TL 5 or 6 materials

[Refplace]

Where are the rules and info on making TL 3/4 weapons and armor out of higher TL materials? I just read through my Low Tech volumes and did not find what I was looking for.
My dwarves use mostly regular materials but magic upgrades the material quality so I'm looking for some simple rules for that idea.

[scc]

The information your after is in Pyramid. The original Low-Tech armor design rules are in #52 and expansions to those rules are available in later issues, I just can't think of them off the top of my head.

[johndallman]

RogerBW's index thread has what you need. The relevant Pyramid seems to be #3/85, "Cutting Edge".

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Where are the rules and info on making TL 3/4 weapons and armor out of higher TL materials?

B274 -- at TL 7+, you can get Fine weapons for the cost of standard weapons, and Very Fine for the cost of Fine. TL really doesn't matter that much for muscle powered weapons.

[DanHoward]

In practical terms all that will happen is that the blade will hold an edge for longer and it is less likely to break (and it will be cheaper to make).

[ravenfish]

Gurps:High Tech on page 65 suggests either doubling DR or halving weight and cost when making low-tech armor out of TL5+ steel (or a factor of three improvement for making them out of TL8+ titanium alloy). It should be noted that this rule was written before Low Tech revised the weights of metal armor, so whether it still passes a plausibility check (if it ever did) is something those with more knowledge than me will have to determine.

For weapons, Basic Set p.274 notes that TL7+ materials and technology result in weapons being automatically of Fine quality (i.e., harder to break and gaining +1 damage if cutting or impaling) at no extra cost [this is presumably the "hold an edge better and break less easily" that DanHoward mentions above].

[Refplace]

Thank you all! That was needed,I forgot I had High Tech in PDF (it uses a different file name convention so shows up out of order)

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Gurps:High Tech on page 65 suggests either doubling DR or halving weight and cost when making low-tech armor out of TL5+ steel (or a factor of three improvement for making them out of TL8+ titanium alloy). It should be noted that this rule was written before Low Tech revised the weights of metal armor, so whether it still passes a plausibility check (if it ever did) is something those with more knowledge than me will have to determine.

It is only applicable to the stats in Basic Set, not Low-Tech.

[RyanW]

How much difference was there between TL4 and TL6 steel? Of course, specialty alloys - like stainless - appeared along the way, and it seems nickel steel was a significant breakthrough. But the bulk of the data I can find suggests the advancements tended to be more in the area of production capacity than in the nature of the steel itself.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by RyanW

How much difference was there between TL4 and TL6 steel? Of course, specialty alloys - like stainless - appeared along the way, and it seems nickel steel was a significant breakthrough. But the bulk of the data I can find suggests the advancements tended to be more in the area of production capacity than in the nature of the steel itself.

TL4 is iron, with some adjustment of carbon levels and hardening of surfaces. TL6 is specialised steels with nickel, chromium, and other trace metals, precise adjustment of carbon levels, and very sophisticated face hardening and tempering.

It might not make a lot of difference in high-end body armour, but TL6 mass-produced armour will be nearly as good as the high-end pieces in terms of protection (the difference being in comfort and fit). When it comes to heavy armour, the difference is huge. Each step from iron, to steel, to Harveyised steel, to Krupp Cemented Armour (and its equivalents) resulted in a 50-500% increase in protection for a given thickness (and thus weight).