Fencer Archive
Thread: FAQ: How do Armor Piercing (AP) and Armor Rating (AR) work?
FAQ: How do Armor Piercing (AP) and Armor Rating (AR) work?
All weapons (newbie, crafted or found) have some degree of Armor Piercing. The level of Armor Piercing a weapon has is listed in the weapon’s details, and will be listed as one of the following:
None (Commonly referred to as AP0)
Light (Commonly referred to as AP1)
Medium (Commonly referred to as AP2)
Heavy (Commonly referred to as AP3)
All targets (PC, NPC, Creature, Droids, Pets, etc) have some degree of Armor Rating. The Armor Rating can typically be found when you examine the target for game-generated targets and on the armor’s details for PCs, and will be listed as one of the following:
None (Commonly referred to as AR0)
Light (Commonly referred to as AR1)
Medium (Commonly referred to as AR2)
Heavy (Commonly referred to as AR3)
The level of Armor Piercing on weapon is compared to the Armor Rating of the target to determine a few things about the damage inflicted. However, right now there seems to be some “confusion” as to how this is working versus how it is supposed to be working.
Originally, the Developers wrote up a detailed description of how this is supposed to work and this post can be found in the SWG forums. In-game testing seems to verify that this is indeed how it functions. However, recently the Developers have stated that this was not how it was supposed to work, and claim the original write up was mistaken. They have further explained that they have gone line-by-line through the code and verified that it does not work like the write up says it does (and how we all believe it does.) So there seems to be some disparity somewhere. It could be that the code the Developers were examining is either not functioning properly, it they were simply looking at the wrong code. It happens.
Since we have two methods to consider here (the way it seems to be working now, and the way the Developers are now stating it works and should be working) I will describe both. This way when the Developers discover what the loophole is and change the code to make it work as they intend it to you will already be aware.
Method 1: Current Implementation (as exhibited through in-game testing)
First (and this is important) look at the damage type of the weapon. Compare that to the target’s resists and vulnerabilities (or the target’s armor’s resists and vulnerabilities if a PC.) If the damage type of the weapon is listed as a vulnerability of the target, then none of the following AP/AR calculations take place. The weapon will strike the target as if both the weapon had AP0 and the target had AR0. In other words, the full normal damage of the weapon goes right through with no reduction or amplification whatsoever. This will be a fairly common situation for damage types like the “Stun” damage found on the Stun Baton.
If the damage type is not a vulnerability of the target, then compare the AP of the weapon to the AR of the target. Either the AP of the weapon will be higher than the AR of the target, or the AP of the weapon will be less than the AR of the target, or they will be the same level. Depending on the outcome, one of the following will apply:
AP level of the Weapon matches the AR level of the Armor:
The damage of the weapon is not directly affected by the Armor Rating of the target in this case. However, the damage will still be reduced by any damage resistance on the target (or the target’s armor). For example if the weapon produced 100 damage, and the target had 35% resistance to the damage type of the weapon, then only the remaining 65 points of damage would get through to harm the target. Also, whatever damage actually penetrates the armor to harm the target will cause damage to the condition of the armor. So in the above example, the armor’s condition would also be reduced by 65 points.
AP level of the Weapon is higher than the AR level of the Armor:
The weapon has an advantage over the armor. For each separate level that the AP exceeds the AR, the damage of the weapon will be increased by 25%. For example if a weapon doing 100 damage had one level of advantage over the armor, then the damage would be amplified by 25%, for a final result of 125 points of damage inflicted. If this weapon had two levels of advantage over the armor, then the damage would be amplified by a total of 56.25%... not 50%. Remember that each level is calculated separately. So the 100 damage is first amplified by 25% for the first level of difference for a result of 125 damage; and then this damage is further amplified by another 25% for the second level of difference for a result of 156 points of damage inflicted. Below are some quickie calculation numbers for you:
AP-AR = 1: Damage = Damage * 1.25 (100 damage increased to 125)
AP-AR = 2: Damage = Damage * 1.5625 (100 damage increased to 156)
AP-AR = 3: Damage = Damage * 1.953125 (100 damage increased to 195)
This isn’t necessarily the damage the target takes yet. The armor still gets to reduce this damage by any applicable damage resistance, just as it did above when the AP and AR were equal. After this reduction, the remaining damage is what is applied to the target. Since this damage is what finally penetrated the armor, the armor’s condition is also damaged by this same amount.
