The Problem with Sci-Fi Body Armor – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry

This week we’re masking the successful matter from the most recent ACOUP Senate ballot, which is a take a look at a few of the odd designs and mechanics for futuristic science fiction physique armor, significantly inflexible ‘hardsuits.’ Naturally, this submit isn’t going to cowl each number of armor that seems in science fiction, so I wish to be clear that I’m typically limiting my scope right here to inflexible non-powered armor. Energy (or powered) armor – that’s, armor that strikes with built-in servos and motors, reasonably than purely underneath muscle energy – is its personal matter that we’ll go away for an additional day.

(I’m operating a bit behind on this one on account of the Thanksgiving Vacation, however I’m going to go forward and submit it, a bit rougher-cut than common, and hopefully repair any typos or errors after I get again dwelling)

As an alternative, I wish to concentrate on inflexible science fiction armors as a result of they provide an fascinating lens to think about their design: how one can armor a human physique in a inflexible substance is an exceedingly solved downside: fairly a number of cultures have tackled this specific downside with lots of power and ingenuity, making an attempt to stability safety, mobility and weight. And the “downside with sci-fi physique armor” begins with the truth that most of those futuristic ‘hardsuits’ make the most of little of any of the design language of these efforts. As an alternative, the place actual armors evolve towards threats, fictional armors evolve as a visible language, borrowing the design parts of different fictional armors much more typically than they dip into their very own historic exemplars, with the consequence that the entire thing type of devours itself.

All of which supplies an enchanting window to speak about how precise armor is designed and the considerations that may encourage its construction, in distinction to the usually very flawed visible designs we see in media.

So what we’re going to do is first take a look at some fairly clearly (to me, not less than) flawed science fiction armor designs. Then we’ll take a look at how threats form protection and different considerations for physique armor and from there take a look at some historic exemplars that may level to potential options (and in addition a bit why I think designers don’t use them).

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Getting Armor Flawed

What really spurred this matter in my thoughts the primary time was a single promotional nonetheless for Dune (2021) exhibiting Dave Batista (as Glossu Rabban) together with some Harkonnen troopers of their battle armor, as a result of I assumed each the design of the armor and in addition particularly the modifications made to Batista’s ‘essential character’ model of it had been actually telling:

Particularly, you possibly can see that the Harkonnen troopers (officers, presumably) have armor that consists of heavy pauldrons and a excessive collar, together with a breastplate that runs all the way in which to the hips (the ‘belt line’ as distinct from the pure waist) after which extends a bit additional within the entrance. However one additionally immediately notices that Batista’s armor is quite a bit much less protecting: the inflexible part covers solely the upper-torso, with solely material over the stomach and far much less shoulder safety. And it isn’t significantly onerous to guess why: with such giant inflexible parts, one imagines these extras within the shot can’t transfer or bend very a lot (I feel you possibly can really considerably see, within the shot above, how confined their posture is, in reality), however Batista must do lots of bodily appearing and emoting which goes to demand that he can increase his arms over his head and bend on the waist.

Besides, after all, if these fellows had been anticipating to be in an precise struggle they may additionally wish to, you realize, have the ability to increase their arms over their heads or bend on the waist!

That downside restricted to those Harkennonen uniforms, though the distinction between Rabban’s armor and everybody else makes it fairly clear. However you possibly can see the identical challenge and the way it was resolved – from a movie perspective – on the Atreides and Sardaukar armor. The Atreides armor is worn for the arrival scene, so it may be fairly inflexible as a result of nobody must really struggle in it. Consequently, the inflexible shaping of the breastplate, which extends all the way in which over the pelvis appears, within the scene, to require the actors to remain fairly rigidly stiff and rise up very straight, whereas its not clear the pauldrons permit a full vary of motions to the arms.

In the meantime the Sardaukar do have to take their armor into precise struggle scenes. And the movie’s answer was to cheat: the Sardaukar armor seems inflexible, with the identical closely structured pauldrons as the opposite too and the lengthy entrance ‘plate’ operating all the way down to the waist, however in reality when you look intently (particularly as they transfer and struggle) you understand these ‘armors’ aren’t inflexible in any respect, however look like made from versatile textile, permitting the actors to bend and transfer. What I feel is fascinating is that the Sardaukar armor, to my eyes, shares a lot of the shaping and design language of the Atreides and Harkonnen armor, I feel we’re supposed to imagine they’re all made from the identical inflexible parts in solely modestly completely different types. in fairly a number of methods: as a penetrating blow with all the drive directed at a small level (spears, sword-thrusts) or a chopping blow with the drive concentrated alongside a slender edge (swords, axes) or blunt trauma, delivering probably considerably extra power considerably much less concentrated.

