I don't know if this is a bug (if it is, you may have heard of it already), or just me being confused.  How exactly do the marine armor upgrades work?  I saw the level 3 armor upgrade icon in my HUD, yet only had 50 armor points (level-0 armor count).  When I picked up heavy armor, however, I had 290 armor points (level-3 armor count).  This confused me a great deal.

isn't heavy armour lv 3 armour (heavy=good). armour upgrades have to be placed down by the commander and have to be picked up. all upgrades work like that

The weapon and armor upgrades developed at the arms lab are not dropped, all marines recieve them automaticaly, retain them after death and even if the arms lab is destroyed.

The heavy armor developd at the prototype lab needs to be reaseached and them dropped for each marien that needs it each tiem they spawn.

Thus my confusion.  I was only getting armor upgrades when wearing heavy armor, which is a pain in the ### cuz the thing weighs 800 pounds and makes you move like a turtle with a pole up it's butt.  Anyway, someone mind taking a look at this?  It would give the aliens a big advantage if the marines could only get 50 aps without turning into a tank.

what he is saying is when you have the level 3 armor upgrade and you respawn you only have 50 armor, when you can achieve 110 when welded. is this intenional or a bug.  

This is intentional. Marines with no armour upgrades spawn with 0 armour. With level 3 armour you spawn with 50. When you are welded you achieve your maximum of 110. There are no bugs here.

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This is intentional. Marines with no armour upgrades spawn with 0 armour. With level 3 armour you spawn with 50. When you are welded you achieve your maximum of 110. There are no bugs here.

wrong, a marine spawns with 50 all the time.