[43Supporter]

Originally Posted by swordtart

Hmmm, if it were backed up by a thin layer of plastic or CA to catch anything that went through, I could buy it. Using HRs as ablative armour is a bit counter-productive. If you are shot in the tail it is going direct to either driver or plant (depending on which order you put them in).

The HRs are *not* "ablative armor" -- the HRs are exactly as described: Run up to point-blank range; fire as many HRs as one thinks one will need to take out the opponent ("volley the pila").

There's a variant to the design, with even worse armor, which puts the side-mount HRs in a turret.... >:) (There's another variant with six HRs in a 2-sp. turret, and SS-plus-SD on B, L, and R, with better armor.)

Originally Posted by swordtart

An MG has a 50:50 chance of penetrating. An AP MML has a 4 in chance of penetrating. An RL (as fitted to the Thresher) only has a 1/12 chance of NOT penetrating (and they are cheaper than dirt). Since there is no real benefit to burst effect in an arena there is no reason not to make your RL rounds AP. An AP RL is guaranteed to penetrate. As you have shown putting a HR on a Division 5 isn't hard.

Therein lies the fault of the _Shuriken HR_ design: Metal armor, and HRs, were used to keep the cost down, at the expense of survivability; so one needs to get in close, and take out the opponent swiftly, before one gets nibbled to death. The saving grace of the Metal armor is: BE weapons, which are very effective at Metalarmorectomy, are rarely if ever found in D5 (oddly, D10 is where one starts to see the HESH-loaded RR).

Originally Posted by swordtart

Even the poxy APPR has a 1/3 chance of getting damage through it. If the 1-2 point hits your plant then it has achieved it's aim. It it hits the driver, even better. I was surprised to note that the APPR is still a burst weapon, so it still has a 1/3 chance of stripping metal.

Yeah -- I wonder about that.... :)

Originally Posted by swordtart

I think the Thresher is better value ;)

No argument there.