still though
their legs are wide open
that's their weak point
Ballistic armor does not stop bullets, if that NAUC soldier gets shot in the leg with an adequately powerful round (See: everything everybody else ever is using as their standard issue) it's going to hurt like a motherforgeter. This isn't a situation where having extra ballistic plates makes you even remotely bullet-proof, just slightly bullet resistant. Sure, that NAUC soldier isn't going to be plinked to death as easily by a stuffload of Kintharian quads spraying him with 5.7mm rounds, but he's still going to die. It's not like the armor just magically stops bullets.