Raw parts are considered things you can pick up on the battle field:
- Personal Armor Parts
- Power Armor Parts
- Rare Earth Elements
- Combat Drugs
etc.
No, Tac Vests, Buyable Armors, etc, are not used in these recipes, only their components are. The goal is to make it easier to assemble the end product from a pile of simple resources and not have to deal with intermediary steps.
Yes, some of these simple resources are manufacturable (Combat Drugs, Rare Earth Elements, etc.), but I don't base the recipes on these processes, only the "battle field drops."
Some armor lines build on each other. (Tac Vest> Tac Armor> Heavy Suit> Defender> Guardian, etc.). There could be many recipes for Defender based on the different configurations of subordinate armors. I have chosen to keep it simple by using the basic ingredients.
For those with existing armors that need upgrades, I recommend Dioxine's traditional recipe. The times for these late stage armors is compounded from earlier versions, so it may be faster to buy earlier components from the black market, but it won't be cheaper (not figuring runt costs). I envision these streamlined recipes most useful in late game expansions of the fighting forces, and the need for new high end armor. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who uses this mod, when they use it and if they find it useful or not.