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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 782736" data-attributes="member: 4937">&quot;If deflection were the primary benefit armor, and not absorbtion, then you could make plate armor out of aluminum and still have pretty much the same benefit -- but, of course, that would be foolish.&quot;I think you have that backward.&nbsp; If absorbtion was the primary benefit of armor, then you could make it out of aluminum and it would still have pretty much the same benefit.&nbsp; 'Absorbtion' of force depends on armor's ability to distribute the impact of a blow across a wider surface area, and to slow down the blow by turning the damage into mechanical deformation.&nbsp; Deflecting the blow depends upon the armors ability to minimize the time that the force is applied to the armor.&nbsp;&nbsp; Absorbtion is more a matter of thickness than type of material.&nbsp; If absorbtion was the primary benefit, a relatively thick layer of lightweight aluminum would be just as effective as a thinner layer of face hardened steel.&nbsp;&nbsp; The reason that steel is better than iron, and iron better than bronze, principally has to do with the materials ability to avoid being 'bitten' by the blow of another hard material.But really, this is all simplification and to get realistic we need to start resolving blows with physics equations.Which clearly doesn't make as good of a pen and paper game system as abstracting the system somewhat.Why are you convinced that there is one good way to do it?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 782736, member: 4937"] "If deflection were the primary benefit armor, and not absorbtion, then you could make plate armor out of aluminum and still have pretty much the same benefit -- but, of course, that would be foolish." I think you have that backward. If absorbtion was the primary benefit of armor, then you could make it out of aluminum and it would still have pretty much the same benefit. 'Absorbtion' of force depends on armor's ability to distribute the impact of a blow across a wider surface area, and to slow down the blow by turning the damage into mechanical deformation. Deflecting the blow depends upon the armors ability to minimize the time that the force is applied to the armor. Absorbtion is more a matter of thickness than type of material. If absorbtion was the primary benefit, a relatively thick layer of lightweight aluminum would be just as effective as a thinner layer of face hardened steel. The reason that steel is better than iron, and iron better than bronze, principally has to do with the materials ability to avoid being 'bitten' by the blow of another hard material. But really, this is all simplification and to get realistic we need to start resolving blows with physics equations. Which clearly doesn't make as good of a pen and paper game system as abstracting the system somewhat. Why are you convinced that there is one good way to do it? [/QUOTE]

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