This is a stupid question regarding "Ancient Knowledge" (The 'Active Effect')

[Melony]

Right so I've read all over the net and on the wiki about how this effect is technically totally bugged and actually instead upgrades ALL OTHER ARMORS EXCEPT Dwarven Armor...??

SOME QUICK POINTS:

SO YES, I'm posting this in the 'Special Edition' section, but this is the section I figure will get a response -- I'm *actually* playing on PS3. For the record. It's where my save data is, but I desperately wanted to play it so it was no contest. I'm not the kind that can just start a new game whenever that doesn't work for me =\.


My MAIN question, overall, is:
Is THE GAME ITSELF calculating in that 25% *already* when I check the "armor rating" on armors, or is it NOT calculated it in on whatever it lists as the armor rating and I have to add it in myself? Because if the GAME is calculating it itself, then I already know the answer to the quesiton, basically, "Which armor is better" but the problem is if it's NOT calculated in and I calculate it on my own, it puts my Dwarven Armor at Flawless above Steel Plate/Orcish at Superior. And I need to know if that's actually a CORRECT rating, or if it's totally incorrect BECAUSE the Dwarven Armor rating is actually above it, the game just isn't TELLING ME it is because it's not calculating in that 25% buff.

If any of that makes sense to anyone.

[Joe Majewski]

The value displayed on the actual piece of armor is calculated based on your light/heavy armor skill. The value displayed in your inventory screen on the bottom will include the bonus from perks and stuff. So if you have a perk that increases the amount of armour you receive when wearing a full set of light armour, then the individual pieces of armour won't reflect that change, but as soon as you equip the full set of light armour, the value on the stat screen will update to reflect that. To summarize, use the value in the stat screen, as it is accurate.

Note: This is my personal thoughts based on what I can tell from playing the game over time.

[Melony]

I understand what you mean, Joe... At least I'm pretty sure.

So your suggestion is to maybe equip all the armor and check my armor rating at the bottom? And do the same with the other armor, and then compare ratings? Are we TOTALLY SURE that the game is taking into account that 25% buff..??

I understand the concept that of COURSE the game "should" be but with all this information about that particular buff being "broken" (and frankly if it IS broken that way that's an A++ in my opinion, I'd LOVE to have ALL OTHER armors BESIDES Dwarven Armor buffed up, that'll make Daedric Armor amazing frankly xD; ), but again because this effect is supposedly "broken" (At least, in the old version of the game it was, I'm not sure about the new-console version slash the 'special edition' for PC), can I really be sure that the armor rating at the bottom of my screen IS the correct armor rating...? That's my concern.

Because there's... I mean, once I get something better than Orcish/Steel Plate armor, it won't matter, it'll be better than Dwarven Armor, *but* UNTIL i get my smithing up and get that better armor, Dwarven Armor (IF that 25% was applied RIGHT NOW to what the armor rating listed on it is, what the GAME SAYS, with my own added calculations) is actually a decent deal better than Orcish/Steel Plate.


For the record, maybe this will make things easier for anyone reading this:

Right now, this is what I have equipment-wise lined up. I do NOT have the Heavy Armor Perk where "if you wear a whole set of armor it increases your rating" - Not yet I plan to get that pretty much shortly here, though.

This is strictly a list of what the game says the armor rating is for each piece of equipment. I'll equip all of the sets (and unequip my ring that ups my heavy armor skill too), and I'll also list my 'Active Effects' to help anyone calculate this out. If anyone's even putting any effort into my question, that is. I'm really hoping someone is D=.



:Dwarven Armor:
Dwarven Helmet (Flawless) : 60
Dwarven Gauntlets (Flawless) : 48
Dwarven Boots (Flawless) : 48
Dwarven Armor : 114
(Dwarven Shield (Flawless) : 50 - just for the record I don't think that's necessary and I'm NOT going to equip it with any of these sets, I'm ONLY going to equip the armor itself)

Armor Rating after all (except Shield) are equipped: 270

:Steel Plate Armor:
Steel Plate Helmet (Superior) : 68
Steel Plate Gauntlets (Superior) : 53
Steel Plate Boots (Superior) : 53
Steel Plate Armor (Superior) : 140

Armor Rating after all are equipped: 312

My current 'Active Effects' :

'Ancient Knowledge'
"Knowledge gained from the Lexicon gives you a 25% bonus when wearing Dwarven Armor and Blacksmithing increases 15% faster" (For everyone's knowledge, the secondary effect works even when you aren't wearing the Dwarven Armor)

'Claws'
"Khajiit claws do 15 points of damage."

'The Gift of Charity'
"Speechcraft increased by 10 points for 1 hour."

'Fortify Persuasion'
"+10 Speechcraft."

'Resist Disease'
"Your beast blood gives you 100% resistance to disease." (By the way, I found out the hard way that that doesn't mean you're *immune* to disease, it simply means your *resistance* is increased a ridiculous amount.)

'The Thief Stone' (Just for now gonna change it back to Warrior but that shouldn't effect this anyway)
"All stealth skills increase 20% faster."

Yes, I am a Khajiit Werewolf Warrior. HAHAHAHA. >_>.

Perks I have in 'Heavy Armor' Skill:
-3/5 Juggernaut - so "Increases armor rating for Heavy Armor by 60%"
-Well Fitted - so "25% Armor bonus if wearing all Heavy Armor: head, chest, hands, feet."
(That's it - on that note, does "Matching Set" count weapon/shield too, or JUST 'head, chest, hands, feet'?? -- I'll check the wiki don't answer that xD)



So BY MY CALCULATIONS, if the 'Ancient Knowledge' buff IS in effect, and the game ISN'T TELLING ME (which I think at MINIMUM it would tell me the proper Armor Rating down at the bottom of the screen, but I - I just can't be sure, you know??), then THIS would be my Dwarven Armor rating right now, along with my set rating (including my perks and whatnot):

Dwarven Helmet (Flawless) : 75 (Base Rating of 60 + the 25% of it which = 15)
Dwarven Gauntlets (Flawless) : 60 (Base Rating of 48 + 12)
Dwarven Boots (Flawless) : 60 (Base Rating of 48 + 12)
Dwarven Armor : 142.5 (Base Rating of 114 + 28.5)(rounded DOWN I think to 142)

Overall Armor Rating: 337.5 (again probably rounded down)

SO if the game isn't adding in the rating on its own (which I think it is, looking at the numbers...?) then my armor would have quite a bit more to it than the Steel Plate if I wore Dwarven.

*strangely* however, Steel Plate's rating should be at 314 when I equip it instead of 312, idk what that is but... Well. The game has its own functions clearly it's doing something weird.



Sorry for the long post. >_>U I hope that was descriptive enough. (Hahahahaha.)

[jtenorj3]

I know you are probably far beyond dwarven and steel plate armors by now, but maybe this will help someone else who stumbles on the question. Ancient knowledge used to raise armor rating for ALL armors( light and heavy) by 25%. It improves tempering by 15%. In patch 1.9, bethesda attempted to change something about ancient knowledge, but only succeeded in removing dwarven from the types of armors affected. I ran some numbers based on your perks (stated bonuses are correct) and tempering levels on your items(guessed your heavy armor skill was around 50 give or take a few points at the time). See the Skyrim:Armor and Skyrim:Smithing pages on uesp.net for base armor ratings and tempering bonuses respectively. The original numbers are basically correct. Your lower tempered steel plate is more protective than your higher tempered dwarven because Ancient knowledge is working on the steel plate and not on the dwarven.