Questions concerning Battledress

[Drakon]

Tried my hand at using the Amormaker to build battledress, and I am not quite matching up with the "stock" battledress on page 629. I am using 5.09 PDF.

First from page 629

Battledress
TL 13, Size 5, 100 kg, KCr 200.
AV 45. Protections are: EMCage 30, FlashProof 30,
RadProof 30, SoundProof 30, PsiShield 5, Insulated 30,
Sealed 30.

What I came up with is TL 14, for Standard(+1) Medium Battle(+3) Dress(10)
Also, via page 236 says, Medium grants a +10 to Insulation for a total of 40 instead of 30. Typo?

Wait, if stage is left blank, there is no TL increase. If we leave burden blank we lose the insulation increase. Why can we leave those blank?

Also the Standard Subsystems table on page 237 needs to have the vertical and horizontal headings swapped.

Another question: I wanted to equip a suit of battle dress with the equivalent of a grav belt. Do I have to do the vehicle build and add costs and mass?

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Some guesses...I mean answers.

Tried my hand at using the Amormaker to build battledress, and I am not quite matching up with the "stock" battledress on page 629. I am using 5.09 PDF.

First from page 629

What I came up with is TL 14, for Standard(+1) Medium Battle(+3) Dress(10)
Also, via page 236 says, Medium grants a +10 to Insulation for a total of 40 instead of 30. Typo?

Wait, if stage is left blank, there is no TL increase. If we leave burden blank we lose the insulation increase. Why can we leave those blank?

Also the Standard Subsystems table on page 237 needs to have the vertical and horizontal headings swapped.

Another question: I wanted to equip a suit of battle dress with the equivalent of a grav belt. Do I have to do the vehicle build and add costs and mass?

I don't recall that Medium adds TL as it is generally the standard.

Yes, I see no reason you can't leave them blank which may be why the TL-D version comes out like it does.

I would just buy the BD, then buy a Grav belt, attach g-belt to armor and go. Of course there may be a Grav belt option too. Been a while since I was in ArmorMaker, but I need to return soon. If I figure out anything, I will post.

 

[Reban]

I think the 1 under the TL column for Standard in Stage Effects should be a 0 as theres no reason a "Standard" item of equipment should require any increase in TL.

Maybe add that to the Errata thread if its not there already.

For the Grav belt look at ThingMaker and the Equipment chapter. All sorts of add-ons and peripherals can be taken "off the shelf" or designed in ThingMaker, including sensors.

Grav Belt is on p.632 and you can just buy it and add it to your armor. It costs Cr 100,000 and adds 25kg of mass to your armor. What it looks like is up to you, it has a volume of 25 liters so that might be a backpack or distributed through-out the armor. Since you're building it in and not just picking one up and strapping it on in game the grav belt will be under the armor and benefit from its protection.

The only problem is there isn't a speed listed for the grav-belt (or the grav belt like propulsion options in RobotMaker). But I have brought that up in the Errata thread already.

 

[Drakon]

So...
A suit of battledress fitted out with a grav belt would cost 300,000 credits, mass out at 45 + 25 = 70 kg and be able to fly you to orbit from the ground. Tech level for a grav belt (10) is below that required for battledress (13). The only issue that I need to work out is the grav belt's power supply is good for 1 day, while the battle dress has power and life support for a week.

How much of a grav belt is power supply and how much is lifter? I will need to go through the thingmaker and work it out.

 

[pendragonman]

So...
A suit of battledress fitted out with a grav belt would cost 300,000 credits, mass out at 45 + 25 = 70 kg and be able to fly you to orbit from the ground. Tech level for a grav belt (10) is below that required for battledress (13). The only issue that I need to work out is the grav belt's power supply is good for 1 day, while the battle dress has power and life support for a week.

How much of a grav belt is power supply and how much is lifter? I will need to go through the thingmaker and work it out.

How often do you need to go from orbit to the ground? Won't you have time the recharge it from a generator or be dead by the end of that first day?

 

[Drakon]

How often do you need to go from orbit to the ground? Won't you have time the recharge it from a generator or be dead by the end of that first day?

What are the chances you would spend an entire week inside a suit of battledress? And who cleans up when you do finally do exit the suit.

It is what the book says, that grav belts can go up to 1 planetary diameter from the surface. It is always better to have an ability and not use it, than need an ability and not have it.

I am curious about the power packs used, by the battledress and the grav belt and if they can be integrated into a single unit, to reduce mass/weight.

 

[pendragonman]

What are the chances you would spend an entire week inside a suit of battledress? And who cleans up when you do finally do exit the suit.

It is what the book says, that grav belts can go up to 1 planetary diameter from the surface. It is always better to have an ability and not use it, than need an ability and not have it.

I am curious about the power packs used, by the battledress and the grav belt and if they can be integrated into a single unit, to reduce mass/weight.

One can easily end up in BD for extended periods of time. How long can it take to clear a battleship? How long can it take to secure a beach head?

How many days did it take to re-secure Hue? How long did it take to relieve the paratroops in Normandy?

Like any weapons system, the operator services the equipment prior to return to the armory.

 

[Reban]

How much of a grav belt is power supply and how much is lifter? I will need to go through the thingmaker and work it out.

A grav belt is Size 4. Power Cell size = Object Size minus one.

So the power cell in a grav belt is Size 3. About the size of a book.

You can of course upgrade the grav belt with stage effects to match the TL of your battledress or figure out the performance based on the details found in ThingMaker.

That 'one day' of use from the power cell would be constant use i.e. constant flight or constant microthrust in zero-g.