7 replies to this topic

[PanicFire]

I searched but didn't have much luck finding answers to my questions so, here it goes.

• Ferro Armor - When you upgrade the mech it upgrades all armor to Ferro, not just the slot current selected?
  
• Do a lot of players remove armor from the legs to buff up the torso or arm armor?
  
• What ratio should I consider for the front/rear torso armor values? 50/50, 60/40? I guess it really depends on if you are getting flanked a lot.

Just a little more information. I'm looking to run mostly CTF variations starting with the 4X. Just in case this makes a huge difference on the answers.

Edited by PanicFire, 19 December 2012 - 07:39 AM.

[Chazer]

Should be all armor, not just the particular slot.

This depends a lot on the chasis, most Atlas' will strip leg armor to free up tons and will make sure upper armor is maxed. Light mechs will tend to want their leg armor maxed out as losing a leg is an automatic death sentence.

Again this depends on what you are piloting, 50/50 is rarely a good idea. 70/30 would be a closer ratio, remember that there is a lot that you can do to dictate where you are being hit.

[PanicFire]

Chazer, on 19 December 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:

Should be all armor, not just the particular slot.

This depends a lot on the chasis, most Atlas' will strip leg armor to free up tons and will make sure upper armor is maxed. Light mechs will tend to want their leg armor maxed out as losing a leg is an automatic death sentence.

Again this depends on what you are piloting, 50/50 is rarely a good idea. 70/30 would be a closer ratio, remember that there is a lot that you can do to dictate where you are being hit.

Thanks - Up to this point I've been leaving the armor as it is when I bought the base mech.

[Artifex 28]

I actually have ran my Raven 3L with even 45/55 ratios with front/rear. Got roughly ~120k exp stashed after elite unlocks on him, without premium - so certainly played quite a few rounds...

[TopHatCat]

You'll have to excuse this VERY noob question, but the website gives little to no info and the Wiki isn't much better on this subject.

How do Armor points work? I've never played the table-top RP system or any other Mechwarrior game before this, so my knowledge is rather lacking.

I assume you get so many points per location, hence removing from the front free's up points to apply to the back etc.
But I'm not 100% on how this works, winds me up that the legs have sooo much armour that I can't slap elsewhere haha!
Sorry to ask but thanks in advance for helping clear this up for me! :3/

[Wrenchfarm]

It pays to look at the default distrubition of armor on a mech. For example, the Awesome has a weird amount of its torso armor dedicated to protecting its back. Might be a good idea to bring some of that to the front.

I've noticed a lot of Atlai are stripping their leg armor to the bone these days. It is sometimes worth a test shot on a leg to see if it stays a nice bright yellow, or dips into a darker orange. It can be a lot easier to leg some beasts than to try and bore a way to their core. And sometimes not. It all depends.

[PanicFire]

TopHatCat, on 19 December 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

You'll have to excuse this VERY noob question, but the website gives little to no info and the Wiki isn't much better on this subject.

How do Armor points work? I've never played the table-top RP system or any other Mechwarrior game before this, so my knowledge is rather lacking.

I assume you get so many points per location, hence removing from the front free's up points to apply to the back etc.
But I'm not 100% on how this works, winds me up that the legs have sooo much armour that I can't slap elsewhere haha!
Sorry to ask but thanks in advance for helping clear this up for me! :3/

I'm not 100% on this, someone correct me if I am wrong.

Each slot has a maximum armor value allowed with the ones that have a front/rear sharing that value. You can take points from say your legs and put them in your center torso, as long as the center torso is not at the maximum armor value.

This also assumes that you have not reached your maximum tonnage for the mech yet.

The way I understand how armor works is that the armor value of the location takes that much damage before going internal. So if you have 22 points in a location and get hit with an AC-20 (20 damage) in that location you have 2 points remaining. Once the armor is used up each shot into that location goes internal.

[Kalam Mehkar]

TopHatCat, on 19 December 2012 - 08:44 AM, said:

You'll have to excuse this VERY noob question, but the website gives little to no info and the Wiki isn't much better on this subject.

How do Armor points work? I've never played the table-top RP system or any other Mechwarrior game before this, so my knowledge is rather lacking.

I assume you get so many points per location, hence removing from the front free's up points to apply to the back etc.
But I'm not 100% on how this works, winds me up that the legs have sooo much armour that I can't slap elsewhere haha!
Sorry to ask but thanks in advance for helping clear this up for me! :3/

Correct. You have a maximum amount of armor points for the entire mech. Then, you have a maximum amount of armor points for each location (torsos, arms, legs, head). Torsos must split their maximum armor points between front and back locations. 75/25 is common split on heavier mechs. Some lights and faster mechs will even go 50/50 on torsos as they might spend a lot of time running away

bonus info: As for damage taken, it's applied to the locations armor points until there are no more armor points at that location. Then, damage is applied to internal structure, which I want to say is about 1/2 the maximum armor point value for that location (you can find the correct details in the forums somewhere). Shots to the internal structure diminish the internal structure points until that limb/torso is blown away (destroyed side torso will take its corresponding arm with it). Shots to the internal structure (ie, after armor points are gone) also have chances to do critical hits to the items located within that location (as in your weapons, heatsinks, engine, etc., possibly destroying them before that limb is destroyed). There are posts regarding the math for critical hit chances.

Hope this helps.

And also, Ferro-Fibrous armor is pretty much a dud buy currently. Start with EndoSteel (better weight savings return) and Double Heat Sinks.

Wrenchfarm, on 19 December 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

I've noticed a lot of Atlai are stripping their leg armor to the bone these days. It is sometimes worth a test shot on a leg to see if it stays a nice bright yellow, or dips into a darker orange. It can be a lot easier to leg some beasts than to try and bore a way to their core. And sometimes not. It all depends.

Good tip! I'll be sure to try that tonight