Ooh! Freebies! Sign me up!
I've installed a big sign on the mailbox that says 'Circulars and Free Stuff Welcome'.
Do I care that this is blatant commercialism aimed at Axebot owners?
Of course not... but that doesn't mean I'm not going to delve into the actual ins and outs of it to see if you, our dear subscribers, should shell out for extras of this kit.
Problem is that shielding generally belongs in the shielding slots, so while extra is always welcome, you need to make sure you aren't sacrificing something more important to get it.
Now as we all know (and some publications seem to have forgotten), Shield and Chassis are your defensive slots while Cockpit and Engines are more geared towards offense.
Since this item is chassis and contains dodge and two types of shields, at least it isn't confusing things by trying to go offense. We do however need to make sure it is worth it.
For pure dodge, we normally look to crystal gear. At the top end of the range we have Spinal Bracing with 12 dodge, so we are only loosing a single dodge point over that. Its better than Reinforced joints at the bottom end that only has a 10 dodge rating. In fact you need to invest in niode equipment in the form of Hip Actuators, Hip Hopper Hips or Improvised Jump Jets to get better dodge.
So its actually not looking so bad so far.
And for the little ones to get trample shielding, which lets face it is the big bonus of the Boxing Gloves, you need to get a Turtle Shell. And while the price may be comparable and you get a higher trample rating, you need to give up a fair swag of damage mitigation just to get it.
So in short, its certainly not the worst defensive item you could get your hands on. If you are looking at investing on lighter formations, or even to add a bit of staying power at the bottom end of your rainbows as you work up, its certainly the kind of item that can be slipped in at the back end of the sale budget.
Submitted by David McCallum #701548