Fair enough, reading Heavy Time currently but I see I’ll have to do Rimrunners next, prepping for the release of the second book of the new Alliance Rising series.
General Battledress: Suits or Mecha?
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mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
They are all good reads.
Rimrunners is set almost immediately after Downbelow Station and details the adventures of an ex-India marine sergeant. In that book the armour used by the marines which is mentioned in Downbelow gets a much more detailed description.
"Powered exoskeletons in fiction
- C. J. Cherryh's novel Rimrunners deals partly with the tactical and technical details of armored marines deployed from large interstellar carriers for boarding actions and station-taking."
Powered exoskeletons in fiction
Powered armor (also called CAS or Combat Armored Suits) has appeared in a wide variety of fiction, beginning with E. E. Smith's Lensman series in 1937. Since then, it has featured in science fiction movies and literature, comic books, video games, and tabletop role-playing games. One of the most...
IMHO as much as you can in Vacc Suit1...
The main problem you will have is controls are quite likely to be tactile screens (or holographic). How can you use a taclitle screen in gloves? This aside, in MT:SOM the old timer talks about the ship computer to ask for the palm to be put as identificator at random moments (less often in emergencies), with the sensor monitoring the blood oxygen to be sure the hand belongs to a live person. Here gloves would affect again...
And last, but not least, not as much for starships as other crafts, BD (as Vacc Suits) are bulky, and so it will depend on the space for the operator. I've never allowed Vacc Suit or BD equiped troopers to use a crafted seat in MT designs (I'm not sure if other design systems have the varios kinds of seats)
Note 1: along the whole post, when I talk about Vacc Suits they include Combat Armor
Do you consider the Stormtroopers armor to be BD or CA?
I'd go for CA, as they don't seem to be powered...
Pros always prep their ship for combat by going to vacuum, no explosive decompression or fires. So yes you have to be able to operate the ship in a vacc suit.
Same thing in fighters, doubly so since there is no suit up space or time when things go wrong.
Now then, battle dress might be a problem but due to its powered nature and greater strength. Fine control might be an issue with greater strength against manipulating throttles and mashing buttons.
I would require full skill in the suit and would impose negative DMs whenever the pilot was in the suit type they don’t typically use.
Same thing in fighters, doubly so since there is no suit up space or time when things go wrong.
Now then, battle dress might be a problem but due to its powered nature and greater strength. Fine control might be an issue with greater strength against manipulating throttles and mashing buttons.
I would require full skill in the suit and would impose negative DMs whenever the pilot was in the suit type they don’t typically use.
I do not see military ships having this 'feature'. It's something to go wrong at the worst possible moment.
OTOH military seccurity uses to be the thighest
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Can you control a spacecraft while encased in powered armour?
Yes.
Yes.
However, modern military combat vehicles and ships tend not to have much security - they rely on the crews, etc. for that. Besides, the most likely people to steal your shiny spaceships are the ones you're giving the key, etc. to.
For civilian ships, sure (banks and insurers may well require it), but I don't see it for military ones.
This is in the T20 Rule Book.
And for the Stormtroopers, their armor is Combat Armor, going by Traveller equipment (afaik).
SavageCan you control a spacecraft while encased in powered armour?
Yes.
The Department of defense did significant training in the 1960s on a white polystyrene body armor that would have almost exactly matched storm trooper armor. The problem was it didn’t cool, and the soldiers kept passing out from heat stroke. Not ideal.
casquilho
SOC-13
Thanks Bookwyrm. I will add T20 to the name so I will remember where it came from.
It seems to be junk, so Ablat.
Fuchikoma are cute AF. Tachikoma are scary.
Krikkitone
SOC-12
I think, using the OPs definition, BD is between…ie if unpowered you would be significantly encumbered, but not necessarily immobile (probably not walking unless you are str 10+, but you can probably move an arm or two at str 5+.)
The OP’s definition was set after several comments and votes were already tallied.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I've just been reminded of a vital piece of equipment, covering such.
Also, you may want to emphasize protection against blast damage, rather than worry about penetrating rounds.
Also, you may want to emphasize protection against blast damage, rather than worry about penetrating rounds.
The OP's definition was clarified after his initial polling questions yielded responses inconsistent with the root definitions he'd mistakenly thought he'd implied in his initial questions, and his poll included an option for voters to change their votes, and the clarification (or "false definition", depending on one's viewpoint) was discussed (or perhaps argued about would be a better phrasing) so the impact on the poll itself can best be described as falling somewhere between negligible and nonexistent (in my opinion, of course, notwithstanding that some no doubt consider the poll irreparably compromised by the clarification aka "false definition"), though the discussion devolved to the point that the OP himself elected to depart the thread in apparent disgust. Just clarifying.
Combat Armor for sure. As noted no power assist.
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