How does armor work.

[MILKIE]

for example do the braces on my forearm provide protection to my biceps? or does armor only protect what it visually covers?

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Simple answer :)
Armor parts explained
https://kingdomcomedeliverance.gamepedia.com/Armour

[Lieste]

By default half of the protection for the bicep comes from the average of overall protection, and the sub-component (32 hit locations), which are assigned to the clothing archetype and thus to the 6 wound locations (body, head, 2 arms, 2 legs). This is also affected heavily by a buffer to health loss from unused stamina, and the underlying body 'resistance'.

I found this unconvincing, and in my modded game, set the average protection weight down to 10%, rather than the default 50%, removed protection from stamina (it is used to actively defend and defence/attacks still whiff if you lack stamina, but there isn't a reduction in injury if you do no defending) and reduced slightly the underlying toughness value... as well as reducing weapon damage a bit and tightening the range of spread of different weapons in the same class.
Armour mostly protects, but I allow a dribble of 'accumulated injury' as well as a higher influence of gaps and voids in the protection.

Wounding by crippled limbs/bleeding is more common than *immediate* fatality, both for the player and npcs. This both makes combat safer and easier (you take less immediate damage, most of the time), but also harder - enemies don't get removed from the fight as quickly, unless they have no protection on areas you can consistently target.

[bewest169]

I do not use any armor since I suck at swords and Mace just have the most powerful bow and armor pierce arrows have over 100 head shot kills all you do is hit retreat hit and retreat simple

[Guts]

Originally posted by bewest169:

I do not use any armor since I suck at swords and Mace just have the most powerful bow and armor pierce arrows have over 100 head shot kills all you do is hit retreat hit and retreat simple

Too easy. Learn to fight and please stop telling the noobs to take the easy way

Originally posted by Lieste:

removed protection from stamina (it is used to actively defend and defence/attacks still whiff if you lack stamina, but there isn't a reduction in injury if you do no defending

But using excess stamina to stop damage makes sense as long as you're wearing heavy armour. It will fatigue you to roll a blow off your shoulder, but it won't hurt much when wearing heavy plate. To each their own, I guess.

[Lieste]

Which is why I set armour vs weapon effectiveness up - a lot, where it covers. ... but trust me, standing still to receive a blow does *nothing* to add to, or subtract from it's impact. It certainly doesn't make me invulnerable to being hurt if I haven't moved for a while.