ok... i feel like a dunce, but i can't find the rules for different aromr types.
normal B/I i understand. What changes when it is hardened, vehicle, or N type?

Hardened means that if the Power of an attack would be reduced to 0 or below, the attack does no damage. Vehicle armor is hardened armor. Naval armor is at the naval damage scale.

~J

so if my powre 5 hits a hardened 6. it just bounces off.
but if my power 9 hits hardened 6? soke 3 as normal

Normal:

Power 5 against arm 5(or more): Soak TN 2
Power 6 against arm 3: Soak TN 3

Hardened:

Power 5 against arm 5(or more): Nada, zero, zilch.
Power 6 against arm 3: Soak TN 3(just like normal)

Also:

Weapon of power 6, three round burst for total power 9.

Armor 7: Soak damage at TN 2.
Hardened Armor 7: Does nothing.

Hardened armor means that if the power of the attack (before modifying for automatic fire) isn't more than the armor, it bounces off like a hail of machine gun fire bouncing harmlessly off the side of a tank.

Armor-piercing ammunition (APDS and AV) halves armor, be it worn by humans, mounted on vehicles or created by the Armor spell.

Vehicle armor is hardened. Also, the power of a weapon is halved and the damage level is reduced by one against vehicles. (Whether they have armor or not.) Anti-Vehicle (AV) ammo and weapons aren't reduced in that manner.

Naval damage codes and armor were introduced in Rigger 3. They're... big. It's a whole other scale designed for battleships, and it's way outside the purview of most Shadowrun games. Light Naval does 15 boxes of damage and double power against normal vehicles and people, if I recall. Moderate Naval does 21 and triple power, Serious Naval 28 and quadruple power, and Deadly Naval damage is 36 boxes and the power gets multiplied by five. So, basically, that's how you'd kill a dragon. Pretty much every weapon I've ever seen with Naval damage has no availability, meaning you can't buy it on the street. Period. So don't worry overly much about it unless you're planning a military campaign.

For reference, the lightest (mass-wise) Naval damage weapon in R3 is the Xicohtencatl, weighing in at 135 kilos and ¥135,000. It deals 6LN, and possession is punishable by a ¥10,000 fine and six months in prison. Use gets you eight years hard time.

~J

So, that'd be 12 Deadly + 5 boxes Overflow against normal people, if I'm remembering correctly. And it's anti-vehiclular, so your armor is halved. But hey, 10 successes on the damage resistance test would let you soak that, so it's not entirely hopeless. (Two successes stages LN down to D. Just think of Naval damage as the fifth through eighth damage levels.)

And with a Street Index and Availability of "-", it's impossible for a PC to obtain except by GM fiat. They're not sold on the street. Ever. Battleship cannon tend to not "fall off the back of the truck" since the military probably makes them in-house.

Actually, there is a smaller Naval weapon: some of the Mortar/Howitzer shells in SOTA '63. A Heavy Mortar can be purchased, at 10,000 times 3 Street Index and Availability 15. The ICM (Improved Conventional Munitions) shells for it do 4LN and cost 750 each, Street Index 5, Availability 24. So I guess there is an icicle's chance in hell of a PC having a Naval weapon after all, and doing 15 boxes of damage with a power of 8. But it's a pretty slim chance.

The most powerful weapon I've ever seen actually given stats is the Vaporizer Heavy Railgun, at 15MN and 1,000,000. Battleships and Main Battle Tanks can have this. I'm assuming that a nuke, should one ever have to be given stats, would have DN damage level with a power based on the yield, but I'm hoping I won't have to find out anytime soon.