Armor and its benefit

[Drehar]

So I was bored today and was crunching numbers at work to decide what Body armor,Gloves,and Boot combo I was going to use.
All this time I had the mind set that having leather gloves was a good way to go. After running some numbers together I found

1. When deciding armor first determine the Armor value you want for your body.
2. Find a suit of armor + glove combo that reaches that armor
3. EX... I used 54 armor as my testing I ran.
Body  50/16
Gloves 4
Legs 38

Out of all the combo's I tried this one yielded the best results. having a cost of 21,001 and giving me 54 body 54 leg,

Any how long story short What I've found is getting body armor based on +leg armor really didn't matter. unless you wanted more then 60 Leg armor. It will always be cheaper to make up the armor difference on legs with better bots then to get the armor with good leg defense.

Am I figuring this correct or have I done my numbers wrong or am I missing a factor?

[Rusty_Shacklefjord]

Generally speaking gauntlets have a better armor:weight ratio than body armor. Body armor also starts to get much heavier around ~15 weight without much change in armor. Therefore, it's most effective to wear medium body armor and heavy gauntlets. For example - Sarranid Guard armor and Heavy Gauntlets will give you 56 body armor for a weight of only 16.5, versus Transitional Armor and Mail Mittens (56 armor) at 22.2 weight.

From a strategic standpoint, body armor is the most important stat. Head armor is also important for infantry, but not for archers or cavalry. Armored boots aren't really necessary unless you're cavalry, in which case your legs are exposed. If you're on foot, take a pair of light boots.

[Miwiw]

Regarding the boots, I would totally go for the looks.
Even the best boots with 40 Leg Armor and 323 Gold Upkeep, only have 3.8 weight. Surely do not take them as archer. But as infantry you are free to take any of those. Rus Cavalry Boots have probably the best stats with 19 Leg Armor and only 0.8 weight. Hard to do anything wrong there, neither with a bit heavier ones.

And it's quite true, it really makes sense to take at least medium gauntlets, such as the Scale Gauntlets or Hourglass Gauntlets. They are also cheap with 361 and 520 upkeep and give 6 and 7 body armor. If you are short on money, they are better for you as for example the Heavy Gauntlets, which have 10 body amor though but also have an upkeep over 1,000 gold.

Another example, Heavy Gauntlets 10 Body Armor and 2 weight + Rus Lamellar Cuirass with 48 Body Armor and 17 weight (which is already heavy) = results in more Body Armor than the Gothic Armor with Bevor has. Price-wise it is similar, but you save nearly 10 weight. Which is a lot!

Head Armor is also quite important and I would generally take something with more than 45 Head Armor. After that you usually get 1 Head Armor for 0.1 Weight.