Ballistic Vest Question - Is it Worth Having?

[Blizzard Walker]

I am deciding if I want to find any of the special loot in Blackrock.  I have traveled to Last Prospect mine to find the four noise makers - thus unlocking the recipe for me to make more at the Bleak Inlet's Last Resort Cannery. While at Last Prospect Mine I did not bother the run the toxic gas gauntlet to retrieve the password to gain access to the ammunition workbench in the workshop.

On this current Voyageur run I will return to Blackrock to at least visit the Old Substation to repair the transmitter tower.

Weapon variants like the Warden's Revolver don't tempt me to explore the rest of Blackrock.  

That leaves only the Ballistic Vest as a possible reason to explore the prison.  I am debating if it is worth the bother considering the penalties in carrying capacity, warmth and mobility.  It might be handy if I knew I was travelling in an area where wolf struggles were unavoidable but I have been able to limit wolf struggles to around 1 every 250 days on this run.

I would be interested in learning if other players have sought out the Ballistic Vest and if they use it regularly.

Edited April 27 by Blizzard Walker
missing word

[Leeanda]

I always pick it up but never use it,it's just too heavy... 

But I suppose it would be handy for doing the tales during aurora,at least in the zone anyway.. 

[ThePancakeLady]

Vanilla Stalker player here, and to be honest, I do not really use it at all, even in BRM. I did play with it right after it was added to the game, and it does seem to give decent protection against bear maulings, but it doesn't seem to do much good for protection against regular wolves or timberwolves. No bleeding chest wounds, but if a pack of timbies decides to take turns chewing on me, legs and arms are going get the bleeding wounds, and I will still be bleeding out and unable to make a quick getaway because of the sprint debuff and the extra weight of the thing.

If you have the TFTFT DLC, I suppose the travois *might* make it easier to get it from BRM to any other region (Far Territories or Lower Great Bear) but without a travois- it's so heavy it is hard to get from place to place in anything but Pilgrim where you don't need to worry about travel speed as much.I won;t go the the prison just to get it, but my playstyle and strategies are going to be different than yours, and my priorities are likely to be different as well. I tend to play an "avoid and evade" stealth-type game, not a "facetank everything" type of game. Only you know how you play and what your priorities and strategies are. If you are there already- yeah, pick it up. But then you may have to decide how many trips back to BRM you are willing to make to get it and any other loot you consider important back out to another region. I am convinced that the vest is really only useful armor against bears and moose, and doesn't give many benefits against wolves or timberwolves.

[bysinda]

I used to wear it all the time on interloper when it first appeared 

It's not like I ran much, saving my clothes and other supplies was more important to me. I guess it matters if you are more into offense or defense.  On interloper I play mostly defense,  the only weapon is the bow ( once you craft it ) and if I'm not sure I can kill on the spot I don't shoot because I don't want the animal to run away with my precious arrow 

Nor I'm on stalker,  I have guns and lots of ammunition and bolistic vest is just chilling at my base

 

[RossBondReturns]

You can survive 4 consecutive Bear attacks with the Vest on- worth it if you don't mind moving slow.

I know I tested it for science.

[Blizzard Walker]

Leeanda, ThePancake Lady, bysinda and RossBondReturns - thank you all for your thoughtful replies.  

I am concluding that the weight is going to be a bother and I have a tendency to avoid bear encounters in the first place.  Thus I don't need to worry about bear maulings that I avoid in the first place.  My style is to learn where bears travel and to kill the bear from safe locations to ensure 15 days of bear free travel.  Since I play on Voyageur with high end clothes and lots of resources I am not forced to travel in anything other than ideal weather circumstances that don't put me in harm's way with bears.

The observation that the ballistic vest is not particularly useful - if not an outright liability - with timberwolves is the decisive factor.  My strategy is best described as evade timberwolves or to pick them off with the curator's rifle from a distance. I would prefer to carry lots of flares if timberwolves get too close.

 

[RossBondReturns]

Actually with T-Wolves I find it to be very helpful.

Making their attacks that are usually grabbed to be little nicks. And they rarely grabbed me.

So deffo not a liability when I was testing it...and I was testing it on a fresh Blackrock Spawn with very base starter clothing

[Leeanda]

6 hours ago, Blizzard Walker said:

Leeanda, ThePancake Lady, bysinda and RossBondReturns - thank you all for your thoughtful replies.  

