Are pig tail cloth cloaks just as good as pig leather cloaks?
cloth's defense value = 0
leather's (bone's, shell's, wood's) defense value = 1
metal defense value = 2/3
master quality = +1
I wasn't doing this !science!, I just read on forum a lot of posts on this. Though I believe Wiki on armor topic should have this information too. You should also check on densities Wiki page, when setting up armor and weapon's material choices. I did. One of the unfortunate reasons I have in my artifact list lousy but named leather shields.
dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Armor
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Types of armor
In terms of classifications, armor can be classed into three different types. The first is clothing, made of leather or cloth. Clothing can only deflect very weak attacks - say, a raven bite - but nonetheless can dampen damage. Most dwarves will be wearing clothing; those that aren't will usually be very unhappy, babies, or insane. The second type is leather and bone armor, which is specialized for the purpose from clothing; it is very weak, but still better than nothing. The last type is true metal armor, made at a metalsmith's forge; it is this armor that is made by an armorsmith, and should be used by a serious military.
Though all clothes can protect from damage, a "true" suit of armor consists of the following pieces, one cell from each column.
Torso Head Arm Leg Feet Shields (block attacks)
Mail Shirt (upper body + lower body + neck + upper arms + upper legs) and/or Breastplate (upper body + lower body)
Helms
Gauntlets (hands + wrists)
Greaves, made of plate
High boots (feet + lower legs)
Shield
Leather armor (upper body + lower body)
Cap
Gloves (hands)
Leggings, made of chain
Low boots (feet)
Buckler
The first row is the more effective choice, while the second row is an alternative offering less protection.
Note that if a mail shirt is combined with high boots, explicit leg covering can be omitted. (Dwarves don't have knees to protect, so upper leg from the shirt and lower leg from the boot is complete).
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