Shipwright Archive

Message Edited by SharkBoy007 on 11-07-2004 10:26 AM

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Jadin1 wrote:

Ive been experimenting and strictly using the Armor value of the armor pieces as a good measure of how good an armor is for a craft

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Thanks, Jadin1

As for the rest who posted, thanks for the help, it's my fault I wasn't more clear. I already know shields are the first line of defense, etc. Most of the time my shields hold up, but there ARE those times when I'm facing too many enemies who are all pounding me hard (Tier 3 missions, lol), which eventually wears down the shields and starts to hit the armor.

My question was about thearmor plating ITSELF, and wanting to know which stat I should look at with regards to how it protects the ship chassis and components. When you're looking at putting armor plating on your starfighter, you're obviously wanting to put it there as a backup measure against the shields going down. Thus, I want the best possible shield I can equip, BUT, I want the best armor I can equip to help save my bacon should the enemy mangae to wear down said shields.

If anyone else can give a more definitive answer than Jadin1, please do

Higher armor, more protection.
Higher hitpoints, longer lasting.

Armor decays very rapidly, so if you have more hitpoints you'll get more use out of each piece of armor.

If the hitpoints hit zero, you're armor decays more on repair. So more hitpoints means it is less likely to get totally broken.

The armor value protects your other systems from damage. Hitpoints are your "decay meter". Armor points go down when you take damage, and once they're gone, your other systems start taking damage. Each of these have armor points as well, which go down before the components hitpoints do. Hitpoints affect system performance, Armor protects hitpoints. Hitpoint max values go down when you repair the component, so it's gnerally in your best interest to make sure they don't take damage.

In the case of actual armor components, this still holds true. the difference being that the armor components prevent other componenets and the chassis from taking damage so long as they still "work". IE, s long as they have points left. they, too, decay when you repair, even if the hitpoints weren't impacted.

It's important to note, that when armor condition starts to get low, the armor value of the component also starts dropping. so after a bunch or repairs (around 10 deaths, I think), that lovely 1200 armor plate you've got on is very likely now a 800-point plate(these numbers are arbitrarily chosen and not experiential). So wath your armor decay carefully-- you'll probably need to replace armor rather often. I noticed the other day that my nice 1100-point A-Wing armor was listing an armor value of 700. Not good, i said. I assume this was part of decay, though I suppose it may not be.

The more hitpoints, of course, the longer it takes the armor to decay, but if the experimentation points are there, you won't have as much actual armor, and it'll take direct damage more often. So, without saying this to protect my sales, I recommend choosing a higher armor value over a higher hitpoint, as the purpose of the armor is to protect the expensive components underneath it, and the more armor points you have doing that job, the better the armor does it. And watch your armor condition and replace it when the armor points start dropping too far.