Armor damage is really simple to apply. I don't know it off the top of my head, but a little research should turn it up in this forum. Basically without it certain ships (like raider fighters, for example) couldn't even damage a Starfury in one on one combat. Even with a crit, it'd be impossible. Even as a wing, even getting the first shot, even assuming all of them fire, hit, and stay in the wing, it's tough unless there's something like 5 or 6 raider fighters to 1 Starfury. And that's ONLY in a wing. in a dogfight, a Starfury could easily solo any number of raiders, so long as they don't have a chance to form a wing. Now, granted, Starfuries are way past raider ships in tech, but that's still kind of broken.
Armor damage allows for degradation of armor during combat, meaning that even small ships with low offense still can do a little damage now and then, if given time. (Using the raider vs. Starfury example...the Fury's going to win every time. Even one shot tends to blow a single chip fighter out of the black. But a group of raider fighters have a chance against a Starfury if there's armor damage. The first few might get blasted, but soon the armor is all gone and the Starfury is vulnerable to the last few in the formation, as opposed to the way the rules worked before.)
Note: this is using the basic V1 design. The V2 hase a bit better chance, and things are a bit more even.
