Plasma and bullet damage

[CaptainPoopface]

In terms of numbers, how do the general damage types plasma slow, plasma fast, bullet slow and bullet fast affect the amount of damage done to shields and health? Does plasma fast mean a jpt does 1.3 times its listed jpt value on shields, or .8 x that value against health if shields are down? Is there a greater probability that bullet slow will do its maximum damage on an unshielded player, and greater probability it will do its minimum damage against shields? I would like to see numerical answers but it's a painstaking test without rth.
I have always liked how the game distinguishes between health and shields and bullets and plasma projectiles. I would like to understand the relationship better.

[CaptainPoopface]

I finally found the damage table in the matg. It lists the multipliers for each damage string against each type of material string. Here are the ones relevant to the chief and elite:
jpt string health shields
all 1 1
emp 1 500
melee 1 1
sniper 1 2
cutting 1 1
burning 0.25 2
collision 1 1
no_damage 0 0
anti_flood 1 1
kill_flood 1 1
bullet_slow 1 1
plasma_slow 0.35 1.5
bullet_fast 1 1
plasma_fast 1 1
bullet_vehicle 1 1
plasma_vehicle 1 1
sentinel_melee 1 1
explosion_small 1 0.5
explosion_large 1 0.5
explosion_attached 1 0.5

So the bullets don't have any differential effect between health and shields. Plasma_slow (for plasma pistol and rifle) does 50% more damage against shields, and 65% less damage against health. I didn't know "sniper" did double damage against shields, or that explosions do half damage against shields. Combined with the random range that a jpt can do (eg., between 10 and 20), the different levels of health and shields on the biped, and these damage multipliers, it seems like quite a complicated system to keep track of. I don't think Bungie used it to its full potential, probably because it would have taken too long to balance. But it helps with modding ideas!

Note that a jpt has a generic damage string and a specific damage string. I suspect the specific damage string overrides the multiplier for the generic one when that material type is encountered (for example, shotgun bullet jpt has anti_flood specific damage, whereas the generic damage is just bullet_slow).

[XZodia]

Cool stuff =)

[bumlove]

Good post, I don't know if any of the update patches over-ride these jpt values

[XZodia]

Good post, I don't know if any of the update patches over-ride these jpt values

Which is why you should always use 1.0