Flak jacket

The flak jacket is a piece of protective apparel. It provides protection to the torso and arms at the cost of a -0.12 c/s penalty to movement speed.

Acquisition

Flak jackets can be crafted at a Machining table once the Flak armor research project has been completed. They require 70 Steel, 50 Cloth, 1 Component, 14,000 ticks (3.89 mins) of work, and a Crafting skill of 4.

Flak jackets can also be commonly found on Outlanders, Pirates, Ancients, and Imperial Troopers .

Analysis

In general, you should prioritize getting flak vests for your all relevant colonists, before making jackets. Vests are cheaper, provide much more armor, and cover everything the jacket does except for the arms - which can eventually be replaced. For reference, a normal flak vest has 100% Sharp armor, compared to 40% Sharp from a normal jacket. As jackets can be worn over a flak vest, this does not mean that jackets are bad. Just create the vests, first.

Overall, flak jackets have low resource costs and accessible research. Combined with vests, and they can provide useful protection in the early-mid game.

However, devilstrand dusters are almost strictly superior. They provide slightly more sharp & blunt protection, significantly more heat insulation, protect the legs, and have no movement speed penalty - their only statistical downside being a tiny decrease in cold insulation. Devilstrand has the advantage of being growable, unlike steel. Mid-late game colonies are often able to grow enough devilstrand for dusters, making flak jackets obsolete. Other late-game materials, such as hyperweave and thrumbofur, are rarer, but offer even more protection.

Due to the speed and coverage detriments of flak jackets, even dusters of strong leathers, like rhinoceros leather may be preferable despite offering slightly less protection to the upper body.

Stats table

Flak jacket	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Quality	Sharp	Blunt	Heat	HP	Insulation - Cold	Insulation - Heat	Market Value
Awful	24%	4.8%	6%	260	-11.52 °C (-20.7 °F)	+2.4 °C (4.3 °F)	145
Poor	32%	6.4%	8%	260	-12.96 °C (-23.3 °F)	+2.7 °C (4.9 °F)	215
Normal	40%	8%	10%	260	-14.4 °C (-25.9 °F)	+3 °C (5.4 °F)	290
Good	46%	9.2%	11.5%	260	-15.84 °C (-28.5 °F)	+3.3 °C (5.9 °F)	360
Excellent	52%	10.4%	13%	260	-17.28 °C (-31.1 °F)	+3.6 °C (6.5 °F)	435
Masterwork	58%	11.6%	14.5%	260	-21.6 °C (-38.9 °F)	+4.5 °C (8.1 °F)	725
Legendary	72%	14.4%	18%	260	-25.92 °C (-46.7 °F)	+5.4 °C (9.7 °F)	1450

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

Styles

Ideoligions allow the selection of styles which then change the texture of the certain items and buildings when constructed by the colony. These style variants can be crafted if the colony has the selected style, or can be looted from raiders from factions with the requisite style.