[Ulzgoroth]

Segmented plate is much less efficient for good reason. It's an enormously less efficient design than simple continuous plates. The only reasons to use it are when you cannot make the iron plates (TL3 and lower, for breastplates) or when the ability to bend is required. As noted on LT102-103, solid plate is not appropriate for the abdomen.

I'm not sure why Scale is so bad. It is slightly cheaper, but that's a pretty poor tradeoff.