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JoeCool42 In reply to DuncanDDante [2010-09-25 19:20:47 +0000 UTC]

yeah you will appreciate the Heavy a lot more once I finish it I think, also the Ion Cannonier is practically an immovable object.

But this design has very little heavy armor, mostly dense carbon weave Kevlar. Only the most important muscle groups and organs get the heavy stuff. IM glad you like it

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DuncanDDante In reply to JoeCool42 [2010-09-25 20:19:00 +0000 UTC]

Oh, yeah...
I'm weird in this matter... If a piece of body isn't covered by metal (/ceramic/whatever) plates, then it's missing something (more plates ).

One thing, though, why kevlar? I suppose it's basically a synonym for a tough weave, but kevlar itself is merely the fabric (and by today's standards not a very good one), not the whole product. And even looking into the close future: pressure reactive plastic, nanotube weave fabrics (and not just carbon, wolfram, silicon or even some more exotic ones). My point is, let your imagination poke a bit into the science of the fiction... By the time, there will be viable spaceship travel, the technology would be a bit futher.

Then again, total disregard for human lives and soldiers' in particular, is such a lovely tradition that I'm sure we'll still see enough of it in the future to warrant limiting armor to a bare minimum.

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JoeCool42 In reply to DuncanDDante [2010-09-25 22:27:42 +0000 UTC]

Yeah you are correct, I use the word Kevlar just as a synonym its actually a carbon Nano-tube fabric, its able to stop small arms such as SMG and the smaller assault rifle type rounds, but damn you will feel it if it hits you. In the future of my novel its follows a basic principle of better armor = better guns and the cycle continued as such. Most armor is just bullet resistant and more for protection against collateral damage like shrapnel and rubble and shock-waves from explosives.

this is just the Terran take on armor, The enemies in the novel, the Unsonieans, they like the concept of, soldier dieing in the field? give them more armor, and bigger guns.

A big part of it is I have to think about the person under the armor, how far they have to run wearing it and such. The soldier role in battle defines how much protection they need. A Heavy is the defense type, an attacker will usually have to run much farther, but to hold a position against an attacker will be able to have much more armor having less ground to cover.

And again you are correct, something I cant ever forget is the government, no matter how big the nation, worries about costs. sometimes the soldier will have to deal with not having all the protection he would like because uncle sam just couldn't afford it lol

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DuncanDDante In reply to JoeCool42 [2010-09-25 23:46:25 +0000 UTC]

Exactly, the arms race will continue. Flak jackets, no matter the material can never compare. Without heavier armor, sooner or later the soldiers simply cannot stay toe to toe with the enemy.

Look at the armor from the medieval perspective. Even full plate will still consist of more than just the plates. You have the plates, to spread the impact, chainmail to preven penetration and the padding to reduce the shock of the blow. You just swap materials for the best and latest, and add the exoskeleton to carry the weight.

My take on the armor is simple:
Take a human, wrap him in a powered exoskeleton frame and coat it with armor for the best ballance of mobility and protection (shift the ballance one way or the other to fit the battlefield role). Any place soft fabric only is a structural weakness.

Exoskeleton will ensure that no undue strain is placed on the person inside -and- allows for more protection.

(Speaking of cover, it always makes me smile that a block of concrete, would somehow withstand more punishment that a specialized armor. )

Another thing: there is a reason, why modern tanks don't use active armor that much. There has been some testing and while the tanks were left unscathed, the infantry around was still caught within the blast radius and eviscerated. Armored exoskeleton eliminates that problem. It would even allow for the trooper to field the anti-missile system himself.

Btw. one way to reduce the cost is to make the armor easily salvageable. It sounds kinda morbid, but it is a way -AND- it adds a personal touch to each set of armor.

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JoeCool42 In reply to DuncanDDante [2010-09-26 01:05:48 +0000 UTC]

You Sir know your armor. Ever since I designed these guys I've thought about the powered exoskeleton idea. the time frame of my novel and how space flight became the main budget drainer on the government. Powered suits were never developed on the Terran side, on the Usoniean side however. You start to get a feel of how much better at War the antagonists are. The Terrans have better tech, but 50 years of peace and space fairing has made them soft. But the Uni's begin winning the fight very early on due to their experience in battle. Use of Power Armor, cybernetics and such.

The salvageable armor, I never thought of that though, what would you do with all that scrap after a huge battle? Definitely got me thinking. Might incoporate that into the novel somewhere. Its a great idea.

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