There are really nasty penalties associated with layering armor, though, according to p149. If you wear too much armor, you apply a -1 penalty to Agility and Reaction for every 2 points (or fraction thereof) of the higher value (between Ballistic and Impact) above your Body x 2. If you wear multiple pieces of armor, then you ADD the ratings of Ballistic and Impact before comparing. So Trolls may not have a problem with wearing multiple armor pieces, but most characters will.

What page are the Armor degradation rules, tisoz?

Oh yeah, my GM and I TOTALLY have the same agreement. We've come to a mutual conclusion not to use any of the following options in games.

• Aimed shots. We don't ever use the Aimed Shot option. After all, if we started aiming, so would NPCs.
• Cover. We ALWAYS stand out in the open in formations like old school British soldiers. After all, if we start using cover, so would he.
• Multiple shots per pass. We only make one shot a pass so as to not incur the Multiple Targets or Recoil modifier. I like to spend my simple action picking my nose. After all, if we started making more shots per pass, so would he.
• Surprise. We always announce "HEY EVERYBODY, WE'RE GOING TO SHOOT YOU!" before we open fire. After all, if we started surprising people, so would he.
• Combat Pool. We don't use combat pool at all. After all, if we started using it to make shots or dodge shots or soak damage, so would he.
• Karma pool. We don't use karma pool for any purpose at all. No rerolling dice, no extra successes, nadda. After all, if we started using karma pool, so would he.
• Friends in melee modifier. Much like mooks Bruce Lee movies, if one of us is in melee the rest of us step back and wait for him to win or lose before moving in. After all, if we started swarming people in melee, so would he.
• Opponent prone modifier. If our enemy falls down, we help him up before kicking his ass. After all, if we started kicking a man when he was down, so would our GM.
• Improving our characters. We don't ever buy new equipment, keep equipment we find, improve skills, improve attributes, buy new spells, or initiate. The way our chars start is the way they end. All we do is try to keep homeostasis. After all, if we started improving our characters, the GM might improve our opposition!

I may be inferring too much from the info about armor penetration, AP, but from page 152, "others are designed to tear armor..."

Probably am inferring too much because now I see you could raise your armor value by shooting it with a Slivergun or flechette ammo.

I like my mistaken idea better. If you need to do the math any way, you may as well apply the damage permanently. Seems more realistic. It also gives a reason to plink away and reduce their armor to where your shots will do physical damage.

Let's implement it as erratta.

Wow, you guys were really ahead of your time. Welcome to SR4!

I can't help but chuckle at that. But I make my runs challenging enough my players have decided not to throw in and give me the advantage of called shots. Which is perfectly fine with me in all honesty. Called shots, the way they were handled in sr3 was complete crap anyways. But then again you could also reach a level in sr3 where you could one shot a troll with a hold out pistol so whatever. I'm not going to miss the fact they're gone. If my players want to shoot the gun outa someones hand, they'd be welcome to try to hit the threshold i set for it. But, I'm not going to miss some overcomplicated/underused rules.