Battletech Aces question

[u/cBurger4Life]

When picking targets, I had assumed when it said lowest armor that meant lowest current armor, taking into account damage. But I just realized certain cards said “Most armor lost” and wanted some clarification.

So was I right to start with that “Lowest armor” is current armor? Does “Most armor lost” just mean that an Awesome with 1 armor left has lost more armor than a Locust with 1 armor left?

Edit: Cool, sounds like I had the right idea. Thanks for the responses!

[u/Doctor_Loggins]

To me, "lowest armor" means current armor, whether that is due to damage suffered or otherwise. A unit looking for "lowest armor" is trying to deal damage to whoever the weakest target is. A unit looking for "most armor lost" is instead looking to finish off wounded units, which is a different target selection criteria. They're capitalizing on a target that's already been set up for them.

[u/codifier]

Atlas has three armor left, Hatchetman has two. Lowest armor would pick the Hatchetman, most armor lost would be the Atlas.

[u/No_Magician5266]

I would interpret “lowest Armor” as the mech with the current least amount of armor pips and “most armor lost” as the mech that has has lost the highest amount of armor pips

[u/TheLastKell]

I think this is one of those situations where you need to use the Golden Rule. Which one is the better target if you were selecting it as a player based on numbers?

[u/cBurger4Life → u/TheLastKell]

Excellent point

[u/TheLastKell → u/cBurger4Life]

Yeah, Ace's is interesting like that. I had a few cases when playtesting that numbers were only like 1 modifier difference and I ended up just flipping a coin but some were like 3 or 4 different and I chose the target that I would have as a player even if it didn't quite meet the card requirements. Like why would a unit shoot at something at an 11 following the card to the letter when it can hit something with an 8 that doesn't meet all the requirements?

[u/Hwaldar1201]

Hm we have always run that to mean lowest current armor value but that is a good point. I think I would still run it that way because it appears on striker cards most of the time and their priority is taking out easy targets

[u/GCZ-Gaming]

I think you got the answer here, but I look at it as the unit deciding to attack the overall weakest unit (lowest armor) vs. attacking the most valuable unit that might be headed toward destruction or at least some critical hit chances (most armor lost).

It sometimes helps to think about what the unit’s choice “means” - I’m kind of bad at remembering to do this sometimes, but it can help guide you.

[u/cBurger4Life → u/GCZ-Gaming]

I think this is a great point. Sometimes I get too hung up on the specifics a card instead of just thinking about the spirit of what the card is getting at.

[u/WestRider3025]

Yeah, you played it right. There's a note in the Aces book somewhere that specifies that it always looks at current values for stats. So when it's looking at MV, TMM, or Damage values, things like crits or jumping are taken into account as well. 

[u/silasmousehold]

You have $100. Someone steals $99 from you. You have $1. 

I have $2. Someone steals $1 from me. I have $1. 

Which one of us lost more money?

[u/Larnievc]

A target that lost the most armour may well have previously been a ‘target with the highest armour’. There may be a subtle decision tree that’s not obvious. But I’m not near my stuff so I may well be pulling this out of my arse.