Crafting Mechanic: Armor

Armor
So you can take a hit.

Choosing the right armor is the difference between winning or losing. Low tier armor breaks quickly against high tier attacks, whereas high tier armor can become very costly - each have their up- and downsides. Here's a lineup:

Shields
The cheapest form of protection is a shield, such as the a crude shield.

Improvised armor
The earliest type of armor you can make. Only protects your body while leaving your head and legs exposed. It can only take a few hits before it breaks, but nonetheless can save your life in dire times.

Lamellar armor
Somewhat more effort to due to the requirement of pelts, but offers greater protection while still relatively low cost to create. You can create lamellar armor from wood, copper or bronze.

Leather armor
Offers a good balance between flexibility and protection.

Gamboised armor
Created by layering lots of linen. Takes an immense amount of linen to create, but therefore offers great protection without losing too much flexibility.

Brigandine armor
Heavy metal armor. Great protection at the cost of reduced flexibility. You can create brigandine from copper, bronze or iron.

Chain armor
While chain is a lot of effort to smith, it's offering great protection while still being quite lightweight. You can create chain armor from copper, bronze or iron.

Scale armor
Heavy duty armor. Close to impenetrable but also costly in material and flexibility. You can create scale armor from copper, bronze or iron.

Plate armor
Turns you into a walking tank. The highest tier, steel plate armor, makes you practically invulnerable. But be sure to bring lots of food with you and don't expect to escape a battle while wearing it.