Battle Dress Control

[Anthony]

Originally posted by Zanrain:
You haven't read Starship Troopers, have you?

Sure. It's fairly irrelevant to this discussion, however, except in the sense that later novels with powered personal armor tended to be somewhat derivative. I'm not sure that Starship Troopers is the first BD either; I think E.E. Doc Smith had powered body armor before Starship Troopers.

CT battle dress was much much lighter than the Starship Troopers armor (maybe a tenth the weight, it was theoretically man-portable if power failed), and didn't include intrinsic weapons.

And keep in mind that Battle Dress is usually equipped with a Grav belt for better mobility. There is also the jump tecneque. Can leap tall buildings in a single bound. They can almost fly with a jump.

Such tactics tend to be a great way to get shot, since it's hard to have cover while flying.

 

[Colin]

On the topic of Heavy Gears, they aren't battledress. Standing 4-5m tall, and armed with vehicular weapons, they are designed to operate as very heavy infantry in rough terrain. In their element, they are a threat to tanks, but even then must operate in teams. In the open, they're dogfood, with neither the range nor armor to go head-to-head with tanks.
Still neat, though.
The D20 Mecha Compendium has other neat stuff, though, like the Neural Rider suits (which are bettledress, and lightweight powered armors which are a step down from BD, but still cool, to Gundam-esque giant robots and Macross-style convertable fighters. Not for the OTU, but still usuable elsewhere, if you're so inclined.

 

[zephyrus]

Out of curiosity, would anyone rather have seen BattleDress as a AR-15 personal Scale armor that provided a STR of 20 (or maybe just a +4 STR increase to a max of 20 or something). Give it the special quality that While Wearing battle dress the person took like reduced all stamina damage by like 10, 15 or 20pts much in the same manner as damage reduction in standard D20 works? I cant help but thing that it would have been easier to simple design it as personal scale armor with additional special abilties (like Stamina-Damage Reduction, improved strength, improved speed etc...)

 

[Eric]

originally posted by Zephyrus

I have read starship troopers. Their aint nothing like a Y-Rack poppin Nukes on every bounce or that one bomb that says 'I am a bomb, Im going to explode in 3, 2, BOOM!'. Maruader's? wasent that what they called them suits?

I think so. As I recall there where three different models.
Scouts, light weight, faster and I think a longer com range.
Standard, I won’t bother explaining those.
Marauders, heavy assault.

originally posted by Anthony

CT battle dress was much much lighter than the Starship Troopers armor (maybe a tenth the weight, it was theoretically man-portable if power failed), and didn't include intrinsic weapons.

Well, we`ll just have to fix that. Who wants to see some Marauder stats?

 

[justacaveman]

How about Stamina Damage Reduction = the AR for all rigid armor?

 

[Zutroi]

Originally posted by Zanrain:

Extensive SNIP

originally posted by Anthony
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> CT battle dress was much much lighter than the Starship Troopers armor (maybe a tenth the weight, it was theoretically man-portable if power failed), and didn't include intrinsic weapons.

Well, we`ll just have to fix that. Who wants to see some Marauder stats? [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]IMTU, a standard suit of battledress includes:
</font>

• TL 13 Laser Rifle, firing over one shoulder via periscope, targeting system tracks the operator's eye movements</font>
• TL13 Laser Pistol - stolen from "Forever War", if you must know, fires from the index finger</font>
• A RAM launcher (with a VERY short barrel) firing over the other shoulder.</font>
• A pair of rails along each forearm for mounting additional weapons</font>
• The usual collection of sensory/computer/commo gear</font>

Control is handled by voice and body-posturing - there's not too much point in having a real set of buttons for the operator to push when virtual ones will work just as well.

There are still exterior controls, but those are for OTHER PEOPLE to use when you're incapacitated...

 

[aramis]

Originally posted by Zephyrus:
Out of curiosity, would anyone rather have seen BattleDress as a AR-15 personal Scale armor that provided a STR of 20 (or maybe just a +4 STR increase to a max of 20 or something). Give it the special quality that While Wearing battle dress the person took like reduced all stamina damage by like 10, 15 or 20pts much in the same manner as damage reduction in standard D20 works? I cant help but thing that it would have been easier to simple design it as personal scale armor with additional special abilties (like Stamina-Damage Reduction, improved strength, improved speed etc...)

We (playtesters) hashed it out in heated debate... and the end result of the losing side was much like your suggestion... Hunter went with the vehicle mode for a variety of reasons, in part because the playtesters tended to be more in favor of that, and in part because it showcases the lower end of the VDS, and in part so that some of the faster BD could exist... (some suits allow you to run faster than people can run).

And mecha, of a sort, have existed in traveller for some time. In DGP's 101 Vehicles, check out the Dynchia Strider (a bipedal legged scout craft)... and entirely doable under MT.

By putting the breakpoint between personal armor and battledress, however, it makes all the mecha under the VDS, and thus is better for the long-term gearhead quotient.

 

[zephyrus]

Ahh.. well at least it was considered. I do get the impression it was a rather heated topic when in design. Doing it via T20-VDR does make alot of sense with the explation you give. It certainly does make it easier than to design in or provide 'enhancements' for 'battle-dress' class of personal armor.

 

[justacaveman]

How about this?

Augmented Combat Armor

Augmented Combat Armor is a powered exoskeleton version of Combat Armor. It is designed to allow infantry to carry a heavier load of armor, weapons, and equipment while increasing the soldier’s movement rate. Soldiers in Augmented Combat Armor increase their overland movement times before they take Stamina damage (Hustle for 2 hours, and 1 point of Stamina damage per 2 additional hours between sleep cycles. And walk 16 hours, with Constitution checks every 2 additional hours. After a maximum of 24 hours of movement, the penalties are returned to normal until the soldier has had a full sleep cycle. The armor also increases the effective STR of the wearer by +2 (Max 18), and increases the wearer’s carrying capacity by 50% (After adjusting for the STR increase).

AR: (+4)
Max Dex Bonus: (-2)
Armor Check Penalty: (-2)
Cost: (+Cr20,000)
Weight: (x3)
Tech Level: 11+
Speed: 9m=9, 6m=6

 

[justacaveman]

Forgot this.

Battery duration: 120 hours (The battery is rechargable, and requires at least 8 hours connected to a high-energy source.