Plate armor

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Plate armor

Plate armor

Overlapping solid plates of armor covering the entire body from neck to feet.

Base Stats

Type
GearArmor
Tech Level
Medieval
Mass
15 kg
HP
290

Apparel

Insulation Factor - Cold
1.0×
Insulation Factor - Heat
0.0×
Armor Factor - Sharp
0.73
Armor Factor - Blunt
0.73
Armor Factor - Heat
0.73
Coverage
Torso, Neck, Left Shoulder, Left Arm, Right Shoulder, Right Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg
Layer
Middle, Outer

Creation

Crafted At
Fueled smithy / Electric smithy
Required Research
Plate armor
Skill Required
Crafting 7
Work To Make
38,000 ticks (10.56 mins)
Stuff Tags
Metallic, Woody
Resources to make
Stuff 170
Technical
thingCategories
ApparelArmor
thingSetMakerTags
RewardStandardLowFreq, RewardStandardQualitySuper
defaultOutfitTags
Soldier
tags
MedievalMilitary


Plate armor is a type of apparel (armor) that functions as low-tech full body armor. It can be crafted out of various materials.

It has a heavy move speed penalty of -0.8 c/s when worn. As such, it may be wise to leave it in a stockpile until entering combat.

Acquisition

Plate armor can be crafted at a Fueled smithy or Electric smithy once the Plate armor research project has been completed. They require Stuff 170 Stuff (Metallic/Woody, 1700 for SMVs), 38,000 ticks (10.56 mins) of work, and a Crafting skill of 7.

It can also be found on the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind Chance Average Quality Health
Archer chief 100% Normal 100%
Berserker chief 100% Normal 100%
Champion Content added by the Royalty DLC 100% Normal 70-100%

Analysis

Overall, plate armor is rarely worth it. A non-wood set of plate is a large resource investment in the early game. Wood plate armor offers minimal protection, and still takes a lot of work to create. All sets of plate armor slow the user by -0.8c/s - the highest movement penalty in the game, tied with cataphract armorContent added by the Royalty DLC.

Usually, it is worth it to wait until the Flak vests research has completed, as flak vests are much cheaper, much more protective against arrows and bullets, and do not slow the wearer nearly as much. Flak research is not terribly hard to acquire once you've researched Plate armor already. Flak can also be obtained from raiders or through trade, meaning that even tribal colonies can replace plate armor relatively quickly.

Compared to flak

Flak vests cost Steel 60 Steel, Cloth 30 Cloth, Component 1 Component, cheaper than a set of steel plate armor, at Steel 170. The vest alone has 100% Sharp and 36% Blunt armor. This is slightly better Blunt and much better Sharp protection than steel plate. Sharp damage is the most common form of damage. Vests protect the torso, neck, and vital organs, while plate also covers the arms and legs. While the limbs are important to pawn function, plate offers much worse protection to the torso - the body part most likely to be hit. Flak vests cover every vital body part except for the head and brain, which plate armor doesn't protect either.

Flak vests can also be worn with flak jackets and flak pants, the full combination being a fair bit more expensive than steel plate (Steel 190 + Cloth 110 + Component 3). Jackets and pants protect the arms / legs, respectively, but are still worse than steel plate. The jacket also protects the torso and neck, for an even larger disparity in those area. In addition, vests can be worn with dusters of a protective material like devilstrand or thrumbofur for even greater protection for the torso, neck, arms, and legs. In any case, plate still ends up better for limb protection, in part because you can wear regular pants with it.

Steel/plasteel plate armor always has higher Heat armor than the flak combination. However, a devilstrand duster beats any set of plate against Heat. Plate armor also has -0.8c/s movement speed, while each piece of flak armor only gives -0.12c/s. Each piece of flak armor has 200 HP, while the entire set of steel plate has 290 HP.

Compared to power armor

A set of plasteel plate armor is more expensive in value than recon armor; it protects the same body parts, is worse against Sharp damage, and very slightly better against Blunt / Heat. Its movement penalty is heavier at -0.8c/s, compared to no penalty for recon armor.

Plasteel plate has 2 advantages: one is that it doesn't require advanced components. The second, is that with 810 hp, it lasts much longer than the recon and marine armor, which have 280 HP or 340 HP respectively. However, these are not usually worth it, unless you have a large surplus on plasteel and are unable to create power armor.

A legendary steel plate armor is equivalent to normal cataphract armorContent added by the Royalty DLC at 1/3 of the market value, while legendary plasteel plate armor is equivalent to excellent cataphract while costing 40 less plasteel to produce. With a Production SpecialistContent added by the Ideology DLC and a GenieContent added by the Biotech DLC (or anyone with the Great Crafting gene), masterwork and legendary quality armors can be created from the beginning of the game.

Material table

  • Material Sharp Blunt Heat Item HP Insulation - Cold Insulation - Heat Market Value
    Wooden Plate armor 39.42% 39.42% 29.2% 188.5 -8 °C (-14.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 300 Silver
    Bioferrite Plate armor 80.3% 36.5% 36.5% 580 -2.5 °C (-4.5 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 470 Silver
    Golden Plate armor 52.56% 26.28% 26.28% 174 -3 °C (-5.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 17125 Silver
    Plasteel Plate armor 83.22% 40.15% 47.45% 812 -3 °C (-5.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 1830 Silver
    Silver Plate armor 52.56% 26.28% 26.28% 203 -3 °C (-5.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 1835 Silver
    Steel Plate armor 65.7% 32.85% 43.8% 290 -3 °C (-5.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 460 Silver
    Uranium Plate armor 78.84% 39.42% 47.45% 725 -3 °C (-5.4 °F) +0 °C (0 °F) 1280 Silver

    Assuming Normal quality, for the effect of other qualities, see Quality.
  • Protection Charts

    Sharp Armor Blunt Armor


    Sharp Armor Blunt Armor

    Trivia

    Every set of plate armor found on an Imperial Champion will be white.

    Version history