AP level of the Weapon is lower than the AR level of the Armor:
The weapon is at a disadvantage to the armor. For each separate level that the AR exceeds the AP, the damage of the weapon will be decreased by 50%. For example if a weapon doing 100 damage had one level of disadvantage under the armor, then the damage would be reduced by 50%, for a final result of 50 points of damage inflicted. If this weapon had two levels of disadvantage under the armor, then the damage would be reduced by a total of 75%... not 100%. Remember that each level of difference is calculated separately. So the 100 damage is first reduced by 50% for the first level of difference for a result of 50 damage; and then this damage is further reduced by another 50% for the second level of difference for a result of 25 points of damage inflicted. Below are some quickie calculation numbers for you:
AR-AP = 1: Damage = Damage * 0.5 (100 damage reduced to 50)
AR-AP = 2: Damage = Damage * 0.25 (100 damage reduced to 25)
AR-AP = 3: Damage = Damage * 0.125 (100 damage reduced to 13)
Once again, this damage can still be further reduced by any applicable resistances, as it did above. After this reduction, the remaining damage is applied to the target. Since this damage is what finally penetrated the armor, the armor’s condition is also damaged by this same amount.
Method 2: Developer’s Beliefs (as well as the intent of the system):
For the most part, this method is just like the method described above, but there is a subtle difference. In the case where AP = AR, the system is identical to above. In the case where AP < AR, the system is also identical to above. However, when AP > AR, the outcome is a bit different.
In the above method, when the AP of the weapon exceeds the AR of the target extra damage is produced. This extra damage is applied both to the target and to the armor’s condition. The Developer’s are stating that they never intended for the damage to the target to be increased; only the damage to the armor’s condition… not both. Therefore the damage boost over the normal weapon damage is only applied to the armor’s condition to reflect that a piece of armor subjected to an attack designed to hack through that armor falls apart faster. This is not to say that if the Developers get their way that Armor will decay faster. This extra damage is already currently being done to the armor’s condition… it just isn’t supposed to also be going through to the target.
Some comparative examples:
In the first method, a 100 damage weapon with AP3 hits a target with AR1 and 30% applicable damage resistance. The 100 damage is amplified by 25% twice, resulting in 156 points of damage. This is reduced by the 30% resist, and comes to a final result of 109 points of damage. So 109 damage is applied to the target, AND 109 damage is applied to the armor’s condition.
Armor = 109 damage
Target = 109 damage
In the second method, a 100 damage weapon with AP3 hits a target with AR1 and 30% applicable damage resistance. The 100 damage is reduced by the 30% resist, and comes to a final result of 70 damage. This 70 damage is what is applied to the target. However, due to the armor piercing nature of the weapon, the armor suffers. This same 70 damage is amplified by 25% twice, resulting in 109 damage being applied to the armor’s condition.
Armor = 109 damage
Target = 70 damage
As you can see, the damage applied to the armor is the same in both methods, but in the Developer’s intended method, the target itself does not suffer the same damage increase. Some people that have heard of the Developer’s intended method see this as a nerf that will destroy their armor faster because they have misunderstood the method. The only thing that changes with the Developer’s method is the lack of amplified damage to the target. What this accomplishes is narrowing the gap on damage applied to low AR targets between high AP weapons and low AP weapons; but versus high AR targets the high AP weapons till have an advantage by not being reduced. In other words, this would be relatively good news to Fencers since we only have access to low AP weaponry.
Disclaimer: Above I mentioned that Method 1 is what has appeared to be the case in “testing.” I want to clarify that these tests were not conducted by me (yet), but by another Correspondent (the Rifleman Corr), but his results are consistent with the commonly accepted method. I DO plan to perform my own tests to validate this information after I finish testing CoB. I’m currently of the opinion that it’s possible they may BOTH be right at the same time. All the tests done by the Rifleman Corr. were against a creature (PvE). There are already different calculations for damage between PvE and PvP. So perhaps, just perhaps, both of these methods are in existence… one for PvP and one for PvE. Perhaps the lines of code the Developers looked through were for PvP, and not for PvE, and they didn’t catch the difference. Or perhaps since a creature’s armor IS part of the creature and damage to the armor would also be damage to the creature it through off the testing results. I won’t know for sure until I test against PvE creatures, against PvE NPCs, and against PvP. But I will find out, and when I do the Fencer Community will be the first to know for sure. If I’m in a good mood I might share it with everyone else.