I am concluding that the weight is going to be a bother and I have a tendency to avoid bear encounters in the first place.  Thus I don't need to worry about bear maulings that I avoid in the first place.  My style is to learn where bears travel and to kill the bear from safe locations to ensure 15 days of bear free travel.  Since I play on Voyageur with high end clothes and lots of resources I am not forced to travel in anything other than ideal weather circumstances that don't put me in harm's way with bears.

The observation that the ballistic vest is not particularly useful - if not an outright liability - with timberwolves is the decisive factor.  My strategy is best described as evade timberwolves or to pick them off with the curator's rifle from a distance. I would prefer to carry lots of flares if timberwolves get too close.

 

I pretty much play the same as you, only pilgrim...  Long safe distance for bear hunting..   I hate that maul  cut scene... I don't think it's even possible to set the twolves off on pilgrim though,I've tried ..  

I'm not sure how much the vest gives with the moose either, whether it prevents broken ribs or not... I've never tested it, 

[Laxgoalie]

I'd throw my hat in the ring for not worth the weight. I have played interloper or interloper+ custom games for the last several years. I don't consider the defensive rating of any clothing. Defense helps you in only one very specific circumstance. Warmth and wind proofing help you virtually all the time. In my current 350ish day interloper run, I've had around 200 wolf close encounters but only 6 wolf struggles. 5 of the 6 were very brief as they were arrow shots that hit but didn't hit the wolf's head during a charge. The other was was just dumb along the lines of "hold my beer while I try this". In the same run I have survived 250 blizzards with probably a third spent outside in caves. All the weight of the vest would have helped me maybe one time. Instead, I could use that inventory slot and the weight that would be freed up be warmer and carry more coal, torches, food, and arrows. And yes this includes trips to BI and BRP. TWs are noisy buggers but they are disciplined and respect the mighty campfire. I plan on having marine flares or only travel through TW areas when the wind allows for fires. I've used exactly one flare so far this run.

On lower difficulties (even on Stalker which is a wolf vs human FPS) you have plenty of other things to keep predators at bay. All those things weigh less and do more than one thing. They all are preferable to letting a wolf gnaw on you. You got plenty of matches to light torches, distress pistols, pistols in multiple flavors, and more road flares than Lopers have matches. Be a tool user and stop wrestling wolves. I can't even beat my Golden Retriever 2 out of 3 falls.

[mintietcatm]

In my opinion the huge stamina debuff is worth it, especially on high difficulties (Plus its great for early loper if you spawn in blackrock)

[Semple Fi]

For interloper specifically:

Worth it to keep around a base where there are Timberwolves and relatively easy access to shelter.  Or a moose hunt at the cabin in BLK. 
 

I would not travel with it on, just keep it handy for the long game bases in BLK or BI…. 
 

Possibly worth hauling out to ZOC for hunting in the presence of poisoned wolves.  

[ManicManiac]

I'm glad folks who want it, have it.
Personally, though, I have never found much of a need for it. 
It's been a long while since I've been in a wildlife struggle. 
Even longer since I've been caught by Timberwolves.

For the most part I don't even carry weapons when I roam around Great Bear Island.  Once I got good at evading and avoiding the hostile wildlife... I tend only to go get particular tools or weapons from my primary encampments when I find I want them for a specific purpose (in the case of weapons - a Hunt).

So for me, the ballistic vest is kind of like pain killers... it's nice that it's around and it's nice to be able to go get it if I want, but I really find that I don't have a need for it.

Edited May 9 by ManicManiac

[bysinda]

I know one thing: once the cougars appear and the wildlife gets new spawning places I am NOT taking it off for a while O_O 

I took it with me to Zone of contamination, too. Fear of the unknown forced me to 😬 I was so sure something is gonna jump me 

Spoiler

In the mines. It didn't, thank god

 

[ManicManiac]

@bysinda

That's a good point, and certainly merits consideration. 😆

Edited May 9 by ManicManiac

[Pencil]

I like it for early game Interloper when you don't have anything else better to wear. Long term, it would only be worth it to me if I go all in on protection. Moose cloak, deer clothes, rabbit clothes, crampons; at 97% protection on Interloper, you probably aren't going to die to a wildlife attack lol. 102% protection on any other difficulty with ski boots and gauntlets. You won't take any damage in a struggle; only the afflictions afterward will damage you. 

[bysinda]

1 minute ago, Pencil said:

Moose cloak, deer clothes, rabbit clothes, crampons; 

Bear + wolf coat is my fashion of choice 😁