A skin of steel

Nocta-Aeterna

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Aug 3, 2009
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A long, long time ago (but not in a galaxy far away), I made a thread, asking you what implement of death your were most likely to choose if challenged to a duel. The results were pleasantly surprising in their variety.

However, in a fight, you won't always be able to draw first blood and parrying will only get one so far. So, time to don some armour! If any piece of protective wear was available, what would you wear? EDIT: Just to clarify, since this is an extention of the previous thread, mind that you'll be fighting in melee range.

Personally, I'd go for full plate armour (or just chain mail). Yes, it's heavy as all hell, but the weight is more or less divided uniformly across your body, limiting encumbrance. Also, any mobility advantage of lighter armour is marginally at best, if Perfect Weapon from National Geographic is in anyway credible, and all the dodging we see in popular media is actually rather inefficient. Might as well become a walking tank then.

Alternatively, I would wear a Lorica Segmentata with some added arm and leg armour.
 

Dublin Solo

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Feb 18, 2010
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octafish said:
Books, Newspapers and Gaffa tape.
How many times can that guy say Aryan?
How intesresting, I didn't know Jesse Ventura actually played in a movie other than "Predator".
 

Sonicron

Do the buttwalk!
Mar 11, 2009
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I'll have the Mark VIII Astartes power armor. Wrap it up, I'll take it to go.
 

Realitycrash

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Dec 12, 2010
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Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge
Nocta-Aeterna said:
A long, long time ago (but not in a galaxy far away), I made a thread, asking you what implement of death your were most likely to choose if challenged to a duel. The results were pleasantly surprising in their variety.

However, in a fight, you won't always be able to draw first blood and parrying will only get one so far. So, time to don some armour! If any piece of protective wear was available, what would you wear?

Personally, I'd go for full plate armour (or just chain mail). Yes, it's heavy as all hell, but the weight is more or less divided uniformly across your body, limiting encumbrance. Also, any mobility advantage of lighter armour is marginally at best, if Perfect Weapon from National Geographic is in anyway credible, and all the dodging we see in popular media is actually rather inefficient. Might as well become a walking tank then.

Alternatively, I would wear a Lorica Segmentata with some added arm and leg armour.
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge?
I am a boxer, and for me, mobility is everything. So I'd go with evenly devided kevlar across chest, forarms and legs. If this is a melee (sorry, but what weapons are we using?), I'd pick aknife as a weapon, then just stab someone wearing a platearmor in the neck while they try to move.
 

BENZOOKA

This is the most wittiest title
Oct 26, 2009
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<spoiler=The one that this/these guys had>http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/177/e/a/FMA_2___Greed___Ling__s_bod___by_InsanePiece.png

If it must be real: I'd make an armor out of aerogel.
 

Withall

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Jan 9, 2010
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A Nanosuit 2.0 from the game it's featured in. Simple, effective. That, or augs like JC Denton in endgame Deus Ex.
 

DefunctTheory

Not So Defunct Now
Mar 30, 2010
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Realitycrash said:
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge
Nocta-Aeterna said:
A long, long time ago (but not in a galaxy far away), I made a thread, asking you what implement of death your were most likely to choose if challenged to a duel. The results were pleasantly surprising in their variety.

However, in a fight, you won't always be able to draw first blood and parrying will only get one so far. So, time to don some armour! If any piece of protective wear was available, what would you wear?

Personally, I'd go for full plate armour (or just chain mail). Yes, it's heavy as all hell, but the weight is more or less divided uniformly across your body, limiting encumbrance. Also, any mobility advantage of lighter armour is marginally at best, if Perfect Weapon from National Geographic is in anyway credible, and all the dodging we see in popular media is actually rather inefficient. Might as well become a walking tank then.

Alternatively, I would wear a Lorica Segmentata with some added arm and leg armour.
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge?
I am a boxer, and for me, mobility is everything. So I'd go with evenly devided kevlar across chest, forarms and legs. If this is a melee (sorry, but what weapons are we using?), I'd pick aknife as a weapon, then just stab someone wearing a platearmor in the neck while they try to move.
There was a reason, or so long ago, that people not wearing armor used bows and pikes to take down those who were.

Killing someone in full armor with a knife is much tougher than it looks in the movies.
 

