Armor

See Also: Armors

Armor is the protection provided by the likes of the outer shell of a Templar's Leviathan, the hardened carapace of a Terrox xeno, and the flak jackets worn by the Shelgeroth cultists. Some form of armour is worn by each and every single unit in game, as it is the means by which the amount of physical damage a defender receives from any standard (physical) attack is reduced. Armour can not protect against fire, plasma, radiation or bio-poison based damage, as that is done by Resistance and Res.

Mechanics
When defending against an attack's physical damage, there are two components to consider: the armour rating and the deflection rating. The armour rating provides the physical damage soak, and the deflection rating influences the effectiveness of the damage soak. There is no guarantee that a high deflection rating will be paired with a high armour value. Certain pieces of gear will allow a templar to raise their armour and/or deflection ratings.

Upon receiving an attack, the armour value is split into two components of equal size. The first component is a fixed value that will either absorb damage equal to (armour/2) or allow it to pass through unhindered; the outcome is determined by a penetration test. The second component is a variable that is rolled as a single big dice for each attack and ranges from 1 to (armour/2). In the event of an odd armour value, which is usually seen on Terrox, the variable component becomes 1 point larger than the penetrable component. e.g. 75 armour is split as 37 + D38.

Negative Armor
Should an armour value ever be rendered negative by debuffs then the defender will suffer additional damage (equal to negative value/2) from both non-penetrating and penetrating hits. This is the only time a penetrating hit can not bypass armour, as it would otherwise deal less damage due to removing the armour component from the damage calculation.

Examples of Armour ratings & Deflection available to templars
Scout Armour Relic: Null Storm 20 Arm, 38% def 7 Evade

Captain & Paladin Armour Relic: Void Legion 58 Arm, 98% def 2 Evade

Captain & Paladin Armour Relic: Exemplar Command 76 Arm, 30% def 3 Evade

Neptune Armour Relic: Obliterator Legion 52 Arm, 98% def +16 max heat

Neptune/Hydra/Paladin Gear: Titan Sheathe -2MP +16 Arm +22% def

Soldier/Engineer Armour: Infantry Leviathan 34 Arm 68% Def

Deflection and Penetration
1) Initial Armour Deflection % - Attack Penetration % = Modified Armour Deflection %.

2) A D100 is rolled and any score above the modified deflection penetrates and the defender takes extra damage.

Rules of penetration

 * In the event that the attacker's penetration exceeds the defender's deflection, effectively rendering it to zero or less, the attack will automatically penetrate.
 * If the defender's deflection is 100 or more after modification, then the attack will always fail to penetrate. This is only possible for certain enemies; Templars cannot currently stack deflection above 100.
 * A successful penetration will not alter the amount of non-physical damage received UNLESS the attack is performed by a templar with the Strikepoint Kit Relic. In this case, penetrating attacks made by the bearer of the relic will deal double fire or plasma damage.
 * Should an attack cause a decrease in the defenders armour rating and/or deflection value, any follow up attacks will be against this new set of ratings. You must deal at least 1 damage to inflict the penalty. The maximum penalty a single debuff can inflict is -35% deflection and/ -25 armour.
 * There is no mechanism that will result in a "lucky" deflection or penetrating hit.

From the penetration test it is possible to conclude that weapons with low penetration will struggle to deal physical damage against a defender with very high deflection. To compensate, gear selections can be made to: boost penetration and/or maximum damage; add a non-physical damage element to the attack or choose a Templar with an armour softening talent to strike the enemy first.

Examples
Piercing capabilities of weapons, gear & talents available to templars '''

Scout Sniper Rifle Relic: Synchrosight Rifle +9 Accuracy, range 7, 49-68 dmg, 56% pen, +15% critical (chance)

Neptune Machine Gun: Mk17 Defender +8 Accuracy, range 5, 65-74 dmg, 92% pen

Scout/Captain Gear: Precision Pilot Kit +6 Accuracy, +6 dmg (max), +6% pen

Scout/Engineer Gear: Strike Scanner +8 dmg (max), +6% pen, +4% critical (chance)

Soldier/Neptune Gear Relic: Strikepoint Kit 2x Fire/Plasma dmg on penetrating hit +16 plasma dmg, +16% pen

Scout Talent: Piercing Fire Level 5: +15 dmg (max), -14 arm, -21% def

Captain Talent: Discerning Eye Level 5: -17% deflection, -7 parry.

Worked example
A Scout and Neptune both have range and line of sight on a Level 13 Carapace Terrox ( Level 13 profile: 149 HP, 5MP, 61 Arm, 110% Def, Rng 2, 70 Dmg 32% Pen).

The Scout has the Piercing Fire talent at level 5 with a Synchrosight rifle equipped, the Neptune has the Deadly Burst talent at level 7 with Mk17 defender equipped. No gear that alters penetration or damage has been taken.

The Scout shoots first and hits the carapace.

The initial damage rolled is 73 damage (49-83).

The penetration test is 110% - 56% = 54%.

The D100 rolled 48, which is below the 54% required to penetrate, so the armour absorbs 30 damage.

The variable soak absorbs D31 damage and rolls 17.

The Carapace's natural toughness absorbs 5 damage.

Overall the damage dealt is 73 - 30 - 17 - 5 = 21 damage.

''However, as the Carapace suffered damage from Piercing Fire, it now has -14 to its default armour and -21% deflection for the next 3 turns. Its new defences are 47 arm 89% def with 128 HP remaining.''

The Neptune shoots second and hits the carapace.

The initial damage rolled sees a critical hit with 141 damage (65-109); 83 with +72% critical damage boost (12 stat points).

The penetration test is 89% - 92% = -3%.

The attack penetrates automatically, as the lowest D100 roll is 1.

The variable soak absorbs D24 damage and rolls 13.

The Carapace's natural toughness absorbs 4 damage. This is not effected by the Scout's talent.

Overall the damage dealt is 141 - 13 - 4 = 124.

The Carapace is now down to 4HP.