Why are dresses the best armor I can find?

[Crystalline Entity]

Seriously though. I'm pretty experienced with mount and blade, having tons of hours in both the original and warband. However it seems theres alot of things different in viking conquest. For instance I cannot for the life of me find armor that is better then the dresses I've found. I recruited that one dudes daughter and went to equip her with some gear only to steal and wear her dress since it was much better then the gambison I was wearing. The one I currently have on my character gives 29 torso and 29 leg protection! All my guys are kitted out in dresses like I'm leading charles taylors militia or something.

Is it tied to my level? I went to the other side of the map in hopes of finding some cool gear but the best armor there was an expensive dress that has the 29 defense. I can tank entire armys alone with this ♥♥♥♥. I don't feel like a badass pagan warrior though.

Somethings not adding up here. I think the game is having a laugh.

[Danny]

You sure they are dresses? Cause 29 torso doesn't sound like any dress in the game.
Dresses give everyone who wears them boobs. XD

You might just be unlucky, though the better arnours do cost alot and would be out of your starting cash flow its price range.

One dude's daughter? I assume you mean Matheld?

[Tuidjy]

If you are playing Viking Conquest, the best armors are definitely not dresses. I would love to have a 29/29 dress at the beginning, actually, because that would be awesome for mobility, but you do not get such good light armor until you cut down a few bersekers, and loot their corpses.

Here is a screenshot with the best armors in each class. No dresses here. My guess is that you are looking at high quality peasant tunics... or maybe the developers did give Brunhilde a great dress, although I would be surprised to see it.