Metal Weyr Jackets

[Biotrooper]

Hi All,

I was thinking the other day while listening to Dragongirl...why did they not think of adding thin metal sheets into their fighting gear to help reduce scoring. I'm thinking of our version of steel toed boots. I'm sure they could have worked thin sheets of metal into layers of the jacket to provide some extra measure of protection. I'm not talking about wearing a suit of armor like knights. Was aluminum a metal on Pern?

Thanks

[Kugai]

Full Metal Jacket?

[Eriflor]

They'd need an awful lot of metal to protect 3000 riders --- even if they just covered the vital parts. Something like fencing armor might protect without impairing mobility. Some kind of armored car for the flamethrower crews might have been useful, too.

Aluminum --- I think there was a mention of newly-discovered ore that produced a very light metal in Skies of Pern, not sure where.

[Brenda]

They wear such heavy hide riding gear to begin with, it seems to protect pretty well for the second it takes to get between. If a really big clump hits you straight on, you're probably dead either way.

What they could use is some type of full face mask. The goggles protect the eyes, but I seem to recall a lot of face injuries, even just from thread char.

[Kath]

Originally Posted by Biotrooper

Hi All,

I was thinking the other day while listening to Dragongirl...why did they not think of adding thin metal sheets into their fighting gear to help reduce scoring. I'm thinking of our version of steel toed boots. I'm sure they could have worked thin sheets of metal into layers of the jacket to provide some extra measure of protection. I'm not talking about wearing a suit of armor like knights. Was aluminum a metal on Pern?

Thanks

Three things: Falling thread can damage thin wire, so a layer of foil won't cut it. Extruding metal into mass-produced sheets is technologically challenging and really needs an industrial culture. And the easiest ways of extracting/refining aluminium are very, very bad for the environment. There are good reasons why we didn't start using it earlier than we did.

In the dragongirl era, you'd be looking at hammered copper, probably. The weight would probably have some impact on the dragon's manoeuvrability unless the rider wore it all the time - obvious changes in body mass will affect flight and manoeuvres on an instinctive level - and the small gains in protection to the rider are a tiny percentage of the target offered by his dragon's body. Do we want riders to feel safer in Fall when nine times out of ten it's their partner that suffers?

[P'ter]

And, the positioning of dragons' eyes gives them an excellent field of vision to spot clumps and swerve away when necessary.

[skywaterblue]

The shock cold of between means it would stress fracture a lot, but I've always thought the cost-benefit analysis on this doesn't make sense unless a LOT of deaths in Fall are unknown injuries. If you don't know why Greenth and S'dude failed to return - was it bad visuals or were they hit badly - then maybe you don't investigate preventative measure further.

[mawra]

I think the dragons would need it more than the riders. Their wings are especially venerable. I don't think they would be able to fly with metal on their wings. I can just imagine the chaos of trying to put armor on 3000 dragons at one time.