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[SebbyTheFreak]

Combat maces were actually invented AFTER the sword, believe it or not, with the advent of shaped metal armours (AKA, breastplates).

Blade weapons like swords or arrows couldn't cause any damage to a metalclad region of body. So instead they created a weapon so tough and heavy that it's purpose to:

1- Cause concussion damage to the CONTENT of the armor by causing it to transfer the energy of the impact on the plate to the fleshy body inside
and/or
2- If the impact is strong enough to dent the armor, to dent it THROUGH the fleshy body underneath. Most mace hit to the chest on a breastplate caused the metal to cave-in inside the wearer's ribs, choking them to death. (Metal wins over bones anytime)


So yes, blunt weapons will be much, MUCH more efficient than any other medieval weapons against shaped metal armor. (And that's why one of the best cavalry weapon ever is the cavalry flail)

[Darvi]

Yes, blunt weapons are better against plate and such, but chain is is likewise much worse at protecting against it, since the impact with be transferred directly to the torso instead of being held back by the metal.

[SebbyTheFreak]

Chainmail over padded cloth would offer some protection, especially if worn under a breastplate.

I have no idea how cloth affects weapons though.

Like my artifact wool shirt... I wonder if it actually helps protect it's wearer.

[Darvi]

I think that shirt gives excellent protection against grease stains.

[Tlc2011]

Exactly.

That's also why adamantine chainmail is wasted against bludgeoning.

I can see the trolls now:

"Problem, adamantine...?"
"Nah, i'll never get dented by this iron h-- FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU......."
Trolls will

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

over that.

[urick]

The hammer impact on the metal plate will drive the plate onto your chest, but increasing the surface area of the attack should spread the load such that each square milliurist of chest receives less force.
Not saying thats how the game does it, tho.

[Urist Da Vinci]

The wiki says mail shirts cover more of the body, does that mean they are superior to breastplates? Or do breastplates protect the areas they do cover better?

Same thing with high boots/low boots?

Breastplates provide better protection than mail shirts, but don't cover the upper arms. Unless you assign mail shirts to be worn under the breastplate, you will likely see arm amputations during combat with enemy swordsmen.

Low boots only protect the foot, whereas high boots cover the lower leg as well.

Blunt weapons do more damage to rigid armour.

No.

Mail has the [STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_ALL] token, so it will not protect well against blunt attacks.

Breastplates and greaves protect better against blunt attacks, because they distribute the load and don't flex. They can even protect against falling damage sometimes (test it for yourself in the arena if you want to see this happen!).

Has there been any science done on this?  I'm having a hard time imagining how you'd set that up to be a fair comparison between mail shirts and breastplates though, given the difference in coverage.  Perhaps modding them both to give the same coverage before testing.

Yes.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=93409.0

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