Armor & Production: Carbonum Plate Armor   The introduction of Carbonum armor shook up quite a few people. Many wanted the armor because of the NCU it provides, and others because they like the tan color, and yet others, simply because its just a very nice armor.         The first thing you have to know about Carbonum armor, is that just not anyone can make it. You have to have some Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering training to make it. Making this armor is relatively easy - getting the tools to do so is hard if you want the requirements on making the armor to be low enough. You can opt to either use a Screwdriver or a Mass Relocation Robot (Shape Hard Armor). The Screwdriver is a lot easier to find but the MRR requires a lot less skill. For lower quality armor, we can heartily recommend the screwdriver, but for higher quality levels (120+) the MRR beats the Screwdriver hands down.   Screwdriver A general-purpose screwdriver that features a self-morphing head that allows it to be used for nearly any type of screw. Commonly used to recycle Nano Sensors found in Robot Parts. To get the MRR, you have to find one of the more elusive items there is - the Programmed Photon Particle Emitter (Shape Hard Armor). Getting this item works the exact same way as for when you are getting the Programmed Photon Particle Emitter (Shape Soft Armor), as explained in the Bronto Hide Creation guide, so look for tips there. The Mass relocation Robot can be found in the General Tools and Bases booth.   A Programmed Photon Particle Emitter (Shape Hard Armor) Quality level 60   A Mass Relocating Robot This is a small, advanced industrial robot.     + =   With both these components, you can then produce a Mass Relocating Robot (Shape Hard Armor) The process takes exactly 2.5 times the QL of the MRR in Electrical Engineering, Nano Programming and Mechanical Engineering to achieve. The good thing about Carbonum armor is that the parts to it doesnt have to be hunted down like the bronto hide - it can all be found in regular stores - Sheet of Curved Carbonum Plating (and yes, unfortunately this is rather expensive too, a full set of QL120 armor costed us about 1.3 million hard credits). You can obtain raw carbonum from your local Armor and Clothing Components store.   Sheet of Curved Carbonum Plating Carbonum is light weight, has great strength and flexibility, but decays fast. This sheet of the material is used in tradeskills. After getting this, you have to buy something called a HSR - Sketch and Etch robot. This is a multiple-use robot you can use on the platings to sketch out what kind of armor you would want to make. There are six different robots - each for each part available in the Pharmacy and Chemistry Tools and Bases booth, so thats easy enough.     HSR - Sketch and Etch - Arms - Used for Arms     HSR - Sketch and Etch - Gloves - Used for Gloves       HSR - Sketch and Etch - Boots - Used for Boots     HSR - Sketch and Etch - Helmet - Used for Helmet       HSR - Sketch and Etch - Chestpiece - Used for Chest     HSR - Sketch and Etch - Legs - Used for Legs   Use the appropriate HSR robot on the Sheet of Curved Carbonum Plating and you will end up with a etched pattern, like in this example, when we are making arms. Please do note that the description of the etched pattern for arms is hinting towards that one sheet of carbonum will make two sleeves - this is wrong, one sheet will always make just a single piece. This step requires 4.5 times the QL of the plates in Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry skills to accomplish.   + =   Etched Pattern for Carbonum Arms This sheet of curved Carbonum plating has been etched with the patterns for all the 204 pieces needed to build two uni-size plate armor. Combining the finalized Etched Patterns with the MRR:Shape Hard armor will create the final item - in this case, an armpiece armor. This takes 4.5 times the QL of the plates in Chemistry skill and 2.5 times the QL of the plates in both Electrical Engineering and Intelligence.   + =   Carbonum Plate Arms Carbonum Plate offers excellent protection against chemical attacks and most other physical attacks. The Screwdriver solution works pretty much in the same way, although the requirement are different, taking 6 times the QL of the plates in Mechanical Engineering skill and 5.5 times the QL of the plates in Electrical Engineering as well as the same 2.5 times the QL of the plates in Intelligence as with the MRR way of doing things.   + =   Carbonum Plate Arms Carbonum Plate offers excellent protection against chemical attacks and most other physical attacks. Fresh of the presses, straight out of the factory - just smell that carbonum, isn't that a wonderful smell - Carbonum Armor. You might have seen some people wandering around in this, particularly at lower levels, since its a very popular armor to equip ones "young un's" with.     Carbonum Plate Helmet     Carbonum Plate Gloves       Carbonum Breastplate     Carbonum Plate Arms       Carbonum Plate Legs     Carbonum Plate Boots   Conclusion The first thing about Carbonum that hits us, is the fact that its obviously geared towards classes using nano a lot. Doctors, Nanotechnicians, Engineers among others will appreciate this armor a lot, but there is a small hitch. Its based on Stamina and Agility. The Stamina requirement to wear a QL200 carbonum piece is 580, way above anything normal, which really makes it a pain to equip.     Carbonum Breastplate Chemical AC: 1200 Cold AC: 1000 Energy AC: 500 Fire AC: 1000 Melee AC: 1200 Poison AC: 1000 Projectile AC: 1000 Radiation AC: 500 Max Nano: 160 NCU: 8 Nano Init: 8   Primus Armor Chemical AC: 625 Cold AC: 875 Energy AC: 1000 Fire AC: 875 Melee AC: 1000 Poison AC: 875 Projectile AC: 1000 Radiation AC: 250   As I'm sure you can see, the Carbonum armor compare rather nicely. The exception of course, is the very very low amount of Energy damage it can sustain - which really makes little difference against the mobs on Rubi-Ka, but against other weaponry, especially the guns some soldiers and agents likes to walk around with, the last words that will slip out of your mouth when visiting MeetMeDere might well be "Why oh why did I leave my Flowertech out to dry today..." However - the interesting thing here indeed is the extras that Carbonum sports. Extra NCU space is never a bad thing, and the nanopool and small nanoinit it adds is rather nice too. Last updated 2.March 2003 Contributors Ghandalf, Rimor See what others have said about this article, or post your own comments regarding this in our forums.