Strangely enough, Armor (of any kind) is NOT a DM factor on the Critical Hit table (for some reason).
It's almost as if, once a critical hit damage roll is called for/queued up ... armor DOES NOT MATTER anymore for how to resolve the critical hit(s).
Furthermore, critical hits DAMAGE armor ... something that the Surface/Radiation/Interior damage tables do not do (at all).
And the weapon code exceeds hull code means automatic critical hits rule specifically says that the automatic critical hits happen
in addition to other damage ... not "contingent upon other damage" ... not "conditional upon other damage" ... not "dependent upon other damage succeeding" ... in ADDITION. Therefore, No Effect+Critical is not only allowed, it is explicitly called for in the RAW. The rules and their order of operation are explicitly designed and laid out that way to prevent "absolute immunity to incoming fire, no matter the magnitude of disparity" of the type that some people are (still) advocating for.
0+2 = 2 ... not 0 ... when doing addition.
Once you reach the Damage step in LBB5.80, Step 5E Damage Determination ... all defenses relevant to preventing damage from
being rolled for have been penetrated, because the defenses to be penetrated are specifically Step 5C Defensive Fire and Step 5D Passive Defense. Once Steps 5C and 5D are complete, all defenses relevant to
preventing the rolling of damage (at all) are complete.
Perhaps borrowing the mechanics and terminology of a different game system will help illuminate the contours and "shape" of the problem more easily.
In a lot of computer games, there is the concept of the Damage over Time (DoT) attack.
The attack hits and causes damage to start ticking at regular intervals for a specified duration. Once the damage starts happening, there's no way to stop it (until the duration expires or the target hit by the attack expires).
However, a wrinkle on this mechanic is the Cancel On Miss modification.
The Cancel On Miss requires each DoT tick to make a accuracy check to hit the target (anew) ... and if there's a miss on the check, the duration for the DoT ends prematurely on the miss.
In gamer parlance and understanding, these are (obviously) VERY different game mechanics.
- Damage over Time (DoT) with no accuracy checks per damage tick, always runs for full duration
- Damage over Time (DoT) with accuracy checks per damage tick, a miss on an accuracy check ends the DoT effect immediately
In other words, whether the DoT effect "keeps ticking for damage" depends on how the attack is programmed in the game mechanics ... what the "rules" are then determine how the attack works. Since this is such a foundational concept for how attacks function and operate, computer game developers are often times at pains to make clear whether a DoT attack is a full duration or a cancel on miss type of conditional.
- No accuracy checks per DoT tick means the damage is AUTOMATIC rather than conditional after a hit
- Accuracy checks per DoT tick that cancel on miss are CONDITIONAL rather than automatic after a hit
In LBB5.80 combat there is a "did you hit?" step (5B).
Then there is a "did you penetrate active defenses?" step (5C).
Then there is a "did you penetrate passive defenses?" step (5D).
Each step needs to be resolved in total for all batteries being fired. The way it works at the gaming table is by a sort of "winnowing" process.
- Record hits (5B)
- Deny hits (5C)
- Deny hits (5D)
Once you get to Step 5E Damage Determination ... all hits have been "confirmed" as having penetrated defenses sufficiently to proceed to the damage tables.
Each battery that has hit (5B) and penetrated defenses (5C and 5D) now computes how many rolls need to be made on what tables before rolling on those damage tables for each battery.
- Batteries roll ... (code-[hull+(armor/2, round down)]), minimum zero ... times on the Critical Hits damage table.
- Batteries roll ... (code-8), minimum one ... times on the Surface/Radiation/Interior damage tables as required by their weapon type.
Once the total number of rolls per damage table are determined ...
not the results, just the number of rolls to make on which tables ...
then and only then start rolling for damage effect(s) on the tables required as determined by the above 2 constraints.
Queue up the number of rolls to be made on which tables, then start rolling on them.
- Armor has no DM on the results of rolls made on the Critical Hit table. Armor is reduced by -1 for each roll made on the Critical Hit table.
- Armor does have a +DM on the results of rolls made on the Surface/Radiation/Interior damage tables, except against meson guns ... unless the "armor" is from a (flickering) Black Globe screen. Armor can minimize damage below the threshold of needing to record a result (the No Effect result) pertinent to Step 6 Damage Step.
Damage
results are recorded and
HELD IN ABEYANCE until reaching Step 6
after ALL battery fires for ALL craft on all sides have completed Steps 5A through 5E.
Once Step 6 Damage Step is reached, all recorded damage results go into effect, modifying performance values/parameters of all craft.
If you think of it as working in computer programming terms, happening step by logically ordered step (kind of like FOR-NEXT loops) ... before repeating for the next combatant, until all craft on all sides have given and taken fires ... it all makes sense and is scalable to all situations and circumstances, from small craft to dreadnoughts (although the latter "take longer" to resolve
).
Once you reach Step 5E Damage Determination ... there are no "take backs" on the number of rolls to be made on damage tables. There is no rule in LBB5.80 stating that if a "No Effect" result is rolled that other damage rolls get denied, canceled or shouldn't happen.
The "take backs" thing can be done as a "made up house rule" by people who don't want to play LBB5.80 RAW
as written ... but that's their own homebrew variant on the LBB5.80 combat rules
as written.
Have I been sufficiently clear in my explanation of how LBB5.80 combat is supposed to work and be interpreted?
I should hope so ... but you never know ...
