Bullet resistant T-shirts

[Zvezda]

Sounds good? But when reading this article you will soon find out that this is somewhat exaggerated. So far it seems that the only result they have is that the shirts become stiff and uncomfortable . A good start though.

[ReHerakhte]

Some interesting directions for body armour with this idea.
Thanks for posting the link Zvezda.

[Zvezda]

Than have some bullet resistant skin.

[ReHerakhte]

Than have some bullet resistant skin.

Very interesting! I had been following the spider silk body armour developments for a while but there seemed to be nothing new for a year or so and I stopped looking for information.

It's just a pity that the Daily Mail journalists and editors have forgotten how to write their own language
For example: -

"Researchers genetically engineered goats to produce milk packed with the same protein as silk spiders" - ahh, I think what they really meant was ...the same protein as spiders silk.
Too very different ideas being transmitted there...

"Once this is milked out it can be spun out and weaved into a material that is ten times stronger than steel." - the word 'woven' would have been more appropriate than the word 'weaved' but there seems to be a real effort these days to kill 'past-tense' words in the English language e.g. the use of the word sneaked instead of the word snuck.

"...This is possible by adding the silk producing genes of a spider to the gnome of a human: creating a bulletproof human." - The gnome of a human!? What? Do humans come with their own gnomes? How do the gnomes feel about that?
That probably should have been 'genome' but it's a few seconds of extra work to use a spellchecker when you're writing a newspaper article and we don't want to waste a few seconds!

Okay, rant over. Sorry to derail the thread but such sloppy use of the language annoys the hell out of me, especially when it can present the wrong information or give the wrong impression.

[Linden]

It's just a pity that the Daily Mail journalists and editors have forgotten how to write their own language

When they're foaming at the mouth the whole time, the finer points of grammar and spelling just go out of the window. Check out regular columnist Peter Hitchens for some vintage ranting. Or better yet, don't.

Now then, these armoured T-shirts, AV:1 by any chance?

[Zvezda]

Thanks Kevin for the beautiful post. I hope you don't mind me doing to the English language what Hitler did to Poland when I post here. I do however totally agree with you. I am typing for my entertainment and amongst friends only but journalism seems to be a strange field these days. Education 4+ no longer seems to be a prerequisite for that job. Anyways. I really enjoyed your rant and I am moderately disappointed that I missed the gnome when I first read the story.

As for the shirt: If you want it simple. AV: 1 Chest and Abdomen.
I like it a bit more complicated so this is what I use:
Bullet Resistant T-Shirt: Because the shirt is still soft and flexible a lot of the bullet's kinetic energy is transferred to the target's body. The bullet however is prevented from penetrating the target's body. Therefor I would say that the damage rolled by all weapons with a pen rating of NIL would be applied as "non-lethal" damage to the PC wearing that shirt, while weapons with a PEN rating other than NIL would punch right through. The Shirt would have no effect in this case.
This would make the use of body armor still reasonable to PC. Regular armor and the Shirt could also be combined without the problems which occur in games like cp2020. The shirt would work the same way under body armor. If the pen rating after punching through the armor is NIL the damage would be "non-lethal" if there still is any PEN left the shirt would be of no help to the target. It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. The shirt is a great help against .45 and 9mm while it has no chance of stopping a rifle.

[ReHerakhte]

Linden, I had a good chuckle at your post, specifically this part,
Check out regular columnist Peter Hitchens for some vintage ranting. Or better yet, don't.

Hey Zvezda, don't worry about your use of the English language because it's very good. I take into account that English is a second or third language for you and not the language you were "born into".
You also have the situation that on forums such as this one, there are three slightly different versions of English in use - British, American and Australian. For those of us who were born into English, we adapt fairly quickly between the three different versions but for someone else, it can sometimes be confusing!

For the journalists and editors from the Daily Mail however, this is the language they've used since they learnt to speak, read and write. Because they are in the business of presenting information to the public, I demand a higher standard from them

And back to the topic of the armour - Zvezda, I think your treatment is good. Has anyone had a chance to playtest it yet?
I have some thoughts to offer, specifically because the timeframe of DC allows us to increase the improvement a bit and in the real world, body armour improvements mean we are seeing the same level of protection as earlier armour but using thinner garments.
The boron-carbide would make the shirt very resistant to wear & tear and damage from bullets but as Zvezda noted, the thin material means impact damage will still be significant.
I think we could have 2nd generation shirts in use for DC in which the armour value could be AV2 or perhaps AV1 but giving all the benefits of a 1990s era kevlar vest without the weight and bulk?

[Morthrai]

On the topic of bullet-resistant clothing, there once was a TV movie called "The Owl". It starred Adrian Paul, in between the War of the Worlds and Highlander TV shows. The title character had turned nocturnal vigilante after the murder of his family. He suffered psychological insomnia, hence the nickname. Anyway, he dressed like a homeless guy complete with a full-length raincoat...which was made of kevlar weave and could withstand SMG fire (at least in the movie)

I don't think it would have made a good series though, not much depth to it.