02-03-2023, 05:59 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
Indeed, weaving in the modern era is likely to be a far smaller percentage of the price than it was historically, but there's also likely to be some kind of conversion factor based on how much by mass of that silkworm cocoon converts to silk cloth and how much is wasted (oh, and the mass/area conversion may be different). Presumably historical prices will be for woven cloth and not yarn. Be prepared for apparently arbitrary historical units of measurement that made sense at the time.
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02-03-2023, 06:18 AM | #22 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
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Was the utility consideration applied to other prices? Weapons? Tools? Adventure gear? Is there a formula readers could use to unpack the utility factor to derive a more historical price? Quote:
Last edited by Donny Brook; 02-03-2023 at 06:24 AM. |
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02-03-2023, 08:27 AM | #23 | |
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
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If the caparison is Expertly Tailored, then the cost is 50*5*25 = $6250 and the weight is 6*5*0.85 = 25.5 lbs. (rounded to 10.2 kg). DR is 1* (2* vs. cutting and impaling). Useless against firearms, but quite good against swords and light arrows. Last edited by Rasna; 02-03-2023 at 12:02 PM. |
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02-03-2023, 11:43 AM | #24 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
I had a little bit of cross-time arbitrage in Infinite Cabal. A full bolt of grey silk (100 yards by 60") was not cheap in 1960s Rome, but in Rome of 258, used as a tool for influencing Senator's wives, it made a huge difference.
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
02-03-2023, 11:48 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
Well, there's a ridiculous number of things that are routinely available in a modern society that would be hugely expensive in an ancient society, the trick is which ones you can move around without it being too obvious that something weird is afoot. Pepper is another good option.
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02-03-2023, 03:08 PM | #26 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
Stross's Merchant Princes books might be of interest in regards to trying to keep out-time smuggling operations off the modern international radar.
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02-03-2023, 08:50 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: UK
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
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You seem to be one of our armour enthusiasts though so you possibly know more about this than I do :-D (Also, this is just a guess, but mail armour looks as if it would be a lot easier to repair than plate, so there might have been more of it in circulation at any given time). The Romans, of course, do seem to have used plate of sorts rather than mail, so apparently they did have the infrastructure to make it cost-effectively. Seems like a prime example of what was said earlier about relative prices varying wildly depending where and when.
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Looking for online text-based game at a UK-feasible time, anything considered, Roll20 preferred. http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=168443 Last edited by Inky; 02-03-2023 at 08:53 PM. |
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02-03-2023, 09:53 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
Well, the main historical reason is that for most of TL 2 and 3 large iron or steel plates simply weren't available and mail compares well to the various armors that are made of small plates linked together. Once large plates were available the point of mail became "I want flexible or concealable armor".
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02-03-2023, 11:02 PM | #29 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
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(Anyhow, genuine Silk Road Venetian monopoly silk shirts have more a Banana Republic or J. Peterman vibe and they're (mostly) out of business.) |
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02-03-2023, 11:22 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Low-Tech]Question about silk horse armor
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Beating lumps of bloom iron into iron plates to get the slag inclusions out requires much bigger chunk of metals to start with and much more human and thermal energy. |
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Tags |
low-tech, silk road |
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