Warning - this is an armor theoretic post. It assumes you understand about how armor and armor platings and armor decay works in EU. It assumes you understand that doubling effective protection by a piece of equipment means it costs 3.36 times more, and that this cannot be helped. It assumes you understand about why armor costs must be thought of in terms of percentage increases in protection, not absolute +x numbers. It also assumes you will not go off and try to derive the econess of using these for impact only, Impact+cut, impact + stab, stab+cut the presented numbers. You will not get the correct result - you will instead get a very wrong result.
Implied markup - this is the max markup you can pay while still being as eco per hit as using Mark.5B, while at the same time, potentially being better off defence wise.
Adjusted markup (5B) - taking bigger hits always results in you taking bigger decay, and this is not a linear. So this is max markup you can pay for the plate while remaining as eco as 5B, having taken increased damage into account. You will be less eco than 5B at this markup, but not unfairly so. Do not pay more than this - ever.
Adjusted markup (8A) - this is the same as before, except seen from the POV of 8A plates. Its a multiplier you can apply to 8A markup to see how much over / below it you can pay, again, adjusted for getting more / less protection. Again, don't pay more to stay as eco as 8A. Note that this is not directly comparable to the previous.
The plates:
Code:
Plate: Mark.5B
Protection: 29
Max decay: 2.51
Eco: 11.54
Plate: Neverdie MK2(L)
Protection: 30
Max decay: 1.94
Eco: 15.48
Implied Markup: 1.34
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.42
Adjusted (8A) markup: 1.01
Plate: Pop dragon mk1(L)
Protection: 30
Max decay: 2.08
Eco: 14.4
Implied Markup: 1.25
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.32
Adjusted (8A) markup: 0.94
Plate: Mark.8A(L)
Protection: 32
Max decay: 2.35
Eco: 13.63
Implied Markup: 1.18
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.4
Plate: Pulsar 5(L)
Protection: 33
Max decay: 2.49
Eco: 13.27
Implied Markup: 1.15
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.44
Adjusted (8A) markup: 1.03
Plate: Rudolf MK3(L)
Protection: 36
Max decay: 2.45
Eco: 14.72
Implied Markup: 1.28
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.86
Adjusted (8A) markup: 1.33
Plate: Pulsar 8(L)
Protection: 36
Max decay: 2.64
Eco: 13.64
Implied Markup: 1.18
Adjusted (5B) markup: 1.73
Adjusted (8A) markup: 1.23
PS. Seriously though, 5B is not very eco. It just happens using plates + armor is less horribly uneco than super armor.