Trouble with Armor and Worldbuilding

Varyon · 01-02-2017, 06:42 PM

Finding advanced armor in ancient ruins is hardly difficult to justify - they're from an advanced, fallen civilization. Heck, we only just recently figured out how to actually make Damascus steel again, and that stuff was TL 2 (Fantasy Tech calls it azalum and has it as TL 2^, but that's because it makes it cinematically awesome).

For the rest, we've got the problem that you want Plate, Brigandine, and Transitional Armor to all exist side by side. Well... that's really not too big of a problem. From what I understand, Transitional Armor is mostly just Plate that is restricted to smaller pieces (and note Instant Armor has plenty of Plate that is available in iron/steel at TL 2-3). Proper Plate requires more than (traditionally closely-guarded) knowledge - it also requires the skill, resources, and tools for creating much larger plates than is typically done. As such are in short supply, most soldiers have to make due with the inferior Transitional Armor, which also has the advantage of costing less than proper plate. Another option would be to say that armorers can't typically manage proper Plate thicker than DR 4, so if you want greater protection you need to go with Transitional Armor. An alternative method is to state that proper Plate cannot be made with iron/steel with the setting's technology, so all such armor has to be made from bronze, which of course is incredibly expensive.

The issue is having Transitional Armor and Brigandine exist side-by-side - while some of Transitional Armor is really just Plate in certain locations, some of it is instead either Segmented Plate or a Coat of Plates, both of which are inferior to Brigandine. Now, unless I'm mistaken, strapping the metal plates inside of the garment rather than outside leaves the armorer with much less room for error on getting the measurements right, at least to get things to fit together well enough for Brigandine's weight reduction. While that doesn't necessarily require great amounts of resources, it does require a degree of skill that might be rather hard to come by, which would justify its rarity and higher cost. If desired, instead of making Brigandine x2 to price for being +1 TL, consider instead making it +50%. So, for Torso armor (and possibly upper arm/leg armor) and DR 3, you can go with Transitional (Segmented, $600, 12* lb), Brigandine ($1350**, 10 lb), or Plate ($2000, 8 lb), which gives you a decent spread that justifies a variety of armor being encountered on the battlefield.

*See here. Note Dan Howard's the guy who wrote the armor part of Low Tech, so you can probably consider that post to have some authority.

**Personally, I'd likely round down to $1200 (+33%) or up to $1500 (+67%). Of course, as $1300 is literally right between the cost for Segmented and Plate, using that might be an option as well.

01-02-2017, 06:42 PM	#11
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: Trouble with Armor and Worldbuilding Finding advanced armor in ancient ruins is hardly difficult to justify - they're from an advanced, fallen civilization. Heck, we only just recently figured out how to actually make Damascus steel again, and that stuff was TL 2 (Fantasy Tech calls it azalum and has it as TL 2^, but that's because it makes it cinematically awesome). For the rest, we've got the problem that you want Plate, Brigandine, and Transitional Armor to all exist side by side. Well... that's really not too big of a problem. From what I understand, Transitional Armor is mostly just Plate that is restricted to smaller pieces (and note Instant Armor has plenty of Plate that is available in iron/steel at TL 2-3). Proper Plate requires more than (traditionally closely-guarded) knowledge - it also requires the skill, resources, and tools for creating much larger plates than is typically done. As such are in short supply, most soldiers have to make due with the inferior Transitional Armor, which also has the advantage of costing less than proper plate. Another option would be to say that armorers can't typically manage proper Plate thicker than DR 4, so if you want greater protection you need to go with Transitional Armor. An alternative method is to state that proper Plate cannot be made with iron/steel with the setting's technology, so all such armor has to be made from bronze, which of course is incredibly expensive. The issue is having Transitional Armor and Brigandine exist side-by-side - while some of Transitional Armor is really just Plate in certain locations, some of it is instead either Segmented Plate or a Coat of Plates, both of which are inferior to Brigandine. Now, unless I'm mistaken, strapping the metal plates inside of the garment rather than outside leaves the armorer with much less room for error on getting the measurements right, at least to get things to fit together well enough for Brigandine's weight reduction. While that doesn't necessarily require great amounts of resources, it does require a degree of skill that might be rather hard to come by, which would justify its rarity and higher cost. If desired, instead of making Brigandine x2 to price for being +1 TL, consider instead making it +50%. So, for Torso armor (and possibly upper arm/leg armor) and DR 3, you can go with Transitional (Segmented, $600, 12* lb), Brigandine ($1350*, 10 lb), or Plate ($2000, 8 lb), which gives you a decent spread that justifies a variety of armor being encountered on the battlefield. See here. Note Dan Howard's the guy who wrote the armor part of Low Tech, so you can probably consider that post to have some authority. **Personally, I'd likely round down to $1200 (+33%) or up to $1500 (+67%). Of course, as $1300 is literally right between the cost for Segmented and Plate, using that might be an option as well.