Instead of AR what if

[slade the sniper]

We used an actual armor system so that weapons that don't do the minimum damage get prevented from doing damage. So that when it says X is invulnerable to Y caliber, that is supported by a mechanical system instead of a rather strange PV vs AR system that seems to have been ignored for a few years?

Therefore, we can not use the PV or AR system and just use the damage system.

To do this I propose we take 1/2 the given AR, then square that so that we get the minimum damage needed to harm the target. The thing is still SDC, and MDC is still MDC, but it makes SDC stuff less fragile to other SDC things and makes armor more utilitarian, IMO.

Plus, now you can say that X is immune to Y damage with an actual damage rating instead of guessing what 1 23mm round damage is, etc.

(AR/2)^2
AR is immmune to
1 = 1 SDC
2 = 2 SDC
3 = 3 SDC
4 = 4 SDC
5 = 6 SDC
6 = 9 SDC
7 = 12 SDC
8 = 16 SDC
9 = 20 SDC
10 = 25 SDC
11 = 30 SDC
12 = 36 SDC
13 = 42 SDC
14 = 49 SDC
15 = 56 SDC
16 = 64 SDC
17 = 72 SDC
18 = 81 SDC
19 = 90 SDC
20 = 100 SDC (equivalent to MDC, needs 100 SDC to damage it all)

-STS

[Stone Gargoyle]

I like it. I always thought armor should be able to deflect attacks rather than take full damage.

[Mogge]

I think this will make combat a little less attractive. Most armor has its weak spots and A.R. do reflect that. I do actually think that A.R. needs a revamp and weapons needs a revamp to take into accounting of penetrating values (insteadt of penetrating all or nothing) but also other things such as reach for some weapons (spear or halbards to mention a few).
But back to your proposal...
If an attack is reduced insteadt then the armor never will degrade (or very seldom degrade) which I think would be a pity. Since this is HU 2e we are talking about - I think while trying to strengthen the armor, you will have the opposite effect. A.R of 18 which is a very heavy armor usually gives around 230-260 S.D.C. in protection far more than the 81 is removes.
Lastly I think the imbalance you create in combat with this system will end up with each and everyone get one armor to be able to nullify damage.

But if you are having fund with that homebrew, then you should absolutely go for it.
I, for myself, would never use that in its current form.

I think the secret behind a better combatsystem is to overhaul the weapons. Some weapons should have a penetrating value (that lowers A.R. by x amount - so one weapon could have "Penetrating 3" for example and lets that weapon lower A.R. with 3 points. Another weapon could have "Reach 2" that allows him to hit someone a tad further back etc, etc, etc...

[Marcethus]

Personally AR works pretty well imho. It shows the deflection by absorbing the damage that the player would have otherwise taken had they not been wearing the armor. The issue is sometimes a characters strike bonuses get ridiculously high making armor and it's AR borderline useless.

[slade the sniper]

Lastly I think the imbalance you create in combat with this system will end up with each and everyone get one armor to be able to nullify damage.

I think the secret behind a better combatsystem is to overhaul the weapons. Some weapons should have a penetrating value (that lowers A.R. by x amount - so one weapon could have "Penetrating 3" for example and lets that weapon lower A.R. with 3 points. Another weapon could have "Reach 2" that allows him to hit someone a tad further back etc, etc, etc...

Re: people getting armor... isn't that why people get armor? I don't know anyone, if given the choice would say "nah, I don't need armor, I can dodge the bullets."

As for AR reductions, that is a thing. I know for some weapons they get an AR reduction.

-STS

[Grazzik]

AR works fine enough for the most part with a few dashes of handwavium for special occasions. No rule is perfect. I've house ruled that:

• Rolling at or below AR does full damage to armor/vehicle
• Rolling above AR has half the damage pass through to the squishy/critical system, respectively
• The idea that bullets or melee blows bounce off without ANY damage is ludicrous and I reserve that for magic or superpowers.
• AR can go well above 20... in some cases, like tanks, an AR >30 should mean a normal person should cause no pass through damage on the tank with a baseball bat, but a marksman with specialty armor piercing ammo from a tricked out top tier weapon platform could find that weak spot...
• Side note: the SDC of a tank is also ludicrously low as listed necessitating the "bullet bouncing" concept, so I just jack up the SDC

Everyone has their own game hacks and if what works for you works, have at it.