How does armor work?

[triste]

I understand the newbie was mostly joking because they seem to like to joke! I am sorry for inspiring them to say debuff with my whining.

I literally just want to know what scrab shoulderplates are good for -- decoration only?

[Inks]

It is a mystery. Maybe something (def) maybe nothing. Only imms can know.

Asking about what X item does won't get anywhere and will likely get moderated. Icly it protects your shoulder and makes you look cool.

[triste]

Icly it protects your shoulder and makes you look cool [like a noob or a mul who can afford the dead weight]

Crossed out the first part that hasn't been confirmed.

Crossed out the second part because the only, ONLY time I have seen a player wearing pauldrons who wasn't a newbie was a mul. The only time. Because encumbrance is irrelevant to muls. So the sample size, the fashion consensus (based off the consensus of what these items codedly do NOT do) is that shoulder plates are for newbies and muls. Cool... I guess.

All the veterans minus one imply it doesn't protect anything. We need data.

Just losing my mind over this because [1] I make armor and study history as a hobby and if these items are codedly useless that is totally illogical [2] if the vets are right that this armor has no coded effects, it EPITOMIZES "stupid undocumented coded things veterans have the privilege of knowing which new players do not," and I would like to eliminate all sources of unjustified, illogical coded advantages for veterans that have no basis in logic or good roleplay.

[valeria]

Staff has already clearly said that shoulder and ankle aren't really armor spots for the purposes of how the code works (i.e., you can't get hit there):

This thread summarizes some thoughts of the players to the staff while they were working on harmonizing some of the armor items:
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,54534.0.html

This post in particular is quite enlightening:
https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,54534.msg1029853.html#msg1029853

A maybe more readable version of stuff.

	Head	Neck	Arms	Wrist	Hands	Body	Legs	Feet	Waist	Shoulder	Ankle
Cloth	0.50	0.25	1.00	0.25	0.25	2.00	1.25	0.75	0.25	0.25	0.25
Cheap Leather	0.75	0.50	2.00	0.50	0.75	4.00	2.75	1.25	0.75	0.50	0.50
Wood/Bone	1.50	1.00	4.00	0.75	1.25	8.00	5.25	2.75	1.25	1.00	0.75
Leather	1.75	1.25	4.50	1.00	1.50	9.00	6.00	3.00	1.50	1.25	1.00
Heavy Leather/Studded	2.50	1.50	6.00	1.25	2.00	12.00	8.00	4.00	2.00	1.50	1.25
Cheap Chitin/Cheap Obsidian	2.75	1.75	6.75	1.25	2.25	13.50	9.00	4.50	2.25	1.75	1.25
Chitin/Obsidian	3.25	2.00	8.25	1.75	2.75	16.50	11.00	5.50	2.75	2.00	1.75
Shell	5.00	3.25	12.50	2.50	4.25	25.00	16.75	8.25	4.25	3.25	2.50
Heavy Shell	7.00	4.25	17.25	3.50	5.75	34.50	23.00	11.50	5.75	4.25	3.50

Note that the last two, shoulder and ankle, aren't really armor spots, since you don't get hit there, but folks have over time made armor for them so we included them.

Emphasis mine

If you would like to do something about what is or isn't in the helpfile, since it bothers you:

Maybe put in a Website > Bug/Typo/Idea request?

[triste]

If it is not a myth and these items are codedly useless, make them -- every single pauldron, shoulder plate, and armored shoulder doily -- useful. This way people will choose to wear them as armor if their character needs armor rather than avoiding them. We then see more realistic roleplay and behavior.

This game is about immersive roleplay, not immersion killing metagaming. If you are saying the state of this armor is fine as is, you are essentially condoning a metagaming advantage for jaded vets and hurting newbies like OP.

[Shabago]

It's lovely you want to know what it does or doesn't do.

You won't.

What the armor rework accomplished that was to be player knowledge it already out there and has been quoted twice already. Make your decision from that.

[Fernandezj]

The existing helpfile generally already says all of this:

Good armor is relatively scarce, and much armor is scavenged from various places, so a piecemeal armor system is used in Armageddon. This means that if your
character wears some armor on their arms, only their arms will be protected. This system allows you to manage the weight of armor your character is carrying fairly well.
Note that such ideas as Armor Class are not present in Armageddon.

During combat, specific hit locations are determined, and if there is armor on that body part, some protection may be afforded. The armor may block none, some, or all
of the damage, but in any case, be aware that the character will still probably take stun damage.

On that note, I'm writing up a revised helpfile to present some of the discussions from the GDB that are not available in the helpfile, since it does seem to "gate" armor-survivability information onto the GDB.

[williamson]

If it is not a myth and these items are codedly useless, make them -- every single pauldron, shoulder plate, and armored shoulder doily -- useful. This way people will choose to wear them as armor if their character needs armor rather than avoiding them. We then see more realistic roleplay and behavior.

This game is about immersive roleplay, not immersion killing metagaming. If you are saying the state of this armor is fine as is, you are essentially condoning a metagaming advantage for jaded vets and hurting newbies like OP.

I must disagree with your complaint and assumptions. The staff has provided us with ample information about how armor works. You aren't going to get a detailed explanation or statistics.  With the customcraft system, we are able to build many objects that aren't necessarily supported by the code. You can make armor in locations that aren't hit. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the object is useless.

Let me give two possible examples:

You customcraft a horror plated hairpin. Since in hair isn't a target location, you are wearing armor that doesn't really help you via the code. I would consider it a RP tool or decorative piece. There's nothing wrong/broken/meta about the item.

Next month, you customcraft a fang-spiked shoulder plate. Again, this is an object that isn't built for an armor location. However, during your craft submission report, you suggest the spikes on the shoulder plate give you a bonus to bashing people. The staff may or may not add such a bonus (if it's possible). Let's assume they do. Now the object isn't armor code wise. However, it does help you with bashing. Thus it's not a useless object. There's nothing wrong/broken/meta about the object.

If all else fails, you can experiment with the objects. Spar someone wearing a piece of armor and spar them again without it. Perhaps there is a difference, perhaps it doesn't matter? You can find out.

This isn't an advantage for "jaded vets". There is an advantage for those who read the staff posts on the GDB. However,  this is available to ALL players, even the newest.

[triste]

This is widely known now thanks to Ulga's post.
Thanks and bless you for bringing to light this situation that veterans like mansa, valeria, and williamson have excellently elucidated over many paragraphs.

No one should ever be afraid to ask questions and our new players rock.

If it weren't for your question, no light would have been shed on this at all beyond the assumptions players have been left to make from scattered posts. Don't be afraid to ask questions, I pushed hard to learn more (admittedly from a code nerd and armor nerd influenced perspective thinking something was "broken" here) and I have learned some armor is "decorative encumbrance." I can accept that.

[Inks]

 You'll be fine. Glad to have you.

[Hestia]

Question was asked, question was answered.