We don't want to have to be landsknechts to fit the pike role visually, black armor is three quarters not a single breastplate. A damn churburg cuirass is a better suggestion but then we would be going full plate. The thing is we want a nice omnipotent breastplate to serve our needs, not armor that only works for Germans or conquistadors if you use a morion, but even then it doesn't feel right. And breastplates were used long before guns, from ancient Greece then I guess it died in the dark ages only to be used again in the middle ages into Renaissance, it was even used in ww2 as flak jackets. To leave out a piece of equipment that has been present through a lot of years in warfare is a mistake.
The game includes scale armor covering the chest only, so why not a breastplate?
Its either this, or I play samurai for 10 gens because more samurai is exactly what crpg needs.