[Icelander]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Poking at this some more:

I wanted to link in a nice HTML table of the material cost and weight per point of DR by armor type, but the HTML isn't working. So linking here:
http://westmarchsaga.wikia.com/wiki/GURPS_CEAD

The key take-away is that for up to DR 11, polymer composite scale is 60% lighter than steel plate but only 10% more expensive: 0.24 lbs and $7.7 per DR per sqft, versus 0.4 lbs and $7 per DR per sqft.

I see. But very bulky, no?

This would be how thick?

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

So if you don't mind going for more of a Japanese samurai aesthetic than European knight, you can make your own armor out of resin-bonded kevlar scales.

Vargas was stationed in Korea in the late 70s, I seem to recall. Got into 'Korean Karate' there. Can't recall if he ever served on Okinawa.

He is the type who'd be into the more violent kind of samurai movies, though, so that's all right.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Mythbusters showed this is tedious but not hugely difficult*: buy sheets of resin-bonded kevlar, cut them into scales, drill holes into them, string them together with kevlar yarn. Assuming you can cut through 1/2" sheets of resin-bonded kevlar with a band saw (I think this is a safe assumption; we cut through steel pipe with a band saw in high school 20 years ago), this entire operation can be done with a high school machine shop.

How interesting. So basically, female workers from a clothing factory should be able to learn to do most of the tedious work?

With someone who has Machinist to handle the drilling?

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Anyway, a DR 5 poly composite scale suit is roughly 26 lbs, $830. Plenty of cash and weight left over for a kevlar undersuit, which could be as simple as the best commercial vest you can buy and some home made leggings and sleeves.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

As far as working thick sheets of kevlar goes, I don't think it requires radically specialized equipment. Powerful sheers and a sewing machine with a long needle and a lot of torque driving it through the fabric should do the job. There are a lot of companies that make kevlar vests, after all, and I don't think that they're buying crazy exotic equipment that only the US DoD sells. Find one that's going out of business and buy up their gear.

I suppose that would work, though it's not like Vargas and his men are particularly good at Computer Operation, Diplomacy, Finance, Market Analysis, Merchant or Research. They can basically defeat almost any likely opposition among the cartels* and Vargas could personally kill any rival drug lord, his bodyguard, his family and any pets, assuming he could find him.

The reason Vargas and his men are still comparatively small time, despite their very scary capabilities for organised violence, is that they are not very good at the business aspect of the drug business. They were enforcers for the rest of the Caballero templarios cartel while they were at their height and although they may have survived the fall of their parent organisation, most of those who followed Vargas were rather more competent at the violent side of the business than actually, you know, being able to discover a good deal and arrange for a mutually acceptable exchange.

I suppose that if Vargas was lucky, one of his many temporary mistresses was unusually competent, decisive and knowledgable, and that she handled the acquisition of specialised sewing equipment for kevlar.

What should the default between Sewing and Armoury (Body Armour; Optional Specialisation: Fabric) be?

*Vargas is a former 20-year veteran of US Army Special Forces, with adequate Administration to run a military unit upward of a company, good Intelligence Analysis, surprisingly good Leadership, excellent Tactics (Guerilla) and even high Teaching skill, despite his Callous Disadvantage. He has recruited from special operations, special response and commando units in Central and South America, where he had many contacts from his days with 7th SFG (A) in the 80s and 90s, ever since he got into the drug business. Those of his men who have been with him long are trained to a significantly higher standard than most of the local military, themselves usually significantly more professional than the average cartel gunman.