4 replies to this topic

[Rorvik]

Honest question. I don't undertsand it.

I understand that if I fire a Large Laser, at optimal range, it will do 10 damage.

But I don't understand the difference between 40 armor units and 20 armor units, or even between 40 and 35.

Does the armor units dictate how much damage can be absorbed before the armor is gone? Or is there some kind of formula? What would be considered a significant difference between two armor load outs?

[FupDup]

Armor "units" are basically health points. So, if a body section has 40 armor points, it can withstand 40 points of damage before the armor is fully removed from that section.

Note that there is also internal health underneath armor, but I don't know those off hand (they are static and based on a mech's tonnage).

Edited by FupDup, 22 September 2013 - 07:01 PM.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

Armor works as a 1 to 1 ratio to damage values

A Large Laser will do 10 damage at a mech standing at 450m away (its max range)

A mech's armor value tells you how much damage it will withstand before there is a breach in that section. A mech with 40 front armor will 'absorb' 40 points of damage (4 large lasers for instance) before there is an armor breach in that location.

Internal armor points then follow where there is no more armor. The internal armor values are static on each mech, and consist of HALF the total armor on that section.

As another example, say a Cataphract has 44 points of armor on its arm. This is max. The internal 'health' value is 22. So it will take 66 points of damage before that arm is destroyed. Same on the torsos. Take a Cataphract that has 50 front armor on a side torso, and 10 in the rear. To destroy that side torso through the front will take 80 damage. 30 internal health and 50 front armor. (50 + 30) 30 being HALF of the total MAX armor that location can hold, 50+10.

The internal health of components are static, they never change. The armor can be allocated to seek your tonnage needs.

[Deathlike]

The armor you add/remove from the mechlab is the "external" armor. That is the armor you have control of. If you look at your paperdoll, the outlines around the part of the body is a represenation of it.

The INTERNAL armor is the blocks inside the mech of the paperdoll. They have a predefined value. It is always HALF of the total armor that can be assigned to the part, with exceptions. For example, the arm on the Cataphract has a max of 44 pts of external armor you can put on it. That means, internally, it has 22 pts of armor. Once that internal armor is removed, that part of the mech is destroyed.

For the CT, the Cataphract can up to 106 pts of armor TOTAL assigned to the front and back of the mech. When your mech's CT is exposed, it has 53 pts of armor. So, if your back CT's armor is exposed, the enemy still has to deal 53 points of damage to the back in order to kill you so losing your back armor won't kill you instantly... but it makes it much easier to accelerate your death, since most of your armor is in the front (obviously, you want to minimize your back armor exposure as much as possible).

The head can have 18 pts of armor... internally, it has 15 pts of armor, regardless of mech and/or variant. Shaving your head armor is not a bad thing, but it has consequences due to some builds, that could deal like 30+ damage to a part of the body. You can shave a little bit of it as you wish, but any lucky shot can kill you, despite the internal 15 pts of armor.

I hope that explains most of what you need to know.

[Rorvik]

Thank you, all, that was very helpful.

Edited by Rorvik, 22 September 2013 - 08:33 PM.