2
Garth Erlam, on 10 April 2013 - 08:35 AM, said:
<ul>
<li>Ammo is placed in the legs for the following reasons:</li>
<li> </li>
<li>It is one of the few places you cannot put double heat sinks.</li>
<li>It is likely that, even if they DO destroy your leg, the ammo wont go critical.</li>
<li>Even if the ammo DOES go critical, you are probably dead anyway.</li>
<li>The legs have more armour than most other places, from a single angle (IE. your leg has more armour than your front side torso)</li>
<li>Would you rather your ammo go critical and destroy your leg, or your centre torso? How about your side torso, then head?</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p>In terms of ratios of armour from front to back, I tend to go like this:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Light Mechs: 2/2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Medium Mechs: 2/2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Heavy: 2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Assault: 3-1 front to back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The reasons for these are as follows: If you're in a medium or light, you're going to be almost guaranteed to take rear damage fighting another light/medium. What that means is if you have something like 8 rear armour and 20 health internals, a single alpha from a 6 ML cicada will remove the entire section. You want to avoid that. For Heavys and Assaults you're generally going toe-to-toe with other Heavy/Assaults, and that means you want more front armour, but enough rear armour so that that 6ML cicada can't one shot you from behind. Assaults are 3-1 (occasionally more front) as even with that ratio, you can survive 3+ alphas to the back anyawy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<li>Ammo is placed in the legs for the following reasons:</li>
<li> </li>
<li>It is one of the few places you cannot put double heat sinks.</li>
<li>It is likely that, even if they DO destroy your leg, the ammo wont go critical.</li>
<li>Even if the ammo DOES go critical, you are probably dead anyway.</li>
<li>The legs have more armour than most other places, from a single angle (IE. your leg has more armour than your front side torso)</li>
<li>Would you rather your ammo go critical and destroy your leg, or your centre torso? How about your side torso, then head?</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p>In terms of ratios of armour from front to back, I tend to go like this:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Light Mechs: 2/2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Medium Mechs: 2/2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Heavy: 2.5-1 front to back.</p>
<p>Assault: 3-1 front to back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The reasons for these are as follows: If you're in a medium or light, you're going to be almost guaranteed to take rear damage fighting another light/medium. What that means is if you have something like 8 rear armour and 20 health internals, a single alpha from a 6 ML cicada will remove the entire section. You want to avoid that. For Heavys and Assaults you're generally going toe-to-toe with other Heavy/Assaults, and that means you want more front armour, but enough rear armour so that that 6ML cicada can't one shot you from behind. Assaults are 3-1 (occasionally more front) as even with that ratio, you can survive 3+ alphas to the back anyawy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
That assumes a lot. I put that much armor in the back of any light and outside of poor decision making (like shutting down in mid-combat), the rear armor SHOULD NEVER be destroyed that easily. It doesn't ever work the way that it is suggested. If you're a bad pilot and not aware of your surroundings, more back armor helps... but if you're a light/medium mech pilot, the ability to torso twist and movement prevents this from ever happening.
