Armor penetration or raw damage?

[bladebss]

Im sort of guessing at this but, penetration number means percentage of armor that it ignores.. so 99 means only 1% of the armor counts. So it will do prety much full damage whenever it hits.

So raw damage and low penetration is only good against un armored targets or low armored targets.

And high penetration and perhaps less raw damage is better agains hevely armored targets.

Do i have this right?

If so does it make sense to go for high penetration in todays hrp and militery hull world?

And use high damage low penetration for shields and soft targets like npc trade ships?

Thoughts.. tips and opinions?

 

[Don Alvarez]

I don't give much for those numbers. I just go energy vs shields, kinetic vs hull, try it and see if I like it. That's the only rule of thumb I live by, and that a Class 4 MC trashes subs like a boss.

 

[bladebss]

That might be alright for pve but up aginst a cmdr who may have all and any kind of resistance mods on their shields or hull it could make all the difference

 

[SCTrojanbulldog]

I'm assuming this is in regards to SM vs OC.

Honestly, let your PD decide.

I have OC on my c3 Multicannons, SM on my C4, and efficient on my c2.

My style and power availability have a larger impact on that set-up than preference.

In any case, all things die quickly.

 

[DaveB]

If I've understood the damage model correctly, high damage takes down hull armor better, so if you generally don't target modules you'll blow up your opponent quicker. If you're plinking modules you want a higher hull penetration factor to "pierce" the armor. However, this balance changes again if you're looking at modules that you can hit from outside the armor - thrusters, for example - as opposed to ones that you have to penetrate the armor to hit - such as the power plant or fsd.

 

[bladebss]

What of my PD can handle it eather way?

Now this could get messy but..

I could have a c4 beam or 2 c2 beams. The c2s combined do about the same damage and cap draw and heat as one c4 but at less penetration.

Or

I can have one c4 cannon (if i choose the c2 beams) or two c2 cannons (if i choose the c4 beam) the same delema with penetration vs damage but the c4 cannon i have does 99 penetration due to a mod.

I just cant decide on having the big beam for big damage or the big cannon for big penetration.

Im thinking i need to sacrifice my awsome penetrator cannon for 2 medium ones. But risk them being rubbish incomparison to the one i have now. Plus its like all the way back to tod the blaster from broo ina fdl and i just came from there lol

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If I've understood the damage model correctly, high damage takes down hull armor better, so if you generally don't target modules you'll blow up your opponent quicker. If you're plinking modules you want a higher hull penetration factor to "pierce" the armor. However, this balance changes again if you're looking at modules that you can hit from outside the armor - thrusters, for example - as opposed to ones that you have to penetrate the armor to hit - such as the power plant or fsd.

So what is the %breach chance all about then? I thought this was the module damage bit, and the lower the hull% the better the chance based on the stat?

 

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

Don't forget that armor corrodes. When your ship health drops, the armor resistance drops too. It's harder to knock down modules of a ship that has full health, but easy when it has lower health. This is why HRPs are useful, your armor stays tough longer.

Personally I'm just experimenting with a Huge and Large gimballed cannon on my anaconda, short range blaster mod with HE ammunition. The armor penetration is outstanding and busting modules of Anacondas and Fed Dropships is a park walk, but it's unreliable against small/medium targets.

 

[bladebss]

The problem i have found with short range cannons is the shot speed realy suffers so its much harder to hit unless you are right up super close. I always go with long range for my cannons and i have found the high yeald shells to be less effective at taking out specific modules and better a peppering many diferent ones. My c4 cannon shots go at over 1000m/s so its much easier to hit even small targets reliably. At least in my experiance

Have you tryed the huge beam? It has a tendancy to melt modules nice and good too... not as good as the cannon as i can disable a conda in 2 or 3 shots with the cannon. But its much more usefull against shields than the cannon.

Its a delema for shure!

I am currently sat in the hanger trying to decide over the two. Im almoste tempted to get a corvette just so i can have both lol