Armored vest and shield

[Marrik]

Does anyone bother using the version with the ballistic shield? I pretty much always just go with 2 handed weapons

[tarkalak]

Yes.

I plant about 1/3 1/4 of the team in these and send them in the front to soak up shots. All rookies and other assorted low quality soldiers.

They are useful if there will be a lot of shooting, but against melee enemies I revert to no shields.

EDIT: I did my math (I am a mathematician) and realized it is more like 1/4 of the team.

[Solarius Scorch]

The shield is so good for breachers that it cannot be overlook. But yes, it limits the usefulness of the wearer in most other situations (especially now, after pistols' range got limited - it's a change still unreleased).

[the nomad]

I use them rarely, but when I do they rock. I should use them more.

[Bananas_Akimbo]

I never use them, but I probably should. Even when going with pistols as main weapons, I still prefer to have the other hand empty, so I can quickly equip knives, grenades etc.

But the main problem is, that enemies will often hit the side armour, even when standing straight ahead of your agents.

[anothrgamer1234]

Yes.

I plant about 1/3 of the team in these and send them in the front to soak up shots. All rookies and other assorted low quality soldiers.

They are useful if there will be a lot of shooting, but against melee enemies I revert to no shields.

Even then, I've found that the best defense is simply having a weapon with longer range than the other guy's gun.

[tarkalak]

Even then, I've found that the best defense is simply having a weapon with longer range than the other guy's gun.

If you can kill everyone that is in effective range all the time, yeah. But you will eventually take return fire. I prefer that it is directed at heavily armored expendable soldiers (these tend to have abysmal accuracy anyway). They can take a few shots and I don't care if they bite the dust. All the soldiers with good accuracy have good guns and hide behind the shield wall. South Park sums it up pretty nicely below.

Actually 1/3 is a bit high. I have 4 out of 16 in the OSPREY and I used 2 in the Dragonfly, so it is more like 1/4th.

[Marrik]

I use them rarely, but when I do they rock. I should use them more.

Any idea when the new version is coming? Is it close enough to guesstimate?

[Solarius Scorch]

Any idea when the new version is coming? Is it close enough to guesstimate?

After the next release of OXCE.

Until then, I'll just keep adding content. If you want to access it before the official release, you can always just download it from GitHub, which is updated almost every day.

[anothrgamer1234]

If you can kill everyone that is in effective range all the time, yeah. But you will eventually take return fire. I prefer that it is directed at heavily armored expendable soldiers (these tend to have abysmal accuracy anyway). They can take a few shots and I don't care if they bite the dust. All the soldiers with good accuracy have good guns and hide behind the shield wall. South Park sums it up pretty nicely below.

Actually 1/3 is a bit high. I have 4 out of 16 in the OSPREY and I used 2 in the Dragonfly, so it is more like 1/4th.

Granted, and I do use them on whoever I have using a SMG or one of my good pistols. But eventually the loss of the hand slot isn't worth it and it ends up being easier to just huddle behind the nearest solid object/HWP.