Top tier Military Armor has a rating of 10 13 military padding and steel has 12 16 steel plating with Any type of padding goes with light armor and any type of plating goes with heavy, but they cannot be put onto the wrong type of armor set. The best gear may actually come down more to preference and situation rather than a raw numbers game.
However, military armor is the best protection for least hindrance to stamina.
Surprisingly enough steel armor is the best for protection with additional modifications see mods section for more information. The Best Armor is actually down to preference this time around. At some future point I will try to see what the armor rating actually means, but for now it just shows which one is best. Light armors like Padded and Military Armor increases stamina costs while in use at a reported rate of Armor Rating is a rough rating of how good the armor is. Quality also matters significantly less now as the only thing that changes from lowest to max quality is the durability and as that degrades it comes at no cost to protection anymore! Mobility is now a factor in clothing.
The only thing that affects the damage you take is the helmet, chestplate, gloves, leg armor and boots. Weapon Mods Alpha Armor Armor has actually been drastically reduced in complexity from A16 to A17 which is a very welcoming change.
