Editing Armor (section)

=={{anchor|Damage Profile}}Penetration Mechanics==
Armor is penetrated when a column of armor is completely damaged.  The way in which this damage is applied varies by the type of weapon causing it.  For [[missiles]] and carronades, the penetration depth is approximately equal to the square root of the total damage.  For [[Railguns]] and [[Particle Beams]] the penetration is approximately equal to the square root of twice the damage, and for [[Lasers]] the penetration is approximately equal to the square root of triple the damage.  

===Square-by-Square Penetration===
[[File:DamageTemplate.png|thumb|right|Damage templates for different weapon types.]]
For most strikes, the exact pattern of damage on armor may be predicted reliably.  The image at right shows the expected pattern of damage for missile and carronade strikes at left, while lasers are shown at right.  A hit of a given damage will destroy all squares equal to or lower than its value.  For example, a size-nine missile will destroy all squares with a value of nine or less in the template.  

The pattern in which damage is applied favors the design of weapons which deliver a damage found in the central column of the template, due to those numbers representing the first penetration into an additional layer of armor.  This represents the least damage required to penetrate that particular armor layer and therefore the most efficient warhead or beam strike.

For additional examples of penetration mechanics in action, see [http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=10470.msg116088#msg116088 this forum post].

===High-Damage Strikes ([[VB6]] only)===

[[File:LaserPenetration.png|thumb|right|Actual armor penetration compared to the initial damage curve for lasers.]]

While the originally-stated penetration equations hold for lesser damage levels, the way in which damage is applied changes for higher-damage strikes in VB6.  The net effect is that strikes above a certain level exceed their expected armor penetration - see the graph at right for an example using lasers.

This is due to the way damage is handled after the template definition for how damage is applied is exceeded.  When the defined template is not sufficient to cover the damage applied, the squares in each column are multiplied by the difference between the max template damage and the actual damage applied.  This results in a linear increase in damage rather than the slow falloff present while within the bounds of the template.

The consequence of this is that damage which would have been allocated to expanding the template at earlier levels is instead allocated straight downwards into the armor without expanding the maximum achievable strike width.  

This effect is only achievable with lasers and missiles due to their high single-strike damage capability.  All other player-usable weapons are incapable of delivering single-strike damage in excess of their template definition, although NPR-initiated ramming attacks will frequently max out the template and therefore over-penetrate armor.

The template definitions and their maximums for the various weapons are:

* Damage Template 1 (Max 100): Applies to [[Ramming]], [[Missiles]], [[Plasma Carronade]]s,<!--Spoiler! Plasma Torpedoes--> and absorbed [[Shields|shield]] energy.
* Damage Template 2 (Max 121): Applies to [[Lasers]].
* Damage Template 3 (Max 128): Applies to [[Particle Beams]] and [[Railguns]].

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[[Category:Components]]