No way they could pull off what you are talking about with current tech
darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 16/02/2012 01:55:19 AM
We aren't going to come to an agreement on this ...
Probably not, but I am having fun, and I really need the distraction today
At the moment there are only a handful people in the world that can make cuendillar and the process has proven to take a lot of time for all but the very best.
Egwene, Bode, or Lelaine could convert enough iron in under an hour to armor the entire tower guard. You keep discounting how little material is needed to create a set of C armor.
Given that they clearly did not make armor of cuendillar during the War of Power when they had much deeper resources it seems logical that if there was benefit to it they would have done it.
They had forgotten how to wage war during the AoL. Dueling was a cerimonial and archaic pastime, and in a duel you do not wear armor at all. Armoring anything was a foreign concept to the mind of AoL folks.
As for weapons, arrows would be very useful and advanced forging methods for blades already seem to exist in the WOT universe based on the swords we've seen ... which can ensure a cuendillar sword is as sharp as necessary and since it will never lose that edge there is not need to sharpen it again.
A C sword (without an edge that would need computers and lasers to create) is nothing special. Swords need flexibility to absorb the shock of impact. Without that flexibility... Beleive me or go grab a baseball bat and take a full power swing at a tree; you'll see. Even with a micron width edge, a C sword would not be that great. Other weapons and tools yeah, not a sword (or arrows for that matter). I only mentioned arrows because the manufacturing process for them and scales is basically the same.
I still think it's a waste of effort to create any of these things when the nature of the world is already beginning to change and the OP is being used regularly in battle and war machines are becoming common place and the days of the individual swordsman are coming to a close. Long range weapons will only get more sophisticated thanks to Rands universities.
Tell that to US military, who are trying very, very hard to develop a material that is light and rigid enough to use as personal anti-balistic armor ("bullet-proof vest" but don"t let them hear you call it that) for about the last 70 years. Any member of the US military (especially ground-pounders)would go nuts for C to replace teh heavy-ass plates in their combat gear.
Also we have zero indication that cuendillar is lighter than the iron it starts out as so your supposition that the armor would be light weight is not certain by any means.
Actually it is the exact opposite. It is stated in the books that C is heavier than iron. The weight savings comes from using less material, about 4 or 5 times less material, to create the armor. C armor can be as thin as your technology can make it (probably about 1/16th or 1/32nd of an inch for randland) and still be more effective than 1,000 feet of steel. This is the key point that everyone keeps ignoring, you could have a C wall 1 molecule thick and it will stop an 18" battleship projectile from point blank range (properly braced of course).
They would have to make the iron paper thin in order to make the armor even wearable. Go re-read the section where they are making cuendillar. There are a handful of women that had even the tiniest ability at this and other than bode Leane and Egwene they all struggled to make even small objects. Sure these three could make a bunch of cuendillar armor, but you are over simplifying the process.
In the AoL they had forgotten war, and then rediscovered it in Spades, by the end of the war they had recreated every aspect and raised it to an art form. I'm certain the concept of cuendillar armor would have occurred to them went hey were creating thing like shock lances and flying machines, yet the soldiers we see in the time clearly did not wear cuendillar.
Funny that you bring up the problems with cuendillar in weaponry having to do with the lack of flexibility ... Armor with flexibility (I.e. Kevlar) would be far more valuable than walking about in something totally inflexible.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
Functional Cuendillar Armor: Possible or impossible?
- 10/02/2012 04:45:34 PM
1415 Views
You posted this exact same question one year ago, with a lot of discussion
- 10/02/2012 06:29:28 PM
862 Views
I suppose I am on a...
- 10/02/2012 11:00:47 PM
771 Views
Re: You posted this exact same question one year ago, with a lot of discussion
- 10/02/2012 11:04:33 PM
918 Views
Re: You posted this exact same question one year ago, with a lot of discussion
- 11/02/2012 01:37:27 PM
962 Views
My thought was always about weapons.
- 11/02/2012 06:31:45 AM
932 Views
Certainly possible, but given the effort most women have to put toward changing even a small item
- 12/02/2012 05:10:35 AM
855 Views
Ummm, Warders...
- 14/02/2012 01:39:23 PM
698 Views
How would Cuendillar armour help against channelers?
- 14/02/2012 07:58:58 PM
770 Views
It can not be directly effected by the OP
- 14/02/2012 09:08:57 PM
668 Views
some simple ideas for defeating warders armoured such.
- 14/02/2012 09:52:41 PM
808 Views
Re: some simple ideas for defeating warders armoured such.
- 14/02/2012 10:54:26 PM
649 Views
which way is it?
- 15/02/2012 04:14:41 AM
666 Views
Actually I'd call the Seanchan tactically inferior to the White Tower in using the power
- 15/02/2012 01:48:55 PM
782 Views
That's really not my point.
- 15/02/2012 03:21:15 PM
661 Views
I never said that they could not be stopped
- 15/02/2012 01:58:41 PM
761 Views
I really think you're over-estimating how difficult it would be.
- 15/02/2012 03:22:44 PM
700 Views
Not nesecarrily
- 15/02/2012 04:01:45 PM
708 Views
You just said that most of their tactics are indirect.
- 15/02/2012 05:44:22 PM
813 Views
..and you are creating new tactics
- 15/02/2012 06:32:02 PM
652 Views
*shrug* I don't see it as some world-shaking action
- 15/02/2012 08:47:40 PM
670 Views
But it is brand new, and if you're digging holes earth-shaking seems discriptive
- 15/02/2012 09:14:12 PM
701 Views
- 15/02/2012 09:14:12 PM
701 Views
Not accurate
- 15/02/2012 03:54:00 PM
774 Views
You are thinking too far inside the box
- 15/02/2012 04:23:28 PM
745 Views
I disagree
- 15/02/2012 04:43:33 PM
713 Views
If armor is of no benefit...
- 15/02/2012 06:19:30 PM
616 Views
Missing my point ... Cuendillar armor is impractical not useless
- 15/02/2012 07:00:48 PM
748 Views
nope
- 15/02/2012 07:21:03 PM
639 Views
*Shrug*
- 15/02/2012 08:28:48 PM
768 Views
Re: *Shrug*
- 15/02/2012 09:07:24 PM
929 Views
No way they could pull off what you are talking about with current tech
- 16/02/2012 01:55:19 AM
712 Views
Re: No way they could pull off what you are talking about with current tech
- 16/02/2012 03:23:34 PM
646 Views
Re: It can not be directly effected by the OP
- 15/02/2012 02:37:40 AM
656 Views
Maybe, maybe not
- 15/02/2012 02:12:59 PM
633 Views
Re: Maybe, maybe not
- 15/02/2012 06:11:42 PM
777 Views
I'll happily amend my initial statement to "maybe even challeling ones"
- 15/02/2012 07:03:48 PM
668 Views
what a lot of people are forgetting with their suggestions of plate armor...
- 13/02/2012 02:36:50 PM
834 Views
Your understanding of how plate armor functions is in error
- 14/02/2012 01:45:37 PM
659 Views
I believe AND I was hoping you would go into the physics of it :p
- 14/02/2012 11:01:18 PM
639 Views