I've been on a bit of a power armour kick of late, courtesy of reading various bits of sci-fi, and was thinking about what the essential elements of the central conceit are. As in what does the suit absolutely need to do. Note I'm not talking about mechs here, just roughly man-sized powered suits. As per the obligatory TVTropes reference, or the more realistic powered exoskeleton science.

Off the top of my head we have as a minimum:

• Perform the role of armour, protecting against blunts and sharps, but also projectiles and fragmentation. Possibly energy attacks (heat, lasers, radiation) as well.
• Exoskeleton or some other means both to support its own weight, but also enhance the strength and endurance of the wearer (strength often includes super-jumping).
• HUD with integrated communications, possibly radar too. Maybe with medical diagnostics to keep an eye on the wearer.
• Sensory enhancements/protection - nightvision, flash-suppression, auditory enhancement etc.
• Sealed with life-support to preserve against gas/chemical/biological attacks and also possibly survive underwater/in the vacuum of space.
• A portable energy source to power the suit independently for hours/days/longer (which is the thing that eludes our current efforts).
• Water and plumbing, ie a means to rehydrate and relieve yourself.

The other elements they might optionally have are almost infinite, but you have things like:

• Food and waste management
• Inertial dampers to lessen injury from impacts
• Medical treatment systems, possibly including various drugs
• Integrated weapons
• Electronic counter measures and other sorts of defences against being targeted
• Auto-aiming or other computer-assisted augmentation
• Hacking
• AI to manage advanced computing and secondary functions
• Anti-gravity, jump jets or flight
• Self-repair systems

As an aside, are there any games that do this well (by well, I'm meaning not turn combat into a grinding slog of ultra-crunchy detail)?

A basic power suit should have these 4 things:

- Protection, it's typically armour, but can also include life support systems.

- Physical enhancement, typically strength, although speed and toughness can also be part of it.

- Locomotion, like flight or simply faster ground movement.

- Weapons, for self-defense.

Anything else is gravy.

As for what does this well, any superhero game that doesn't differentiate between powers.  Games like FASERIP/MSH, M&M 3e, ICONs.  I'm sure there are others, but those are the three that leap out in my gaming experience.

A way to drink water, and a way to pee.

I don't think there is any strict minimum. For example, the movie Aliens featured a powered exoskeleton for loading work, which had no real armor or life-support. There are also some steampunk settings that feature powered armor that doesn't match these minimums.

Your first mistake was using TV Tropes as a reference.

1. Big shoulder pads
2. Beaky helmet


[ATTACH=CONFIG]2100[/ATTACH]

You mentioned medical treatment system, but a variant of that could be military drug application/dosing system to increase strength/damage reduction/speed/ect

Specific role power armor might lack things like armoring, proper movement, and weapons. Such a thing could be a good intro level freeby players find somewhere.

An armor specializing in hacking/computing would probably require good processors and lot of energy, and might need to move fast so likely it would be smaller and swifter, with basic weapons, but with built-in hacking tools and computer processor. This might be a design easily part of standard or modified communcation officer armor which can act as networking hub for communication of the team if they are cut off from other forms of comm access or reinforcements.

Gronan's idea of fluid recycling system is usually mentioned as standard in most sci-fi for space suits too, but you already mentioned it in your first post.

Jump-jets are a good option yes, even if it has limited daily use, it could filter out hydrogen from air as fuel as example thus explaining how it has limited range/use per day.

Another special variant of the armor could focus not on endurance/power, but agility and speed, this would probably be combined with things like a stealth generator and night visor, grappling hook-shooter with a scout/commando role in mind.

An optional module to be used could extract poison easily from creatures and plants, used either for a medical role armor character, or the above mentioned commando-like role.



To me it seems like you could have 4 armor frames, similar to classic pnp: light, medium, heavy, and massive
It would have a given amount of modular slots (depending on company design, quality, age) for additional skills/uses which isn't standard for their type, such modules could be the self-repair or aim-assist module. Massive type would be for jobs requiring great protection or the frame used for assault which can slot two heacy weapons on shoulders in addition to other modules.

Here's an example power armor sheet from StarCluster 4:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XNJeBPkxOJmL2ndSvXM7PG9xXFK4x7Dd

That should give you a good roundup: Optics, sensors, comm channels, armor quality, interface type, programs, power taps for weapons and such, which attributes are boosted and which are degraded by the armor and by how much, the seal rating, and mobility enhancements.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1018950Locomotion, like flight or simply faster ground movement.

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Quote from: Christopher Brady;1018950A basic power suit should have these 4 things:

- Protection, it's typically armour, but can also include life support systems.

- Physical enhancement, typically strength, although speed and toughness can also be part of it.

- Locomotion, like flight or simply faster ground movement.

- Weapons, for self-defense.

Anything else is gravy.

As for what does this well, any superhero game that doesn't differentiate between powers.  Games like FASERIP/MSH, M&M 3e, ICONs.  I'm sure there are others, but those are the three that leap out in my gaming experience.

Good stuff.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1018953A way to drink water, and a way to pee.

