Endo Steel / Ferro Armor and their locations

[boxy]

Hi! I have a noob question: do endo steel and ferro armor only protect the locations they were assigned to (i.e. locations with endo / ferro slots) or the Mech as a whole?

When I first saw a record sheet containing endo steel I immediately assumed that it protects only those locations where the record sheet shows at least one critical slot of endo steel. It seemed intuitive to me, since all other components I had seen so far were always tied to their locations (weapons, ammo, engine, etc.). But the more I read about endo steel structure and ferro armor, the more it looks like the actual slots they occupy basically don't matter. I've searched the BattleMech Manual for answers but it doesn't explicitly say if endo / ferro slot locations matter or not...

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Those are nothing but meaninglessly takes the slot and prevents to use the slot during the unit construction. It never protects anything and is not considered a slot with an equipment. If you rolled for a crit and it directs either of those slots, you have to roll again until you have the result other than those(and also have to roll again as well if it still scores the other invalid slot, such as the slots already destroyed).

Simply put, on the game it's nothing different with a blank slot.

[Charistoph]

Endo-Steel doesn't really protect or cover anything.  It's literally the structure of the 'Mech.

Ferro-Fibrous CAN be restricted to only covering certain parts through the Patchwork Armor rules, at which point the Crits that are used must go in that slot.  However, in the majority of cases where all Armor is Ferro-Fibrous, they can go anywhere, as PLLP said.  Not that it makes much of a difference except the amount of Armor one can install, as aside from 1 TacOps SRM Ammo type, F-F Armor is treated like Standard when hit.

Mostly it's there as a balance mechanic so some payment must be made in the set up for these lighter materials that doesn't go in to C-Bills.  Having both makes it REALLY hard to fit 2 AC/20s in to a Spheroid 'Mech, for example.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Any item on the critical hit table that's marked in italics rather than bold is something that cannot be subjected to a critical hit, it's just there on the table to represent that it has some bulk and takes up room inside the mech that is no longer available for weapons or other equipment.