If you see numbers overlaid on BAR units during a fight and are not sure what they mean, here is the breakdown.
Tags: bar, beyond all reason, ui, health display, damage numbers, hud, widgets
Every unit in BAR shows a health bar above its model. The bar is typically split into two color zones. White or bright numbers represent current health remaining. Red numbers show the armor rating of that unit. Armor reduces incoming damage from certain weapon types before it reaches the unit's actual health pool.
If you are seeing an additional number sitting between the red armor value and the white health value, that is almost certainly the unit's metal or energy cost displayed by a widget, or a shield value for shield-generating units.
Shields in BAR have their own health pool that regenerates over time. Shield-equipped units display the shield value separately from the base hull health. A fully upgraded shield factory can make units surprisingly tanky because the shield absorbs damage before the armor and hull health take any hits.
Shield numbers appear in their own color so you can tell at a glance whether an enemy's protection layer is still active or has dropped.
BAR ships with a widget system that controls on-screen overlays. If the number display looks cluttered or confusing, you can adjust what gets shown:
New players often benefit from showing armor values so they learn which weapons are effective against specific targets. Once you develop the intuition, you can hide most of it and rely on the bar colors alone.
Armor type determines which weapons deal effective damage. Heavy units carry substantial armor that makes small-caliber guns practically useless against them. A raider platoon shooting at a heavy tank will bounce most of its damage off the armor layer.
Seeing armor numbers in real time helps you decide whether to focus fire a target or switch to something your army can actually penetrate. This is especially important during micro-intensive fights where wasting a few seconds on the wrong target costs the engagement.
Some widgets also show the metal and energy cost of units overlayed on the model itself. This is a training-oriented display that helps you internalize build priorities and understand what each engagement costs both players.
If you are working on improving your economy management, leaving cost display on for a while is genuinely useful. Once the price-per-unit is second nature, most players turn it off to clean up the screen.
Check your widget panel if the display looks wrong or shows information you do not want.
Understanding your UI is part of building solid fundamentals for team play. Communities like Creed of Champions focus on helping players develop those fundamentals without the blame games that make RTS communities frustrating. One member put it well:
[Crd] Before discovering Creed, I was thinking the only thing that separates BAR from the perfect RTS is a friendly and safe social environment for new players to learn and feel included.
If that sounds like the kind of place you want to play, check out Creed of Champions. Training sessions, team gameplay, and actual coaching from experienced players.