Organic Armor - Whats the deal?

[QuarianRex]

Actually OA (Organic Armor) works like a dream, if you give it a chance. Each regenerating component adds to a "pool" of points that is later used to repair destroyed OA (and any other regenerating component).

For example, say you have a ship with 5 OA III's, each at 150 structure and regenerating at a rate of 30 each (IIRC). If you spend 6 combat turns closing with the enemy you will have built up a pool of 900 regeneration 'points' (30 points x 5 OA x 6 Turns = 900). If you then get hit with 750 damage (enough to wipe out all five OA components)then 750 points will be deducted from the pool to repair the OA, leaving 150 in the pool. This may seem powerful, and it is, but it is mitigated by the fact that destroyed components don't contribute to the pool (until they're repaired). So if you get hit by the Fist of God for another 750 damage on the following turn your freshly repaired armor will once again be destroyed and only a single OA will be repaired with the remaining 150 in the pool (only 150 in pool because all contributing components Last turn were destroyed).

This explains OA's somewhat erratic performance in combat, where sometimes it seems capable of coming back from nearly anything, and others where it crumples under seemingly normal fire. It all depends on how much time it has to charge up.