Androids and Tensile reinforcement armor upgrades

[Kahel Stormbender]

Maybe my search fu is weak. It probably is. But I've got a question that could make a difference depending on what the answer is.

While buying equipment, I decided to look at armor upgrades since androids can slot a light armor upgrade in addition to any they put on their armor. Here's the ability that allows this:

Starfinder CRB page 42 wrote:

UPGRADE SLOT

Androids have a single armor upgrade slot in
their bodies. Regardless of whether androids
are wearing physical armor, they can use this
slot to install any one armor upgrade that
could be installed into light armor.

Then I noticed

Starfinder CRB page 207 wrote:

TENSILE REINFORCEMENT

When calculating your armor’s hardness and Hit Points (see
page 409), treat it as if its item level were 5 higher.

That's pretty strait forward, initially. This would mean if that's slotted into my Second Skin armor it would have a hardness of 5+(2x6), or 17 hardness. And the armor would have 15+(3x6), or 33 Hit Points. Not bad for level 1 armor.

The question I'm having is... What happens if I apply Tensile Reinforcement to my android's armor upgrade slot?

[Nathan Monson]

RAW your character has neither Hardness nor an Item level, so nothing happens.

[Kahel Stormbender]

That's my first thought, and it's kind of obvious the Android "upgrade slot" ability was not considered when making that armor upgrade. Thus the confusing interaction. And why I thought I'd check if there's an official ruling on this edge case.

[Solace of Thorns]

"When calculating your armor’s hardness and Hit Points, treat it as if its item level were 5 higher."

On a strict reading - would that not simply impart the benefits onto any armor you equip? It doesn't state "when calculating the hardness and Hit Points of armor upgraded with Tensile Reinforcement, treat it as if its item level were 5 higher.", so theoretically you could treat any armor you equip as having Tensile Reinforcement.

[Andy Brown]

This came up often enough that Owen gave an answer back in August

[Kahel Stormbender]

Ah, my search fu was weak. I'd thought it would have no effect due to androids not having a Hardness rating. But as written it is ambiguous. Not many good options for a level 1 character are there?

[Kudaku]

Trust me, the extra armor upgrade slot will continue to pay for itself for most of your character's career. I'm only level 3 and I'm already having to make some tough choices. :(

[Kahel Stormbender]

Yeah, gathered that from looking at the armor upgrades list. The fact that in SFS character creation you're limited to only level 1 or 2 armors, that's far rougher. Not that I could have afforded a level 3 armor and gotten a weapon plus basic gear (such as tool kits, cloths, and food).

[Ravingdork]

Clearly, you get hit point as if you were five levels higher. ;-P