Plate for spears

[dopp]

Still no word from CA about whether the armor upgrades work properly, or are they not sure themselves? It's difficult to balance the units unless one knows exactly what the upgrades do.

[Lusted]

They're not working properly, that we can be sure of.

[Jambo]

Well, the weapon upgrade gives a lot more than +1 attack that's for sure. What is clear is that what the upgrades do to the stats in-game is not at all representative of what they really do! So I'd be inclined to agree with Lusted that armour upgrades do not just improve by +1 in a linear fashion. As to what armour upgrades really do.. who knows..

[Flavius Merobaudes]

To conclude: heavy mail (old) = helmet and trunk armour (new) - concerning the values.

I still believe that lower quality armour gives larger bonuses per intervall.
For example, leather/gambeson to chainmail is a larger step forward than let's say partial plate to full plate.

What I don't understand is some differences in top level armour. Gothic Knights have the best armour available (advanced plate, lvl.6) but French Lanciers (also advanced plate, lvl.6) have better armour stats. How come?

[Miracle]

Dismounted Sipahi Lancers can be upgraded to Splint Mail which is better than Heavy Mail.

Just to recap here are the armor levels and their corresponding values:

Unarmored: +0
Padded/Leather: +4
Light Mail: +5
Heavy Mail: +6 or +7
Partial Plate/Splint Mail: +8
Full Plate/Heavy Splint: +9
Advanced Plate: +10
Early Renaissance Plate: +11

Note that certain units get +6 instead of +7 armor for heavy mail. They either use light brigandine or Mamluk-style armor.

The Mongols and Timurids use lamellar armor but I'm not sure how they fit in.

[dopp]

What I don't understand is some differences in top level armour. Gothic Knights have the best armour available (advanced plate, lvl.6) but French Lanciers (also advanced plate, lvl.6) have better armour stats. How come?

Slight difference in quality between Gothic plate and very late Italian plate. It's intentional, apparently.

They both get pwned anyway for being stupid enough not to carry a shield (just like pikemen, halberdiers and 2handers, which all tend to be late units). All that advanced armor, tactics and weaponry cannot equal a simple wooden board for sheer fighting effectiveness. The days have truly gone down in the West...

[doorknobdeity]

According to the FUSIL, shields don't help against gunpowder. I would guess that's why they don't have shields.

[dopp]

But most battles remain a hand-to-hand affair where 4-6 points of shield make a huge difference.