An Anatomy of Armour

[Dragonium]

1. The Three Types of Armour

Generally, body armour comes in three types.

Plate - Plate armour is a single, solid plate of material. It has to be fitted to its user, as armour that is too small is much weaker (Due to the fact that it doesn't stop much of the force before that force meets the user), and big armour is difficult to move in. Plate is generally considered to be the strongest type of armour; however, it limits the wearer's movement. For this reason, Knights and Fighters, who need litle movement, are suited to it. On the other hand, characters that require movement in their work, such as Archers and Thieves, do not use Plate.

Mail - Mail comes in many types. It is made from interlocking rings or plates (See 2. Types of Mail) which are woven together to produce strong but moveable armour. This is suitable for more or less all classes. It is maneuverable, and it offers some protection; not equal to Plate.

Loose - Loose armour is the type mostly regarded as the beginner's armour. Clothes and Robes are generally the most well known Loose armours. They do not provide much protection, as the materials are not as dense as metal, meaning that force mostly passes through them. Weak, but easy to wear.

2. Types of Mail

Mail armour also comes in three main types.

Chain Mail - Simply put, Chain is simply metal rings, woven together into a fine mesh. These rings are strong when put together, as force is shared through surrounding rings. However, the rings are small, making the material very flexible.

Ring Mail - Contrary to popular belief, Ring Mail is different to Chain. In Ring Mail, the rings are larger (Having a circumference of up to 5mm more than Chain Mail rings). This means that the fabric is much more resistant to physical blows, but the maneuverability is limited.

Scale Mail - Scale Mail actually has its own two types.

 - Lamellar - Lamellar is made up of scale-shaped plates, which are linked directly to each other via rings on either side of the scale. This type of armour is stronger than Chain, due to larger surface area of each "Ring".

 - Brigandine - Brigandine is the same as Lamellar, except that rather than the links being attached to each other, they are sewn onto a leather backing by stitching through the loops. This offers better protection still, due to the extra shock absorption from the backing.



Both types of Scale Mail are strong in themselves. They offer greater protection than Ring and Chain, especially from Blunt weapons.

3. Other Bits and Pieces

There are other pieces of armour, aside from body armour. It is impossible to list them all, but a few of the most prominent are...

Gauntlet - Not always made from metal. Gauntlets are long armoured gloves, designed to protect the hand, wrist, fingers and forearms. They can be made from leather or metal.

Shield - Obvious. Shields range in size, from small Bucklers to Kite and eventually Tower Shields, designed to cover the whole body at once.

Bracers - Armguards, generally worn by Archers. Used to protect the skin when using a Longbow. However, they can also be used to protect the forearms from blows.



Pauldrons - Most commonly known as "Shoulder Plates". They range in size, but are used to cover the shoulders from downward vertical blows. Their roundness helps to deflect potentially lethal strikes away from the wearer.

Vambraces - A slightly larger Bracer, designed for Fighters mainly. Vambraces are mainly made of metal, and allow the wearer to strike without being coubtered and hit on the arm.

Greaves - Shin armour, which comes up to knee hight. Because Greaves do not cover a joint, movement is not slowed.

4. Slash, Pierce, Crush

The main attacks are Slash, Pierce and Crush. Of course, different armours will defend better against different weapons. To show this, I will show a small selection of armour.

Cloth Armour - Hardly any resistance or shock absorption. Weak against all three types.

Leather Armour - Leather offers some resistance. It is tough and absorbs shock well, offering some resistance against Blunt and Slash, but an arrow or a spear will pierce it easily.

Chain Mail - See 5. Everything > Chain Mail?

Ring Mail - Relatively good shock absorption, and defends against swords and axes quite well. Stands up to Piercing attacks to a point.

Scale Mail - Better than most. Stands up to most Crushes without breaking, and defends nicely against swords and spears.

Plate Armour - Blunt attacks do hardly anything, Slashes are useless, and Pierce attacks are quite weak, although they can sail through Plate with enough force behind them.

