I had forgotten that they gain the ability to jump with missiles. I suppose that's a good reason for the extra weight, though I wonder if we might see more optimized designs later on, since mixed tech is becoming more common.
I'll have to check out ATOWC more closely.
I'm not sure if it carried over from MW3rd to ATOW, but it was certainly worth it in that version. It's just another case of scales, where some things get lost as you abstract things for gameplay.
I'm pretty sure ATOW under the advanced rules is like MW3rd in that when shot, the armour either penetrates the armour and deals damage to the player, or is stopped by the armour. It's very different from the table top where you cross out boxes for each damage point.
For example, if you're hit in the chest with an assault rifle, your vest either stops the bullet (and you suffer fatigue/get stunned) or it penetrates and punctures your lung sort of thing (fatigue,stun, bleeding, limited movement, unconciousness checks etc. Basically death). Battle Armour, at least in MW3rd was the same way. AC10s, PPCs, or anything bigger (Gauss Rifles...) had enough penetrative potential that no battle Armour (Kazazuchi for example) could stop the round. Regular PPCs vaporize Kazazuchis in one shot.
Where things get interesting (and to bring this long winded explanation back on track) was when a weapon hit deals
just enough damage to match the armour rating (Technically penetrating) or higher. A .45 handgun that penetrates a vest might only result in a minor flesh wound, or cracked rib, because most of the force was absorbed by the vest. When that happens, the armour
degrades in effectiveness. The next .45 handgun hit will have an easier time penetrating. And the round following yet another successful penetration. Depending on the weapons and armour in question, it's only a matter of time before normal dice rolls are treating the armour like tissue paper (assuming the wearer isn't dead already).
Harjel, as you might have surmised, prevents that degradation entirely. An I.S Medium laser (5 Penetration) has a harder time penetrating a Kanazuchi (9 armour) than a Clan Elemental (7 I think?), but once it does, the Kanazuchi will drop to 8, and then 7...and then 6. At 5 it does nothing to prevent the laser (from what I remember). The Clan Elemental by contrast will always remain at 7, so you kill the Elemental through a thousand paper cuts while the Kazazuchi is just a matter of time before the armour drops low enough that you burn/explode the wearer's organs.
In theory, enough assault rifle or SAW rounds from an infantry platoon will eventually wear down any I.S suit until it's tissue paper and you can kill the wearer as if he isn't wearing anything. Clan armour by contrast, can laugh manically as bullets rain down on them because the Harjel will keep filling the little cracks lucky hits produce in their armour.
I remember things
have changed in ATOW though, and most of this is from memory so I'll have to check again to confirm that this is how things work.
I do know though that in MW3rd, Harjel was very much worth the extra weight.
