So I'm running my group through Queen Euphoria, and in advance of them having to fight some bugs, I decided to reacquaint with MiTS. (Yes, this is 3rd ed) Anyways, I look at the stat blocks for the bugs, and notice the stats under Body are... weird. As an example, the body for an ant soldier spirit is listed as F+1/F. I know that means Force+1/Force, but what exactly does that mean? Do bugs have extra armour beyond what they get for materializing? Or is it a change between flesh form and true form? If so, why don't they do that for the other physical stats, like strength and quickness?

All help, as usual, is most appreciated.

I believe it means they have armour equal to whatever the number is after the slash. Bugs were always weird in that they didn't follow "standard" spirit rules.

So, they just have 'armour' equal to their force, instead of twice their force, correct?

Also, a user called 'Mantis' answers a question re: bugs? Totally not a coincidence.

We are watching. <insert creepy chittering bug noises here>

Don't make me break out the Raid, you.

Oh he's quite docile... Might have something to do with that Ares indoctrination we put him through... Uhm, purely for study of course.

"Bug-Be-Gone, F&$K Yeah!"

And yes, bugs didn't get the mega-armour, mainly because (IMHO) balance, as facing a swarm of 50+ force 6 workers in the first instance was pretty standard, at least in a few of the really nasty bug runs I remember.

When the Force 10 warriors come out to play, I doubt that the Authors were that malicious for you to need 20+ damage in a single shot to "crack the shell", as it were. Otherwise you'd see the Firewatch teams replaced by missile-toting mecha....

Ohhhh.....!! Me likey!


-Tir

God, it has legs - weapon foci-toting warrior-adepts (yes, ok, some as schoolgirls with secret identities and misaligned love-interests, sigh) backed up by expensive missile-toting walking panzers that use oversized waldo grips to CRUSH, KILL, DESTROY (For those that have forgotten, read up on the fun when you attach a gripping arm to a high-body machine) battling a faceless enemy fronted by horrors spawned from an unknown evil!

She was a smartass super-engineer, wielding a mysterious armoured combat mech left to her by her slain parents, he is the androgynous scion of a magical legacy that requires him to cross-dress as girl to unleash his ultimate attack, together they fight crime!

SUPER-ANTI-APOCALYPSE-SQUADRON, ARISE!

Samus Aran!
Oh wait, Im seeing what I want to see again...

Is this before, or after her 'Other M' wussification?

She's actually more dignified with the japanese voice, but that game is not a Metroid game. and I'm not just saying that because cringe worthy story and unskippable cut scenes and annoying find the pixel mini games... No, Metroid is about exploration and discovery... You can't have that in linear corridors that close off the path behind you.
Samus background story was originally touched upon in a manga issue (that's available for free online, just google metroid manga) later reiterated in zero mission and furthered in fusion.
Drek, Im still upset about that...

A bit late ... however: Not correct. True form insect spirits have the stanard immunity (F*2 against normal weapons, F against magic and elemental attacks, if power doesn't exceed F no damage occurs) plus armor according to the value behind that slash (ranging between F-2 and F*2). So you better don't want to mess with a force 6 male beetle, because any attack with power below 12 (6 in case of magical or elemental attacks) will simply do nothing and attacks up to a power of 27 will not cause it to resists against anything higher than TN 2 ...