Like much of this crowd, I voted Goblin/Shogun. It's the layout I use. Plus with the mobs you mentioned it's your best bet.
Look at
pe-wiki. Look at how many impact-only mobs can be hunted in Goblin. It's a pretty long list. Keep in mind that Goblin actually has better impact-only protection than Vigi or Shogun. Shogun is great for inexpensive C/S/I protection.
As for plates, use plates to
augment the armors strengths, not cover their weakness(es). Some get Vigi then add impact plates to compensate. That's not a great idea. I put 1A's (+5 impact) on my Goblin and 2A's (for added cut/impact) on my Shogun. This (plus nice evade, fap & weapons) allows me to hunt anything from Atrox Old on down.
Bots? With Shogun, I can only deal with gen 1, maybe gen 2, but I often get mobbed. I usually leave them alone and stick to "animal" hunting. My soc mate Kassy, she's the bot killer.
