51 replies to this topic

[Insects]

In group the enemy shouldn't be getting behind.

In PUG your team will stand there and watch as a Locust drills a hole in your backside, if you are lucky they will try to shoot the Locust and blow your leg off.
Rear armor still important in PUG.

[grendeldog]

I think torso twist range and speed is also a factor. I can get away with 2 armor on the rear of my Hunchback's right torso - the hunch itself (as suggested by Koniving) - because the Hunchback can literally look behind itself. And therefor you should always be facing the enemy in a Hunchback, even when running away from them (at an angle). That's torso twist range.

Now as far as torso twist speed, if a brawl develops where there's allies and enemies both in front and behind me, I can twist fast enough to spread any damage coming from the rear onto at least my arms and across all my torsi. So while it may seem nuts to have that little armor in the back you can actually get away with it quite well because of the two different aspects of torso twisting.

Edited by grendeldog, 02 May 2015 - 06:32 PM.

[Dino Might]

Lights 2/2/2
Mediums 6/8/6
Heavies 8/10/8
Assaults 10/12/10

Seems to work well enough. It's mostly for friendly fire anyways.

[SethAbercromby]

I tend to use slightly higher values for my 'Mechs. For Mediums, I go for 10 - 14 CT rear armor, Heavies have about 14-18 CT rear armor and Assaults get 18-24 points into the CT, amount variing by how likely I expect to get shot in the back.

Not quite overloaded, but I guess it does reflect my general-purpose approach to 'Mech building.

Edited by SethAbercromby, 02 May 2015 - 07:17 PM.

[Mad Ox]

I mostly PUG so cant rely on team to watch Flanks so some enemy always sneaks around. I generally keep to a 5 to 1 ratio (5 front vs 1 in back) and its done me well. Lights I redo depending on how I play them if in the enemy line I balance front and rear better.

Obviously certain mechs are exceptions Hunchback with its odd right torso and insanely small rear armor on it I just gut 2 or 3 in it to soak up a sprayed shot.

As I play more and get a better feel for a mech I adjust it as I go.

[sycocys]

I think I max out at 10 on the back of anything, but I'm pretty pure in the brawling dept and fully expect a quick end if I give the opponent my back. Just easier to face them up and only spread the damage across 3 parts than trying to spread it around 6 - also you can't shoot at them when you aren't facing them.

[Jman5]

Kin3ticX, on 18 April 2015 - 05:20 AM, said:

If you did an experiment where you increased your armor in the direction you died from each time by 1 pt, your rear armor would theoretically gravitate to a really low number.

Hey, that's pretty clever!

[Malcolm Vordermark]

I never run more than 5 points on the back. Mostly just enough to soak a laser sweep from a friendly.

[DONTOR]

I agree with low rear armor, but what no one is bringing up is that it gets even safer the heavier the mech is. for instance a DW has 44 internal HP (side torso) so even if something does get behind you, you should have plenty of internal HP to take the hits. Thats how I see it and it hasnt let me down so far.

Another thing I like to do is measure damage against armor + internals. Say I get shot in the back by a dual PPC mech, i want my Commando's rear CT to be able to absorb that without killing me. so if my internal HP is 10 i will want 11 armor (Not actual values just an example)

Basically its the same theory people use when armoring their head
15 internal HP + 16 armor means you can take a dual gauss to the head and live, I've just applied the same tactic to a few of my lighter mechs rear armor values. to prevent lucky AC20s and such from 1 hitting me...

Edited by DONTOR, 06 May 2015 - 09:56 AM.

[Bobby Hill]

I Always keep at least twelve points in the back of my CT, LT & RT of my Griffon 2N

[Vlad Striker]

If you have weak rear armor it will be wise to use seismic sensors.

[Elizander]

Tim East, on 18 April 2015 - 05:26 AM, said:

I run something like 2-4 points of armor on my Locusts' backs.

I run 2 armor on the back of my Adder. All power to forward shields and all that.

I have 6-8 armor at the back on some mediums and heavies, but it mostly depends on their speed. If something is really slow like my Atlas I put a whopping 10 points in my back armor. Even with that little armor my deaths from behind are still quite rare.

[Xoco]

And then some teammates put a nice round of LPL into my back...

[Kenwa Mabuni]

I run mostly Med Brawler mechs (Cents Hunchys Wolverines...). I try to keep between 80/20 and 70/30 Front/Rear armor depending on the mech.

[KoshiManiac]

As a Light pilot I get hit running towards the enemy as often if not less as running away from the enemy so I like to go 50/50 on front and rear armor.

[RiceCop]

I typically run 7-8 rear armor on most of my builds

[Scout Derek]

At one point while attempting a b33f afk troll in my dire, I put 50 armor on the back of my dire wolf, looked up a bit to prevent headshots.

Then a lucky customer ( a blackjack, came by and shot me in the back) then I turned and killed him hahaha.
This was actually some dialogue (sadly no screenshot)
Scout Derek has killed XXXXXXXX
XXX: WTF HITREG
Scout Derek: roflmao get rekt I had rear armor.
XXX: yeah right
Scout Derek: whatever huhuhu.

Edited by Scout Derek, 19 May 2015 - 01:32 PM.

[Sader325]

I run 3 points on all my maddogs EXCEPT my close range SRM brawler.

On that one I run 4, its just enough to beat a hastey retreat when necessary.

[Nocifer Deathblade]

Rule of thumb: Brawlers should have more rear armor than non brawlers because they will twist often against multi-enemies or in heat of battle.

I actually have 25-30 on my Boar's head's rear as lights kept backstabbing me as I brawled other brawlers and they were frustrated why I didn't go down as fast as they thought. Lol. Whenever I get backstabbed, I move around and twist asap so I can keep brawling buying me time to dish out lot of damage and I don't let lights to have their field day to bring me down thanks to thicker rear armor. I often see my rear armor going red before I get killed from frontal CT or ST but my thick rear armor few times killed me due to too many lights on my back while I brawl heavies.. So, 25 to 30 seems is good balance for my style of brawling. I would shudder to live on only 10 on my back as brawler lol. I would fear lights more that way with only 10 on my back.

Edited by Nocifer Deathblade, 28 May 2015 - 11:45 AM.

[TVMA Doc]

Tim East, on 18 April 2015 - 05:26 AM, said:

I run something like 2-4 points of armor on my Locusts' backs.

Wow, so you run your entire Locust allottment of armor on the rear?