Body Armor Weight
- Thread starter Dragoner
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steventirey1985
SOC-12
Mongoose Traveller combat armor: TL 11 is 18kg, TL 12 is 10 kg, TL 14 is 6 kg
Mongoose Traveller battledress: TL 13 is 26 kg (6.5 kg when powered up), TL 14 is 12 kg (3 kg when powered up).
Traveller 20 has the same weights for combat armor as Mongoose Traveller. T20 battledress isn't personal armor - its treated as a vehicle, so is rated in volume liters. Battledress is 300 volume liters, while the typical ground car is 2000 volume liters. There is no conversion listed to determine weight from volume liters for vehicles.
The core rulebook for TNE has TL 10 combat armor at 13.3 kg, TL 12 at 20.4 kg, and TL 14 at 18 kg. It also has TL 10 battledress at 419 kg, TL 12 at 197 kg, and TL 14 at 296 kg.
The MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia has TL 11 combat armor at 18kg, TL 12 as 10kg, and TL 14 as 6kg. TL 13 battledress is 26 kg, and TL 14 is 12 kg.
It seems there are two interpretations of battle dress. One, used by Mongoose Traveller and Megatraveller, has battledress as powered combat armor. So weights should roughly be similar (though battledress should be heavier then combat armor). The other interpretation, used by Traveller 20 and The New Era, have battledress being much larger then that.
With the exception of TNE, the weights of combat armor are consistent in the versions of Traveller I have access to.
TL 11 combat armor is 18kg
TL 12 combat armor is 10kg
TL 14 combat armor is 6kg
Mongoose Traveller battledress: TL 13 is 26 kg (6.5 kg when powered up), TL 14 is 12 kg (3 kg when powered up).
Traveller 20 has the same weights for combat armor as Mongoose Traveller. T20 battledress isn't personal armor - its treated as a vehicle, so is rated in volume liters. Battledress is 300 volume liters, while the typical ground car is 2000 volume liters. There is no conversion listed to determine weight from volume liters for vehicles.
The core rulebook for TNE has TL 10 combat armor at 13.3 kg, TL 12 at 20.4 kg, and TL 14 at 18 kg. It also has TL 10 battledress at 419 kg, TL 12 at 197 kg, and TL 14 at 296 kg.
The MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia has TL 11 combat armor at 18kg, TL 12 as 10kg, and TL 14 as 6kg. TL 13 battledress is 26 kg, and TL 14 is 12 kg.
It seems there are two interpretations of battle dress. One, used by Mongoose Traveller and Megatraveller, has battledress as powered combat armor. So weights should roughly be similar (though battledress should be heavier then combat armor). The other interpretation, used by Traveller 20 and The New Era, have battledress being much larger then that.
With the exception of TNE, the weights of combat armor are consistent in the versions of Traveller I have access to.
TL 11 combat armor is 18kg
TL 12 combat armor is 10kg
TL 14 combat armor is 6kg
Last edited:
DangerousThing
SOC-13
Then there is the interpretation with T5, where the difference between powered battle armor and battle dress is that battle dress is designed to be used with high-recoil weapons.
To add armor to Bk 8 or MT non-pseudo-biological robots, use figures from _Striker_. For pseudo-biological robots, just wear the same armor that humans would.
For other rulesets, you'll need advice from someone else. The only other advice I can off is that average adult human size is 100 litres for the entire body, NOT just the torso as claimed in Bk 8.
Oh, and adding armor should increase volume, as it is plastered onto the _outside_ of your 'bot.
For other rulesets, you'll need advice from someone else. The only other advice I can off is that average adult human size is 100 litres for the entire body, NOT just the torso as claimed in Bk 8.
Oh, and adding armor should increase volume, as it is plastered onto the _outside_ of your 'bot.
This came up in one of our Traveller games recently. It was a possible houserule on powered battledress (TNE version), the powered version while powered has no effective weight (though it still has mass hence the agility and initiative penalties it generates - therules also stated that it doubles the wearers personal strength, so carrying loads beyond the suits normal capacity would be based on the modified strength of the wearer. The rules in TNE are not clear on this ie it is not mentioned that I could find.
Any comments or thoughts on this?
I can see that the marines assigned to BD units will be the strongest marines that can be found (don't get into a fist fight with a BD marine with double strength!) and the most agile to minimise the agility penalties.
Any comments or thoughts on this?
I can see that the marines assigned to BD units will be the strongest marines that can be found (don't get into a fist fight with a BD marine with double strength!) and the most agile to minimise the agility penalties.
IMO, the unit should just have a strength, the doubles effect really does not make sense from a mechanical standpoint. Also I use a lighter version that was is depicted in TNE, which seems WH40K influenced, as the ability to not be able to turn your head in combat is severely detrimental. Ergonometrics have shown you need to reproduce natural movement if one wants it to register correctly on the brain and nervous system, esp in a low function environment like combat.