These menace profiles affect supplies and design. Armor works largely by changing varied sorts of piercing or slashing assaults into blunt trauma distributed over the widest attainable a part of the physique. And that in flip is a part of the benefit of utilizing inflexible supplies in armor development. After all the supplies themselves additionally play a task: inflexible supplies (like metal) are sometimes quite a bit stronger for his or her weight or thickness than non-rigid options (like material). But additionally in lots of instances rigidity is the purpose (or extra appropriately, the way you defeat a degree). If an armor materials completely holds collectively however bends such that it’s merely pushed into the wound, that isn’t essentially a great consequence (the basic instance of this are silk Steppe clothes which could not be pierced by an arrow, as a result of silk fibers could be very sturdy, but additionally wouldn’t actually impede the arrow, being as an alternative simply pushed in across the arrowhead).

A inflexible materials can unfold out the power of a weapon influence over a big floor; as a result of assuming it stays inflexible the whole armor part strikes from the influence, contacting the physique throughout a a lot bigger space. The ability of distributing influence power on this method is fairly stark. A 50J influence concentrated into a really small, sharp influence zone (just like the tip of a spear or an arrowhead) can simply produce deadly wounds. Against this 200J utilized throughout your whole chest is one thing you’ll actually discover, however in all probability gained’t trigger any everlasting damage. Certainly, as fashionable physique armors present, impacts upwards of two-thousand joules (the power supply of many fashionable rifle rounds) is sort of survivable if unfold over sufficient of the physique. So inflexible parts (be {that a} breastplate or, as in fashionable armor, one thing like inflexible plate inserts) could be of large worth exactly as a result of they’re inflexible and thus unfold out the power of influence.

That stated, you’ll not armor all components of the physique evenly. We’ve actually discussed this before, back in some of the earliest days of ACOUP: armor is at all times a stability between weight and safety, with the consequence that armor isn’t uniform in construction or thickness. Thicker armor means extra weight, which provides up pretty quickly, whereas extra full safety round joints means reductions in mobility. So an armorer has to assume fairly onerous concerning the tradeoffs between mobility, weight and safety. And one of many key questions right here is, fairly merely, “the place is an opposing blow most definitely to land or be most harmful?”

The reply to this query relies on an intersection of two elements. On the one hand, there may be the attacker’s issue: biomechanically, all weapon-strikes originate from the shoulders and in order they journey away from the shoulders, they sacrifice attain and energy to take action. If I’ve, say, a sword and wish to strike at your legs, I’ve to advance additional into measure to have the ability to accomplish that, as a result of my arms and weapon are angled downward from my shoulders, whereas you possibly can reply by making a ‘straight line’ strike at my upper-body. Consequently, with contact weapons, there’s lots of menace on the higher physique, much less on the legs. Particularly lots of weapons can ship very sturdy downward strikes onto the shoulders themselves, so the prime of the shoulders is a fairly vital menace zone. The upper-arms, against this, demand a horizontal strike, reasonably than a falling vertical strike: that’s a vulnerability, however much less so.

The opposite issue derives from the defender’s physique: completely different components of the physique are in another way deadly if struck. Strikes to the shoulders, neck or head are clearly probably very quickly deadly, although the top each requires much more mobility and in addition is tougher to strike successfully as a result of heads have a tendency to maneuver round quite a bit in touch preventing. Likewise, the torso is stuffed with very important organs and arteries that make wounds there actually harmful; the upper-torso is probably simpler for an enemy to strike, however the presence of the rib-cage (nature’s pure armor) can each restrict the harm a weapon strike there causes and in addition, within the case of a stab, make it onerous to get well the weapon (that’s, get it again out). Consequently, lots of preventing programs emphasize penetrating strikes to the intestine. Against this, legs and arms transfer round quite a bit and are typically much less deadly if struck.

That results in the tough ‘order in armor’ I mentioned all these years in the past, with the chest and head (particularly the skull, the highest of the top) coming first, adopted by the shoulders, adopted by the waist/hips and higher thigh, adopted by limb and face safety.

Against this, the menace profile of gunpowder warfare is barely however importantly completely different. On the one hand it’s a lot tougher to armor towards bullets as a result of they arrive with far more power. And I wish to stress: far more power. For a sword or spear swung by human arms, the higher limits are round 130J, although most blows shall be a lot weaker than this. Arrows, as we’ve noted, prime out across the similar power at launch however fall off considerably in flight. Against this, musket bullets can arrive with many tons of of joules of power and fashionable rifle rounds can ship within the neighborhood of two,000J of power on influence. So armor that’s attempting to cease such a spherical has to have the ability to soak up a lot extra power and efficiently unfold it out over extra of the defender’s floor.

