Re: Armor proposal 1

[Wright Frazier <khelek>]

> How is this unbalanced again?  If there is a trade off, and people are
> considering the trade off, and making decisions based on it, how is it
> "UNBALANCED?"

Armor is unbalanced because it assigns horrendous penalties for little
benefit.  +6CDV in exchange for inferior Str, Agi, and Pwr?  And this
on top of moving at a 1/3 of your movement?  Thats silly.

Just as a test, I paced off 50' in stewart center(each tile = ~2.5'), 
and then had him(wearing his chain mail) run it while I timed.
Going from a dead stop, not in a sprinting stance, just standing
up right, and not pushing himself into a sprint, he covered it
in barely over 3 seconds(I believe it was 3.3sec to be more precise).
This was in the heavy version of the armor he made that could stop
multiple blows from a steel stiletto, and could stop arrows from
a high tension modern crossbow occasionally.  What seperates his armor
from whats used in AQ is the fact that his isn't welded or rivited
together.

That test alone shows that AQ armor penalties are silly.
Also note, he's done this test several times to prove to folks, and
each time its been the same result.

He's worn the stuff all day on at least 2 live actions and was still
able to function fully and engage in many melee combats(not AQ larps,
or vampire ones, but ones where you beat each other with weapons).


> 
> Further, if the argument is "It should have been innovated by now ..."
> along with "Yeah, just look at this character that can make THIS much
> better armor ..." I wonder where the interest is.  If all these phantom
> people are making innovations, why do so few player warrior/auger/marines
> exhibit ANY interest in MAKING better armor.

Dom, Jander, Matt Fahler's old warrior that lasted a short time, and several
other PCs have shown high interests in making armor and weaponry.  If
you have a few adventurers who do it, then out of the millions of other
folks in the world you'll have many that do it.

And why do so few others show any interst in making it?  Simple, because
AQ is about combat, and making your character better able to survive it,
and few want to take the game months it takes to tinker with and build
armor.  That is the stuff of true professional armorers, not dilletants
like adventurers.

> If fighting forces are those driving innovation
> If adventureres are said fighting forces (taken to an Nth extreme)
> If very few characters have actually developed improvements to armor

You place WAY too much significance on what 'adventurers' do.  There
are far more mercs and soldiers out there than adventurers.  

> 
> Why does it stand to reason that armor has been driven to it's most
> effeicient form by now ...

Because people want to survive that next fight.  Wars are NOT fought
by adventurers.  

> 
> Oh, as far as superefficient 16th/17th century armor in the real world and
> historic references ... Rennaisannce.  Short of the Industrial revolution
> (and potentially today's information revolution) NOTHING matched the
> amount of scientific development made throughout the world ...

You have no point here and don't know your history.  The industrial
revolution brought about a shitload of change, that is indisputeable.
Plate armor came onto the field of battle in early to mid 1400's.  From
there it improved until its peak in the 1500's and in the 1600's it
began to disappear because of the increasing effectiveness of firearms.
It hung on and was used mainly as breast/back plates until the mid 1700's.


> 
> Now, make the point that Jaern has undergone some form of rennaissance,
> and, as such , spur development of society in ALL areas (including war)
> and I may play ball.  But I don't think such an assertion can be made.

Jaern already has rennaissance level technology, and quite far beyond it.
Useable steam engines, advanced knowledge of aerodynamics(sky skimmers),
rocketry, large quantitites of stable explosives, larger quantitites of
unstable explosives, hydroponics, construction projects that span
for hundreds of miles(the sea wall), submersibles with durations
in hours, hydrofoils(onivero), and waterpumps capable of functioning
for centuries(both with and without magic).  Need more?  I can go
into magi-tech stuff if you'd like.


Wright