I think TNE battledress may be based on Heinleins Starship Troopers type in which if the suit looses power the trooper is immobilised, he cannot take off his own armour since it masses hundreds of kilos.
I like the idea of the suit just adding strength probably increasing with TL. The other thing I noticed about TNE versions is that the battery life assumes no systems other than the suit itself is powered. Fuel celled versions are much more efficient.
I like the idea of the suit just adding strength probably increasing with TL. The other thing I noticed about TNE versions is that the battery life assumes no systems other than the suit itself is powered. Fuel celled versions are much more efficient.
I rather like the "doubles the wearer's strength" idea as it puts the focus back on the PC rather than the magic suit of armor.
If it helps, I use the MT rule that allows you to override this limit, and use up to 30 STR* (i.e. the max of 15 STR, doubled) but tasks become hazardous in a mishap. (You can try making a cautious attempt to reduce the mishap chance).
*For Imp marine BD, that trebles STR, the max is 45.
If it helps, I use the MT rule that allows you to override this limit, and use up to 30 STR* (i.e. the max of 15 STR, doubled) but tasks become hazardous in a mishap. (You can try making a cautious attempt to reduce the mishap chance).
*For Imp marine BD, that trebles STR, the max is 45.
(Something I forgot to post earlier) I can offer you my take on armor when packaged for transport:
--> Trade Tables
--> Industrial World (In)
--> Weapons and Body Armor
--> Body Armor
Years ago, I did some calcs and estimated the sizes of equipment when packaged for transport. E.g. TL 12 cbt armor is 3 litres when packaged.
BTW, my previous note should have said "fateful", not hazardous, if you override & "push" the armor past your normal STR rating. That is, task failure will automatically produce a mishap (e.g. the arm of your BD gets stuck in the wall you were trying to punch down...)
--> Trade Tables
--> Industrial World (In)
--> Weapons and Body Armor
--> Body Armor
Years ago, I did some calcs and estimated the sizes of equipment when packaged for transport. E.g. TL 12 cbt armor is 3 litres when packaged.
BTW, my previous note should have said "fateful", not hazardous, if you override & "push" the armor past your normal STR rating. That is, task failure will automatically produce a mishap (e.g. the arm of your BD gets stuck in the wall you were trying to punch down...)
Except that the 2x and 3x make it magic, basic mechanics is that the motors powering the armor would only have x power, plus material strength/toughness as a modifier.
I've just had a mental image of van Buskirk from the Lensman series clobbering someone with a battleaxe while wearing the strength doubling battledress.
And while melee weapons can not normally penetrate this armour (TL14 BD in TNE has armour value of 8, equivelent to 4cm of steel in thickness) in this case I'd likely make an exception - assuming the weapon was up to it of course.
And while melee weapons can not normally penetrate this armour (TL14 BD in TNE has armour value of 8, equivelent to 4cm of steel in thickness) in this case I'd likely make an exception - assuming the weapon was up to it of course.
And this was one of my pet peeves with (I think it was) T4. One of the designers was saying that the penetration of a knife would never change, no matter what the TL, so even a TL14 knife made of BSD had the same Pen as a TL 5 one. "It may be able to cut through steel, but you'll never have the strength to do it" - completely forgetting about what a user in a suit of BD may do! (Or a robot, for that matter). Drongo!
But magic's OK if the object is to focus on the PC, rather than the suit. That is, you can ignore or accept it (unless your name is Sheldon Cooper) for the sake of the roleplaying aspects.
I personally I think the ability to override the limits was a nice MT way of lampshading the obvious player objections to the original LBB battledress ("why can't my BD do the same tasks as the next guy's? It's just mechanics!"), which goes to the heart o your objection.
It really dependsd on what you want to focus on.
Somewhere I'm sure I read (I could have hallucinated) that armour can absorb twice its rating in melee damage points with the remainder going through to produce concussion damage (whether the suite is penetrated, dented or its wearer is just rattled is not stated). So taking the above TL14 battledress with AV8 it would absorb 16 points of melee damage. Van Buskirk with say 11 strength using a battleaxe in battledress which doubles the strength.
Battleace does 2D6 + Str in damage points so with average dice rolls 7 + (11x2) = 29 points of damage suit absorbs 16 so 13 go through as concussion damage, not a huge amount but something - more than some projectile weapons would do versus battledress. I stress though this is TNE.
Battleace does 2D6 + Str in damage points so with average dice rolls 7 + (11x2) = 29 points of damage suit absorbs 16 so 13 go through as concussion damage, not a huge amount but something - more than some projectile weapons would do versus battledress. I stress though this is TNE.