5. Everything > Chain Mail?

It is a common fact that Chain Mail is good. Very good. It's a given for RPGs, that Chain Mail will defend you from a lot of damage. However, how true is this? I decided in a moment of madness to test it, and the results are pretty interesting.

Chain Mail is made of small Rings woven into each other. It is flexible and has good defence. Or, at least so people think. Physics is your friend here, Draggy. Let's 'ave a gander.

First, Piercing. The links are wound together tightly. So, let's say that our Test Dummy is dressed in Chain Mail, and our Test Baddy comes at him with a spear. What happens?

Well, first off, the spear has a pointed tip. Dragonium, you idiot. But that means that the tip puts one ring under pressure at a time. And, since the bonds between rings are so weak (To make the armour moveable), the energy transfer is, well, bad. So all that pressure goes on one ring, it pops off, and Mister Test Dummy gets an impromptu body piercing. Whoopsy-daisy.

Then, there's Slashing. TB comes at TD with a Longsword and swings at him. The long blade touches several rings at once, so the energy is shared between them, right?

Incorrect. Time for another MS Paint diagram.



It's a Tangent. Which means it touches the surface once. Sure, there's a bit of bend due to shock absorption. But if this sword is nice and sharp, which it probably will be, it'll shear right through the bonds. Unfortunate.

Blunt is a no-brainer. It's so flexible, to allow it to be worn, that any right-minded Barbarian with a HUGE Mace is going to give poor Mister Test Dummy a few broken ribs. "Few" being the ironic point.

This has nothing to do with helping people's games, but I thought it was interesting. Chain Mail isn't quite as good as it seems. Of course, it blocks low-level hits, like a punch, but it's not so good against weapons. Who'd a' thunk it?

The only thing Chain Mail works well against is ranged attacks. With a spear, there is a constant stream of heavy force behind the point. However, with an arrow, the force is cut off as soon as it leaves the string. Think of a football (soccer ball). If you kick it, like an arrow, the force is cut off as soon as you hit it, and it travels a fair distance. However, if you push it along the ground, it can travel the same distance, with as much force as you want to give it, and for as long as you want.

So, when the arrow hits Chain Mail, it can pierce one ring or so, but in the end, the wall of rings will reduce its speed so much that is falls out. Or gets rifled and tangles in the Mail. Thus, if you're being bombarded by peasants with longbows, wear Chain Mail, grab your Smite-o-Matic, and go get 'em.

6. What About Studs?

Studs are a "lucky armour". They rely on luck. Simple. Generally, Studded is as good as Leather, but if you're lucky, it's great.

First, Piercing. Normally, a Pierce would punch a great hole in the wearer. But, you could be lucky. If the enemy's weapon hits a stud, it could ricochet off. Which is nice.

Just note, it could also slide off the stud and go through the leather beside it. Which isn't so nice.

Slashes are pretty much the same.

Unfortunately, Blunt weapons are tricky. Against a Blunt attack, it's Leather. The studs are useless.

7. A Few Common Myths

 - Gold Armour is, well, pointless. Gold doesn't do well against many things, because it's softer than steel. So anything goes through it. It has some ground against light swords and axes, but against more it's just bad.

 - A Cape is a piece of Cloth or Silk. Unless you're trying to get the enemy tangled in it, it doesn't do much more than make you look good.

 - The same goes for Boots. Boots don't give you much more defence. Nobody wants to hit your feet, unless they're insane or very very bloodthirsty.

 - No normal armour can improve your moving speed. No matter how light it is, it won't make you faster than you were before putting it on. If it's enchanted, that's different.

 - Lead does not make good armour. It's heavy, and very soft. And if you get hit by a fire attack, it'll melt easily, and you'll get blood poisoning and die horribly. And that magic potion the creepy old lady sold you won't save you this time. Oh, no. No it won't.

