[LT Armor Loadouts] Expensive Greaves

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

So tell us how to put this into a book without analysing the materials/labour ratio for every item.

Take a value that produces reasonable (and reasonably gameable) results for most armors, and take another value for those armors judged as being particularly effortful to produce. Failing that, choose a single value for bronze armor that doesn't make a hoplite-status Greek unable to afford his own armor [the armor prices are admittedly chosen more with an eye towards game balance than history anyway- and could hardly be otherwise, given how prices varied over two millennia and three to five continents]. [EDIT: I like Anthony's suggestion better.]

EDIT: So, to be clear, are you saying that iron-plate-making at TL2 was "rare because difficult and involving skills not developed", or just "rare because people who could have made it had better things to do with the metal"?

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

EDIT: So, to be clear, are you saying that iron-plate-making at TL2 was "rare because difficult and involving skills not developed", or just "rare because people who could have made it had better things to do with the metal"?

Iron plate body armour doesn't become mature and ubiquitous until TL4. You can justify it any way you want but it doesn't change historical facts.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Iron plate body armour doesn't become mature and ubiquitous until TL4. You can justify it any way you want but it doesn't change historical facts.

I mean, some things with a TL were never "ubiquitous". I'm just trying to work out whether, if asked by a PC to craft an iron cuirass, a TL2 blacksmith, after being assured that the buyer really wants one and not a superior suit of mail, can produce something roughly equivalent to the TL4 version (after accounting for any differences in the quality of iron). Whether it should be called TL2, TL4, or TL4-but-they-could-do-it-at-2-if-they-want is beside the point.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

I mean, some things with a TL were never "ubiquitous". I'm just trying to work out whether, if asked by a PC to craft an iron cuirass, a TL2 blacksmith, after being assured that the buyer really wants one and not a superior suit of mail, can produce something roughly equivalent to the TL4 version (after accounting for any differences in the quality of iron). Whether it should be called TL2, TL4, or TL4-but-they-could-do-it-at-2-if-they-want is beside the point.

If you just want a cuirass and not an articulated suit, then there is no practical reason why it can't be done at TL2. You can make mail using TL1 bronze too if you want but it never existed historically until someone invented it.