Quieter footsteps worth it?

[CMDR Bausell]

I’m putting together a Maverick suit build intended for stealthier operations. Bought the suit as a G3 with Faster Shield Regen, have since added reduced tool battery use. Was thinking of adding night vision and quieter footsteps in the remaining two slots (only place it’s really dark enough to necessitate night vision so far is inside powered-down buildings though).

My big question is whether quieter footsteps does anything to silence your landings if you hop down from the top of a building, say. Need more stuff to unlock the requisite engineer, just wondering how much of a difference it makes; if the mod will prove to be a waste of time. If so I’d be happy to expand my backpack size or ammo capacity instead.

 

[metatheurgist]

Pretty sure it only affects movement but I'm sure some that knows will be along.

 

[ubermick]

It MORE OR LESS upgrades each of your movements to the next one. So the "normal" walking (which is actually jogging, I suppose) with quieter footsteps is akin to the "slow walk" on a normal suit. The "slow walk" on the quieter footsteps is equivalent to "crouched and creeping" on the normal. Crouching and creeping on the quieter footsteps is almost undetectable unless spotted. I don't think it does anything for landings - but that's modifiable just using a little bit of jetpack before you land.

Its useful for covert heists or non-lethal missions and the like, but for day to day stuff, not really. My daily suit has it along with improved battery, backpack, and night vision and in hindsight I'd rather have increased sprint ahead of the footsteps.

 

[CMDR Bausell]

It MORE OR LESS upgrades each of your movements to the next one. So the "normal" walking (which is actually jogging, I suppose) with quieter footsteps is akin to the "slow walk" on a normal suit. The "slow walk" on the quieter footsteps is equivalent to "crouched and creeping" on the normal. Crouching and creeping on the quieter footsteps is almost undetectable unless spotted. I don't think it does anything for landings - but that's modifiable just using a little bit of jetpack before you land.

Its useful for covert heists or non-lethal missions and the like, but for day to day stuff, not really. My daily suit has it along with improved battery, backpack, and night vision and in hindsight I'd rather have increased sprint ahead of the footsteps.

Sounds good. I prefer nonlethal for anything that isn’t explicitly a combat mission. Guess the only question is if it helps with the noise we make landing. Sounds like there’s nothing to be done for the thruster sound.

How does increased sprint work? Is it unlimited? Was thinking about getting it for an Artemis suit. Was looking at jump assist, tool battery use, and battery capacity for that one, trying to decide if I want night vision and what to trade for it. Basically want to be able to stay out as long as possible, climb mountains, and go anywhere I’m trying to go.

 

[Ingram]

It reduce your detection range from guards, worthy if you do non-kill or non-alarm missions.
1. Walking close after NPC without been detected.
2. Running with much less detected range, NPC wont say "watch it" unless you run very close to them.
3. Much less noise when landing from height, like from booster jump. This reduce chances of been scanned.

 

[yianniv]

It's a must have for anything covert. Also, night vision. It's a whole different level.
Edit: On my mav I have those two plus increased backpack capacity and reduced battery consumption by tool usage. I think they're the best combination.

 

[Frop]

Sounds good. I prefer nonlethal for anything that isn’t explicitly a combat mission. Guess the only question is if it helps with the noise we make landing. Sounds like there’s nothing to be done for the thruster sound.

How does increased sprint work? Is it unlimited? Was thinking about getting it for an Artemis suit. Was looking at jump assist, tool battery use, and battery capacity for that one, trying to decide if I want night vision and what to trade for it. Basically want to be able to stay out as long as possible, climb mountains, and go anywhere I’m trying to go.

It depends on your playstyle, but I didn't opt for Quieter Footsteps in the end. Clunky landing sounds aside, as long as you stay crouched nobody will hear you and you can pretty much crouchwalk behind NPCs as long as they don't have a line of sight. Other than that, always try to keep guards outside of the most inner circle on your radar.

Increased sprint isn't one of my favourites either, again I found the gain to be too marginal (given bunny hopping and the majority of the settlements being on 0.03 to 0.5G planets). If it's an Artemis for exploration, you'll predominantly be using your SRV or ship to cover ground, so increased sprint and the battery mods won't be very useful there either. For the time being, jump assist and night vision are about the most useful mods you could slap on there.