Hello. I just wanted to start with a reminder that the Deployment System is an optional program here in the 405th. It is not required for membership, either in the Group as a whole or for your local Regiment. We sometimes get newer members who think that it is required and that their Deployment Approval, and Tier level has some bearing on their membership level or ability to participate with the group, which t does not. Deployment is just a fun program meant to recognize those members that decide to go for a high level of accuracy in their build.
For under-suits plain black is approval for Tier 1, however if in game the Under-suit has details, like the Halo 4 Tech suits, then we like to see the appearance of those details, either by paint, screen printing, foam, latex, or other rubber pieces, for a Tier 2 and definitely they must be present in some fashion for a Tier 3.
When it comes to mixing and matching armor components from different games or different media, those costumes are typically deployed at a Tier 1 only, as the Deployment program is based on comparing a completed costume to an established visual reference. That allows for an ease and a consistent basis for reviewing a costume. You can pretty much just go, "Does is look like the picture?" And different people could easily draw the same comparison. If a combination of armor pieces or sets has never been seen either in game or in some other media, it becomes drastically harder to impartially make a call on how "accurate" the build is, as then there will be some level of personal thought or feeling on whether the combination looks or feels "In Halo Universe." To try and avoid such subjective judgments, we will typically sort Mix and Match sets into a Tier 1 grade.