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Anyway, I wrote this because I was bored, and I felt that people need a little information on armour. And hell, I wrote a book. I hope you learned something, or at least found something that you can use. I don't want any thanks, just tell me if it helped.

And if it didn't, I don't care. Because you wasted five minutes of your life reading this. Ha.

Anyways, enjoy.

[SaiKar]

I love this sort of stuff. Good work, especially the final myths section.

[Bluhman]

Awesome, dragonium! I never knew that ringmail was stronger than chainmail...

[Dragonium]

Originally posted by Bluhman
Awesome, dragonium! I never knew that ringmail was stronger than chainmail...

Ringmail has larger rings, so for Piercing and Slashing, it spreads out pressure and takes less damage. For Blunt, it's stiffer because of the bigger rings, so gives way less.

And Sai, I write a lot of stuff like this. I have one for Dragons (Anatomy of them), because I like putting science-stuff in my game to give the player a sense that the stuff in the game could work in real life. Unfortunately, the Dragons one isn't a Tutorial, and I can't be bothered to post it in All of All.

[Hell Angel]

Wo-o-o-o-ow. Very nice. You really should put the Dragon Anatomy up here as well. Teaching people how dragons could be slightly possible could be considered a tutorial.

[MrMister]

Originally posted by Hell Angel
Wo-o-o-o-ow. Very nice. You really should put the Dragon Anatomy up here as well. Teaching people how dragons could be slightly possible could be considered a tutorial.

I don't see how any dinosaur could keep flamable gas inside of himself, and cause enough friction with his mouth to ignite it.

Like, never.


Dragon's are entirely a myth, even the people who dreamed it up in the first place knew that.
STFU

[DragonBlaze]

Someone never saw the the presentation on dragons on the animal planet :p

It's possible for a creature like a dragon to exist, though nature never got around to making them  

A dragon atonamy writing would be cool, however, since a dragon is a mythological creature, they come in many many variations. Theres the Eastern, Western, Bipedal, Anthropomorphic, Sea dragon, little fairy Dragons, plus all the side species like Wyrm's and Wryvens. So good luck :p

[shadus]

Very nice.Good for more realist games.

[Hell Angel]

Originally posted by MrMister

quote:

Originally posted by Hell Angel Wo-o-o-o-ow. Very nice. You really should put the Dragon Anatomy up here as well. Teaching people how dragons could be slightly possible could be considered a tutorial.

I don't see how any dinosaur could keep flamable gas inside of himself, and cause enough friction with his mouth to ignite it.

Like, never.


Dragon's are entirely a myth, even the people who dreamed it up in the first place knew that.
STFU

Heheh.

Yes, I completely believe that such is possible. I even used the word slightly to show how much I really do believe in 50ft. fire breathing, flying reptiles. In ways it is possible, and in other ways it is not. Actually, in more ways, it is not. Still, I said that so he would show the anatomy... You say this as if I believe in dragons in even the slightest sliver. That, or you just needed to try to pick on someone, but whatever works.

[blaman]

Cool tutoral, this will really help me wth armor part of working on my game.

[WarxePB]

Stickied - if anyone thinks it shouldn't be, please say so.

[Meiscool-2]

Hmm. Very nice. But, I do believe that chainmail was worn to prevent things from going deeper into you, not stopping them. example: Say you're hit with an arrow, odds are the tip will go into the center of one of the rings. Most arrow's tips are narrow, and when shot they should have enough power to travel through things. This however wasn't always true, and the arrow would still hit you, but become intangled in the chains. It might and should break through the first chain it hits, but that should slow it down enough to prevent further breakage. The arrow will still hit you, but not as hard.

I could be wrong, but I think I read that somewhere.

[Dragonium]

You have a point. I didn't address arrows in the Tutorial, which I probably should have done. My thesis was that Chain is useless against things like spears, which have a lot of force behind them. An arrow, sharp though it is, is only a stick, so most likely it would be stopped, yes.