24 replies to this topic

[DI3T3R]

Lights:
full armour everywhere; torso: 10 points on the back, rest front

Mediums, Heavies, Assaults:
full armour everywhere except legs, they get 60-80%; torso: 15-20 points on the back, rest front

[Martin Oberhofer]

It certainly depends a lot on your playing style, and mech type.
Atlas -> always max canon armor cause every one targets it first
lights -> legs an CT + ST (most run XL engines...) even distribute more evenly on front and back i like a 60/40
Jager -> side torsos
Cata -> all except legs (head could also be reducede if you dont store ammo there....)
LRM boat -> general skinny armor, the more you focus on LRM the less armor you schould need, if your engaged by a light pack and youre alone your already killed...



Best way to find out, try to lower a single area and see if your loosing it quicker, or if your still dying due to hits in other areas.
Excellent trainig for light pilots - try to reduce leg armor and get used to it, so you improve on evading and usage of cover

Generally my back CT is hitten more often that the back side torsos so i save there

IMO many players focus to much on front armor, most heavy/assault kills from my jenner arrive from hits on thier back CT
recently i saw a Highlander falling by a single 4xML + 2xSRM4 salvo...

[RandomLurker]

Firstly you need to consider the shape of your mech, which has been covered already. Things like the Hunchback's hunch, the Shadowhawk's very long legs, need to be considered. Second, you need to consider your playstyle. If you fight in the midst of the enemy, back armor will be more important.

The final factor is to hit key damage points on your rear. This is typically 15 or 20 on the larger mechs (a guass rifle hit, ac 20, or dual ppc hit), and lets you take a single hit from the most likely alpha weapons you expect to face. Consider this your minimum, and add more to the rear if you feel you need it with the way you pilot. With light mechs you'll have to get some experience and see how much damage you tend to take on the rear armor, and adjust as needed.

You need to max leg armor until you have a big enough mech to hold at least 35 points, 40 is better. If anyone sees you with an orange/red leg armor because a stray AC/20 shot hit it once, they are going to aim for that leg. So you want to be able to take a couple hits there without passing yellow, or it will become a target. People say noone aims at Atlas legs- don't believe it. If the leg turns red with one shot and the torso's are still yellow, people will notice and your legs will be gone 20 seconds later.

[Bront]

Hatimes1000, on 18 December 2013 - 05:49 PM, said:

No reason not to test it out yourself. Victors are 80 ton mechs that come with armor most heavies and some mediums beat at their base design, but it gets high speed, jump jets, and an AC20. If jump jets woukld give 120m high instead of just 20m high would be much better for tactical, but even so, you can spread damage out or avoid it by jumping. high speed gets your ac20 to their face and ac20 rips them apart. its a clever design.

you dont need 100% armor, usually you sacrifice speed and weapons for that, so pick what works best for you maybe.

I generally recommend nearly 100% armor to start, and pealing it off slowly as you learn how the mech takes damage (Often off the legs early, and later the arms, side torsos, or head as you see fit). Very few mechs come stock short more than 2 tons of armor from max, and often those that do are mechs built for speed where XL engines are something to think about (Quickdraw, Victor). Just be aware, for locations like the legs, good players will test out your armor there and leg you if you take too much of.

[barnmaddo]

Commander Binz, on 29 September 2013 - 11:38 PM, said:

no-one ever shoots an Atlas in the leg!

That said it's fun to leg them, because then they are ridiculously slow and pretty soon will get stuck in an exposed position and focused down. Also on the larger mechs it's easy to get a solid hit on the legs.