Generic Space Marine armor

I'm working on a setting for Mutants And Masterminds that combines elements of Aliens, Contra and Starship Troopers. The characters wear lightweight powered armor (well, 150-200 pounds; sorta lightweight). The suits aren't one-of-a-kind armor capable of fighting Tony Stark; also, they don't have built-in weapons. So far, they've got the following traits:

• A "gene-lock", restricting use to the individuals
• A tactile computer link
• Communication link
• Targeting computer
• Built-in loudspeaker
• Internal oxygen supply and sealed systems (kinda like a spacesuit)
• Body armor (obviously)
• Ablative energy shields (adds a little boost to the armor for a while)
• Sensory shields, protecting the wearer from auditory and visual damage
• Enhanced sensory equipment: infrared, night vision, ultraviolet, GPS unit
• Mild speed or swimming enhancements (about 10-20 MPH)
• One additional minor power (character's choice; usually something like a swingline, Wall Crawling, etc.)

Some of these could be changed around, depending on the character's division/specialties/etc. But I think this is good for a basic suit (though a design evades me for now). Any suggestions or changes you'd recommend?

edited 11th Oct '10 5:44:17 PM by RedneckRocker

Give them an integral melee weapon.

Can they carry heavier weapons? You could consider adding something like a shoulder-mounted hardpoint for a weapon. If you automate it with a targeting system and motors to aim, You can have it cover the wielder's back, so to speak.

Will you have heavier variants as well?

edited 10th Oct '10 1:29:31 PM by Morgulion

Sorry, I forgot to mention: The soldiers themselves have undergone some mild augmentations. Nothin' too fancy; just the ability to go without food, water or sleep for about 4 times longer than a regular slob, and augmented strength (approximately 4-12 times the normal level; results vary, depending on the individual).

Anyhow, I didn't give the armor built-in weapons, because I figured the characters would wanna keep those separate. Plus, I didn't want to make the armor the equivalent of a Do-Anything Robot; it's more like a blend of Clone Trooper armor and the armor from Rifts.

Fair enough, but I think an extendable blade on the forearm would do wonders for fending off anything that gets close.

There's no reason not to graft a blade of some sort onto the arms. For a tool if nothing else. If you're going to try and stack multiple weapons, I recommend reading some of the Power Armor entries and seeing which weapons types will work for your universe. I'd also recommend laser designators and rangefinders to relay telemetry for support weapons.

I integrate motion trackers, maps (and map grids for fire missions), and a compass to a local "north" (magnetic pole or otherwise) into a forearm computer panel. Medical data is stored as well since in case of wounding my Nanbio armor in Endless Conflict can not only seal many wounds that get through the armor but it also relays medical data on the type and location of the damage if it can for the particular wound.

My versions of Powered Armor also have integrated night vision, and thermal vision (a distinct aversion of Infrared X-Ray Camera) into the combat lenses of the helmet. Also every single suit of Nanbio armor has a fully integrated long-range two-way radio. (Which means in The Future that is Endless Conflict, dedicated radio ops like myself in the military will be obsolete.)

Note: The strength and speed enhancements offered by mine are vastly inferior to the superhuman Hand Wave effect seen in Space Marine Powered Armor all over. My work is a Deconstruction of Space Marines after all, gotta show what happens when you pick apart and allow Reality To Ensue on such things. Powered Armor in reality is not going to turn normal men into the Master Chief or the Emprah's Spess Mehreens. At least not without unthought of side effects which the Novelization of The Fall Of Reach did touch briefly upon. Chiefly the fact that superhuman strength and speed would rip apart an unaugmented and unmodified human body.

Just setting this all out for comparison and some ideas.

edited 10th Oct '10 3:21:18 PM by MajorTom

I like the idea of an arm blade, but if possible, the player could choose what close-range weapon they've got (such as a power gauntlet, Wolverine-style claws, or whatever).

The medi-scan idea works as well; since I mentioned a GPS unit built into it earlier (hence, they have a map of the location), I suppose it could also be used to keep track of teammates' locations, as well as their current status.

Definitely need command and control functions - telemetry of the wearers status, ammo counts, armor status and so on is fed via encrypted links to a comand post or whoever is in charge. The command post can then feed inputs, orders, and whatever to the soldiers as they conduct their mission. Encrypted communications to the other team members.

You covered that it's environmental armor. Good. How long would the air supply last? Are they shielded from radiation, also? Does the suit also offer filters fro a contaminated environment, where oxygen is otherwise available? that would reduce the dependency onswitching to contained air, when filtration would be just as good, and the contained air supply would be good for those chemical agents that tend to mess up filtration systems (like blood agents).

