Special steel

Special steel exchanges one form of protection for another: “vehicles receive increased armor in exchange for overall durability.” Confirmed by the game files, build 23882143. Numerical armour and maximum-hit-point changes are recorded. These fields are stored separately: the module raises armour and reduces maximum health. It is among the nine descriptions that explicitly name a cost. Compare that protection with the opponent’s weapon rather than deriving final damage taken from the name of a defensive field alone.

Armour and hit points are separate fields; their records alone do not provide the complete damage formula here, build 23882143. The Empire Gorb Tank carries 110 front armour, while the Mutant Mass of flesh has 9 000 base hit points and 50 armour. These are different combinations of protection. Empire Brutes have 1 900 combined hit points including their reserve, for 35 minerals and five population. Their health pool illustrates why armour and hit points should not be substituted for one another in unit comparisons.

Consider the opponent’s weapon: armour alone does not prove a win against light fire or a loss against artillery. Both changes are recorded: +20 front and rear armour against 150 maximum hit points. These are flat field changes, not a published percentage improvement in protection. The Empire flamethrower turret reaches 369.2 calculated damage per second against infantry; that figure does not establish damage against a vehicle carrying this module. Final combat depends on target type and protection rules.

Compare damage per shot, weapon cycle and the vehicle’s remaining protection. Trading hit points for armour does not by itself prove that heavy guns always win or massed light fire always loses. The Empire Dreadnought records 125 calculated damage per second against vehicles; the Mutant Spitting turret records 105.4. These are weapon comparisons, not measured results against Special steel. Considering both defensive fields is our interpretation of the recorded trade.