Very valid point, for a properly sealed suit those are indeed vital.

Quote from: jhkim;1018955I don't think there is any strict minimum. For example, the movie Aliens featured a powered exoskeleton for loading work, which had no real armor or life-support. There are also some steampunk settings that feature powered armor that doesn't match these minimums.

True, but the premise here is powered armour, not simply exoskeletons. Many of those essentials are common across a range of variations on the theme.

Quote from: joriandrake;1018971You mentioned medical treatment system, but a variant of that could be military drug application/dosing system to increase strength/damage reduction/speed/ect

Specific role power armor might lack things like armoring, proper movement, and weapons. Such a thing could be a good intro level freeby players find somewhere.

An armor specializing in hacking/computing would probably require good processors and lot of energy, and might need to move fast so likely it would be smaller and swifter, with basic weapons, but with built-in hacking tools and computer processor. This might be a design easily part of standard or modified communcation officer armor which can act as networking hub for communication of the team if they are cut off from other forms of comm access or reinforcements.

Gronan's idea of fluid recycling system is usually mentioned as standard in most sci-fi for space suits too, but you already mentioned it in your first post.

Jump-jets are a good option yes, even if it has limited daily use, it could filter out hydrogen from air as fuel as example thus explaining how it has limited range/use per day.

Another special variant of the armor could focus not on endurance/power, but agility and speed, this would probably be combined with things like a stealth generator and night visor, grappling hook-shooter with a scout/commando role in mind.

An optional module to be used could extract poison easily from creatures and plants, used either for a medical role armor character, or the above mentioned commando-like role.



To me it seems like you could have 4 armor frames, similar to classic pnp: light, medium, heavy, and massive
It would have a given amount of modular slots (depending on company design, quality, age) for additional skills/uses which isn't standard for their type, such modules could be the self-repair or aim-assist module. Massive type would be for jobs requiring great protection or the frame used for assault which can slot two heacy weapons on shoulders in addition to other modules.

I've edited in some useful additions, thanks for those.

Quote from: flyingmice;1018974Here's an example power armor sheet from StarCluster 4:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XNJeBPkxOJmL2ndSvXM7PG9xXFK4x7Dd

That should give you a good roundup: Optics, sensors, comm channels, armor quality, interface type, programs, power taps for weapons and such, which attributes are boosted and which are degraded by the armor and by how much, the seal rating, and mobility enhancements.

That's a good summary, thanks.

Quote from: Tulpa Girl;1018983[ATTACH=CONFIG]2101[/ATTACH]

As a fan of Iron Man since the beginning - yes, I have Iron Man #1 - his suit was originally nowhere near as powerful as it later became. He was always having power problems until he finally perfected the Arc Reactor (which was actually invented by his father, Howard) and miniaturized it into the Iron Man Mark VI armor. Unlike the movie series, this took years of work.

I did find this funny in retrospect, but at the time it made sense.

I will note that power is a constant consideration in the fiction, barring those that are so hi-tech that you can have tiny, safe, clean, near-infinite batteries.

Quote from: Kiero;1019037I will note that power is a constant consideration in the fiction, barring those that are so hi-tech that you can have tiny, safe, clean, near-infinite batteries.

As it should be, realistically (although realism often takes a back seat when powered armor is used, regardless).  

Quote from: flyingmice;1019036in retrospect

And that's the right word for it. Iron Man as Thor/Hulk-level superhero is a conceit that is only required after-the-fact. There's no reason he can't be a low-level crime-fighter who is excited about being able to conserve power and move faster than running. He's in a group along with Wasp and Black Widow and Hawkeye (who isn't the semi-useless outlier in the comics, where it's usually Hulk and Thor who are the weirdly powerful ones).

To the OP topic--I think the only intrinsic requirements is that it is armor, and that it provides enough speed/strength enhancements to negate its' own added encumbrance. Everything else is gravy. As has been pointed out, if you can't pee in the thing, that's a serious limitation. Same with can't see. And given that it is the future (or superscience now), it ought to also have all the things a soldier/cop would have if they weren't in powered armor.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1019038To the OP topic--I think the only intrinsic requirements is that it is armor, and that it provides enough speed/strength enhancements to negate its' own added encumbrance. Everything else is gravy. As has been pointed out, if you can't pee in the thing, that's a serious limitation. Same with can't see. And given that it is the future (or superscience now), it ought to also have all the things a soldier/cop would have if they weren't in powered armor.

Right. On the linked sheet, you can describe a vac suit, underwater suit, Kevlar vest, or full on Mobile Infantry gorilla suit because these are all things on a continuum, but base power armor is just that - powered armor. The gravy just makes it more useful and interesting.

Quote from: Kiero;1019037I will note that power is a constant consideration in the fiction, barring those that are so hi-tech that you can have tiny, safe, clean, near-infinite batteries.

Sometimes instead of power per se it's some version of overheating or required cool-down if too much power is used for too long.

I liked the suit design FlyingMice. But why is one of the protections ABC instead of NBC?