Questions about armor and unarmed vs melee

[Alrom]

I got two pieces of armor borrowed and they give x/y stats. I'm aware that x is how much they block (armor deflect) and y is how much they will block but also take "wear damage" (armor soak).

So if I have something like a shield with 4/1 and a helmet with 1/7 and I'm fighting bats and said bats can never hit me for more than 4 damage, does that mean my shield with 4/1 will never take wear damage since bats can't break through the armor deflect but since the damage is spread among all my armor I can still take 4 damage on my helmet with 1/7, which would soak 1 damage, take 3 wear damage but still protect my character?

In this case, not having the helmet with 1/7 would be better against bats since it isn't offering any extra defense and is just getting worn out?



Is there any problem using a shield while fighting unarmed?

edit: So far I've seen only benefits.



And lastly, is melee combat worth investing on or should I just focus entirely on unarmed? It's a bit hard to find information since weapons don't show values like their damage and the wiki is a bit outdated or lacking information.

Also, not having a "weapon damage" on the weapon makes it kinda hard to value how good weapons can be.

edit: Removed the part where I asked about melee weapon weight. There is a description at the very bottom of skills that explain that.

[Sevenless]

My knowledge is too out dated to answer all your questions. However: Armor values stack, meaning the attacks go against your entire deflection, then your entire absorb. If you take less than the max absorb damage, I seem to think it's distributed randomly, but weighted towards the absorb value of the items (higher absorb = more likely to take the damage).

I don't think these mechanics have been changed.

[Alrom]

My knowledge is too out dated to answer all your questions. However: Armor values stack, meaning the attacks go against your entire deflection, then your entire absorb. If you take less than the max absorb damage, I seem to think it's distributed randomly, but weighted towards the absorb value of the items (higher absorb = more likely to take the damage).

I don't think these mechanics have been changed.

I've been using the "Game Development: Bumfights" as reference. It's very old but I had hopes it still had some useful information.

It says "Armor used to subtract all hard soak from incoming damage, before distributing the damage over the armor parts to remove the soft soak and deal damage to the armor. This had the effect that one piece of armor would protect not only the player, but also other pieces of armor on him. This has been changed, so that damage is first distributed over the armor parts, which then subtract hard and soft soaks individually."

Right now I'm 5/8 armor and it seems my 1/7 helmet is not taking any damage after fight half a dozen bats, which I'm sure can hit for more than 1.

So it seems that my shield is in fact also protecting my helmet from taking damage because the soak is stacking, like you said.

[Sevenless]

Interesting, thanks for the info.

[MagicManICT]

In this case, not having the helmet with 1/7 would be better against bats since it isn't offering any extra defense and is just getting worn out?

Any damage the helmet absorbs is damage you aren't taking. Just remember that and weigh the cost of using easy medicine vs replacing the helmet (or getting KO'd).

Is there any problem using a shield while fighting unarmed?

What is important is the actions you're using. Of course, you can't use Shield Up if you don't have a shield equipped, and you can't Chop without the right weapon. Melee Combat actions do have some requirements on what needs to be equipped. (Can't Sting with an axe, can't Cleave with a spear, etc.) Otherwise, you are unrestricted on actions.

And lastly, is melee combat worth investing on or should I just focus entirely on unarmed? It's a bit hard to find information since weapons don't show values like their damage and the wiki is a bit outdated or lacking information.

No, there's no need to as skill points are about creating openings. Use weapon attacks as finishers once you make the openings. Of course, if you're using Shield Up as your defense, then yes, you need to increase it, otherwise any other defense is going to be better. The upside to Shield Up is its big bonus for relatively little investment. The downsides are you're diverting points from elsewhere, and there is no bonus from it (such as Combat Meditation or Oak Stance).

Also, not having a "weapon damage" on the weapon makes it kinda hard to value how good weapons can be.

Many of us agree, but seems to be something the devs aren't willing to openly divulge. Best suggestion is to use the wiki, but i'm not sure the weapon damages are completely up to date. In general, the base damage of weapons are the steel sword > bronze sword > spears. I'm not sure where the metal axe is. The battle axe is actually best, but requires 2 hands, and is expensive to make. Learn the quality formula for comparison of A to B -- square root of 1/10 of the quality, or sqrt (q/10), times the base. For a base, q40 = 2x, q90 = 3x, etc.