Space Armor and Shield Guide

## Page Description

In the new 2.9 version Shields and Armor have been totally reworked. This 2 basic values that units have reflect how much damage they will take from the new weapon systems in the Space Rework. This guide will aim to provide a basic understanding of the different types and variants, so new players can take advantage of the information in space combat.

### **Armor:**

#### ***Armor Types***

Armor will affect how much damage a unit can take from different damage sources. In Awakening of the rebellion there are 5 categories of armor:

* **Fighter armor**: This armor type is used by all starfighters. It is vulnerable to all damage sources, but due to the high agility and small frame of starfighters, only small laser weapons such as point defense, lasers or flak can be a threat. Fighter armor is also vulnerable to missiles such as cluster rockets and concussion missiles
* **Heavy Fighter armor**: Reinforced armor usually found on gunships or very heavy starfighters like the BS Skipray, the rebel U-Wing or the imperial ATR-6. Will resist fighter laser damage, but not heavy lasers or ship-based laser weapons. Missiles are still a threat.
* **Light armor:**Corvettes (such as the CR90) and light frigates (such as the Munificent) will use this type of armor. Resists most starfighter-grade weapons except heavy lasers. Missiles and light turbolasers can still threaten this armour.
* **Medium armor:** Used by frigates and older/refitted capital ships like the Carrack cruiser, the Venator star destroyer or the MC80 series. Strong resistance to all laser weapons. Mild resistance to light turbolaser/turboion weapons. Weak to medium and heavy turbolasers, as well as proton torpedoes and medium caliber massdrivers.
* **Heavy armor:** Used by modern military-grade capital ships or heavy brawlers like the Imperial Star Destroyer or Dreadnought Cruisers. Strong resistance to all lasers and light turbolasers/turboions. Heavy armour affords some resistance to medium turbolasers, however it will not protect against Heavy turbolasers. Very vulnerable against proton torpedoes, heavy massdrivers and heavy rockets.

#### ***Armor Repair***

All ships are capable of repairing some degree of health (though they cannot restore destroyed hardpoints). Repairs are conducted in pulses, with each pulse regenerating a set percentage of maximum unit health. The time between pulses is determined by **ship class**, whilst the percentage of health is determined by **armour type**.

Generally speaking, the bigger the ship, the longer it takes until a repair cycle happens, and the heavier the armor, the less health is regained each repair cycle. It is also important to note that destroyed hardpoints can not be repaired, so if hardpoints are destroyed, the unit can not get back to full health.

The following tables list the time between pulses and how much health is regained per pulse:

 Capital/Battlestations
 Cruisers/Support Stations
 Frigate
 Corvette/Transport
 Fighter/Bomber (Repair Crew)
 Fighter/Bomber (Astromech)

 Medium
 Light
 Heavy Fighter
 Fighter

#### ***Damage Armor Matrix***

The following matrix lists all the multipliers that are applied to the damage done to armor. Each weapon has a damage type, so if for example a Light Turbolaser (which has the Light damage type) hits a ship with Heavy armor, the damage of the Light Turbolaser is multiplied by 0.6. This damage is then taken by the hit unit.

### **Shields**

#### ***Shield Types***

Shields are usually the first line of defense for starships and vehicles. To deal meaningful damage to a unit, the shields must first be removed.  There are some common attributes between all shields:

* After being depleted, shields will come back online (after some time) with a fraction of their strength and will recharge normally after that (assuming shield generators are still active)
* Ion-based weapons and missiles will drain shields significantly faster than comparative laser/turbolaser based weapons regardless of their resistance or recharge. This is true for every ion-based weapon.

Additionally, all shields have two components to them: Resistance and Recharge:

1. Resistance refers to what weapon categories the shield resists.
2. Recharge rate refers to how quickly the shields recharge when not under fire.

Resistance categories are shown below:

* **Anti-Laser:** Designed to resist laser weapons like point defence laser cannons and fighter-based laser cannons. Weak against ship mounted laser cannons and turbolaser weapons.
* **Anti-Lasercannon:** Resist laser cannons and heavy laser cannons. However, they are weak against lasers and heavier turbolasers.
* **Balanced:** Resistant against most damage sources except Ion based weapons (e.g. Turboions). Their weakness is their lack of specialisation.
* **Anti-Turbolaser**: Resistant to turbolaser weapons as the name implies, especially heavy permutations. Takes increased damage from laser weapons and Ion based weapons.

Recharge categories are shown below:

* **Slow charging:** Usually found on older vessels like Dreadnought Cruisers as well as light ships. Slow charging.
* **Average charging:** As the name says, they have a decent recharge ratio, nothing impressive but still better than slow.
* **Fast charging:** Found on ships with high advanced shield technology like the MC ships. Fast recharge rate.

#### ***Shield Recharge***

For shields the amount of shields regained depends on the class of the unit and the recharge type of the shield. Shields regenerate every second, the amount is a percentage of the overall shield amount of the unit.

Generally speaking, the bigger a ship is, the slower it recharges it shields. This makes it more valuable for small units to retreat from combat and recharge its shields.

The following table lists percentage recharge rate per second and time for full recharge from 0% to max strength:

 Capital/Battlestation
 Cruiser/Support Station
 Frigate
 Corvette/Transport
 Fighter/Bomber

#### ***Damage Shield Matrix***

Just like the Damage Armor Matrix, the following Matrix lists all the multipliers applied to weapons, when hitting the different shield types.

Note: Turbo Ions have the same damage modifiers vs hull and shields as Ion cannons, but they are supposed to do more damage vs hull. Not sure how they do more damage, maybe more damage per projectile.