A.R. & armor damage in combat: strike-vs-A.R., armor ablation, the M.D.C. scope decision

[StreamDemon]

Companion to the equipment issue and an extension of #16 (strike constants + attack resolver). Once armor is a modeled layer, combat needs the printed rules for when it absorbs. Sequencing: equipment issue first (items must exist), then this lands with or immediately after #16. All rates/pages verified by rendering at implementation (printed page = PDF page − 3).

The printed rules to encode (verify exact wording at impl)

• A.R. — Armor Rating (RUE combat chapter): for S.D.C. body armor, a strike roll above the A.R. hits the wearer's body; at-or-under (but still a hit) strikes the armor, whose S.D.C. pool ablates. Natural A.R. (creatures/robots per book) differs: rolls at-or-under the A.R. simply fail to penetrate. Encode both semantics, page-stamped.
• Armor destruction: armor S.D.C. reaching 0 = armor wrecked, subsequent damage flows to the body (pool-order extension of applyDamage's S.D.C.-before-H.P. chain from feat: living vitals — current vs. max, P.P.E. spend on cast, damage tracking #40).
• M.D.C. scope decision (make it here): M.D.C. armor and mega-damage weapons are everywhere on Rifts Earth (1 M.D. = 100 S.D.C., RUE). Either model M.D.C. pools properly (M.D. weapons vs M.D.C. armor, S.D.C. weapons can't scratch it) or keep the app S.D.C.-tier explicitly and mark M.D.C. items display-only. Every prior issue has deferred this — this is where it stops being deferrable.

Engine

• Attack resolution consumes the Hand-to-Hand: Expert / Martial Arts / Assassin / Commando #15 H2H bonus keys still unwired (initiative, autoDodge, saveVsHorrorFactor, strikeThrown, strikeGuns) — Combat resolution: strike constants + attack resolver #16's standing debt.
• Pure resolveStrike(attacker, defender, weapon) shape: strike roll vs parry/dodge, nat-20/nat-1-4 constants (read on printed p.346, never modeled), A.R. gate, damage routed armor-first per the rules above.

Backend/Web

• Damage application goes fully server-derived for resolved attacks (the resolver names the pools; today's applyDamage amount + GM toArmor flag stays as the manual path).
• Sheet/VTT groundwork: strike/parry/dodge buttons already exist — they gain real resolution against a target once /table/:id arrives.

Out of scope

Called shots, paired weapons, burst/payload rules, W.P. proficiency progressions (own issue when weapons tie into skills), vehicle/robot combat.