Yet another ship blueprint question.

[erotae]

So I've exhausted the wiki, these forums, and Google trying to get a straight answer on exactly how arranging the subsystems on the blueprint UI affects ship performance and survivability, especially when we're dealing with armor plating.

I understand that directional damage is factored in the game, and that depending on where you place the subsystem on the blueprint depends on which subsystems will be damaged when the ship is fired at.

What I cannot seem to find out is this:

• If you place a module further out on the blueprint ring, and place a module further in just behind it, when the ship gets shot at from that direction do the "outer" modules take damage first before the inner modules do?

• Armor (Plate, Nano, etc): In the statistics list next to the blueprint I have "Armor Hit points" which, as I read it, is the amount of damage the enemy needs to do to your ship before the armor is breached and they can start damaging your subsystems. Does the armor module need to be placed on the blueprint according to where you want the most protection, or does it distribute the armor "equally" around the whole ship as long as you have it somewhere on the blueprint?

Answers to these questions would be ACES. Elaboration on ship design as well is welcomed if, in fact, module placement is far more critical than I see it to be.

[Firgof Umbra]

If you place a module further out on the blueprint ring, and place a module further in just behind it, when the ship gets shot at from that direction do the "outer" modules take damage first before the inner modules do?

Yes. Also if a larger module is centered on the same coordinate as a smaller module, the larger module will always take damage first until it is destroyed.

or does it distribute the armor "equally" around the whole ship as long as you have it somewhere on the blueprint

Both yes and no. Yes, armor is considered a unified layer in that all damage *must* hit an armor module if one exists and has HP, regardless of the shot direction versus the armor location, and must continue hitting armors until no armors remain, *then* it can damage internals from the direction the shot was fired.

No, it's not entirely directionless. If you have different kinds of armor the directions you place them in are important. The direction of the impacted shot determines which armor module first takes damage; this also works the same as in your first question where further out armor modules take damage first. Consider the damage as more of a windshield wiper than a bullet traveling on a path: what subsystem is hit next is determined by the wiper, and the wiper's direction is created from the bullet's impact angle.

So, if I had:

http://pastebin.com/THqYfmic

As my blueprint design and a shot came from the left (x: subsystem, - : dead subsystem), it would blow through my ship like this:

http://pastebin.com/Jik7qCPF

And so on.


If I had armor (o) then it would penetrate like this:

http://pastebin.com/58436MNU

And so on.

[erotae]

Thank you for the responses, Fir! This really helped and I now I don't feel as clueless when making my own ships. xD