How many sharp jagged pointy edges does this armor got? Might be a problem in confined spaces - getting some cool-looking shoulder pad of doom caught on a door frame could mess you up at a critical time in battle (mess up your aim, toss you off-balance, whatever), or just be plain irritating.

Not sure you would need to include a built-in melee weapon - unless it's a large knife thing that you can detach, so you can use it in far more places and situations than if it was simply stuck on the armor in just one extended position. Articulating the blade so you can angle it or rotate it merely complicates the extending system and introduces more small parts that can fail. Pop out the blade with the non-dominant arm, grab the now-exposed handle with the dominant hand after securing the sidearm, and slash away. Or cut open your meal ration with it. Bayonets get way more use as tools than as weapons, today, I can't imagine that being much different in the future. Make the knife so it has a few tool-like projections from the handle or something (screwdriver, pliers, wire-cutters, whatever) so you can do stuff besides shoot, stab and punch.

I wanna try avoiding Yeager-style spiky shoulderpads. Essentially, in terms of appearance, imagine a cross between the Plastic Man and Dead Boy armors from Rifts, Phase II Clone trooper from Star Wars, and the armor from Halo. In short, various metal plates attached to a black Metal Gear-style bodysuit, with a helmet. The armor has different designs depending on the branch the soldier's a member of; color denotes rank.

I spoke with my friends, and one other idea they suggested:

• A weapon uplink, allowing hands free firing (wrist for energy pistols, shoulder for rifles), if they don't wanna have claws or blades attached.

Some things worth considering might be:

• Since I understand the bodysuit is made mostly of myoelectric fibers, adding an option to constrict parts of it to serve as instant tourniquets shouldn't be difficult.
• A semi-automated drug injection system may be handy. Apart from mundane applications - stimulants, painkillers, antibiotics, anti-toxins etc - it could be used to administer some kind of psycho serum too.
• This is more implants than anything, but... implants integrated with the suit's medical system, allowing artificial control over heartbeat and respiration. If the user is in a situation where there is nobody (or no time) to administer CPR to them, this just might be a life saver (may double as a kill switch too)
• Remote control system. Gives a few uses (like moving incapacitated soldiers out of the combat area without assistance) and some People Puppets potential (commanding officer to take over control of a subordinate's suit). Also bonus Nightmare Fuel potential if the feature is used to control a dead soldier's corpse.

Gah, I totally forget what Dead Boy armor looks like... Only been about fourteen years since I've played Rifts. Glitterboys? Can't forget those!

After discussion with you guys and my friends, here's the basic set-up for each set of armor:

ARMY (Weight: Approx. 190 lbs.): Genetic-based security system, preventing theft; tactile computer link; loudspeaker; oxygen & sealed system; enhanced senses (tracking device, infrared [including a laser-based radar system], multi-band radio, nightvision); body armor w/ablative energy shield; polarizing visual filters; enhanced speed (approx. 25 MPH); choice of either Wall Crawling or a grappling gun; hand weapon (choice of retractable arm blade, Wolverine-style claws or spiked gauntlets); communication link/life detector/GPS unit for teammates; clock

MARINE (approx. weight: 185 lbs.): Genetic-based security system, preventing theft; loudspeaker; oxygen & sealed system; enhanced senses (binocular viewplate, infrared, nightvision, radar, ultraviolet, weakness "scanner"); body armor w/ablative energy shield; polarizing visual filters; enhanced leaping; "Weeble Boots" (ie, "they'll wobble, but they won't fall down"); hand weapon (choice of retractable arm blade, Wolverine-style claws or spiked gauntlets); communication link/life detector/GPS unit for teammates

NAVY (approx. weight: 160 lbs.): Genetic-based security system, preventing theft; tactile computer link; loudspeaker; oxygen & sealed system; enhanced senses (dwarf-like darkvision, infrared, multi-band radio, nightvision, targeting scope); body armor w/ablative energy shield; polarizing visual filters; enhanced swimming (approx. 25 MPH); hand weapon (choice of retractable arm blade, Wolverine-style claws or spiked gauntlets); communication link/life detector/GPS unit for teammates

Not bad. Although how does the "weakness scanner" work and why doesn't the Army variant have one? (Most militaries run Marine operations in tandem or alongside Army ones. Or at least the US military does)

Some sort of ability to see stress lines in a material? It would probably be an outgrowth of the other optical and EM-band receptors. You toss in a standard EM-band receptor onto every unit and a processor to figure out what the receptors are getting, and bam, you can see stress patterns in objects, which leads you to target the most-stressed part of a structure.

The "detect weakness" thing was based on Karnak of the Inhuman's ability. Essentially, an inanimate structure (such as a building or tank) is scanned, and the major weak spots are determined, thus allowing a better chance to damage it.