well, the mechs that are on your side, their defense adjusts just as yours does for each difficulty, for instance easy is a cakewalk, as easy should be in all games, but realistic is like playing multiplayer, you hit them for the same damage as they hit you, for instance, certain bullets do 5 damage each time they hit, in easy, it may hit you for 0.1 damage, but in realistic it does 5 damage, but at the same time, the entire time you are doing 5 damage per bullet, so your attack isn't altered in difficulties, but your defense as well as your allies defense is too