Chain Mail Armor

[therealskitz0]

So i was thinking about that now that we have craftable platemail and other types of armor why not chain mail?

Chain mail is a lighter more flexible alternative to platemail and would provide similar protection against slashing and bashing damage

its encumbrance would be lower than platemail due to the flexibility of the links

it could be crafted with the wire from chain link fences, you take the wire and spin it around a pipe or copper tubing and use bolt cutters to snip the links

then from there you weave the links into patches and then patches into something like a chain mail vest or shirt

it would require a medium lvl of fabrication and tailoring because the patterns are realitvly simple and easy to learn

[vache]

Wouldn’t crafting it take an unbearably long amount of time?

[100Rads]

Yes, but with the armor, you could unleash your real dwarven powers.
EDIT: Also, for the crafting, maybe you’d need to craft a couple of sheets of chainmail, and then connect them into an armor? You could also make makeshift chainmail sheets with wire, for makeshift chainmail armor.

[therealskitz0]

yeah its definetly time consuming, im 2 months into making a full shirt but look at tailoring right now taking just 50 minuetes to sew something like a blanket which can take weeks by hand i think it can be shortened

[kevin.granade]

Yea, it would take quite a long time, but if someone really wants to do it, no reason to deny it. Good idea about making “bolts” of chainmail, and then assemble those into the final product, that keep any one recipe from taking an absurdly long time.

[Hyena_Grin]

Chainmail can stop shark bites from puncturing (I would not necessarily expect to get away without a bruise or a broken bone but that is another story). I suspect it’d probably prevent zombie bites from puncturing too, so it would make a lot of sense as a protective measure against zombie bite infections. I would definitely not turn it down in that situation.

You could even find (and craft) rare shark-suits (diving chainmail) in pawn shops. Or chainmail butcher’s gloves.

[KA101]

yeah its definetly time consuming, im 2 months into making a full shirt but look at tailoring right now taking just 50 minuetes to sew something like a blanket which can take weeks by hand i think it can be shortened

One thing to consider is that (by default) one day in-game maps to a week of calendar time. (14 days to the season.) So yeah, you can shorten the per-unit crafting time by that standard. What’s taken you 2 months IRL would be achievable in roughly 8 Cata-days of the same shifts you’ve put in, for example.

(And as for the merits: definitely looking forward to chainmail. )

[Killer-of-Lawyers]

At the very least, chainmail butcher’s gloves at grocery stores would be a nice touch.

[DevilRanger]

The flexibility of chain mail would not make it particularly good at stopping blunt forces. Plate mail works by absorbing the energy to deform the plates rather than your body while chain mail does not need to be deformed in order to damage the body as it flexes around the point of impact, though it would still have some medium level of protection due to the force being spread over a slightly larger area.

[DerpMcgee]

I support this idea.

However, under the right circumstances a coat of plates would have less encumbrance than actually chain mail. If it is made to fit the person using it. Of course, most plate mail in the game is usually found.

[HS1342]

YEEEEEEEEES, CHAIN MAIL!

NOW WHERE’S MY MEAD AND MY GREATAXE?
I CAN’T WAIT TO GO RAIDING CITIES!

[Morrigi]

How about two types of chain mail? One could be “makeshift chain mail”, made from wire, easier to make than the real deal, but offering considerably less protection.

The other, “real” kind would require metal sheets (can these be made by blacksmithing? Make it so!), a punch or wirecutters for making the rings, and a whole lot of time.

[quote=“DevilRanger, post:9, topic:4456”]The flexibility of chain mail would not make it particularly good at stopping blunt forces. Plate mail works by absorbing the energy to deform the plates rather than your body while chain mail does not need to be deformed in order to damage the body as it flexes around the point of impact, though it would still have some medium level of protection due to the force being spread over a slightly larger area.[/quote]Potential solution incoming.
Padded jacks (a thick jacket made of a couple dozen layers of cloth) were often worn under chain mail for this very reason. In-game, they would take a hell of a lot of cloth and be a bit hot, but also be quite effective for protection by themselves. (At least against your average zombie.)

[Datanazush]

A relatively important question is, how would chain mail interact with getting shot? In real life there’s a very real threat from fragments of the links getting blasted into you when you get shot if you’re actually wearing it. Soldiers who wore chain mail during WW1 were far more likely to get fatally wounded by gunshot. However, a splatter mask (best described as a chain mail veil) does protect from shrapnel.
Aaand splatter mask, for those interested.

[ChristopherWalken]

Yes you can make sheet metal by welding bits of metal if I recall correctly.

[Morrigi]

[quote=“Datanazush, post:13, topic:4456”]A relatively important question is, how would chain mail interact with getting shot? In real life there’s a very real threat from fragments of the links getting blasted into you when you get shot if you’re actually wearing it. Soldiers who wore chain mail during WW1 were far more likely to get fatally wounded by gunshot. However, a splatter mask (best described as a chain mail veil) does protect from shrapnel.
Aaand splatter mask, for those interested.

Yeah, wearing a bunch of little bits of metal and getting shot tends to turn them into shrapnel… traveling in whatever direction the bullet was.

[therealskitz0]

morrigi real chainmail doesnt have metal sheets, you might might be thinking of scale mail or splint mail

scale mail being small scale like metal plates linked together by metal rings
heavier than chainmail but offers better protection

Splint mail being strips of metal around 4 inches long overlaping eachother
very loud but offers moderate protection for a slight loss of flexibility

also when chainmail is shot it doesnt fly apart in every direction as the links are either riveted together or are butted together, usually when chainmail is shot it acts like a minor bullet resistant vest where the flexibility of the links helps to slow the bullet down slightly but it doesnt stop it entirely

so while chainmail is not bullet proof it would offer some resistance to firearms and would not burst apart in a hail of shrapnel

[therealskitz0]

sorry on the double post but the wire i was talking about isnt electrical wire its the wire from a chainlink fence which is plenty strong enough to make links out of. trying to make the links with a plate of metal would be incredibly hard because you would have to make that plate into a strand which wouldnt be as strong as extruded metal

[Datanazush]

[quote=“therealskitz0, post:16, topic:4456”]also when chainmail is shot it doesnt fly apart in every direction as the links are either riveted together or are butted together, usually when chainmail is shot it acts like a minor bullet resistant vest where the flexibility of the links helps to slow the bullet down slightly but it doesnt stop it entirely

so while chainmail is not bullet proof it would offer some resistance to firearms and would not burst apart in a hail of shrapnel[/quote]
It wouldn’t burst apart, but if you’re being shot with a bullet it’s probably going to break several of the links, and those links won’t just fall off you harmlessly. The transfer of force means that any damaged links will probably be fragmented and now traveling into your body at a reasonable velocity. It’s the main reason why people stopped wearing it when the musket became common and it’s the reason it didn’t come back when shaped bullets started to be used.