The opposite issue is that, whereas melee strikes originate on the shoulders however could be rising strikes (‘uppercuts’) or falling strikes or horizontal strikes, bullets and different direct-fire weapons (this might be, as an example, equally true of directed power weapons) fly very quick on comparatively flat trajectories, which implies the menace is generally to the entrance of the physique. In the meantime, whereas a melee combatant can tailor his strikes to your armor – placing on the unarmored parts of your armor – troopers with weapons are typically skilled to intention for the middle of mass and usually can not, in battlefield situations, goal particular components of the physique of an enemy (because of limits of accuracy and vary). Consequently, whereas armor towards contact weapons tends to need pretty full protection of the torso (together with the perimeters and the tops of the shoulders), armor towards bullets (and different missile weapons) is far more involved with masking the vertical surfaces of the torso and is prepared to compromise armor on the shoulders and even go away gaps in safety, if meaning reaching a good stability of protection and weight.

Should you look again as much as the Mass Impact armors, I feel you will notice the place they take a few of their design language right here with the shoulders coated solely by the straps holding up the breastplate (with the pauldrons moved over to the higher armors; we’ll get to that), which you see in fashionable physique armor designed for bullets. One additionally sees that sample – a breastplate primarily suspended over the chest by straps over the shoulders, reasonably than extending some protecting protection over the shoulders – in some Japanese armors (significantly these related to non-elite troopers, the ashigaru), which I think has quite a bit to do with the prevalence of arrows in Japanese warfare within the pre-Tokugawa interval. Extra elaborate armor for the samurai warrior-class steadily options sode, protections for the shoulders and upper-arms.

Structuring Inflexible Armors

As soon as we’ve selected what must be armored and that the how is a inflexible materials, be that metal, ceramic ballistic plates, or some future materials, we then have to consider how the armor goes to articulate, that’s, the way it will permit motion. In any case, the human physique shouldn’t be inflexible and has to bend in sure methods to allow us to maneuver and struggle.

And certainly, right here the calls for of preventing with contact weapons impose some fairly sharp limits on armor, as a result of successfully preventing with swords or spears or different contact weapons typically requires utilizing the entire physique: you want to have the ability to twist and bend on the waist, transfer the arms freely (together with getting them over your head), handle footwork and so forth. In consequence, armorers wanted to be fairly cautious in how they constructed armor safety in order to not restrict mobility (which is, I have to be aware, a separate query from weight and its influence on fatigue and endurance).

The primary answer to the issue of how one can use a inflexible materials to armor the physique is after all to easily armor the components of the physique that don’t bend after which use another materials to guard the components that do. Archaic Greek ‘bell’ cuirasses and later Greek and Roman muscle cuirasses take this method, with the cuirass terminating on the hips and hanging leather-based strips, referred to as pteryges, hanging all the way down to cowl the remainder of the hips, groin and higher legs. However this isn’t precisely a great answer, because it sacrifices lots of protection.

As an alternative, after all, the answer is to assemble the armor out of a collection of inflexible plates that are capable of transfer relative to one another. There may be one other answer, which is to create what is basically a material composed of inflexible rings – mail – however we’re going to depart that apart for as we speak. The earliest of those articulation options is scale armor, by which we imply an armor composed of lots of small inflexible scales (steel or hardened leather-based, sometimes) that are fastened to backing materials (textile or leather-based), in order that they grasp down. The scales overlap, which presents a stable steel face to the enemy, however since they transfer independently, little mobility is misplaced, permitting a scale coat to increase down previous the waist and even cowl the legs. The weak point of the method, nevertheless, is that the scales are solely anchored to the backing materials on the prime; there’s not a lot to cease a blade or spear-tip from sliding up one scale and beneath one other, thus penetrating the armor. That’s much less of a priority for one thing like an arrow-strike (which goes to be descending not less than considerably when it arrives) however towards an opponent with a sword or dagger in shut fight, that may be a very actual weak point.

A method to remedy that weak point is to attach the scales to one another reasonably than to the backing, in order that an opponent can not slide a weapon beneath them or flip up a scale to render the opponent susceptible. That answer – small steel plates related to one another, reasonably than a backing – we name lamellar armor and it was quite common in a variety of cultures, nevertheless it has little or no buy in fashionable fantasy or science fiction armor designs, I feel primarily as a result of it was not included within the Dungeons and Dragons armor system. However, lamellar armor was fairly frequent in a variety of cultures: we see it within the Close to East, in Europe, in China and in Japan. The rigidity of the general armor for lamellar varies based mostly on how the plates are related collectively (which you’ll see fairly clearly in Japanese armor, wherein a single set of armor typically contains each inflexible surfaces and articulation each utilizing lamellar, related roughly rigidly). In Europe, we see a variation on this idea, the brigandine (additionally underused in fantasy settings) the place the steel plates are riveted by means of one another and a textile or leather-based backing.

