An M.I. lives by his suit the way a K-9 man lives by and with and on his doggie partner. Powered armor is one-half the reason we call ourselves "mobile infantry" instead of just "infantry." (The other half are the spaceships that drop us and the capsules we drop in.) Our suits give us better eyes, better ears, stronger backs (to carry heavier weapons and more ammo), better legs, more intelligence ("intelligence" in the military meaning; a man in a suit can be just as stupid as anybody else only he had better not be), more firepower, greater endurance, less vulnerability.
A suit isn't a space suit—although it can serve as one. It is not primarily armor—although the Knights of the Round Table were not armored as well as we are. It isn't a tank—but a single M.I. private could take on a squadron of those things and knock them off unassisted if anybody was silly enough to put tanks against M.I. A suit is not a ship but it can fly, a little; on the other hand neither spaceships nor atmosphere craft can fight against a man in a suit except by saturation bombing of the area he is in (like burning down a house to get one flea!). Contrariwise we can do many things that no ship—air, submersible, or space—can do.
The Powered Armour suits used by the Seven Worlds, the Starguild and the Dragoncrests.
There are three types:
Heavy – used for front line combat
Medium – used for activities within Cities
Light – used about starcraft
There is a fourth, Skiffdress, which is specifically used for boarding actions. It is uncommon for Starguild troops trained in one type to be experienced in another type though within the Seven Worlds, the chassis is common and only the armour weight is exchanged.
HCPA – 450 kgs of metal, ceramics and electronics designed for front line combat and limited by the amount of ground pressure.
MCPA – 300 kgs of metal, ceramics and electronics designed for situations where flooring and roofs will not support the heavier armour.
LCPA – 150 kgs of ceramics and electronics for the more fragile environments found aboard spacecraft.
Common to every Power Armour variant are:
Power Unit – this unit is sized for the armour. These run off rechargeable packs which lasts 24 hours – HCPA requires 3 packs, Medium requires 2, Light requires only 1.
BiComp – the brain of the armour, handling the control of the servomotors as well as
targeting systems, medical circuits and comms. This is not an artificial intelligence but a well trained expert system.
Life Support – at the most basic, this is air supply and thermal controls but also includes some basic medical attention (supply of painkillers, tourniquets) and basic refreshment for a deployment of 24 hours. The Life Support medical component will also re-seal the suit if it is punctured, has a homing beacon and can, if necessary, excise a limb to save a life.
People without Power Armour are seriously outmatched.
The Armour increases strength and reactions, it enhances perception with automatic target acquisition and contextual holographic interpretation of visuals The suit has passive sensors (video and audio receivers, vibration detection) as well as active sensors (ultrasonics for navigating through smoke, radar for location of other craft and armour users). The suit also possesses seismic sensors for detecting stresses in ground surfaces.
Apart from Armour, the suit provides ECM countermeasures including radar dampening, and spectrum regulation systems which not only allow a degree of chameleon-like camouflage but also can reduce damage from directed light offensive systems. The sensors used to emulate the chameleon patterns will also detect advanced targeting and laser painting. In a non-combat environment, this chameleon technology is used to designate unit colours, insignia, rank and even emoticons.
The suit struggles with Thermal dampening but can reduce heat output to environmental levels for one hour before systems after affected. Usually the rear of the suit is a large heat source. The Thermal Dampening System is refreshed by one minute of complete shutdown of operations (which may cause a significant heat flare).
Each system/subsystem within the Armour can be damaged if the armour is penetrated. The human within is just one such subsystem
System Stats
Against Human Combatants without Armour, Automatic Success (but roll for additional
successes).
Targeting Computer adds +2 to hit in Melee or Ranged
ECMs mean -2 to hit with electronic targeting.
Camo means -1 to hit with optical targeting.
