Science Breakthrough: Plate Armor is Heavy

[Jakub324]

We needed science to tell us that? In the 1400s we still thought rubbing a dog's bladder on your face was medicinal, and they knew it was heavy.

 

[Rpground]

no,REALLY!? i had no idea that PLATE ARMOR was HEAVY,i thought it was light and bent perfectly to the shape of your body... -.-'

next your gonna tell me that they conditioned themselves to even wear it...oh wait,they didnt...



why test something like this if your not even gonna do it right?

they're comparing knights of ye olde wearing plate armor,to themselves wearing plate armor a few times...

knights were trained to fight in this armor,so i think they would also be trained to go quite the distance in it as well...

these guys on the other hand havent gone threw that training so their body isnt used to lugging around such weight in such a fashion.

this makes science just look dumb, "hey,lets test common knowledge and not even do it entirely correct." there is barely,if not no,scientific value here... sigh~

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Wrong, it's not science. Like Martial artists, Knights were trained since their youth in armor. They wore it like a second skin from childhood. I carry a 50 pound pack while hiking long distances, and after a few days, it feels like less than half the weight. People don't understand today the meaning of "bred for battle", but the Knights spent a ridiculous amount of time training to be soldiers. US Marines, on the other hand spend a few months. Try to understand the difference.

You forget that knights weren't necessarily particularly good soldiers, and they rarely even fought -- they were just aristocrats who "led" the armies and acted as figureheads, wearing huge expensive armour to preserve their measly hides.
Knights were never an elite order, they were just rich kids sitting in for the people who really knew what they were doing.

That is a gross misconception and oversimplification as I've ever heard one. A knight's life consisted of mostly nothing but combat (I'm not even going to go into the arduous 12 year training periods pages would go through in order to even be considered for knighthood, go read a book). Even when they weren't off fighting for their king to earn their livelihoods, they were participating in elaborate war games disguised as tournaments.

Yes, knights tended to be members of the aristocracy and some might have used their wealth to buy themselves out of military service (which would go on to pay for the fitting and training of additional foot soldiers, all's fair). However, wealthy heritage does NOT equal wealthy individuals. Inheritance laws of the time only rewarded the firstborn son of the household, most knights were not those lucky few. Army wages provided by the king were piss poor even then, the majority of a knight's income would come from fiefs rewarded to them for their military services and pillaging rights secured by their active participation in battle. Let's not forget that knights had to provide their own weapons, armor, and horses, of which a large portion of their earnings would go into upkeep costs. If you want to know the cost of a fully fitted and trained warhorse back then, imagine a fighter pilot having to pay for their own plane, fuel, and ammo.

"they were just aristocrats who "led" the armies and acted as figureheads, wearing huge expensive armour to preserve their measly hides."

ALL armor was expensive, genius. The especially GOOD pieces more so. Medieval knights were the equivalent of the modern tank, they used their armor and horses to plow through the enemy lines with minimal damage to their own person. What good would be a tank made of glass that you could only use once?

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Congratulations, you have researched breathing.

Did it really take a scientific answer to figure out that wearing PLATE ARMOR will tire you out way more than plain leather or just cloth?

 

[VGC USpartan VS]

This is what I thought when I read this.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

so captain obvious [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaptainObvious] strikes again.
i could not resit using tvrope's. sorry but to be fair i got stuck there too for a while. so brought it upon my self.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Seriously...no one has done this study before?

:S yay science.

Does this mean the sticklers are going to let us women fight dragons in our leather bikinis. It's more fun that way ya know.
Spoilsports.

 

[pandorum]

I can see how these scientists think................................................
'Hey Bill do you wanna try curing cancer?'
'Not now Steve im in the middle of a breakthrough'
'Well?'
'Im finding out how many bonbons it takes to choke a seagull'
'???' (Backs out of room).

 

[Jessta]

Actually despite earlier posts I am surprised, I would have thought that it would much much much harder than just twice as much energy, I mean hell I get at least four times as worn out on my daily jog if I wear my 10 pound ankle weights but a hundred pounds of steel covering my entire body seems like it would be completely unbearable, combine that with the difficulty of swinging around a heavy weapon all day I always imagined those medieval knights to be like fucking superman. (actually I always imagined the ones with armor were the important ones that just sat back and yelled orders to the footmen and soldiers who would do all the dirty work but I guess there would have to be some soldiers who had enough money to actually afford full plate.