Editing Armor (section)

===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]].

{{Components}}
[[Category:Components]]