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Old 06-03-2017, 02:53 AM   #3
Mailanka
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Default Re: [UT] Layering Light/Diaphanous Body Armor

Here's what I've been doing, and it's working nicely enough so far. There are assorted "armor design" articles in Pyramid that include "maximum DR" values, which represent the maximum practical amount of armor. If you have half that value for flexible armor, it counts as "clothing," which means you can have up to twice that DR without causing any sort of problem. Ergo, it seems reasonable that you can wear two layers of such DR without a problem. If you wore two layers of maximum DR, though, that exceeds the normal maximum and at that point, I would argue for layering penalties.

This seems to fit how composite armor layers work, such as a vest with ballistic inserts. The vest is typically half maximum DR, and the inserts tend to be less than what a full hardsuit would offer as well, and nobody minds that you insert ("layer") one set of DR atop the other, but that's because of the thickness.

This also neatly explains what happens if you make "super-heavy" armor that exceeds the maximum DR: you get layering penalties, or -1 DX from dealing with overly thick armor.
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