[Low Tech]Cost of armour and TL

[Agramer]

In Fantasy world which is on average TL2-3,but has Plate armour from TL4(Knights in shining armour syndrome),what should be progression in costs of higher TL armour?

If TL2 Armour prices are as listed,what modifier to cost should TL3 and TL4 armours get?

Same question for weapons.

Thanks

[weby]

Whatever fits your view of your world, but that iron based armor is competing with the bronze version, so would need to be same cost or cheaper to see much use.

[sir_pudding]

You can use the anachronistic equipment rules from the Basic Set.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by weby

Whatever fits your view of your world, but that iron based armor is competing with the bronze version, so would need to be same cost or cheaper to see much use.

Bronze is TL1 and is actually more expensive at later TLs when people learned how to smelt Iron which is most abundant metal on earth.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

You can use the anachronistic equipment rules from the Basic Set.

Thanks,Do you know what page thats on ,or chapter?

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Agramer

Thanks,Do you know what page thats on ,or chapter?

He may be referring to Chapter 1, page 27, in the box under Tech Level and Equipment.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Agramer

Thanks,Do you know what page thats on ,or chapter?

Box on 478.

[weby]

Originally Posted by Agramer

Bronze is TL1 and is actually more expensive at later TLs when people learned how to smelt Iron which is most abundant metal on earth.

Yes and that smelting problem is a large part of what made it TL4. Thus as LT notes bronze armor is the "normal" way to make plate armor at lower TLs, so any anacronistic iron armor must compete with it.

Thus if you want to make steel plate earlier TL you have to think of how the armor is worked and how that affects the cost. (Thus the view of how it fits your setting)

One possible way is ofcourse say "mages did it".. as in some sort of commonly avaible magic spell or effect is used in the production.

[DanHoward]

If mages make it then how does that affect cost? The whole point of iron is that is more available and thus cheaper than bronze. If this isn't the case in your game world then bronze would be the dominant metal for weapons and armour for a much much longer period of time. LT already states that you can have full suits of bronze plate armour at TL1. The only anachronistic parts are little things like TL4 sliding rivets that help to improve articulation.

[Mr Frost]

One way to have articulate TL4 iron/steel plate exist within a predominantly TL3 fantasy world is to give a minority race {Dwarves for example} a good tallent for smithing and a TL +1 {smithing} advantage then note that they don't breed in anywhere near the numbers to take over or won't do so for other reason {psychology , religion , whatever} .

The armour will thus be a higher tech import for any player race but the producer {whom pays in character points for the racial advantages that create the siituation} which I'm pretty sure is covered somewhere .
If the producing race is small enough in number , the costs could be even higher .
This way plate armour becomes sufficiently more expensive and rarer than it historically was , thus allows less advanced armours to still be common .




If you make bronze cheaper by making copper and especially tin more common in your world , bronze armour and weapons could still be viable choices verses iron if you wish that too . just ajust the CF to suit your tastes and the prices of copper and tin if you take note of such in your games {for trade , loot value etc} .


Cost plays a big part in what military equiptment is used .
The F22 isn't the most powerful fighter that can be built , merely the most powerful that can be afforded {though some might argue the Sukoi T-50 is superior} .
Caseless ammunition assault rifles could have been in service 20 years ago , but cost got in the way {and still does} .
Chinas' type 99 MBT is about on par with the best MBTs in the world {especially after the latest improvements are added} , but China cannot afford to equip their entire Army with it .

Historically TL4 articulated steel plate was cheap enough to be bought by wealthy Men at Arms and issued to common troops as munitions plate which thus displaced various other less protective armours , but if the cost had been , say 4 times higher , that might not have happened {only the richest nobles could have afforded it} .
Same could go for bronze too {with the cost being cheaper} .

[Kuroshima]

One question, is it possible to harden bronze to get similar results to "Hardened steel" (Low Tech, p. 110)? Would it be permissible to add "Hardened bronze" to a bronze plate, for the same CF? (Possible even if ahistorical, this is for a DF game)