Body Armor in T2K

[pmulcahy11b]

Every so often, I get a weird glimmering of an idea for a new body armor rating in T2K -- basically, your vest or helmet might have a rating of "0.7" or something like that, which would mean that the incoming damage is multiplied by 0.7 to determine how much damage goes on to your fragile body. In the case of the "0.7 armor" here, one would receive 2 points of blunt trauma damage -- the 0.3 stopped, x10, /2, rounded up. I just haven't really sat down and tried to firm up the concept.

[Targan]

Gunmaster has a similar system. If bullet penetration damage is reduced below a certain level due to body armour, that penetration damage is converted to blunt impact. This is important in Gunmaster because different types of damage (Blunt, Edge, Point (and the sub-set of Ballistic point), Fire/Frost, Squeeze and Tear) have different effects on the body (in terms of shock rolls, blood loss and healing).

All the different versions of Gunmaster can be downloaded for free at http://www.warflail.com/harn/index.html

Heh, heh. It's been a while since I've mentioned Gunmaster so I thought I might get away with this post

[Legbreaker]

Gee, any excuse to promote Gunmaster.......

[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Every so often, I get a weird glimmering of an idea for a new body armor rating in T2K -- basically, your vest or helmet might have a rating of "0.7" or something like that, which would mean that the incoming damage is multiplied by 0.7 to determine how much damage goes on to your fragile body. In the case of the "0.7 armor" here, one would receive 2 points of blunt trauma damage -- the 0.3 stopped, x10, /2, rounded up. I just haven't really sat down and tried to firm up the concept.

Paul, I think you're channeling 2300AD there. The decimal values of armor plus the non-penetration force defaulting to blunt trauma.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

Paul, I think you're channeling 2300AD there. The decimal values of armor plus the non-penetration force defaulting to blunt trauma.

Hmmm...I have 2300AD, but I've never actually read the rules system, just looked at the future "history." I'll have to take a closer look.

[James Langham]

How about this is a rule mechanic:

Armour has a wear value like vehicles. Until it reaches value 10 when it is destroyed it works perfectly. Wear value is increased by 1 in the following circumstances:

* each month on a 1D10 roll of 1 which must then be confirmed by rolling the wear value or less (tears get bigger, etc)

* each penetrating hit by a small arms

* each non-penetrating hit by small arms if the damage dice stopped are equal to or more than a roll of 1D6.

* the number of dice of a penetrating or non-penatrating large calibre weapon

Helmets which are notoriously damagable by small arms fire take double the wear value for all except the first case.

Rigid plate inserts where fitted are also subject to this rule but are also subject to shattering on each impact that penetrates. this occurs on a 1D10 roll equal to or less than the new wear value.

I suggest a doubling or trippling of the base cost of armour so that it is reasonably priced when worn.

Thoughts?

Usefully this has also got me thinking about rifle wear values linked to rules I am writing for weapon reliability.

[Targan]

Is it possible to replace damaged/degraded kevlar panels in the field? For instance by removing and storing undamaged panels from damaged body armour. I assume kevlar body armour consists of a number of specifically sized and shaped internal panels sewn, glued or other wise fixed in place within a durable nylon exterior cover? And if it is possible to field-refurbish 'Frankenstein' body armour, is it possible to cut larger panels down to a required size and shape where necessary, without impairing the panels' impact resistance?

On a similar vein, what grades and thicknesses of steel could be cut and shaped to create at least marginally effective replacement hard plates?

[natehale1971]

I think I had read somewhere that you can meltdown and recast kevlar.. or is that cermaic plates?

[Legbreaker]

Kevlar doesn't melt, it "decomposes" just shy of 500 degrees C.
http://www2.dupont.com/Kevlar/en_US/...ical_Guide.pdf
It doesn't burn either unless you hold a blow torch to it.
The outer shell of a vest however is another story depending on what it's made of.
Silicon Carbide, which is the ceramic used in vests likewise will not melt. Another use for it is disk brakes in high performance vehicles where melting at any temperature would be squarely in the "bad things" category.