Mercenary facilities punish misidentification far more than they punish low damage output.
Armour class is a three-way trade between damage reduction, temperature tolerance and electromagnetic signature.
Ballistic and laser weapons fail in opposite ways indoors: one runs out of ammunition, the other runs out of heat capacity.
Where you are going
Approach zone
Assess turrets, occupants and the surface environment before committing.
Entrance and airlock
The first security point and the one you will retreat through.
Interior levels
Clear the named hostiles the contract lists.
Extraction ship
Leave with the squad and the loot.
What you need and why
Light 3 kg / 0.8 damage multiplier / EM 2; medium 5 kg / 0.7 / EM 6; heavy 7 kg / 0.6 / EM 30.
No substitute listedBallistic P4-AR penetrates up to 5,000 mm and reloads; laser Gallant has zero falloff and 1,200 m/s but overheats and barely penetrates.
No substitute listedThe S-38 Pistol is 22.5 damage at 450 rpm from a 20-round magazine — enough for a doorway when a rifle runs dry.
No substitute listedStabilisation before extraction; C uses a MedPen, and the medgun treats inside 1.5 m.
No substitute listedMoves loot without long exposure in the open.
Alternative: Carry only the contract items and leave the rest.Torso storage caps around 10,500 µSCU even in heavy armour.
Alternative: Make two trips on the cleared route.What to look for
Learn the shape, not the colour — bunker lighting makes colour callouts unreliable.
Light armour is rated only −35 °C to +65 °C; heavy reaches roughly −75 °C to +105 °C.
A laser that stops firing is overheating, not empty — the fix is different.
The signal that looting is reasonably safe; the tracker, not the last body, is authoritative.
When it goes wrong
Re-read the contract affiliation. If the facility is genuinely hostile, use terrain and a different entrance rather than pushing the same lane.
Cease fire immediately and re-identify. Practise reading silhouettes rather than armour colour before the next contract.
Laser weapons build heat — the Gallant generates 2.8 to 4 per shot. Let it cool or switch to a ballistic secondary.
Ballistic falloff. The P4-AR drops from 12 to a floor of 10 past 40 m; the S-38 drops from 22.5 to 16 past 20 m. Close the distance or bring a laser, which has no falloff.
Your armour class is out of its temperature band — step up to medium or heavy for that body.
Torso capacity is roughly 8,000 µSCU light, 8,500 medium and 10,500 heavy. Bring a container or plan two trips.
Exit on the cleared route, recover medically, and next time land with an unobstructed lift-off rather than as close as possible.
Rewards and progression
↳ Contract payout plus whatever weapons, armour and components the facility holds — often worth more than the contract itself if you have the storage to move it
Departure checklist
□Read and state the friendly faction.
□Check surface temperature against your armour rating.
□Choose armour class for signature as well as protection.
□Pack ballistic and laser options plus the matching spares.
□Land with a clear exit and an unblocked entrance.
□Crouch, light, and identify before every shot.
□Wait for the completion notification.
□Loot with one player on entry security.
□Extract on the route you already cleared.
- 01
Read the affiliation before you launch
The contract briefing names which security force is friendly for this job. Learn their armour silhouette rather than relying on a colour callout — under bunker lighting, colour is unreliable and the single most common way a mercenary contract fails is shooting a contract-friendly guard. If you are running with a squad, say the friendly faction out loud before anyone leaves the ship, and repeat it at the airlock.
- 02
Pick your armour class on purpose
The three classes are not cosmetic and the numbers are consistent across manufacturers. Light armour such as the Arden-SL Core weighs 3 kg and multiplies incoming physical and energy damage by 0.8 — a 20 per cent reduction — with a 0.7 stun multiplier and a temperature tolerance of only −35 °C to +65 °C. Medium armour such as the Artimex Core is 5 kg, 0.7 physical and energy, 0.55 stun, and −61 °C to +91 °C. Heavy armour such as the ADP Core or Antium Core is 7 kg, 0.6 physical and energy — 40 per cent off — with a 0.4 stun multiplier, meaning it cuts stun by 60 per cent, and a range of roughly −75 °C to +105 °C, with the Antium reaching −95 °C to +120 °C. Heavy torsos also hold the most: about 10,500 µSCU against 8,500 for medium and 8,000 for light.
