Some analysis of the proposal for mesons having a chance to bypass armour:
If the block chance is inversely proportional to the failure rate, the bypass chance, number of layers for a 50% penetration chance, and number of layers for a 1% penetration chance, are as follows:
P(block) = 5/C or P(bypass) = 1-5/C
10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80
50. 00% 58. 33% 66. 67% 75. 00% 80. 00% 83. 33% 85. 71% 87. 50% 90. 00% 91. 67% 92. 86% 93. 75%
1 1. 285995697 1. 709511291 2. 40942084 3. 10628372 3. 801784017 4. 496556106 5. 19089307 6. 578813479 7. 966167236 9. 353206685 10. 74005367
6. 64385619 8. 543970471 11. 35774717 16. 00784556 20. 63770232 25. 25850627 29. 87447211 34. 48754705 43. 70869065 52. 9260695 62. 14136013 71. 35537203
P(block) = 4/C or P(bypass) = 1-4/C
10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80
60. 00% 66. 67% 73. 33% 80. 00% 84. 00% 86. 67% 88. 57% 90. 00% 92. 00% 93. 33% 94. 29% 95. 00%
1. 356915449 1. 709511291 2. 234841743 3. 10628372 3. 97553034 4. 843767255 5. 711455882 6. 578813479 8. 312950414 10. 04664925 11. 78010351 13. 51340733
9. 015151104 11. 35774717 14. 84796715 20. 63770232 26. 41285186 32. 18129306 37. 94609151 43. 70869065 55. 23004706 66. 7484928 78. 26531359 89. 78113496
P(block) = 3/C or P(bypass) = 1-3/C
10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80
70. 00% 75. 00% 80. 00% 85. 00% 88. 00% 90. 00% 91. 43% 92. 50% 94. 00% 95. 00% 95. 71% 96. 25%
1. 94335821 2. 40942084 3. 10628372 4. 265024282 5. 42227098 6. 578813479 7. 734968008 8. 890886038 11. 20230558 13. 51340733 15. 82433056 18. 13514353
12. 91139247 16. 00784556 20. 63770232 28. 33620797 36. 02478861 43. 70869065 51. 39001508 59. 06976824 74. 42650729 89. 78113496 105. 1345766 120. 4872856
P(block) = 2/C or P(bypass) = 1-2/C
10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80
80. 00% 83. 33% 86. 67% 90. 00% 92. 00% 93. 33% 94. 29% 95. 00% 96. 00% 96. 67% 97. 14% 97. 50%
3. 10628372 3. 801784017 4. 843767255 6. 578813479 8. 312950414 10. 04664925 11. 78010351 13. 51340733 16. 97974802 20. 44588363 23. 91190337 27. 37785123
20. 63770232 25. 25850627 32. 18129306 43. 70869065 55. 23004706 66. 7484928 78. 26531359 89. 78113496 112. 811004 135. 8395105 158. 8672472 181. 8945064
P(block) = 1/C or P(bypass) = 1-1/C
10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40 50 60 70 80
90. 00% 91. 67% 93. 33% 95. 00% 96. 00% 96. 67% 97. 14% 97. 50% 98. 00% 98. 33% 98. 57% 98. 75%
6. 578813479 7. 966167236 10. 04664925 13. 51340733 16. 97974802 20. 44588363 23. 91190337 27. 37785123 34. 30961849 41. 24128643 48. 17289793 55. 10447428
43. 70869065 52. 9260695 66. 7484928 89. 78113496 112. 811004 135. 8395105 158. 8672472 181. 8945064 227. 9481712 274. 0011761 320. 0538061 366. 1062025
If the new tech line affected the numerator in that, with the calibre remaining as the divisor, then we solve all of our current issues: Fighter and FAC-based mesons can no longer penetrate capital ships (with the 10cm mesons most commonly used on fighters being able to penetrate between 1 and 6. 5 layers of armour on average, depending on technology), larger mesons are not nerfed into the ground (even at the somewhat apocalyptic 5/C block rate, an 80cm meson can penetrate 10. 7 layers on average), and mesons now need to research more than just the starting levels of their tech tree (as now calibre will be more important, and the new tech line will be important).
Obviously, this is not to suggest that the block rate should necessarily start at 5/C (a 50% bypass chance at the start is somewhat harsh) or that it should increase in increments of 1/C (this leads to huge increases in the average penetration level at the end).