Xaryn Mar

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Sep 17, 2008
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Realitycrash said:
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge
Nocta-Aeterna said:
A long, long time ago (but not in a galaxy far away), I made a thread, asking you what implement of death your were most likely to choose if challenged to a duel. The results were pleasantly surprising in their variety.

However, in a fight, you won't always be able to draw first blood and parrying will only get one so far. So, time to don some armour! If any piece of protective wear was available, what would you wear?

Personally, I'd go for full plate armour (or just chain mail). Yes, it's heavy as all hell, but the weight is more or less divided uniformly across your body, limiting encumbrance. Also, any mobility advantage of lighter armour is marginally at best, if Perfect Weapon from National Geographic is in anyway credible, and all the dodging we see in popular media is actually rather inefficient. Might as well become a walking tank then.

Alternatively, I would wear a Lorica Segmentata with some added arm and leg armour.
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge?
I am a boxer, and for me, mobility is everything. So I'd go with evenly devided kevlar across chest, forarms and legs. If this is a melee (sorry, but what weapons are we using?), I'd pick aknife as a weapon, then just stab someone wearing a platearmor in the neck while they try to move.
A good suit of fitted plate armour have very few places a knife would be effective (unless it was a kidney-dagger (can't remember its name but it is shaped to penetrate armour, notably near the kidneys)) and they are: Back of knees, inside the elbow (the most armoured of them), in the armpits and the eye slits. Anyone trained in using a mail of plates will know how to defend those places. The neck is not one of those places and well-fitted plate armour doesn't slow a trained wearer down more than any other armour.
 

Akiada

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Apr 7, 2010
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It'd depend on the weapons, really. If melee combat I'd totally second the idea of going with plate. If ranged I'd have to go with a modern kevlar body armor like the Interceptor system used by US soldiers, or the 'Dragonskin' armor that's trying to replace it.

And of course, if we're allowed to be silly I'd just say I'd take one of Mass Effect's 'Hardsuits' - thick, reinforcing armor plates, kevlar-like fibers underneath and topped off with a layer of shields? Yes please. :p

Realitycrash said:
Plate-armor? Any idea how heavy that is, even if it is spread evenly? How are you going to dodge?
A full suit of plate weighs less than the full gear of a modern soldier, and is spread evenly (compare to modern soldiers who have to lug that shit mostly on their back) - a knight can most certainly dodge. In fact, he can leap, run, dance, cartwheel, etc. The only real limiters of Plate were that is was expensive as hell, had to be fitted to the wearer ("generally the size of a dude" is good enough for chain or so - but plate has to fit snuggly) and all that metal and the padding and chain beneath meant you got really hot.

The trope of knights being slow, unwieldy things is wholly incorrect - Plate was used because it was incredibly effective, not because it made the user slow and easy to kill.
 

Souplex

Souplex Killsplosion Awesomegasm
Jul 29, 2008
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Brooklynites have so much chutzpa that it emanates from us in an aura deflecting attacks. We don't need armor.
 

Murais

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Sep 11, 2007
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Andrew Jackson style. Wait for the quickdraw shot, take it, then plant yours right between his eyes.

Win.
 

Kpt._Rob

Travelling Mushishi
Apr 22, 2009
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Well, if it doesn't have to be real, I'd take the pipe-fox from xxxHolic. It'd protect me and be the most adorable pet ever at the same time.

If it has to be real. Well, I'd probably just go ahead and die. I'm no good at dodging, so light armor is out, and I don't want to carry around heavy armor. So, I'll either stay out of the fight, or accept the death that is an inevitability for all humans.
 

Infernostrider

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Feb 8, 2010
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i missed the other thread, so ill array my full battlegear here ^^
a full plate of armor, circular heavy steel shield, and a big spiked mace ^^

anyway, OP, to give some counterarguments to your claim about dodging being inefficient: yes, it burns energy quickly, but not as quickly as swinging a humongous weapon back and forth while trying to hold onto it. Speed is a melee fighter's main weapon, as a speedy fighter can find creases in armor and strike a quick killing blow between his slower enemies' swings.
However, a bigger, heavier weapon wielded by an enemy in armor usually only requires one blow, disregarding armor altogether or for at least the majority ^^

there is a middle road somewhere, where armor provides protection against most forms of attack while a weapons wield-ability and speed keep you maneuverable enough to avoid heavier blows and strike quickly