Armor

Overview
Armor is the primary defense shield against malevolent forces to your Mech, before a Critical Hit might strike (vital) equipment. Ablative in its nature, it is generally destroyed or blown off when hit; but in the process of doing so, it absorbs enormous energies, protecting the unit it is mounted on. While powerful blows will still rock a vehicle, there will be little, if any, internal damage as long as armor plating still remains. The condition of a BattleMech's Armor is depicted in the Cockpit.

Example

 * Damage is done by a hit and shaves off armor:
 * AC 2 round hits Hunchback's head = 2 damage vs. 18 pts Armor = -2 vs. +18 = 16 pts of armor remaining.


 * If the damage dealt is greater than the armor, then it's completely eliminated. Remaining damage is dealt to now open internals:
 * AC 20 shell hits Hunchback's head = 20 damage vs. 18 pts of armor = -20 vs. +18 = -2 pts going to internals, like Command Console.

Location Protection
Depending on the Mechs tonnage, each of its locations can be protected by a certain amount of armor.

Maximum number of equipable armor-pieces with different Mech weights:

Note:
 * Each arm and leg can mount the given amount of armor.
 * Each torso location shares the given amount of armor with its rear counterpart.


 * No matter which type of armor is being used, the total amount of pieces can't be exceeded.
 * With state-of-the-art armor:
 * A Mechs maximum amount of protection is independent of the used type of armor.
 * Different types of armor result in a different weight (tons) with equal protection.
 * The trade-in for weight saving comes in the consumption of Critical Slots.

Armor Types
To switch between armor types, go to the Upgrades tab in the MechLab.

Standard Armor
Introduced in 2470 by the Terran Hegemony Standard Armor is composed of several layers providing various degrees of protection and support. The first layer is extremely strong steel, the result of crystal alignment and radiation treatment, which is also very brittle. The second layer is a ceramic, cubic boron nitride, which combined with a web of artificial diamond fibers acts as a backstop to the steel layer. These two layers rest atop a titanium alloy honeycomb structure which provides support, and a layer of self-sealing polymer sealant which allows for space and underwater operations.


 * Standard Armor doesn't require any Critical Slot.

Ferro Fibrous Armor
Ferro-Fibrous Armor (FF) is an advanced armor technology. Utilizing a weave of ferro-steel, ferro-titanium and diamond weave fibers (which boosts the tensile strength of the plating) it provides more protection per ton than Standard Armor. With the same amount of protection, the material is lighter, but larger, and therefore takes up more space on the mounted vessel.


 * Ferro-Fibrous Armor provides 12% more armor per ton, but takes up more space, or Critical Slots. Inner Sphere Ferro-Fibrous Armor consumes 14 slots, while Clan Ferro-Fibrous is much less bulky, so it consumes 7.

Insights
MWO The value for Standard Armor in MWO is double the value for Standard Armor on Tabletop (TT). On Tabletop, a Mech can mount 16 points of armor per ton of weight. In MWO, a Mech can mount 32 points of armor per ton.

Additionally, in MWO, the Head and Legs have additional Armor compared to TT - as a way of balancing out legging and headshots (Since, on Tabletop, a die roll influences hit location, meanwhile in MWO a skilled player may be able to hit those parts more than is reasonable or fair).

Rumors

 * Tell about armor-piercing rounds being in an experimental state for certain weapons, but they require a higher technology level, cost more and are luckily nothing more than rumors from the BT-Universe.
 * Further types of armor are known and might find their way into MWO:
 * Ferro-Lamellor (FL)
 * Reflective (aka Glazed or Reflec)
 * Reactive

Changelog

 * October 23, 2012: Ferro Fibrous Armor added to the game.