Armor, is it worth it?

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Armor for characters whose ST + DX is in the 20-24 range, tends to be a wash in a basic duel. In other combat situations, it depends.

For example, if you're under ranged attack and can't fight back at the moment, the more armor, the better.

But also, for characters who can keep their adjDX at 11+ with armor on, they'll still be effective at attacking, so it will tend to be a good idea to have armor in that case. This means that armor is more effective, in general, for more experienced figures with good base DX. And, that having armor that reduces your DX below 10, tends to make you less and less effective at attacking and being useful in combat.

The extreme case of your example is giants. They are very strong and still have trouble being effective due to have DX that is usually less than 10. However, their ST should mitigate some of that and allow them to wear armor with little or no encumbrance. Of course, the real danger of giants is that it usually only takes one successful DX role for them to be very deadly.

[hcobb]

A ST 24 giant in full plate is over 9xST load, without picking up anything else.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by Shostak

IMHO, TFT would be improved if ST had an impact on armor's DX and MA penalties.

Your wish is my command!

https://forums.sjgames.com/showthrea...34#post2461334

[Infornific]

An alternate possibility would be a new Talent that reduced DX penalties for armor requiring minimum ST. Kind of a way of bringing back the effect of high ST without becoming automatic.

https://forums.sjgames.com/showpost....8&postcount=36

[hcobb]

For a ST 10 human:

• Cloth armor allows 26 pounds of additional load before losing MA
• Leather allows 44 pounds of additional load before losing further MA
• Chain armor allows 50 pounds of additional load before losing further MA
• Plate armor allows 25 pounds of additional load before losing further MA

So skipping armor reductions on MA wouldn't chain (sic) all that much.

As for a talent, just apply Toughness level against armor (but not shield) DX reductions to bring back the tanks.

[Kolk]

I read somewhere rules that included Fatique Factor(FF).

FF was equal to ST - Armor.
Armor has an effect on MA and FF,

e.g. Leather Armor - 2MA I - 2FF, had no effect on DX.

During a skirmish, each action costs 1FF.
A warrior fights as long as he has FF or win/die/escape

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Kolk

I read somewhere rules that included Fatique Factor(FF).

FF was equal to ST - Armor.
Armor has an effect on MA and FF,

e.g. Leather Armor - 2MA I - 2FF, had no effect on DX.

During a skirmish, each action costs 1FF.
A warrior fights as long as he has FF or win/die/escape

With most combats lasting a minute or less, fatigue acquired from wearing armor is probably too onerous.

[tomc]

As always, the solution depends on the problem you're trying to solve. If you want there to be more armor you could just reduce the DX penalty for armor by 2 across the board.

Or you could base the reduction on ST:

ST 10 or less: armor gives listed DX penalty.
ST 11-13: 1 point less DX penalty
ST 14-15: 2 points less, etc.

Every time you make the game more granular, you add rules and complexity. Whether it's worth it or not is up to you.

[Kolk]

I had some fun but I made the first version of my code.
I know it's all about numbers, not about the soul of the game :),
and I hope I don't have some big bug in the code

warriors run away (ST<4, lose or destroy weapon), no second weapon, no defense, no movement, Death(ST=0)

base test (same fighter type on both sides):

10000 TribemanA(ST11,DX13,DEF0)(Shortsword) :
Life->5086
Unconscious->816
Escape->531
Death->3567
------VS------------
10000 TribemanA(ST11,DX13,DEF0)(Shortsword) :
Life->4966
Unconscious->856
Escape->571
Death->3607

the results are similar

[Kolk]

so i added small shield

small shield test

10000 SwordmanB(ST11,DX13,DEF1)(Shortsword Small Shield):
Life->5891
Unconscious->727
Escape->733
Death->2649
------VS------------
10000 TribemanA(ST11,DX13,DEF0)(Shortsword):
Life->4159
Unconscious->989
Escape->644
Death->4208

small shield helps