Ideal armor thresholds for a fighter ?

[Col Toda]

Long time ago I  made a 100 ton fighter that a lot of Ferro  Aluminum armor  with 15 threshold  numbers  . Way under armed but got far fewer criticals. 

That was before the pocket warship  craze . Looking at thresholds of 8 everywhere  but the Nose and  10 -15 in the nose . 

From what I have seen 5  is a minimum  due to  LRM and MRM damage . What do you think is the best numbers for a superiority aerospace fighter ?

[Daryk]

I'd go with 10 to prevent PPCs and clan ER Large Lasers from causing a crit.

[dgorsman]

Depends on era, I think.  Succession Wars era, 8 points should be sufficient as the AC10 is too short ranged for effectiveness, and being able to fire multiple PPCs over several rounds is somewhat rare due to single heatsinks.  And most of those would be dedicated to shooting at Mechs rather than fighters.

[Atarlost]

Depends on era, I think.  Succession Wars era, 8 points should be sufficient as the AC10 is too short ranged for effectiveness, and being able to fire multiple PPCs over several rounds is somewhat rare due to single heatsinks.  And most of those would be dedicated to shooting at Mechs rather than fighters.

That doesn't make sense.  If you're worried about 8 point hits that means large lasers.  AC-10s are the same range.  If you don't care about 10 you don't care about 8 either. 

[Goose]

It's a Wobbly Plot™ ment to under engine light fighters …

[Daryk]

10 also gets you two Medium Lasers, the most common weapon in every era...

[Col Toda]

Still dealing with threashold numbers here . 2 medium lasers still a 5 threshold  . 3025 the  large laser is the most common . I designed the fighter during the Clan Invasion Era so 15 did Gauss Rifles an Clan ER PPCs  .  So far 10 in all locations  and 15 in the nose sounds good . My original design only had Ferro Aluminum  not heavy Ferro Aluminum armor since that was not a thing in Aerotech 2 . I am looking  3072 + . Fast armed with something  medium and short range  firepower with  enough  punch to breach the other fighter's threashold  numbers .  Unfortunately still looking  under armed.  Unless I reduce the Speed to 5/8 or the tonnage to 80 and the speed to 5/8 .

 Was looking at Heavy Ferro  Aluminum  .   Maybe going Laser Reflective  at 10 threashold in the Nose and  8 threshold  everywhere else I might be able to  get  the weapon loadout I want . That gives protection against  lasers and PPCs . If that fails then the only option  is to go mixtech and go Clan  energy weapons  . Oh well if that is what need to be done then So be it .

Hate going to mix tech before 3082 when it becomes advanced because it consumes elite techs  but going to Laser Reflective Armor before 3080 does the same thing . So if developed late Jihad and fielded 3082 regular and veteran  techs will do . I Was shooting  for a dog fighter ment to engage other fighters in space while escourting dropships with weapons heavy enough to leak enough criticals early in the fight to encourage them to disengage.  Thus permitting  drop ship landing.  Not Ground Support.  Using a fighter with Laser Reflective  armor kills it's viability in ground support as the armor  would get shreded by ground fire .  Will now look at  a unit with 20 tons of Armor . 

[Hellraiser]

As stated, this is going to depend on the era/tech/faction, as well as the Fighter Size.

Sure, my 3068 Heavy Ferro Super-Stuka might be able to slap 141 points of armor on the nose to be immune to 15 pt hits, but that is going to be rare.


Most of my Heavy Custom Fighter Designs, I shoot for 91 Nose,  71 Wings,  41 Rear as good goal posts.   More is fine, but this is a solid amount for an "assault" bird.

For Mediums, I'm happy if I can pick up 71+41+41

Lights,  41+41+21

Taking Clans into account the big difference is the 61 needed for MLs doing 7 point hits.  But I can normally get that through Clan Ferro easy enough.