- 03
Understand the signature cost of heavy armour
The trade nobody reads on the shop screen is electromagnetic signature. Light armour emits an EM signature of 2, medium 6, and heavy 30 — fifteen times the light figure. If your plan involves approaching a facility without announcing yourself, or you expect other players rather than only NPCs, that number matters more than the 20 per cent extra damage reduction. Conversely, if the fight is a straight room-clear against occupants who already know you are coming, heavy armour’s 60 per cent stun reduction is the stat that keeps you upright through grenades and melee.
⚠ Check the surface temperature before you land. Light armour tops out around +65 °C and bottoms out at −35 °C, which several Stanton moons exceed. - 04
Choose ballistic or laser for the space you are fighting in
Indoors this is a real decision. The Behring P4-AR Rifle is ballistic: a 40-round magazine, 810 rpm, 12 damage a shot for about 162 DPS, 550 m/s muzzle velocity, and damage that starts dropping past 40 m at 0.05 per metre down to a floor of 10 — but it penetrates up to 5,000 mm of material, so it shoots through cover and thin structure. The Klaus & Werner Gallant Rifle is the laser counterpart: a 45-charge magazine, three-round bursts at 900 rpm or five-round at 825, 21 damage a shot for about 315 DPS, 1,200 m/s, and no damage falloff at any range — but only 0.3 mm of penetration and 2.8 to 4 heat per shot, so it overheats where a ballistic would merely reload. The Klaus & Werner Demeco LMG is the sustained-fire laser option at 100 charges and 800 rpm, but it is a size-4, 9.8 kg weapon. For a sidearm, the Behring S-38 Pistol is a 20-round ballistic at 450 rpm and 22.5 damage, with falloff beginning at 20 m.
- 05
Land with the exit clear and clear rooms one angle at a time
Set down where the ship is not blocking the entrance, an elevator or an obvious firing lane, and leave yourself a straight lift-off. Inside, crouch (Left Ctrl) more than you sprint, use the flashlight (T) rather than guessing at silhouettes, and identify every contact before firing. Draw and holster is R, and R again is reload — a weapon you thought was holstered is a weapon you cannot fire. Call doors and stairwells out loud with a squad. Rushing the last room is where both friendly fire and the unseen hostile happen, and heavy armour will not save you from either.
- 06
Wait for the completion notice, then loot with security posted
After what you believe is the final named hostile, wait for the contract completion notification and check the tracker before anyone slings their rifle. Only then move cargo with the tractor tool, and keep one player facing the entrance the whole time. Remember your torso storage is finite — roughly 10,500 µSCU in heavy armour — so bring a container or make two trips rather than standing in the open sorting inventory. Extract on the route you already cleared.
Field notes
↳ Light 0.8 / medium 0.7 / heavy 0.6 physical and energy multipliers — heavy is 40 per cent off, not immunity.
↳ Heavy armour cuts stun by 60 per cent (0.4 multiplier), which matters more indoors than the raw damage figure.
↳ EM signature runs 2 / 6 / 30 for light / medium / heavy — heavy armour is fifteen times louder to sensors.
↳ Check surface temperature: light armour is only rated −35 °C to +65 °C.
↳ Ballistics penetrate cover (P4-AR up to 5,000 mm); lasers effectively do not (0.3 mm) but never lose damage over range.
↳ Lasers overheat, ballistics run dry — bring the right kind of spare.
↳ The P4-AR loses damage past 40 m; the S-38 past 20 m. Indoors that rarely bites, in an approach lane it does.
↳ Wait for the completion notification before looting, and keep one player on the entrance.
Watch the route
Video mechanics can age between patches. Use the written route above as the current checklist.
Research sources
Route text is independently summarized and cross-checked against these references.
RSI — In-game assistance ↗Star Citizen Wiki API — FPS armour stats ↗Star Citizen Wiki API — P4-AR Rifle ↗Star Citizen Wiki API — Gallant Rifle ↗Wiki — Personal armor ↗RSI — Patch notes ↗