However after all the answer we’re most desirous about is plate armor, the place a set of armor (a ‘harness’) consists of a set of articulating plates which each present a inflexible safety to the wearer but additionally articulate the place the wearer wants them to bend. Now going by means of all the completely different strategies late medieval plate armor makes use of to permit the armor to articulate would run past the scope of this submit, however the related half right here is the way in which that plate armor articulates over the torso, broadly talking. The important thing elements listed here are the cuirass, composed of a breastplate and a backplate, which covers the upper-half of the torso; this part is mostly solely inflexible over that floor as a result of the human physique doesn’t bend there a lot both (on account of the rib-cage).

Under the cuirass, typically instantly hooked up to it, is a part referred to as faulds. This consists of a set of articulating ‘lames’ (horizontal strips of armor) related through leather-based straps or typically sliding rivets in order that the lames can telescope into one another to allow the person to bend on the waist or increase their legs and even sit down. Faulds normally lengthen over the hips (typically solely on the entrance) and a little bit of the higher legs however often run down so far as the knees. Then in lots of armors, a further pair of steel plates grasp down from the faulds to cowl the higher legs referred to as tassets.

Above the cuirass, we’ve pauldrons or spaulders (we needn’t right here get into the variations), which defend the shoulders and higher arms. These are structured with a shoulder ‘cop’ – a dome-shaped steel piece – masking the shoulders, to which had been hooked up a collection of descending lames (articulated the identical method the faulds can be) to use protection to the higher arms. Crucially, these items typically connect to the cuirass (although spaulders typically additionally connect to the upper-arm armor referred to as the rerebrace) reasonably than simply to the higher arms, as a result of as you’ll recall defending the highest of the shoulder is absolutely fairly vital. Certainly, even an informal look by means of historical and medieval armor will shortly reveal that this armor tends to be the thickest on the shoulder: Early mail armor typically featured a second later of mail to cowl the shoulders, as an example; for some medieval armor, a mail coif or aventail additionally offered a layer of safety over the mail masking the shoulder.

The important thing benefit of this setup is that by terminating the stable type of the cuirass on the ‘pure waist’ (the place the physique is thinnest) the cuirass permits the wearer to bend and rotate on the waist, whereas the faulds, with their telescoping design, permit the wearer to bend down on the waist, increase their legs or sit. Likewise, the segmented, articulated development of the pauldron each protects the shoulder, but additionally permits the arms to be raised.

Returning to Speculative Armors

Coming again then to our science fiction armors, we are able to diagnose a few of the issues right here. Each the Mass Impact and Dune armors lengthen too far down the physique in a single, inflexible construction which might price the wearer some potential to bend. Within the case of the Mass Impact armor, there’s some trace of articulation, however within the video games’ precise animation the armor doesn’t articulate, however reasonably merely bends, regardless of being apparently inflexible in construction (just like the breastplate to which it attaches). As well as, the Dune armor options massive pauldrons which seem like they provide lots of safety, nevertheless it’s not clear how nicely they’ll fold upwards to permit the arms to be raised; within the case of the Sardaukar armor, it actually seems like they’ll solely as a result of the fabric they’re made out of isn’t, in reality, inflexible.

The alternate type of these issues one more and more sees, significantly in fantasy armor, is to easily not cowl a few of these problem areas. Thus as an example, Baldur’s Gate III‘s armors have this downside the place there shall be a breastplate, however no faulds or tassets, resulting in a query of how one can fill all of that house under the waist. I had supposed to incorporate a screenshot from the very current Dragonage: Veilguard, which has this downside unhealthy in some armors as nicely, however I’m away from dwelling proper now and haven’t the pictures at hand. In that case, a number of armors find yourself trying extra like a padded jumpsuit with only a small armored plate over the upper-chest.

Likewise, I’ve seen an inclination for pauldrons to finish up, reasonably than a dome over the shoulder with some articulation, as a vertical plate related to the upper-arm, which each compromises safety on the highest of the shoulder. That’s not an enormous downside, as we’ve seen, if the armor is designed to deal primarily with direct-fire missile weapons (like weapons), however a major downside whether it is designed to guard towards swords (additionally a tall or spikey plate affixed to the upper-arm may probably dig into the neck if you raised your arms, which might be greater than just a little uncomfortable).

