12 replies to this topic

[Mortalcoil]

So bonus armor doesn't work in decimals and always rounds down. On top of that, front and back armor are seperate when it comes to percentage bonuses. What does this mean to you?

For example, my BLR 2C has 8 out of 10 armor hardening skill points. The ones locked behind shock absorbers I skipped.

So with all of my mechs I usually put 4 points of armor in the back. However, with my BLR 2C, with 8 armor hardening skill points and 4 armor in the back you get 10 bonus armor. However, if you drop 2 armor from the back and put it in the front. You get an 11th bonus armor. This puts my front armor at 117. Likewise, the side torsos get an extra bonus armor at 73 armor in the front. It will automatically jump to 75 armor. Which is perfect because I like 4 armor in the rear. Arms get bonus armor at 10, 21, 31, 42, and 53 armor. Legs get bonus armor at the same marks.

So what this means is try to MAXIMIZE your bonus armor. Fiddle around with it. Remember you can mess with your mech load out prior to saving your skills. This is vital. It can take a long time to find the perfect min/max of armor distribution, but give it a try.

Try to hit the armor spots on your mech where you get the maximum bonus armor for minimum tonnage. Like, you would want to put your arms at 21, 31, 42, or 53 armor, depending on how much armor you want in your head/legs/arms.

This can take a long time, but it is important if you want to min/max your mechs. Enjoy

Edited by Mortalcoil, 18 May 2017 - 10:12 AM.

[sycocys]

11 bonus armor is still only what 2 shots from a ML?

[Mortalcoil]

sycocys, on 18 May 2017 - 09:56 AM, said:

11 bonus armor is still only what 2 shots from a ML?

You could say that about almost any single skillpoint.

[sycocys]

Mortalcoil, on 18 May 2017 - 10:08 AM, said:

You could say that about almost any single skillpoint.

Yes but a % to range for that same ML lasts for every shot while your armor "buff" poofs when another mech looks at you funny.

[Mortalcoil]

sycocys, on 18 May 2017 - 10:12 AM, said:

Yes but a % to range for that same ML lasts for every shot while your armor "buff" poofs when another mech looks at you funny.

To each there own. I like the survival tree, but if you prefer something else that's totally understandable. I just want to help people get the max out of their survival tree skills.

[JC Daxion]

thank you i will try this.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Mediums can pack on ~20% extra armor and more than 30% more structure. When you have roughly the same amount of armor to start with as the heavy opposing you has firepower in their alpha, that extra 20% is the difference between losing the targeted part outright or still having some armor left on it after the hit. That is ever so slightly more than nothing, and likely to be of greater value to a lot of builds than a few extra firing cycles.

Put another way: you can fire more often by taking heat related skills and cooldown reduction skills... but you can fire much more often by not being dead.

Edited by WrathOfDeadguy, 18 May 2017 - 10:39 AM.

[Cy Mitchell]

Yeah, I was playing with this and wondered if anyone had posted about it. If you carefully allocate your armor then you can pick up a few free armor on just about any Mech that you use Armor Hardening on.

It might be just a few points of armor here or there but that might be the one point of armor that saves you.

You just need to look for the steps where applying one point of armor gives you two points.


Edit: See Chris Lowery explanation below.

Edited by Rampage, 18 May 2017 - 11:00 AM.

[Chris Lowrey]

Hey guys. Sorry going to need to come in and shoot this notion down.

Armor / Structure bonus' do not round up or down. You get the full value of your bonus even if it results in a fraction of a full number value.

Although the Mechlab currently only displays full number values, the game will still track the full value of the bonus'. So if you have a location with 10 armor, and a 7% armor bonus through the skill tree, while the Mechlab will currently display no change, the game will still treat that location as having 10.7 total armor points.

This is done to ensure consistency between the distribution of bonus' between armor and structure in the lighter tonnage brackets. So rest assured, those fractions are still factored in game despite the Mechlab only showing full values.

[Cy Mitchell]

Chis thanks for coming in a setting us straight. The way the MechLab only displays whole numbers for armor certainly made it look like there was something to be gained (or gamed). Now, that is one less thing to focus on.

[Mortalcoil]

Chris Lowrey, on 18 May 2017 - 10:54 AM, said:

Hey guys. Sorry going to need to come in and shoot this notion down.

Armor / Structure bonus' do not round up or down. You get the full value of your bonus even if it results in a fraction of a full number value.

Although the Mechlab currently only displays full number values, the game will still track the full value of the bonus'. So if you have a location with 10 armor, and a 7% armor bonus through the skill tree, while the Mechlab will currently display no change, the game will still treat that location as having 10.7 total armor points.

This is done to ensure consistency between the distribution of bonus' between armor and structure in the lighter tonnage brackets. So rest assured, those fractions are still factored in game despite the Mechlab only showing full values.

Thank you for the information. I know you are trying your best, but some of of the systems in this game are very esoteric. I researched and asked around, and every piece of information I found stated that armor always rounded down, but it is good to know that is not true.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Thanks for the clarification. Are there any plans to update the Mechlab so that it can display fractional armor values?

[Chris Lowrey]

WrathOfDeadguy, on 18 May 2017 - 11:33 AM, said:

Thanks for the clarification. Are there any plans to update the Mechlab so that it can display fractional armor values?

Not the guy to ask. I'm mostly focused on the Gameplay side not the UI side. But I've passed that feedback up the line.