/Rough Gear: svcks butt. I mean, Rusty Iron Armor offers a little protection, but they're really only good for getting a feel for how Heavy and Light Armor feel - every piece has deteriorated rather pathetically. Maybe I'll rename "Rough Leather" to "Moldy Leather" to drive the point home. I dare you to fight Umaril the Unfeathered wearing this stuff.
Fur Armor: Choice apparel for criminal scum all over Tamriel. Cheap and shoddy. You get what you pay for - if by "paying for" you mean "loot from the corpse of some pathetic mook".
Iron Armor: Cheap, durable, and somewhat protective, even if literally any other Heavy Armor is better. But getting better armor than Iron implies putting forth an effort, which is something most entry-level Marauders just don't know how to do.
Leather Armor: Great starter armor for anyone seriously interested in getting into Light Armor. Or, getting into your neighbor's house, if you're some kind of deviant.
Steel Armor: Value Heavy Armor. Common among any heavily armored opponent that isn't an idiot, or penniless.
Chainmail: Heavier than Leather Armor, and heavier than many light armors, Chainmail still offers a fair amount of protection for how unwieldy it is. (fun fact: I'm renaming the "Light Iron Shield" to "Iron Buckler", since that sounds nicer)
Dwarven: There are no Dwemer ruins in Cyrodiil; any dwarven armor you found is smuggled from Hammerfell, Skyrim, or Morrowind. Or sold by authorized merchants, and worn by discerning characters. I tell you what, though, Dwarven Armor is built to last. It's the most durable armor you'll find, almost twice as durable as Daedric. Almost as if the Dwemer knew how to forge armor that could truly withstand the test of time...
Colovian Leather: Crafted by masterful artisans, Colovian Leather is an advanced leather armor. Not quite as good as Mithril, but superior to Chainmail in every aspect save for durability, Colovian Leather is favored by any Bandit Ringleaders savvy enough to get it. And Colovians. Duh. (I could get away with calling it Scaled Armor if you guys really object to "Colovian Leather" as a name)
Mithril: Although they're crafted and designed similarly, Mithril is a much greater prize than the iron used in ordinary Chainmail. Much more protection from a metal that's also much more lightweight and durable. Much less common than lesser armors, though.
Orcish: The Orcs are known for their excellent craftsmanship. Orcish Armor is a little lighter than most other heavy armors, but on the flipside it's also less durable. Not as uncommon as other armors of similar quality, though.
Elven: One of the best light armors, and definitely the most durable. Valuable, and hard to find. It's frequently argued among light armor aficionados that you can get the same protection out of Elven compared to brittle Glass if you're skilled enough. (ie you can reach the armor cap with Elven and it's more durable than Glass soooo...)
Ebony: The absolute best and most prized Heavy Armor in Tamriel. Keywords being, in Tamriel. Only the mightiest of heroes or the most fiendish of monsters own this armor.
Glass: Although it offers the greatest protection out of all the light armors found in Tamriel, it's also only slightly more durable than the basest of Fur armors. Should you be lucky enough to find a piece of Glass Armor, you must make a choice; unparalleled protection at the cost of high maintenance? Or do you prefer a lesser, but more dependable armor?
Daedric: One of the finest armors found in the entire Aurbis, Daedric Armor is slightly easier for mortals to come across thanks to the Oblivion Crisis. Unfortunately, wearing the armor is beyond most mortal men; a full set is heavy enough to make the strongest hero buckle at the knees. Only a true Master of Heavy Armor could hope to move around in the armor freely. For this reason, and Tamriel's current relationship with the realm of Oblivion, Daedric Armor is a little less popular among the merchants of Cyrodiil at the moment.
Amber: It is said that the purest form of Amber Armor offers the same amount of protection as Glass, but with much greater durability. Better start blasting some Gnarls (and perhaps blasting Gnarls Barkley on your stereo).
Madness: It is also said that the purest form of Madness Armor offers just as much protection as Daedric, but at a much lower weight. What madness!
Other Armors: Legion Armor renamed "Legionnaire Armor", and statwise lies between Steel and Dwarven. Imperial Watch Armor will be playable, and named "Imperial Captain Armor" - go kill a Palace Guard. It's stats are competitive with Orcish. Imperial Dragon Armor no longer svcks, and is a top tier armor with enchantments that would make Tiber Septim himself blush.
Any special armors that come in Light or Heavy versions (specifically, Imperial Dragon and Crusader armors) will be made completely identical in stats. The stats will "split the difference" for the Light and Heavy versions - the idea is you could look at the weight or armor rating and think, "yeah, I can accept that as a Light or Heavy armor, cool". They'll still be badass top tier armors either way, of course.
Brusef Amelion's Armor will be adjusted so that it can be used legitimately, with appropriate weights and an armor rating between Chainmail and Mithril, and maybe some more enchantments. Blackwood Armor is made weaker, but still between Steel and Dwarven in AR. Blades Armor receives a minor bump, and is actually worth more than nothing, but still lives between Iron and Steel armor.
Arena Raiment is all given a bump - at least, the stuff the player can legitimately access. I'm not touching gear for the Arena combatants.
My plan after making this thread is jumping into the CS and putting the edits I made in the spreadsheet into the game. I'll probably release a "beta" plugin that's just edits before I start work on the leveled lists. I'm making this thread now so I can get initial impressions, second opinions, and suggestions before I go ahead and release anything. I'm still uncertain how some changes will feel in action, like the weight of Daedric armor or the durability of Glass Armor. At some point I'll re-dress any NPCs that wear leveled armor, like Mazoga the Orc, to only wear one kind of armor. I'll also hand-place several pieces throughout the game world where I see fit.
A few questions: If I make any changes to equipment that scales to the player's level, like the Crusader's Armor, will that break the scripts for mods like AULIAS or Quest-Award Leveller? That's enough reason to not touch those items right off the bat.
And if I wanted to adjust how skills affect armor rating so that skill has a greater effect, all I have to lower is the fArmorRatingBase GMST, yeah?
And finally, does anyone know of any armor resources that match the vanilla aesthetic and quality, but aren't simple recolors? It's not necessary, but I could use a variant on steel armor (or silver) to put between Dwarven and Orcish. Similarly, a new Leather Shield that jives with the style of the basic Leather Armor would be cool - the Leather Shield that's used for Leather Armor actually fits closer to the "Colovian Leather" armor model, so I'd love to pull a switcheroo here.
Thanks, all!
