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Old 10-12-2015, 01:43 PM   #11
Polydamas
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
Default Re: Catastrophic failure of armor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
So if I understand things correctly, armor tends to protect very well or suffer catastrophic failure and protect very badly. If that is correct, wouldn't a good model be that DR either protects fully or (if any damage penetrates) gives DR 1 or 2 if it fails. Would that make sense?
The evidence for this seems to be mostly for bullets with their vast range of masses and energies.

Any historian or armoured fighter can give you a dozen examples of low-tech armour which partially failed against a muscle-powered attack, leaving the wearer wounded but less badly than if he had been naked. So I don't think it works well as a general rule, and I certainly have not seen any experiments which suggest it for muscle-powered weapons versus felt and cloth and raw fibres and leather and plate.
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