Ablative Armor

[Black_Knyght]

I'm trying to add Ablative Armor as a component to the Mod I'm working on, but I'm not real sure where to go with it. below is what I have so far, and I'd welcome any ( constructive ) thoughts or ideas...

ABLATIVE ARMOR

Name := Ablative Armor I
Description := Armor which absorbs energy by vaporizing its surface layer.
Pic Num := 30
Tonnage Space Taken := 1
Tonnage Structure := 10
Cost Minerals := 50
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 20
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\WeapPlat
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 45
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Armor
Tech Level Req 1 := 4
Number of Abilities := 2
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr := Is damaged before any other components on a ship.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Emissive Armor
Ability 2 Descr := Negates any damage of 5 or less.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 5
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Name := Ablative Armor II
Description := Armor which absorbs energy by vaporizing its surface layer.
Pic Num := 30
Tonnage Space Taken := 1
Tonnage Structure := 12
Cost Minerals := 50
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 20
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\WeapPlat
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 45
Roman Numeral := 2
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Armor
Tech Level Req 1 := 5
Number of Abilities := 2
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr := Is damaged before any other components on a ship.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Emissive Armor
Ability 2 Descr := Negates any damage of 10 or less.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 10
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Name := Ablative Armor III
Description := Armor which absorbs energy by vaporizing its surface layer.
Pic Num := 30
Tonnage Space Taken := 1
Tonnage Structure := 15
Cost Minerals := 50
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 20
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\WeapPlat
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 45
Roman Numeral := 3
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Armor
Tech Level Req 1 := 6
Number of Abilities := 2
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr := Is damaged before any other components on a ship.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Emissive Armor
Ability 2 Descr := Negates any damage of 15 or less.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 15
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

[Suicide Junkie]

As mentioned on se.net, the emissive bit is very likely not to do what you want, and the HP is more than enough to make it Überarmor.

The next step after ablative armor is leaky armor; simply remove the armor ability, and you'll find that it is still better than standard armor... but it has more interesting combat effects

[Black_Knyght]

Damn.

Not looking for "Überarmor" here. Just something better than Armored Hull Plating but less advance than Emissive or Stealth armors

[Suicide Junkie]

Consider the math:
Standard armor gives 3-4 hp/kt
Shields give up to 8 hp/kt
Your armor gives 15 hp/kt

Basically, shields start looking as useless by comparison as standard armor used to.

PS:
What makes you think stealth and scattering armor are better than standard armor? All you need is one component of them to get all the ability benefits, and the rest of your defenses can be the slightly better HP/kt standard armor, or the superhigh hp shields.

I reccommend that you either:
- reduce your new armor hp to max out at 11 or 12, and maybe add some intermediate armor which is size 3 and gives 6-8 hp/kt.
- remove the armor ability and make it leaky armor. As leaky armor, you'll have the option of increasing the hitpoints to 10-25 without making shields irrelevant.

[capnq]

Suicide Junkie said:
Standard armor gives 3-4 hp/kt
Shields give up to 8 hp/kt
Your armor gives 15 hp/kt

For further comparison:

Emissive Armor 1.5-2.5 hp/kt (plus damage reduction)
Scattering Armor 3 hp/kt (plus defense bonus)
Stealth Armor 3.33 hp/kt (plus defense bonus)
Organic Armor 3.33-5 hp/kt (plus armor regeneration)
Crystalline Armor 3.33-5 hp/kt (plus shield generation)

[StarShadow]

Strictly speaking, the stock emissive armor is ablative armor.

[Suicide Junkie]

Emissive is the opposite of ablative.

Logically, ablative armor *ablates*. Which means part of it is permanently lost after each hit.

Emissive armor, on the other hand, does not take any damage from small hits, typically at the expense of having fewer hitpoints per kt.

[Black_Knyght]

Okay - I get that THIS was a bad design, so to speak.

But, now I'm thoroughly lost. I don't even know HOW that armor is considered so tough?

I don't have a clue how to incorporate, or even WHAT, leaky armor is. I'm still new to the Modding aspect of SEIV, though some areas I get better than others.

[Suicide Junkie]

It is tough, because it has 15 hitpoints per kt!

You could spend 10kt of space on a standard armor, and get 40 hitpoints at max tech.
Or you could spend 10kt of space on your new armor, and get 150 hitpoints at max tech.

150 >> 40


Leaky armor is simply inert components without the armor ability, and which have a high number of hitpoints per KT.
Damage to internals is applied via a "hitpoints lottery" type system:
If you have 950 hp worth of leaky armor, and 50 hp worth of other internals, then (950/1000) 95% of the time, weapon damage will randomly pick an armor component to damage.

You can see how this provides excellent protection while still leaving a chance of damage leaking through to internals

For further details on the damage mechanics, bordering on the nitty gritty see:
- DEF 200 : Damage Theory
- DEF 340 : Armor Mechanics

[Fyron]

You can get up to speed with mod concepts like Leaky Armor here:

http://home.spaceempires.net/modworks-concepts.html