Armour design

[Pec]

Im trying to make more effective armour but its hard to test effectiveness
What general rules in layout should i go for? Realistically outer walls for my crafts are no more than 4 blocks Usually around 3 for destroyer size.
How can i do more with less? eg i know angles can help but take up valuable internal space so is it worth it?

Any advice is appreciated thx

[The Civillian]

If ya wanna use less armour, then you need to use more reactive defences.

Interceptors for torps and missiles, CIWS For CRAMS and missiles. LAM's for general purpose. Planner shields for general purpose.

More armour is generally a good thing for your bigger craft than can house these.

But you want to layer your defence, the armour is the last line between the enemy weapons and your crafts squishy delicate bits.

[royaldragonmaster1000]

1. One simple way to get more from less is to change the orientation of your blocks between layers, I.E. Outer layer is vertical, next layer is horizontal, next layer is vertical, etc. etc. This way even if a hole is placed through your armor, there is still only a 1m gap because the next layer is arranged perpendicularly.

2. Angles make alright Spall liners but the poles actually do better. Poles and Angles both create effective air gaps to counter HESH and HEAT shells without losing space but the poles have much higher health. You can replace any given layer of armor with poles to form a Spall liner without sacrificing too much health.

3. Not every part of your craft needs the same level of armor. You can skimp on the top and bottom (if you're confidant) and also on the parts of the craft that do not hold important components, usually the bow and stern. Historically ships employed Belt Armor around the midsection of their craft, at the same height as their important components, and reduced the armor on most of the rest of the vessel.

4. Sometimes the best defense is speed and maneuverability. a small ship with 3 layers of metal will be underwhelming compared to one with 2 layers of metal, because the 2 layer craft will have enough extra space to house better weapons, engines, countermeasures, etc.

5. Simple trick that isn't technically armor related, but if you make a broadsiding or circling craft one thing you can do to reduce the amounts of hits you take is get the enemy to target the rear of the vessel. This can be done by concentrating high value targets there (not the best idea) or by putting decoys there. As the ship is turning most of the shots aimed at the front or back will now fall long/short. It also increases the chance that the enemy will just plain miss.

6. Seriously reactive defenses are your friend. Thick armor can be chipped down but you can't damage what you can't hit in the first place.

[Dakota]

Generally speaking 4m of armor is about the minimum you'd wanna use on something. My patrol boat sits at around 6 or so for example.

About the most you can get in a belt for 4m that floats is 2 alloy beams, 1 HA beamslope, backed with an alloy beam. This will float and has an airgap layer and some HA mixed in for a decent belt armor setup. Ideally though armor is best when not used with heavy armor in the belt and instead focusing additional heavy armor protection around important sub systems such as turrets and the AI and ammo.

[Dakota]

Originally posted by royaldragonmaster1000:

1. One simple way to get more from less is to change the orientation of your blocks between layers, I.E. Outer layer is vertical, next layer is horizontal, next layer is vertical, etc. etc. This way even if a hole is placed through your armor, there is still only a 1m gap because the next layer is arranged perpendicularly.

2. Angles make alright Spall liners but the poles actually do better. Poles and Angles both create effective air gaps to counter HESH and HEAT shells without losing space but the poles have much higher health. You can replace any given layer of armor with poles to form a Spall liner without sacrificing too much health.

1. This comes with a downside of now having a wider area of weakened armor due to the loss of armor stacking over a considerable area and is usually not recommended.

2. Poles aren't good heat protection because the middle third of the pole doesn't trigger HEAT or HESH at all, only the side portions, also due to the angling of a beamslope and the consistent armor stacking rather than only receiving armor stacking bonuses on the middle part which doesn't trigger HEAT anyway a beamslope is stronger, cheaper, and more consistent.

[Eudaimonia]

Armor is cheap and effective, so the general recommendation is about 1/3 of the cost of the craft in armor. For a broadsider that usually comes in at about 50% of the width (25% on each side) + top and bottom armor, so it will be well over 50% of the volume of the craft. And that's for a general purpose, not a particularly armored one.

[Chrono Atog]

To counter HEAT/HESH you need to get a gap of air. If you want to save space use a diagonal blocks. Essentially make a gap inbetween for air a second set of armor 1m or 2m thick. Essentially the side of your hulls should look like this O being a block and _ being empty space

OOOO_OO________OO_OOOO

Essentially how heat/hesh would work is it penetrates and will detonate inside.
(X is the detonation.)

OOOOXXXXXXXXOOOO

So if you do

OOOO_OO________OO_OOOO

It will detonate

OOOO_OO________OOXOOOO

[Major0Noob]

go full vertical and make combat angle 45-60 degrees, it can increase armor 50-150%
in the same situation mixed vertical and horizontal would only offer 25% or more likely DECREASE armor (loose a beam and the shell has 1-3m of free penetration)

make a torpedo belt, even wood is ok. it'll detonate HE further from main armor, spread the spall from HESH/HEAT/frag, null a lot of hollow point, and make APHE detonate sooner

[DeadRite0]

You can go thinner, but it will cost you. Go as vertical as possible with the blocks. First layer metal, second layer air gap, third layer heavy armor poles, and fourth layer metal. That is about as thin of armor that I can reasonably think of that will still have mostly decent protection, but you would still want to have some ERA in critical spots.