Armor

Armor is used in most of the Unreal games to protect the player's health from damage. It is sometimes referred to as "shield".

Unreal and RTNP
All suits in Unreal and Return to Na Pali offer protection against damage, but some suits offer specialized protection. Suits have a durability of 50 points. (Also see: Pickup Items and Inventory Items.)

Unreal 2 and XMP
In Unreal 2 you start with 100 points of rechargeable shielding armor. It can be recharged in three ways: by picking up an Energy pickup, absorbing energy from dead enemies and using energy stations.

Enemies in Unreal 2 use different amounts of shield. Light usually uses 100, medium - 300, and heavy - 500. It was also planned that the player could use different types of armor. Unfortunately, the different armor types didn't officially make it to the game. But it is possible to add the different power suits to unofficial maps. The code is working, but the model is missing.

In XMP the different player classes have different amounts of Shield. The Ranger has 100, the Tech has 300, and the Gunner has 500.

Shield power can be recharged by using Shield stations placed in the map, or by picking up Shield Packs dropped by a Tech.

Unreal Tournament
The UT armor system is a lot less complex than in Unreal. There are three types of regular armor: Thigh Pads and Body Armor, which can be combined, and Shield Belt, which can only be used separately. Picking up the shield belt removes all other armor. Picking up other armor while carrying the shield belt will recharge the shield belt instead of adding other armor. Either way, a player can have up to 150 points of armor.

The fourth type of armor is the Relic of Defense, which was included as mutator in Bonus Pack 1. A player carrying this relic is not allowed to have the shield belt, but can still use thigh pads and body armor.

Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004
The shield system in UT2003 and UT2004 differs a lot from the UT armor system. The small and large shield charge are tracked separately, even though only the combined shield strength is displayed on the HUD. The Shield Pack only adds to the small shield stack, while the Super Shield Pack only adds to the large shield stack. The difference is, that the small shield stack is limited to 50 points, while the large shield stack can have up to 150 points. Both stacks can have a combined size of 150 points as well, so if the player has charge on the small shield stack, the large shield stack isn't used entirely. Also, by picking up the Small Shield, the small shield stack is filled and exceeding shield points are removed from the large stack.

Note: This is not quite how the shield system is actually implemented, but it's easier to explain and understand this way.

In UT2003, shield acts like additional health, absorbing any damage until all shield is used up.

In UT2004, only combined shield points exceeding 100 offer 100% absorption. Below that shield amount, the large stack absorbs 75% of the damage or as many damage points as there's charge left on the large shield stack. If the large shield stack is used up, the small shield stack absorbs 50% of the remaining damage or as many damage points as there's charge left on the small shield stack.

There's also the Booster adrenaline combo, which slowly converts adrenaline to health or shield at a rate of about 4 points per second. (Actually 5 points per 0.9 game seconds.) The booster combo adds its shield points to the large shield stack.

Unreal Tournament 3
The armor system of Unreal Tournament 3 is more similar to the one of Unreal Tournament than any other game of the series. Unlike in UT, the Shield Belt can be combined with the other armor items in UT3. This way, players can stack up to 200 points of armor.

Carrying a Shield Belt has various advantages in vehicle gametypes. Shielded players are automatically ejected from destroyed vehicles instead of getting killed. As a side effect of the damage absorption, shielded players will not fall of the Hoverboard when hit by weapon fire.

The Helmet will reliably absorb all damage from a single headshot, even if only a single point of Helmet armor is left. Like with the Shield Belt, an absorbed headshot does not damage the player and thus will not cause him or her to fall off the Hoverboard. That's why on VCTF maps that include the Helmet it's not always a good idea to go for a headshot on a flag carrier fleeing on the Hoverboard.

It is unclear whether these side effects on hoverboarding players are intended or not.