Now, we would ask why do these costumes hold reproducing these types of ‘unhealthy’ designs? I feel the very first thing to notice on that rating is that costume armors are sometimes extra in dialog with different costumes than with historic or fashionable armor. In consequence, these designs typically don’t ‘reference again’ to the actual factor in a method that might floor them within the realities of fight and even simply bodily mobility.

One other issue is supplies. Actual armor is mostly made of costly, sturdy, inflexible supplies which can be designed to take a beating. For a lot of the iron age, that was, after all, iron (or metal), together with padded textiles and hardened leathers. For contemporary armor, the essential construction is made from kevlar or different equally sturdy artificial materials, backed up by metal or ceramic insert plates. With these types of supplies, joints, rivets and different attachment factors could be actually strong whereas nonetheless being small. It simply doesn’t take a really giant rivet or buckle to carry as much as the forces of a transferring human physique when the rivet or buckle is made from metal.

Against this, my understanding is that lots of costume armors for TV and movie are made from weaker, lighter and cheaper supplies, like plastics, unhardened leather-based or EVA foam. These supplies typically should be thicker than the equal in one thing like iron or metal merely to carry collectively (although they’re typically a lot lighter), but additionally they’ll’t deal with small, high-stress connection factors, just like the sliding rivets or buckles of articulated lames or the holes in scale or particularly lamellar. In consequence, its typically fairly onerous to make these articulated buildings with these supplies. Not inconceivable, after all – you will notice proficient cosplay of us work miracles with leather-based and EVA foam – however tougher.

As an apart, I’ve typically suspected because of this good ol’ vogue mail – ubiquitous on the medieval battlefield throughout Eurasia – is so uncommon in fantasy movies and TV. In older motion pictures, it was frequent to make use of silver spray-paint on kitting to create ‘knitted mail’ and that works nicely sufficient for extras within the background, however for main characters, there’s typically no actual substitute for precise mail which goes to wish to really be made of hundreds (tens of hundreds in the event that they’re appropriately sized) steel rings. And you’ll’t actually make these out of plastic or foam in order for you the costumes to carry up throughout taking pictures. Consequently, whereas one can actually get mail made a lot cheaper as we speak than even 20 years in the past, there is no such thing as a really ‘low cost’ method to get a number of mail, particularly if one insists on realistically small rings.

Now the humorous factor is that this materials downside shouldn’t apply to video video games in any respect. In any case, online game armors – any armor that exists solely in CGI – doesn’t should trouble itself with the foundations for this or that materials. Thus there’s nothing stopping CGI artists from making armor with articulation, scales and so forth. And typically they do. However typically, I feel, there may be the suggestions impact the place online game artists aren’t imitating actual world armors, they’re imitating movie armors, and so inheriting their issues even after they don’t share their limitations. That, I feel, explains various the silliness one sees in games like Baldur’s Gate III and DragonAge: Veilguard.

The ultimate issue, I feel, for science fiction armors is an aesthetic one: artists and designers engaged on science fiction properties don’t need an armor construction that feels medieval in its design. The telescoping design of faulds and the free-hanging plates of tassets, specifically, appear to scream ‘medieval’ of their visible content material, which is perhaps seen as undesirable for a manufacturing – be it a online game or a movie – that wishes armor to feel and look futuristic. The issue is that whereas supplies might change, the human physique doesn’t.

Coming again to Dune and Mass Impact, the quirk of each settings is that as a result of shields can considerably restrict the vulnreability to ranged weapons, however aren’t efficient towards melee weapons, the armor worn is largely about coping with these melee weapons. That is specific within the Dune universe, the place it’s, by the point the novels happen, now not frequent for troopers to even often carry firearms and different ranged weapons. Once more, we should always get into, another time, if the Dune fight mannequin works, however I might say underneath these situations we should anticipate armor to look quite a bit like medieval plate armor when it comes to protection and form. However after all that may nicely lower towards what the director or the artist desires to speak when it comes to futuristic shaping.

All of that stated, one of many issues that has modified is that for designers who wish to take into account their armor designs a bit extra deeply is that there’s a lot extra info accessible. Museum catalogs today are typically on-line with footage and it’s a lot simpler to have interaction with the strong group of recreators and reenactors who are sometimes pretty educated not solely about how armor was made but additionally the way it was worn. So the chance for designs that have interaction meaningfully with previous armors in a method that produces one thing that each seems good however is definitely broadly perform is way better now than it was even simply twenty or thirty years in the past.