Natanael Cormac, on 13 August 2013 - 04:00 PM, said:
There is a difference to folding like cardboard... and folding like cardboard that has been soaked in kerosene lol
The problem is not armor values it's how armor works.
The current model for armor values specific to each discreet body location is lifted directly from the table top game.The only notable difference is MWo has doubled those values.
The doubling of armor values is to increase time to kill and that is in a direct response to increasing the rate of fire of weapons by an average value of 2.5 times per "turn" based on table top 10 second turns.
So we have two distinct problems.
1: Using the table top armor mechanics without also incorperating the supporting mechanics to balance the inherent weaknesses in that armor mechanic.
The table top game uses several mechanics to balance the armor mechanics to prevent exploitation of the inherent weaknesses in the damage and armor mechanics.
First we have a random element of dice rolling to determine if a hit occurs.The target numbers used to determine successes are standardized based on several factor like target speed distance terrain effects and the attackers movement.The end result is a much higher chance of missing a target than is expressed in a real time shooter game.
Since applying a random number generator to a real time shooter game is in my opinion contrary to the desired mechanics of the real time shooter I can understand why this mechanic was not adapted.
However my point remains this was a support mechanic to balance the armor system for table top and is lacking in MWo.
Secondly: When a hit does occur the location of the mech is randomly determined.Since this is also determined by a random number generator (dice) I feel it is not applicable to MWo.
Yet again however a supporting mechanic was excluded with no substitution to assist in prevent exploitation of the core armor mechanic.
Thirdly: Another mechanic used to mitigate the effects of rapid damage aplication is the table top game's heat scale.
MWo does use a heat mechanic yet I feel it lacks the ability to function as a damage mitigation tool with the exception of the extreme cases (6X PPC or mechs with much more firepower than cooling).
To simpify the table top heat mechanics applies progressivly increasing penalties that reduce the ability to accuratley apply damage to a target.MWo's heat mechanics apply no penalties until shutdown.The heat system in MWo is all or nothing and honestly this is supporting the use of alpha strikes that are also all or nothing prospects.
MWo's heatscale is not penalizing as it should and in some ways it is synergistic to alpha striking.
And lastly,not only does MWo eschew supporting mechanics to mitigate exploitation of the armor mechanics that are lifted directly from the table top game MWo adds a mechanic that actually assists in exploiting the armor mechanics.
I am refering to group fire.Not only can we aim at and likely hit specific armor locations on a target without any mechanics hindering this exploitation of the weakness of the armor mechanics but we can concentrate massive damage values onto those armor locations with grouped weapon fire.
2: Using a 2X armor value in a 2.5X damage mechanic.
This is a matter of simple math.
Table top derived armor values set to 2X table top values
Weapon damage (mostly) retained at 1X table top values.
Weapon rate of fire increased to 2.5 X table top values
This still means an overall increase in damage delivery within a set time frame of 10 seconds (as derived from the table top turn length)
What we have is mechs apply more damage than intended with the capacity to do so with pin point accuracy that the armor mechanics were never intended to contend with.