Armor

**Armor** refers to various types of covering worn to protect the wearer from harm. In *Rome at War*, armor is a vital statistical value for units and buildings.

Unit attacks usually have a non-negative value. If the target is in the corresponding armor class, the corresponding armor is usually 0, so the bonus damage will fully apply. If an armor value is not equal to 0, the damage is reduced by this value. Units almost always have non-negative armor, the only exceptions being Houses\*, rams, Siege Towers, Elephant Archers, and Armored Elephants. If the target is not in the corresponding armor class, the armor is 10,000 (the generic base armor), thus the corresponding attack will do no damage.

All units have two basic types of armor: melee armor (simply called 'armor') and pierce armor, which protects against most ranged attacks such as arrows. However, some units like the Chakram Thrower and Arygrapside deal melee damage (i.e. reduced by melee armor) at range. Depending on the unit type, the units may have additional armor classes.

## Damage formula

In *Rome at War*, the damage formula is:

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{\displaystyle Damage=\max(1,(\max(0,Attack\_{m}-Armor\_{m})+\max(0,Attack\_{p}-Armor\_{p})+}

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{\displaystyle k\_{resist}\times \sum \_{i}\max(0,AttackBonus\_{i}-BonusResist\_{i}))\times k\_{elev}\times k\_{cracked})}

* ***m* denotes melee attack / armor.**
	+ If the attacker is a Falx Warrior or a Scythian cavalry unit with Akinakes researched and the target is a non-siege land unit,

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	{\displaystyle Armor\_{m}=0}

	.
* *p* denotes pierce attack / armor.
	+ If the attacker is a Zhuge Nu or Iberian Skirmisher with Soliferrum,

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	{\displaystyle Armor\_{p}=0}

	.
* If the attacker has a bonus *AttackBonusi* against the armor class *i*, then the bonus (minus *BonusResisti*) is added to the total damage. Usually,

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{\displaystyle BonusResist\_{i}=10,000}

. When

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{\displaystyle BonusResist\_{i}<10,000}

, the target is said to have the armor class *i* (in those cases *BonusResisti* is usually less than 100).
	+ *kresist* is the bonus reduction multiplier, equal 0.75 if the target is a Mauryanelephant; and 1 otherwise.
* *kelev* is the elevation multiplier. It is 1.25 if a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs), 0.75 if a unit attacks below its target (hills only), and 1 otherwise.
	+ For Dacians, this value is changed to 1.5 when a unit attacks above its target (hills and cliffs) if Murus Dacicus is researched.
* *kcracked* is equal to 1.2 if the target is a building on a desert cracked terrain, and 1 otherwise.

### Units dealing melee damage

The following units deal melee damage and are affected by their target's melee armor:

* All Barracks and Stable units
* All unique infantry and cavalry units (except for cavalry archers)
* Villagers
* Battering Ram line
* Armored Elephant line
* Mangonel line
* Catapults
* Demolition Ships
* Fire Galley line\*
* Juggernauts
* Octeres

\*The Fire Galley line also deals pierce damage.

While Zhuge and Scorpions main damage is pierce, they also deal 0 melee damage per projectile, meaning each projectile will do more than 1 damage to units with very high pierce armor but negative melee armor such as Rams and Siege Towers. In particular, Zhuge are a good counter against rams since they fire multiple arrows, each of them doing 0-(-3)=3 damage.

### Units with high melee armor

The following units have high melee armor and excel at battle against units dealing melee damage (values for fully upgraded units with any possible unique technologies to increase melee armor):

**Infantry**

* Hoplite: 9 (Seleucids only, 6 for the Spartans only, 4 for other civilizations)
* Elite Hippeus: 7 (Spartans only)
* Elite Ambaxtoi: 6 (Gauls only)
* Elite Praetorian Guard: 6 (Roman Republic only)
* Elite Legionary: 6 (for the Roman Empire and Roman Republic only, 5 for other civilizations)
* Champion: 6 (for the Spartans only, 5 for the Cretans only, 4 for other civilizations)
* Elite Taxiarch: 5 (Athenians only)
* Elite Medjay Warrior: 5 (Egyptians only)
* Elite Comite: 5 (Germani only)
* Elite Polydynastus: 5 (Illyrians only)
* Elite Argyraspide: 5 (Macedonians only)
* Elite Immortal: 5 (Persians only)

**Archers**

* Elite Cretan Archer: 6 (Cretans only)

**Cavalry**

* Elite Grivpanvar: 10 (Parthians only)
* Imperial Cavalryman: 8 (for the Carthaginians only, 5 for other civilizations)
* Heavy Cavalryman: 7 (for the Goths only, 5 for other civilizations)
* Elite Praetorian Prefect: 6 (Roman Empire only)
* Elite Battle Elephant: 6 (for the Mauryans only, 5 for other civilizations)
* Elite Ayrudzi: 5 (Armenians only)
* Elite Essedarius: 5 (Britons only)
* Elite War Elephant: 5 (Carthaginians only)

**Ships**

**Other**

### Technologies and bonuses

The first place to upgrade a military unit's melee armor is the Blacksmith. Infantry, cavalry, and archers can get up to +3 melee armor there.

**Infantry**

* Scale Mail Armor (+1)
* Chain Mail Armor (+1)
* Plate Mail Armor (+1)

**Cavalry**

* Scale Barding Armor (+1)
* Chain Barding Armor (+1)
* Plate Barding Armor (+1)

**Archers**

* Padded Archer Armor (+1)
* Leather Archer Armor(+1)
* Ring Archer Armor (+1)

Additionally, Cavalry Archers can be further improved at the Archery Range:

* Parthian Tactics: Improves melee armor of Cavalry Archers (+1).

At the Town Center, Villagers are improved:

* Loom: Improves melee armor of Villagers (+1).

Buildings can also get their melee armor upgraded at the University.

* Masonry (+1)
* Architecture (+1)

Furthermore, most buildings gain +1 melee armor per Age.