Machined plate - good or just medicore?

First this discussion does not include Iron Clan Machined Plate but only ordinary machined plates.

Pros:
It gives good proteciton and it adds to strength so that you can use that weapon you lack ST for w/o penalties.

Cons:
Well it does weigh 1000Stone while adding only 3ST so when you're a low ST character and put it on you're sure to get at least moderate encumbrance and speed loss as a consequence.

Also there's this huge noise penalty.


All in all I do equip my team with this armors but it really pays off only in case of characters with ST13 and up.

 

I think in the officially patched game machine platemail does not give you ST.

 

It was supposed to , but they never fixed it.

 

That's why I'm using Randel Clawson's fix.