Science Breakthrough: Plate Armor is Heavy
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This is good information for people who play Demon's Souls. They knew about this, and you're actually more likely to succeed at the game if you keep your armour to a minimum as it makes dodging a hell of a lot easier. You might think you're safe when you're covered in plate steel, but in that game mobility is king.
The article states that they used four re-enactors, so I'd guess they were probably used to wearing armor.Kysafen said:
Thanks for the link -- it's interesting stuff.KarlMonster said:
Must've been another show then, which is similar to mythbusters...I think they were building some kind of midevial invention which were supposed to transport troops too the battlefield faster since they got exhausted when walking there in armour.TheDooD said:
I get easily confused >.<
Normally, I'm the one to jump to the defense of the scientist. People will say that such and such is obvious, and I will point out that if the opposite result were had, they would have also called it obvious. Or that there was a real chance that we wouldn't have gotten the obvious result, leading to a huge breakthrough. Or that oversimplifying the results ignores the details that were discovered about WHY we got that result. Or often times, the hypothesis that is mentioned is only a tiny fraction of the data that was gathered. Most of the time, when people complain about a study being pointless, they aren't paying attention, and they don't understand the science. But in this case...I'm having a really hard time defending this study. I really can't see the value that this study adds, or COULD have added, to the topic at hand, and it is kind of an unhelpful topic to begin with.
What I find fascinating is how the crusades in the Middle East could have been even partially successful for the European war machine. Imagine wearing such armaments as described above (likely with other layers underneath made of leather or chainmail), to then be ordered to wander large distances in a climate where over 30 degrees celcius in the shadow was not uncommon. And when you finally arrived you were expected to fight Seljuks, who most likely knew every location of fresh water in the area.
With the invention of the crossbow and longbow heavy armour became more of a hindrance than benefit. It didn't matter if you had practiced and studied the codes of chivalry and skill at arms to perfection, as a kid with a few days training could with a well-placed shot from a crossbow very well end the life of a knight in an instant.
With the invention of the crossbow and longbow heavy armour became more of a hindrance than benefit. It didn't matter if you had practiced and studied the codes of chivalry and skill at arms to perfection, as a kid with a few days training could with a well-placed shot from a crossbow very well end the life of a knight in an instant.
So you are saying that the armor weighing up to 110 pounds was not heavy? Sorry, I understand what you are saying but that doesn't really make the research wrong haha.Xiado said:
Well, obviously they weren't Master in Heavy Armour.
"Days and weeks of constant use make wearing heavy armor tolerable, but not comfortable. You have learned to adapt to its weight and use it in combat. As a Master of Heavy Armor, your plate mail no longer encumbers you at all when you are running or swimming."
"Days and weeks of constant use make wearing heavy armor tolerable, but not comfortable. You have learned to adapt to its weight and use it in combat. As a Master of Heavy Armor, your plate mail no longer encumbers you at all when you are running or swimming."
Ugh, my brain hurts...
Ok guys, here's a real scientist's assessment of this grand discovery:
1) It's bad science. It's not not-scientific, it's just bad. Cargo cult science, really...
2) Yes, the result is mindblowingly obvious. While it's nice to see an obvious hypothesis as "full plate armor restricts movement" being put to the test Mythbusters style (coming up next week: "swimming in a lake will make your hair wet"), the result is of little use. Yes, wearing heavy things restricts movement, obvious. The exact mechanisms by which this happens are interesting, such as the breastplate restricting breathing, but also not exactly a great discovery.
3) The conclusion is...argh. You generally want to have some sort of predictive or applicative use of your result in there. What does it mean? What future work could be done? How is this useful to industry X who funded your work? Well, there's nothing you can actually say about "plate armor restricts movement."
4) The sample size is quite small. While that's not a huge problem given the nature of the experiment, it's not exactly good science either. When it comes to sample size, you want as many as your budget allows.
5) A much more interesting experiment would be whether the time required to complete a mixed terrain run, as well as average heartbeat and required oxygen decrease over time (that would be several months) as the subjects are trained by an expert in the proper use of the armor. At least this would tell us whether some of the medieval tales of knight fightin' are actually feasible, given that they had to have trained extensively.
Ok guys, here's a real scientist's assessment of this grand discovery:
1) It's bad science. It's not not-scientific, it's just bad. Cargo cult science, really...
2) Yes, the result is mindblowingly obvious. While it's nice to see an obvious hypothesis as "full plate armor restricts movement" being put to the test Mythbusters style (coming up next week: "swimming in a lake will make your hair wet"), the result is of little use. Yes, wearing heavy things restricts movement, obvious. The exact mechanisms by which this happens are interesting, such as the breastplate restricting breathing, but also not exactly a great discovery.
3) The conclusion is...argh. You generally want to have some sort of predictive or applicative use of your result in there. What does it mean? What future work could be done? How is this useful to industry X who funded your work? Well, there's nothing you can actually say about "plate armor restricts movement."
4) The sample size is quite small. While that's not a huge problem given the nature of the experiment, it's not exactly good science either. When it comes to sample size, you want as many as your budget allows.
5) A much more interesting experiment would be whether the time required to complete a mixed terrain run, as well as average heartbeat and required oxygen decrease over time (that would be several months) as the subjects are trained by an expert in the proper use of the armor. At least this would tell us whether some of the medieval tales of knight fightin' are actually feasible, given that they had to have trained extensively.
a truly great example of the power of SCIENCE!!!
/sarcasm
Actually i just think they're getting bored now that the US goverment took away their space toys so now the have to play with their old boring castle and knights set.
/actually i guess sarcasm is ending here ^^;
/sarcasm
Actually i just think they're getting bored now that the US goverment took away their space toys so now the have to play with their old boring castle and knights set.
/actually i guess sarcasm is ending here ^^;
Escapist, please give us more useless news.
Please give use news about someone stating something so obvious like "if you carry something really heavy, you will be get tired faster than if you don't carry anything".
The next news should be "scientists discovered we need to drink water if we are thirsty".
Give use more useless kilobytes of information.
Please give use news about someone stating something so obvious like "if you carry something really heavy, you will be get tired faster than if you don't carry anything".
The next news should be "scientists discovered we need to drink water if we are thirsty".
Give use more useless kilobytes of information.