My first set of armor... one tag? Many tags?

[JeffL]

Hello,

I've spent a solid half hour perusing the Alliance Rules thread and I'm still pretty confused on how armor and armor tags work.

Rule book quotes from Page 80:

"Once a marshal has assigned your Armor Rating, you may use an armor tag with up to as
many Armor Points as you have Armor Rating.​

If you remove a piece of armor at any time during the game, your Armor Rating is reduced
by the appropriate amount."

Great, so far so good. Lets assume I come into game and get an Armor Rating of 21, which includes greaves that give 2 points. I'm assuming they will hand me a tag that says "Armor: 21" (or something similar). Yes?

"You can never have more Armor Points on your tag than the actual armor you are wearing,
and never can this amount be more than allowed by your class limit and skills. If needed,
you may remove extra points from an Armor Tag by ripping them off in order to use the tag."​

This part confuses me. If I sit down to dinner and take off my greaves... do I now have 19 armor (per the first part)? Or, per the second part, I have to "tear down" my armor tag to 19 permanently?

Can someone direct me to a good rules thread on this. I feel like I am missing some clean/clear clarification.

Thanks!

 

[Traceroo]

Totally unofficial supposition from some random player who doesn't know better:

My interpretation here is that if you have 21 points, and you take off your greaves, you walk around with your 21-point tag, but - momentarily - you only gain the benefit of the 19 points you have phys-repped.

If your kid leaves your greaves in the middle of your garage, and unknowingly, you drive the minivan over them, thus smashing them forever -- then you should rip off 2 points from your tag so that you permanently have a 19-point suit that you're wearing all the time.

Trace

 

[JeffL]

Hi Trace!

This answer makes the most sense of all I have seen, and it happens to reflect what my local armor marshal has just communicated to me, so I think I am all set.

Also... you display a disturbing level of insight into the functioning of my children and my garage...