I mean, it consists of just a leather trench coat, torso bodyplate, and helm. And it covers nothing else. So how could it give 20 DT where base combat armor covers more of the body, and yet has less DT. Is there something I'm missing here?

The armor is made of better material than what combat armor is you can be completely covered in leather and it'll still protect you less than a kevlar vest will you have to take into consideration how much enerhy the armor is absorbing not just the area it covers.

Kevlar cannot withstand what Fallout combat armour can take.

Rangers rely on speed, if the outfit was fully armored then they wouldn't be able to move as fast
And if you look at it realistically, an enemy doesn't typically aim for the head and/or legs, they usually aim for the torso because its the biggest target
Yes i realize that that wasn't a real explanation as to why its stronger than combat armor, just trying to put it into perspective

Only reason i can think of is because its on the armor on box

I understand how Rangers rely on speed, but "IF" you look at it realistic, the armor should offer no more DT than Combat armor reinforced, do to them being about the same body coverage. I know its just a game, and somethings just cant be explained, like how can a raider in foot ball gear survive a .50 round to the head? Anyway, the only thing I can figure why it offers more DT is that the "trench coat" is more than just a trench coat. Considering that in HH a Desert Ranger who wore the Desert Ranger Combat Armor said- "Ambush in the narrows. 6 males killed. ++Took a 10mm through thigh, steel jacket, missed femoral.++ Lucky. Used tourniquet to make sure no blood spattered on rocks back to cave. Have set traps all along entrance passage but if they find me it will be matter of time. Still, 24 confirmed kills in 10 days = at least 1/3rd of their combat force, not bad for an old man."

It was just being used as an example that a highly protective material over the head and torso will protect you better than a lesser material covering a larger are.

If the riot armor that the Ranger Combat Armor is made of is made out of the same kinds of high end polymer mumbo jumbo that other Combat Armors are, they are very powerful armors that while standard to the Fallout Universe, pretty much pees on our real world armors.

What makes you think there's no armor under the coat's sleeves or pants?

What makes you think there is? If there was armor under, it would be bulky, unless its balistic sleeving like on combat armor, which I doubt.

It's a game...

Well... how do you figure?

This was the most observing and informing post in all of postland.

I hate that argument. "It's a game so it CAN'T make sense, no, never."

All this time I thought it was real life.....

Anyway the armor protects you so well because its just that awesome, it radiates awesomeness that wraps it in a protective layer of awesome that not even the bombs that destroyed the world could penetrate.

Those are Deathclaw Skin jeans. Done

When you look that cool, things don't hit you as hard. Thus the higher DT

Being in combat armor screams "put me out of my misery because i look like a halo reject." Thus the lower DT

Solved

Desert Ranger Armor is simply made of better materials, possibly with more plating we don't see underneath the coat and jeans. Whether or not such plates would be "bulky" depends on the thickness of the plates.

It provides lots of protection the same way a skimpy bikini protects female warriors

They just look like re-texture to me. Maybe they were out of idea or had better things to do such as making Skyrim.

Regarding FONV, I thought I'd give it a chance because I heard Obsidian worked on it and a lot of those guys were from Interplay and BIS. They have yet to make something I don't like. I figure there's bound to be improvements with that crew on the job. I've already heard that there's a much better storyline with a more satisfying ending. More importantly, I heard they beefed up SPECIAL so that now it actually matters. On the other hand, I heard that this game is a fairly more linear, and with no play after the ending. I also heard that there's a lot less to explore and not as much is done with the space.

Rule of Cool.

Fine, if we are going to scrutinise everything in a 'game' and wonder how it works according to real-world physics..

How does the plasma pistol/rifle work.
How does a pill cure radiation poisoning.
How do Mr Gutsy's/handy's float for hundreds of years without any visible gas tank. (let alone one that would contain enough fuel to last for centuries)

I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of things in this 'game' that when compared to physical reality are complete nonsense.
The problem with these arguments is that people seem to focus too much on comparison with reality, when of course its just a game, a game that is NOT based on our reality..

Thanks, Doom.

Actually, if we do have Fallout's nuclear battery, we can make plasma rifle/pistol like theirs.

A pill can cure radiation if it can identify damaged cells and signal the body to replace them.

If Mr Gutsy/Handy have nuclear engines, or really high capacity nuclear battery, they can produce hot-air jet.

So, anything else?

Plasma contained in a magnetic field then projected at the target. The better question is how that magnetic field sustains itself away from the weapon. Pre-War tech comes from a technological Golden Age based on "Science!" instead of science, so it is simply too advanced for us to comprehend.

To be fair, Rad Away is a fluid, and the in-game dialogue suggests that it "flushes out" the radioactive particles and probably kills cancerous cells/tumors. Rad-X is a pill that simply makes the body absorb less radiation, I imagine. Again, Golden Age Science! is at work here.

As valkebus says, Gutsies and Handies are nuclear powered, like nearly all devices in the Fallout universe. Remember, Science! The Pre-War world created nuclear fission batteries smaller than a man's fist. One of those could potentially power a robot, chainsaw, or ripper for centuries, if not thousands of years.

You don't really need the magnetic field to sustain itself if you put enough momentum in the plasma bolt.