Spectacle Helm, but Shot in the Eye

[Malarky]

So I have a masterpiece spectacle helm, which I figured ought to be good armor. I engaged a Njerpez warrior, distance is about 14 tiles. He fires an arrow, first arrow shoots me right in the eye. I lived, but I'm a little perturbed that he nailed me right through the little eye hole...does the helm actually help here?

[Argus]

Just imagine how much more it would have hurt if you hadn't been wearing the helmet.

[Fins]

Originally posted by Malarky:

So I have a masterpiece spectacle helm, which I figured ought to be good armor. I engaged a Njerpez warrior, distance is about 14 tiles. He fires an arrow, first arrow shoots me right in the eye. I lived, but I'm a little perturbed that he nailed me right through the little eye hole...does the helm actually help here?

I don't think so. If you'd press Shift-A and check your armor protection vs point attacks, eyes are clearly zero protection while wearing this helmet - at least this is the case for me, just checked. The only difference is my helmet not masterwork, just regular spectacle helm. But i think it does not matter.

Does not surprise me at all, too. Iron Age helmets did not feature bullet-proof glass or somesuch to protect the eyes, you know. So they had to have holes in front for the wearer's eyes to be able to see. IIRC visors for medieval helmets were only invented some time in 1300s or so, while UrW takes place some time near year 1000 at latest. And even if we'd assume that in-game spectacle helm is visored alright - it's also known that visors were still failing to fully protect against archers. For example, quote:

"The Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415 ... the archers in the trees on both flanks began sniping at the mounted detachment accompanying the first division. Kicking and
plunging in their pain, horses bolted through the dismounted men-at-arms,
who were having to tramp across the mud of ploughed fields in plate armour
that was even heavier than that worn at Poitiers. ... At close range, marksmen
shot many of them through the visor. ..." - p. 53, http://index-of.co.uk/Tutorials/British%20Military%20History%20for%20Dummies.pdf .

[Malarky]

Agincourt was quite a bit different. The archers were skilled, the archers likely used those tiny-pointed armor piercing arrow heads, they had longbows, and the muddy field made the French sitting ducks. Yeah, archers can be brutal when deployed correctly, but this was one shot...

By comparison, the Njerpy guy had a basic hunting bow, a regular arrow, and some distance. He dead now, else I'd ask him about his bow skills. Do they have a 25% of poking you in the eye or something? Just glad I lived, though I have about a 3 week recovery time it seems.

[shaihulud]

Friend, I lost a well-established character when I was one-shot-killed by an arrow to the eye through a long, mail cowl, woolen hood, fur hood, AND a Masterwork Spectacle helm. If it were not for the fact that I've done a few 1-shot-kills myself, I'd have been very annoyed.

It all added up to near-perfect protection and just didn't beat the odds.

I recently was wearing bear fur and lamellar armor and such, bright green on the chart EXCEPT for lesser green in the knees and elbows against pointed. The Njerp got off a single arrow on me and, of course, it was a crit to the elbow! I survived it and still marvel at the accuracy/luck of that shot. It ruined my fighting ability with bow or spear but my dogs were on him before he could get a 2nd shot in.

[Malarky]

That's crazy. they seem to have very high odds of hitting the weakest spot, they must be godly archers

[quiescentCeez]

Hehe.. well I got one shotted through the eye and died. My current char now wears a helm spectacle to and have yet to get hit in the eye. BUT if I do get hit.. your experience tells me I have a better chance at living. Basically I think it won't stop something hitting you in the eye but lessen the blow/damage.

[Fins]

Originally posted by quiescentCez:

Hehe.. well I got one shotted through the eye and died. My current char now wears a helm spectacle to and have yet to get hit in the eye. BUT if I do get hit.. your experience tells me I have a better chance at living. Basically I think it won't stop something hitting you in the eye but lessen the blow/damage.

I don't think so. Again, Shift-A and check if eyes are anyhow protected; in my game, they are not. Spectacle helms protects the face as well as the rest of the head, but not eyes. No clothing/armor i see in the game gives any protection to eyes.

That said, there _are_ things which help to avoid being shot in the eye and/or survive such a hit:

- high Endurance presumably makes it harder to be killed with whatever damage;

- lower size/weight presumably makes you harder to be hit with any ranged attacks, thus reducing chances any hit would happen, including eye damage;

- hit-and-run tactics help, especially when using high Stealth skill properly: if they don't have time to shoot you, they obviously can't hit your eyes;

- speed attribute, lesser encumbrance, and means to increase your movement speed all help to move faster whenever one is under enemy ranged fire, and the game massively reduces the odds to be hit by any ranged attack whenever you're moving fast. The faster - the better. Skis are special mention: enemies don't use them, but you can, and they increase your speed great deal;

- F3 key. Perhaps the most powerful thing of all of them, F3 allows to see what kind of enemy equipment you're dealing with. If you press F3 on enemy archer and see he got, say, Masterwork Northern Bow and good number of Superior Arrows - don't start a ranged duel, because it's just asking to be insta-killed. But if you see he got, say, Juniper Bow with just a couple Blunt Arrows on him - it's entirely different story.

Bottom line: there is no way to use armor to become invincible, but there are ways to use other features to become quite invincible indeed, provided great character Endurance, Eyesight and Speed stats were rolled when starting the game.

[Rocktapus]

I had one character that I had to retire after he took an arrow in the knee..


The game calculates a random chance for everything. With a terrible archery skill I still managed to hit a rabbit across 10 spaces with a blunt arrow a single time. So yeah, sometimes the archer gets super lucky and rolls a perfect shot at the right target at the right moment.

[GohRillAh]

I had a njrepez pick up an arrow I shot at him and throw it, hitting me in the eye ko'ing me for a time. https://clips.twitch.tv/ProudGlamorousSparrowFutureMan

[Malarky]

ok, THAT is hardcore