*sigh* I'm sure I know what the authors meant to say when they wrote the rules for Pierce, but they didn't actually say it, and while sometimes when you read a person's writing or listen to them talk what you really have to do is read/listen to what they're thinking, that can get kinda tricky in a TT RPG.

Breach is simple enough. Every point a weapon has of it bypasses 1 point of target's armor and 10 points of target's soak. I use the word bypass because it doesn't remove those points, it just ignores them. Am I good so far? Okay.

Now, along comes Pierce, and while I think it says that weapons with Pierce bypass Soak on a 1 for 1 basis, I am now in doubt as to whether or not that includes Armor. I'm sure it does. It must, right? But the writers didn't say so, whereas for Breech they did. I get that part of the reason for that is that vehicles don't have Soak, and fleshy-bots don't have Armor Ratings...but someone please re-assure my nervous lizard brain that I haven't been reading the rules wrong for all this time?

I offer cookies in return and love.

Your assessment of Breach is correct.

However, Pierce only ignores Soak, not Armor. Strictly speaking, I suppose, it ignores one tenth of Armor -- you yourself point out that 10 points of Soak make up 1 point of Armor. Vehicle scale for everything is always 10 times the personal scale, including hull trauma over wound threshold. Conversely, a Breach 1 weapon (such as a lightsaber) ignores 10 points of Soak.

So I guess if one player managed a helluva lucky roll and did 9 points of personal scale damage to a vehicle and the next player hit it with a Pierce 1 weapon, I would allow them to collaboratively do 1 point of hull trauma. Maybe. Depends on how I'm feeling.

I should be more clear, what I'm talking about Pierce ignoring is personal body armor, not vehicular armor.

Breach is simple enough. Every point a weapon has of it bypasses 1 point of target's armor and 10 points of target's soak. I use the word bypass because it doesn't remove those points, it just ignores them. Am I good so far? Okay.

Yup, you're good here.

Now, along comes Pierce, and while I think it says that weapons with Pierce bypass Soak on a 1 for 1 basis, I am now in doubt as to whether or not that includes Armor. I'm sure it does. It must, right? But the writers didn't say so, whereas for Breech they did. I get that part of the reason for that is that vehicles don't have Soak, and fleshy-bots don't have Armor Ratings...but someone please re-assure my nervous lizard brain that I haven't been reading the rules wrong for all this time?

And

I should be more clear, what I'm talking about Pierce ignoring is personal body armor, not vehicular armor.

Pierce works against Soak regardless of its source, so it works just as much against the benefits provided by personal armor as that from Brawn rating or that one talent (I can't remember if it's Durable or Enduring that increases Soak). If one could somehow get their Pierce rating up to 10, that would be the equivalent of Breach 1; just as Breach 1 is the effectively of Pierce 10.

If it'll make you feel better, reread the Pierce entry on pg 157. "If a weapon has more ranks in pierce then the targets total soak it completely ignores the targets soak."

If the target total soak can be ignored by enough ranks of pierce, that means pierce works on all forms of Soak. Soak applied by armor, clothing, cybernetics, talents, nightsister magic, unicorn kisses, ect...

Technically, while Breach specifically says that it also ignores 10 points of soak, Pierce does NOT say that it ignores 1/10 point of armor, or that Pierce 10 is the same as Breach 1. So... technically... Pierce only works on soak, not armor, while Breach works on both.

Technically, while Breach specifically says that it also ignores 10 points of soak, Pierce does NOT say that it ignores 1/10 point of armor, or that Pierce 10 is the same as Breach 1. So... technically... Pierce only works on soak, not armor, while Breach works on both.

You and your **** logic, I swear.

Armor is the vehicle equivalent of soak. Any uses of the word armor are only applicable when dealing with vehicles. Characters can wear armor, but mechanically it does not give them armor, it gives them soak.

Also, while breach and pierce do ignore armor or soak (respectively), effectively they reduce the target's armor/soak by their breach/pierce rating. A 6 damage, pierce 1, shot on a character with 7 soak is still soaked completely. The pierce 1 reduces the soak from 7 to 6, however 6 is still enough to soak all the damage.

Beach - Ignores 1 point of vehicle armor per rating, which is also 10 points of soak personal scale.

Pierce - Ignores 1 point of soak per rating, no stated effect on vehicle armor.

If it'll make you feel better, reread the Pierce entry on pg 157. "If a weapon has more ranks in pierce then the targets total soak it completely ignores the targets soak."

If the target total soak can be ignored by enough ranks of pierce, that means pierce works on all forms of Soak. Soak applied by armor, clothing, cybernetics, talents, nightsister magic, unicorn kisses, ect...

But my unicorn kisses are made of rainbows and give me +5 soak!

As a GM I would ignore any pierce when figuring damage to a vehicle with any armor, as a player I would beg for it to count. I always try to fall on the players side of things, so my completely unofficial and unsponsored ruling would be that I would subtract pierce from the 10x soak value from armor, then apply damage and see if they do anything at all. Remember that vehicles also have 10x their HT in WT, so it`s not exactly game breaking.

I haven't seen any possible way of acquiring 10 Pierce as "Pierce" on anything... so... look just keep it simple.