Armor
Armor is the material on the chassis of 'Mechs, Vehicles, Aerospace, and VTOLs that provides protection from enemy weapons fire.
Overview
Armor is ablative in nature. This means that 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. It effectively functions as 'health' or 'hitpoints', as reducing armor on a component to zero typically results in it being destroyed. MWLL follows tabletop rules regarding armor in general, although some adjustments are made for specific cases. Armor can be repaired at a Repair Bay or in some Mech Hangars at the cost of CBills.
Mech
Excepting the legs, when the armor of a 'Mech component reaches zero, it is destroyed. Legs function slightly differently; they have internal structure values tied to them. As this structure is damaged, the 'Mech will suffer heavily reduced mobility and turning rates. Once the internal structure of a leg reaches zero the leg is effectively destroyed, causing the 'Mech to fall over. Due to the way 'Mechs are implemented in MWLL and the limitations of CryEngine, once one leg is destroyed, the other can no longer be hit.
Some 'Mechs like the Solitaire, Chimera and Hollander II have asymmetrical armor distribution to protect their main weapon(s) or easier-to-hit side torso. This extra protection does not come for free: their other side torso is always less armored and can be destroyed more easily.
Shooting a destroyed side torso will cause the damage to transfer to the centre torso. The amount of damage transferred depends on what engine the 'Mech has; Inner Sphere XLs suffer double damage, Clan XLs take 66% more, while 'Mechs with standard engines like the Atlas do not take any extra damage.
If the rear torso is heavily damaged or destroyed, damage transfers to the centre torso with a x3 multiplier and the 'Mech loses half its maximum speed as well as some heat dissipation. This reflects the engine damage that can be dealt and also makes shooting the backs of 'Mechs much more effective.
Vehicles
For all vehicles, their turrets are typically much more armored than the chassis itself. This provides an incentive to attack vehicles through their sides as opposed to focusing on their turret, which can be hit from any angle. When a vehicle loses a side, it will suffer loss of mobility or turn rate, depending on which area is lost. If the turret is destroyed, its traverse rate is severely degraded but the vehicle will not lose any weapons.
Any damage dealt to a destroyed area on a vehicle transfers damage to its internal structure. If internal structure reaches zero, the vehicle is destroyed.
Aerospace Fighters
Aerospace fighter (ASF) damage functions similarly to that of vehicles, except aerospace fighters have no internal structure; as soon as their Body hits zero, they are destroyed.
Losing a wing causes weapon loss and a slight manuverability reduction -- the ASF is still airworthy with a destroyed wing, although it becomes much more vulnerable to being killed, as shots to a destroyed wing transfers damage to the body at a 3.0x rate, making it a viable tactic for defeating ASFs provided you can consistently hit the same wing.
Tail loss severely mitigates the ASF's ability to fly and strafe properly by limiting its ability to pitch up and down. Engine loss cuts the overall engine power of the ASF in half, which is highly detrimental to the ASF's combat performance.
If both the tail and engine are destroyed, the ASF is no longer airworthy and will be incapable of taking off after landing.
VTOLs
VTOL damage is analogous to that of ASFs, except in that tail or engine loss is typically fatal due to the effects losing either section has on the VTOL. Without either component, the VTOL's maneuverability or speed becomes so low that it is effectively a sitting duck.
Canon
Ferro-Fibrous armor (FF) is a special type of armor used by vehicles and BattleMechs. 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 (12% for Inner Sphere FF, 20% for Clan FF), but takes up more space on the 'Mech or vehicle (14 critical slots for Inner Sphere, 7 for Clan 'Mechs; two slots for Inner Sphere vehicles, one for Clan). The maximum amount of protection is not changed; merely the weight of armor required to achieve that level of protection. For a unit which already has maximum armor protection, it is therefore considered a weight-saving measure, at the cost of critical space. The weight savings for Endo Steel are greater than those saved by ferro-fibrous armor, but it is more costly and obviously more difficult to repair or add as an upgrade to a 'Mech. First developed by the Terran Hegemony in 2571, Ferro-Fibrous armor was lost to the Inner Sphere during the Succession Wars. The Draconis Combine was the first to re-create it in 3040. Later, the Free Worlds League and Lyran Alliance would develop Light and Heavy versions of Ferro-Fibrous armor.
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