I've heard a lot of differing views on what is the best type of armour for a soldier. Scale armour is cheaper and easier to manufacture, in the style of the Romans and High Elves. Chain is the most expensive, most difficult to make, but apparently not stronger than plate. what is the different characteristics of armour types and do they have special uses?

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Real men fight (semi-)naked - with optional wolf or bear cloak.



Real scale armour (loads of small plates stitched together) is probably about as easy to make as chainmail: quite simple, but very time consuming. Bigger plates significantly reduce the required time, e.g. Imperial Roman 'lorica segmentata'.
A full suit of plate is much more expensive than any other type of armour, simply because it will have to be specificially tailored to the wearer - chainmail is extremely flexible, but a 15th century suit of armour has to to be exactly right.
In terms of quality, the overall level of protection mostly increases with the evolution of the armour, although it depends on practicality (i.e. some armour could be more popular as it was relatively cheap) and the weapons considered. Weak piercing weapons can open up rings of chainmail while gliding of plate, while blunt weapons can literally put a dent in plate while chainmail may be able to absorb the blow.

If in doubt, go for chain. In use for 2500 years and counting (still used against knife attacks in some bulletproof vests, as kevlar only stops high-velocity missiles), and looks smashing too.

Just to say really that there's not really a best type of armour, any more than there's a best type of sword.

It comes down to what armour is best for the situation your soldier is in. Like the example above a mix of chain and kevlar gives a nice balance for knife and shooting attacks (assuming I understood that one right, modern stuff am not too clued up on).

There's also plenty of examples in history where lighter armoured troops have had advantges due to being less encumbered and carrying less weight than those who've been covered from head to toe in the best armour of the time.

I would however echo Coenus Scaldingus, in that mail must have been pretty damn good given the number of years it was used amongst many different cultures.