Weight of swords...

[Dunecat]

weapons were typically 2 to 4 pounds, 4 being a larger 2handed word, maybe up to 5 on a greatsword or long 2handed axe.
They were light. Two handed swords do swing faster than a 1hander, but 1 handers get a shield. When you swing with two hands you get two points of influence and it is very easy to swing.
If your weapon was close to 3 pounds, you could swing it around for HOURS while still killing people very very efficiently. Weapons were not heavy, or they could not be used in battle.
For example, one handed battle axes had really small heads and weighed very little. A one handed battle axe would typically weigh 2 to 2.5 pounds

Of course, for game balance one handers and 2 handers swing the same speed. And they do in game. Most shielders seem to have bad footwork and timing which let them get spammed viciously by 2handers. They are not slower weapons in game, contrary to popular belief.

Now for armor. For game balance, you are much slower when wearing armor. Realistically, hardly at all. You can do handstands and cartwheels in platemail, hell you could run a mile at full speed with ease. Knights vaulted up onto their horses with no problem.
Something lighter like Chainmail? You would hardly know you were wearing it. People trained in their armor for years and were completely used to it like it was a part of themselves.

Indeed.

[Tristan]

Well you almsot seemed convincing except you said chainmail.... rpg +1, historical correctness -1.

Apart from that, yes, a plate armor (not mail!) is very flexible and the weight is distributed so well, that you can do gymnastics in it.

However Mailles (what you call chainmail) is very heavy and all the weight is centered on the shoulders. A lot used a belt to make better weight distribution.

A plate armor is in every way more effective than maile or hauberk, but is also about 100 to 200 years younger.

[Elric_de_Melnibone]

I know this topic has been dead for a while, but something has been bothering me ever since I got my suit of plate armour ingame.


Well, I own a full suit of plate armour in real life, along with dents, scratches and everything that armour that is actually used suffers.
My hobby is full-contact fighting with next to no rules, and I enjoy it a great deal. For the sake of protection, good armour is required.


Now, that's all not really important here, it's just to make it clear that I have experience in wearing and using medieval armour.
(Almost) All that has been said in the last posts is true.


Now owning a suit of plate armour in real life, I, of course, want to have that plate armour in games as well.
So I saved up my money, used crappy gear for a long, long time. And now I'm here, with plate armour in cRPG.

Then I tried it out for the first time.

It was rather dissapointing.

I'm aware of the need for balance, but the restrictions you receive ingame for wearing plate armour seem way too strong.

Without the plate armour I love and use without being restricted much in terms of mo- and agility in real life, I was able to kill in duels, was alot quicker, blocks, chambers and attacks were alot more responsive.

WITH the plate armour, I felt like my character was forced into being "drunk".
No kidding. Whenever I use plate armour, it feels so bloody clumsy and unresponsive, as if my character was drunk.

I know that I play just like that when I'm actually drunk, but it's rather dissapointing to be forced into that "level of play" when there is no logical reason or explanation (except balance) for it.

Not to mention that I was still killed way too easily. C'mon, I've been hit full force with fullmetal maces, swords and axes in real life in my armour, and I'm still alive and kicking - actually, even the mace didn't really stop me or knocked me out.


All I'm saying is that I would love it if cRPG would remove those silly debuffs from plate armour and find some other way to balance it.

That's just a wish of mine, and I doubt it will be granted.
But one can dream, right? 

[Bobthehero]

Wish it was like that too, but, whiners and haters will whine and hate...

[Tears of Destiny]

If you guys want "effective" plate, they would have to increase the cost by a significant amount :/

[Bobthehero]

Tears you know full well that cost is not a balancing factor, remember all the crazy suggestions of ultra expansive items, and the trolling that ensued...

[Elric_de_Melnibone]

I don't really mind increasing cost at all.

That would mean increased repair costs as well, which would make it even less profitable to always use it as it is right now.
And right now, well, the repair costs render the plate armour completely "not worth it".

Yes, plate should be very, very powerful.
But you could only use it once in a while - the repair costs I'm thinking about would dry out even the richest players rather fast if they -always- used it.


Maybe I could think about the whole idea of buffing plate in a -sensible- way and open a thread in the suggestion corner?

Because... it's really, really "meh" right now. And that makes me a sad panda.

[Tears of Destiny]

Tears you know full well that cost is not a balancing factor, remember all the crazy suggestions of ultra expansive items, and the trolling that ensued...

It is part of the balancing factor, as the vast majority of the players do not have oodles of cash.
Better stuff has always cost more, effecting 89% of the players due to upkeep.

Clearly I don't know full well :/

[Teeth]

Realism is really not attainable in this game. Most used equipment for the regular soldiers of the medieval battlefield were the spear and shield, a virtually non existent build in cRPG anyway, so I'd say we should stop trying to incorporate all kinds of ideas because they are realistic, when its undoable with Warband's limitations.

[Kafein]

Still, heavy armors seem pretty meh to me atm. They slow you down reducing your effectiveness both in melee and in ranged dodging. The effect of the additional survivability is really not that great for such a penalty. The high cost should mean they give you an edge. Well, they don't.

[BlackMilk]

My K/D when I'm wearing a Red Gambeson is better than when I'm wearing a Heavy Plate Armor...

[Siiem]

My K/D when I'm wearing a Red Gambeson is better than when I'm wearing a Heavy Plate Armor...

Thats because your swings do a ton more damage and the speed is nigh light.

[Peasant_Woman]

Honestly I think plate should cost quite a bit more, and the penalty for wearing it lowered a bit to see if that makes it a fair tradeoff. Because as it is when I wear plate (On an alt) all it helps with is making bounces a bit more common and I take an extra 2 (usually) good hits to die, not a fair bonus for having to fight drunk really.

[Lordark]

I went to a Ren fair a while back and I tried to swing a great sword and that muther musta wight ATLEAST 20 lbs!

[Tears of Destiny]

I went to a Ren fair a while back and I tried to swing a great sword and that muther musta wight ATLEAST 20 lbs!

No real greatsword weighed more then 8 lbs if used for combative purposes and not ceremonial. rarely did any two handed word exceed 6 lbs and rarely did any one handed exceed 2.

Most people do not have the right muscles built up, and since the swords are so long, it feels heavier then they are.