Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment (CASE)

Overview
CASE short for Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment is essentially a specialized container structure for housing ammunition for the situation where the content explodes, like overheated ammunition would do. CASE does not actually stop the explosion, the container's structure redirects the explosive force, making it invaluable for preventing excessive internal damage. Thus, while CASE does not protect the section with the ammunition stored in it, it does prevent damage from transferring to nearby sections (i.e. from RT/LT to CT). After an explosion, units will likely be crippled or nonfunctional, though not destroyed outright.

CASE may only be mounted in torso locations and will contain the explosions of both ammunition and Gauss Rifles.

Internal Explosions
Ammunition and Gauss Rifles can both explode if destroyed by a Critical Hit. Ammunition can also explode if cooked off in a 'Mech that overheats. This is even more likely to happen if the 'Mech's automatic shutdown sequence is overridden. Gauss Rifle ammunition, unlike the weapon itself, is inert. It will not explode if destroyed nor will it cook off.

When ammunition is destroyed, it applies all the remaining potential damage of the ammunition to the location it is stored in. For example, Long Range Missile rounds each do 1.0 point of damage. If 1 ton, or 180 rounds, is stored in the left leg of a Catapult and they are destroyed by a critical hit, 180 points of damage are applied to that leg. Since the armor of a location must first be removed to do damage to internal structure, the 180 points of damage is dealt to the leg itself. The leg of a Catapult has 30 hit points. In this case, the leg is destroyed and the remaining 120 points of damage is applied to the left torso. This remaining damage is reduced by 50% when transferring from one location to another. The 60 points of damage is then applied to the internal structure of the side torso. An Catapult's side torso has 30 hit points. In this case, the side torso is also destroyed leaving 30 points left over. When halved, 15 points are then applied to the center torso which has 42 hit points with 27 hit points remaining.

CASE prevents internal explosions from traveling past the side torso it is installed in. In the above example, it would prevent the 15 points of damage from being applied to the internal structure of the center torso.

XL Engines
CASE prevents damage from traveling to the center torso by containing the damage within the side torso itself. While this prevents the center torso from taking internal damage, the side torso is still destroyed. When the side torso of a 'Mech with an XL Engine installed is destroyed, the engine itself is also destroyed and the 'Mech disabled with it. Thus, there is no benefit to installing CASE in 'Mechs with XL Engines.

Where to Store Ammunition
Where ammunition should be stored largely depends on your 'Mech and loadout. Light 'Mechs tend to lose limbs faster than torso sections. A light 'Mech that loses a leg though isn't likely to last long, so it may not matter to the pilot if they lose a leg to an ammo explosion or enemy weapon fire.

Since the odds of a critical hit to an ammo bin is based on how many other critical spaces are occupied by equipment with it, the odds of the ammo bin itself being destroyed can be lowered by installing it in locations where there is little critical space left. Note that Endo Steel and Ferro Fibrous critical spaces are not counted when determining the odds of what item takes damage from a critical hit.

Lastly, keep in mind the location order in which ammunition is used. Ammunition is used in order of HD --> CT --> RT --> LT--> LA --> RA--> LL--> RL. This means all ammunition is used in the head first before being used in the the center torso, and so on. This means the head is often a safe place to install ammunition.