Front / side armor on Lightning

I did some maths and armor seems really worth it:

stock lightning
armor lightning

numbers are the number of shots required

AP magrider =
front :4 6 +2
side : 4 5 +1

AP vanguard =
front : 4 5 +1
side : 3 5 +2

Heat vanguard =
front : 5 7 +2
side : 5 7 +2

But which one? I'ld say side but i'm not sure. Thanks for advices

When considering whether to armor your Lightning or not, it's also worth considering what fits your playstyle.

If you expect to get in brawling matches with enemy MBTs and slug it out, then the armor does look useful. But unless you get starting rear hits on the enemy MBT or if it's a 1/2 HE MBT, you're unlikely to win those sorts of fights anyhow. Generally my experience is that an AP Lightning fighting head-on against one enemy MBT is unlikely to win, and even if it does you'll be dead meat for the next anything that comes along.

You also have to consider what you're giving up by taking armor and not any other of the Lightning's defensive abilities because the Lightning's defensive slot is so overpopulated:
NAR- Most useful when you expect to take lower amounts of damage infrequently. For instance, this is useful when you're fighting against infantry from range or from cover; you might catch an infantry AT rocket once in a while but they won't take you out of the fight.
Stealth- Great for sneaking up on enemy vehicles and infantry and going for those flanking attacks. Can negate auto-detect completely at max rank. Best for situations when you are in medium-close range of enemy vehicles (at longer range you don't autodetect anyhow).
Proximity Radar- Protects you against ambushing infantry. Best when you are engaging infantry at close range, or you suspect that infantry might try to charge your position.

Front is better. For ap lightninh 99% nobrainer.
Unless noob you take vast vast vast majority of hits in front.
So: front usefull in all fights by default

Just my opinion

Thx you making a wall of text without replying my question anywhere. Well done.

Personally i prefer Side Armor.

The front profile of a lightning is super low and fairly small. I find that i dont frequently take direct hits to the front, whereas your side profile is much larger and easier to strike. Especially if you are more mobile during your engagements, circling or rotating to reposition, your side is often much more exposed.

Also: I like to go "broadside" when im rolling with infantry to make my tank a useful piece of cover for my advancing infantry. Side armor is pretty nifty for this.

Yeah i was thinking like this aswell. Sides gives more coverage overall and if i'm starting to do circles around the target it's the most exposed.

I personally use stealth all the time or NAR if the fight is too big.
Being able to get sneak right up behind enemy lightnings to get the 3 hit kill rears with the AP guns make it far more useful than armour. It also makes it easier to hide from enemy's if your running away, and you aren't as visible to aircraft that are flying over doing something else.

This is just my play-style though, and everyone has their own. If you prefer slugging it out with other lightnings in a frontal duel then armour is going to tip it in your favour, but you have to remember to keep that side facing the enemy otherwise it becomes totally useless. Side armour is ok at protecting your flanks, and can be useful if you go for side shots whilst driving around your target.

I use rival+front to be a dick to other lightnings. It's hilarious to see them try all sorts of circling or w/e shenanigans just to deal pathetic damage.

When I'm rolling around in my Lightning, I have more use of my maxed Stealth, High Speed Frame and Smoke/Fire Supression then anything else really.
The lightning isn't build for sitting somewhere and slugging it out. If you want that, then you should take a locked down Prowler on long range or an up-in-your-face Vanguard.

But before I had stealth, I had side armour. The reason for this was that I used the lightning to race around enemy tanks in circles while slugging them with either my HEAT or the Skyguard (solo'ing Prowlers in a Skyguard is hilarious). The high speed circling meant that they had a hard time landing all the shots. But they will land some, and the side armour will negate a part of that before making a hasty retreat.
With a skyguard it's even more funny, because they usually ignore you rolling up to them because "what's a skyguard going to do to an MBT?". And then you open fire and they see their armour slowly melt. By the time they consider you to be the biggest threat around they'll be to late .

Remember : it's about side vs front armor thread

I'm not asking about stealth or wathever , i'm not br 10.

Thx

imo stealth is better than Side armor but I could see the merits of it if you want to do the broadside strafing thingy. Also stealth is universally applicable to almost all of your weapons that you can put on the platform, making it more economical as well.

And here I thought this is going to be a rant on the design of the lightning.

sorry should have add "question" in the thread, my bad !

I would just like to suggest using a prowler, racer 3 prowler instead you already go faster than the other tanks and are more maneuverable than vanguards and lightnings in general. More firepower, get some stealth, get a halberd get max deploy then drive behind enemy tank/sundy/anything column and voila free certs and you just saved the day. Also 120mm AP ftw

If we go like that i can solo lib aswell for better results ...

Yeah... don't get me started on the lib man, that's a whole can of worms for a different discussion. Im assuming you don't want to fly.

YOU started another discussion tbw

I'd say it depends on your playstyle.

If you prefer shelling from longer ranges and usually have your targets in front of you, then front armor is perfect for that.
1. You can hull down behind a hilltop and won't be bothered as much by occasional damage.
2. You can aggressively (suicidally?) attack a target that is facing you.

If you are closer to your targets, side armor sould be your your choice, because
1. The side is the bigger and more exposed area of the two.
2. You never know from where the enemy might attack from (hint: sides).
2.1. You have two sides protected instead of one
3. If someone shoots your rear and you can quickly turn, Side armor might give you enough health to survive or escape.
4. When you pop out of cover (like rocks or a small hill), you usually do it sideways. Sideways...

That would be my reasoning behind wether to take front or side armor. I'd choose side armor because it's more useful overall. But I won't because I run stealth

Thx for feedback.

Had to ruin that with stealth again?

I think overall, side armour is going to be the way to go, although it really will depend on your play style in the end .
I know what worked for me was actually unlocking both ( They are pretty cheap) and basically running my play style to match the armour piece I was using.
After two runs I knew right away what felt right and what didn't. I found that I ran my light and heavy tanks pretty much the same, so side armour felt perfect, while using front seemed forced and harder to run.
If I had to pick on limited intel, I'd go side. It seems a bit more useful in the long run.