[LT] Interesting study on the effects of wearing heavy armor

[Flyndaran]

This is the gurps forum guys. How about some stats? Barefoot reduces running speed by X, running shoes as a base, boots reduces it by Y, heavy armor by Z.
Still armoring the torso so heavily while leaving the legs and feet exposed makes me think all infantry battles was a game of poke the tootsies and jump back.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

This is the gurps forum guys. How about some stats? Barefoot reduces running speed by X, running shoes as a base, boots reduces it by Y, heavy armor by Z.
Still armoring the torso so heavily while leaving the legs and feet exposed makes me think all infantry battles was a game of poke the tootsies and jump back.

No, attacking the feet goes into the recent unrealistic fencing discussion in another thread.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

No, attacking the feet goes into the recent unrealistic fencing discussion in another thread.

Ok, didn't know about that one. I know that the minus 4 to hit the feet is a bit much for the not uber-skilled. But the milder minus 2 to hit the unarmored legs seems worth the effort.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Anthony

They don't slow you down as much as a twisted ankle. Hikers wear boots too. Also, if you don't know that you're going through dry terrain, wet shoes are bad, so you want at least proof against puddles and other incidental wetness, though you don't necessarily need galoshes.

Boots slow you down enough to prevent you from running at top speeds.

Eyeballing it I'd say we could call it 1/20th encumbrance on the feet to reduce move, so at ST 10:

>2 lbs = Basic Move x 0.8
>3 lbs = Basic Move x 0.6
>6 lbs = Basic Move x 0.4
>10 lbs = Basic Move x 0.2

[Kalzazz]

My own experimentation with this hasn't really shown I run or accelerate any slower when in full armor . . . . however stopping becomes much trickier, especially if the ground is at all slick or unstable. I wear my hunting boots with armor due to the aggressive tread

[Novembermike]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

They still wear boots though, and even boots slow you down in comparison to running shoes.

Just as an example of a data point, I weighed 5 pairs of my shoes on a kitchen scale which was way more accurate than it needed to be, and rounding to the nearest ounce I get the following:

Slippers (Reef) 1 lbs 2 oz
Running Shoes (Nike Free) 1 lbs 3 oz
Shoes (corfram) 2 lbs
Shoes (leather) 3 lbs
Boots (Steel Toed) 5 lbs

I don't think the GURPS standard assumes running shoes. In broken terrain a guy in boots will move just as fast (or faster) than a guy wearing moccasins, and in a city there's no reason for the guy in armor to wear boots.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

My own experimentation with this hasn't really shown I run or accelerate any slower when in full armor . . . . however stopping becomes much trickier, especially if the ground is at all slick or unstable. I wear my hunting boots with armor due to the aggressive tread

You're either an extremely slow runner to begin with, or you didn't have someone time you properly.

It should be easy to measure the difference in times between you sprinting all out in a 40 yard dash in running shoes, vs in thick boots, vs boots in armor, then measure the difference in times between you sprinting all out for a mile in running shoes, vs in thick boots, vs boots in armor.

If you can't measure a difference in those times, then that would indicate that your speed must be anemic to the point that a normal person's fast walk will be faster than you.

[DanHoward]

I doubt whether carrying this weight on your feet or on the rest of your body is enough of a difference to affect Basic Move at all. Standard encumbrance rules are fine IMO. The test in question did not look at whether armour on the legs effects speed at all - just whether you use more energy. I doubt that GURPS assumes running shoes when working out basic speed. IMO these should give a bonus rather than heavier footwear giving a penalty.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

I doubt that GURPS assumes running shoes when working out basic speed. IMO these should give a bonus rather than heavier footwear giving a penalty.

GURPS assumes no shoes.

Running shoes do not give a bonus to basic speed, they simply don't give you a penalty, and they keep you from hurting the soles of your feet on sharp rocks.

Heavy boots and lower leg armor should reduce top sprinting speed, and increase FP loss at top speeds.

We can wave it off as below GURPS resolution if we want to, but that doesn't change the fact that if you wear heavy boots to a sprint meet you'll be left eating dust.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Running shoes do not give a bonus to basic speed, they simply don't give you a penalty, and they keep you from hurting the soles of your feet on sharp rocks

High-Tech gives climbing bonuses for climbing shoes and stealth bonuses for sneakers and moccasins. Why not a running bonus for running shoes? There is a reason why athletes wear running shoes and not bare feet and it isn't because of foot injury - they give a measurable improvement in speed.