[WOTC] Iridar’s Vest and Plating Overhaul

Grants a Vest Slot to all XCOM soldiers, including SPARKs. LW2 Utility Plating and Vests can now be carried only in the Vest Slot, so they are now mutually exclusive.

LW2 Plating is now available in infinite quantities from the start of the campaign. The basic LW2 Ceramic Plating is automatically equipped on Rookies and Squaddies, Gatecrasher included.

LW2 Plating Proving Grounds projects now upgrade your entire supply of LW2 Plating. The requirements and costs for these projects have been adjusted.

Nanoscale Vest now provides immunity to critical hits and increased bleedout chance, making it a valid option at any stage of the game.

This mod is a direct buff to soldiers’ survivability, so it will make the game easier. I would recommend going to LW2 Utility Plating config and changing the Ablative HP bonus from 2-5 to 1-4 so that Vests can better compete with them.

• Alloy Plating: requires that you purchase Plated Armor squad upgrade and perform Shieldbearer Autopsy.
• Chitin Plating: requires Alloy Plating and Chryssalid Autopsy.
• Carapace Plating: requires that your purchase Warden Armor, Chitin Plating, Andromedon Autopsy and Sectopod Autopsy.

• [WOTC] LW2 Utility Plating is required.
• WotC Vest Slot is required.
• [WOTC] Iridar’s Weapon Skin Replacer is required.
• Additional Vest Types is recommended.

I wouldn’t recommend removing or adding this mod mid-campaign. Doing so will not break your campaign, but your Plating may become a mess. Use at your own risk.

The mod is highly configurable through configuration files located at:

After all, most of this mod is just configuration for other mods.

This mod is not balanced for Beta Strike or any other mods that overhaul the soldiers’ defensive stats. If you wish for LW2 Plating bonus HP to scale with Beta Strike, you will have to do that by adjusting LW2 Utility Plating config manually.

This mod should be compatible with mod-added Vests, as long as they use X2EquipmentTemplate and have the "defense" Item Category.
This mod makes no changes to how you acquire the Vests, so it should be compatible with any mods that do.

Compatibility with specific mods:

• [WOTC] Dress for Success INCOMPATIBLE.
• [WOTC] Iridar’s Armor Overhaul compatible, but using both will make your soldiers very tanky.
• Augmentations + Mark Zero Augments – these mods configure the Vest Slot mod to grant a Vest Slot only to soldiers that have had their torso Augmented. My mod will always reliably override that config. Unfortunately, it means augmenting the torso will not do anything for you.
• [WOTC] Plated Rookie – that mod adds the Ceramic Plating to starting loadouts for Rookies and Faction Heroes. My mod does mostly the same thing in a different way. These mods are not incompatible, but there’s no reason to use them together.
• WotC Microstim Implants – as far as my mod is concerned, Microstim Implants are a Vest, and will be patched to use the Vest Slot.
• Metal Over Flesh Redux – as far as my mod is concerned, Codex Module and Nanoweave Plate are Vests, and will be patched to use the Vest Slot.
• Compatible with Covert Infiltration / Prototype Armory through the bridge mod.

Thanks to Musashi for making changes to the Vest Slot mod at my request.

A hearty thank you to my patrons for supporting me throughout the years.

Please support me on Patreon[www.patreon.com] if you require tech support, have a suggestion for a feature, or simply wish to help me create more awesome mods.