king of nowhere Posted February 21, 2014 Posted February 21, 2014 About the burning pithc idea, I don't know why everyone is assuming shardplate gives perfect heat isolation. Is that some spoiler from WoR that I missed? (I want to read the book all at once, not one chapter at a time). Do we have anything to support this idea? I would discard anyway the concept that plate is a perfect termal insulator. If it were, the slit in the helmet would be WAY too small to guarantee enough cooling from the body's heat (ever worn a coat suitable for -20 degrees? One that will make you sweat already at zero degrees? Well, that one has a bigger hole for the face, and is still not perfectly insulant over the rest of the body. Now think wearing one of those in summer and fighting in it). So for plate to protect against fire it should be able to transfer heat only in one direction. If brandon says that plate conducts heat only from in to out I will believe him, but I'm not ready to make that assumption for anything less. So yes, throwing a buketful of burning pitch on a shardbearer should put him out eventually. or at least force him to leave the front line quickly and remove his plate before getting burned too much. About the shield, as others pointed out it would shatter quickly. It's probably not worth the loss in agility. one could make a small shield to strap to the vanbrace, which would result basically in a thicker shardplate. Again iincreased endurance and loss of agility for swordplay shall be evaluated to see if it's worth it. It will probably have only limited applications to shardbearers duels. I can see it however being used against regular troops. the shardbearer uses the shield to bear the brunt of the attacks, and when it's shattered he makes a quick trip behind the front and get a new one form his attendants.
Aminar Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 It's more complicated than just force though. It's force over Area of Impact. So an arrow might not have nearly the force of a warhammer, but it hits over a tiny area. This is why slashing does crap against plate armor, but stabbing does really well, and arrows tend to go straight through. And functionally if shardbearers used spike hammers(which I think some do, they would be really effective. I think most of shardplates advantage is the fact it stays smooth until it shatters, diverting a lot of force off of it.
Humph Posted February 23, 2014 Posted February 23, 2014 The purpose of a hammer blow to (regular) armor is not so much to damage the armor. The point is to transfer the momentum through the armor into the tissues of the hapless victim inside. The soft tissues react poorly to such shock waves of force. As an analogy, think of the number of concussions suffered by football players even with all the protective gear they have, whereas very few helmets break. Hammer blows to Sharplate though could have the opposite intention -- they could be wanting all the force of the blow to stay within the armor itself until the energy levels simply overwhelm the resistance of the material.
Recommended Posts