• Registered: 2007-07-29
  • Posts: 55

Topic: Does high armor just bounce everything?

Looking for a mech game.  Battletech, Heavy Gear, Dirtside, and that one where you paint your own dice all fail me in various ways.  I HEART Starmada.  Played it for years.  Feel stupid I forgot he made a mech game.

So I'm playing with the spreadsheet from the Lord of All Things Spreadsheetable, and I must be misunderstanding something.  Started with PPCs, pressed a bunch of buttons and made the Warhammer from hell. 

Am I correct in saying that I don't care if my to-hit number is 10 if you need a damage 4 weapon to even think of attacking me?  No small weapon can wear me down?  No auto-hit on a crit to hit roll maybe?

Unit Name: Death      Nation: CWWTTOTG     (CPV:56)                                       
Type: PA Trooper                                       
Unit Size: Medium (6)                                       
Tech Level: Fission (5)                                       
Movement Points: 3                                       
Stability Modifier: +1                                       
Thermal Signature: 10   (Base 10)                                       
Armor Points: 9                                       
Construction:   Right Arm Without Hand x1,  Left Arm Without Hand x1,  Legs x2                                       
Equipment:                                       
                                       
                                       
                                       
Weapons (Adjusted):                                       
1) Mega Zap   (Left Arm / Side)                                       
Range:5 (5/10/15)     RoF:2    DMG:d8                                       
Energy Weapon        Thermal Signature:3                                       
                                       
Mods: Inverted Range Penetration Modifiers, ,                                        
, ,                                        
                                       
2) Mega Zap   (Torso / Front)                                       
Range:5 (5/10/15)     RoF:2    DMG:d8                                       
Energy Weapon        Thermal Signature:3                                       
                                       
Mods: Inverted Range Penetration Modifiers, ,                                        
                               


[size=50]And going from armor 8 to armor 9 made me 7 points cheaper (Starmada overcosts movement too, but start a thread over there for that).
[/size]

  • Registered: 2005-06-08
  • Posts: 760

Re: Does high armor just bounce everything?

The 10 is the base number for a "Lock on".
The AR is the number needed for a hit to do damage so a 9 or greater will cause some damage. A weapon with a DMG rating 3 at short range will have a chance.
This does not take into account any weapon enhancements that the attacker may have to increase the chance of a hit.

Once you start taking hits smaller weapons get their chance of causing damage.
You may have cause to care if the mech is easy to lock on.

Paul

  • Registered: 2022-11-15
  • Posts: 1,286

Re: Does high armor just bounce everything?

Yup. Once a unit starts taking damage, the ablative aspect of the AR allows damage to accumulate at faster rates from the less powerful weapons.  And as Old n Grey said, certain weapon mods, such as Armor Piercing mean that even lighter weapons might do some harm.