Post by Fromikeable on Feb 28, 2016 19:53:45 GMT -5
Light: From light under-clothes vests to tactical reconnaissance armor, light armors offer basic defensive capabilities for relatively little drawback. Designed to maintain mobility, agility, coordination, and capacity for movement.
At the lower end, light armor includes the bare-minimum; vests and sleeves made of bulletproof plastics and fabrics that are basically a step up from bare skin. They’re thin, flexible, and discreet, fitting under most forms of clothing without too much of a tell. The flipside is that they stop nothing but the lightest of weapons; the average vibrodagger, some commercial handguns and blasters, etc.
At the higher end of light armor comes “reconnaissance armor”, which is designed for scouts and operatives. In short, light armor is designed to service those military personnel who avoid direct engagement with enemy forces; when the shooting starts, they’re supposed to be gone. These sets are therefore designed to protect people running from gunfire, boasting high-grade ballistic fibers, energy-dispersing designs, and the occasional set of light plates. At best, they deflect glancing shots, only actually stopping bullets and bolts in the most dire of areas.
Medium: Medium armor makes the galaxy spin, protecting soldiers across history. From grunts to generals, if one wants to survive a shot to the chest in exchange for not being able to sprint quite as fast, one picks up a pair of medium plating. Designs tend to focus on survivability, a balance between mobility and protection, and making the armor relatively simple and efficient (though more elaborate modifications can be made at a cost).
The low-end of medium armor tends to be barebones; heavy ballistic fibers linking up multiple plates and weaves, designed to make the user a bit less fragile and a bit more prone to uncomfortable pressure in uncomfortable places. Low-end armors usually get sold in bulk to groups (mercenaries, armies, militias, and everything in-between), so they’re designed to with cheap, easily mass-produced designs. This usually means standard protection with varying degrees of discomfort and few add-ons (i.e. very basic HUD’s, no advanced programming or systems, etc.).
The high-end of medium armor is the stuff of movies. Usually expensive and built to order, production is usually complex and demanding of skill. High-end medium armor comes equipped with all of the bells and whistles; tactical programming, high-end comms, advanced HUD’s and sensors, and sometimes even specific systems such as jump packs or medical monitoring suites. Their protective ability is also a fair sight above their cheaper cousins; the plates tend to be slightly stronger, more numerous, and provide nearly complete coverage. This all, of course, comes at the further cost of more hindered movement; a price considered payable by the very organized, tactical organizations that don’t plan to have soldiers scrambling or outrunning their enemy.
Heavy: Heavy armor follows the mantra “if some is good, more is better” to an extreme. It is the foil to light armor; mobility is all but erased in favor of taking on bullets and blaster bolts like a champion. Slow, cumbersome, and sometimes weighing more than the people in them, heavy armor is impractical from an economic and tactical standpoint to be given to more than a handful of individuals in army formations, and its extreme size and need for preparation are usually too off-putting to make it attractive on the private market. In short, heavy armor fills a very specific niche of people who are fine with moving slow and getting shot more than their fair share.
On the lower end of heavy armors, manufacturers essentially take normal armor sets and simply begin to pile on plates, tech, and fabric. Usually sold to tactical response teams or specific, slow-moving army units, the armors are as much burdens to bear as they are extreme protection. Individuals who use them tend to give little credence to most firearms, as the only real threats are armor-piercing rounds or heavier weapons. On the downside, users are reduced to a slow jog at their fastest, and without the endurance of a god, that speed tends to not last for long.
On the high end of heavy armors are what have been likened to personal tanks. Usually heavier than their operators and a fair sight larger, these suits more often than not require movement assistance in the form of small hydraulics and powered systems (which demands carrying batteries, which demands more power). Inefficient to an extreme and only a hair faster than the average catapult, all of these detriments allow unrivaled protection. Users of high-end heavy armor fear no gun, shirk from no challenge, and run from no fight (though few actually can). Boasting numerous integrated support systems, some suits even increased the user’s strength thanks to additional movement systems, allowing for heavier guns. Generally, however, suits of armor this large tend to be far too demanding for the average humanoid to use, save for those with naturally great strength.
At the lower end, light armor includes the bare-minimum; vests and sleeves made of bulletproof plastics and fabrics that are basically a step up from bare skin. They’re thin, flexible, and discreet, fitting under most forms of clothing without too much of a tell. The flipside is that they stop nothing but the lightest of weapons; the average vibrodagger, some commercial handguns and blasters, etc.
At the higher end of light armor comes “reconnaissance armor”, which is designed for scouts and operatives. In short, light armor is designed to service those military personnel who avoid direct engagement with enemy forces; when the shooting starts, they’re supposed to be gone. These sets are therefore designed to protect people running from gunfire, boasting high-grade ballistic fibers, energy-dispersing designs, and the occasional set of light plates. At best, they deflect glancing shots, only actually stopping bullets and bolts in the most dire of areas.
Medium: Medium armor makes the galaxy spin, protecting soldiers across history. From grunts to generals, if one wants to survive a shot to the chest in exchange for not being able to sprint quite as fast, one picks up a pair of medium plating. Designs tend to focus on survivability, a balance between mobility and protection, and making the armor relatively simple and efficient (though more elaborate modifications can be made at a cost).
The low-end of medium armor tends to be barebones; heavy ballistic fibers linking up multiple plates and weaves, designed to make the user a bit less fragile and a bit more prone to uncomfortable pressure in uncomfortable places. Low-end armors usually get sold in bulk to groups (mercenaries, armies, militias, and everything in-between), so they’re designed to with cheap, easily mass-produced designs. This usually means standard protection with varying degrees of discomfort and few add-ons (i.e. very basic HUD’s, no advanced programming or systems, etc.).
The high-end of medium armor is the stuff of movies. Usually expensive and built to order, production is usually complex and demanding of skill. High-end medium armor comes equipped with all of the bells and whistles; tactical programming, high-end comms, advanced HUD’s and sensors, and sometimes even specific systems such as jump packs or medical monitoring suites. Their protective ability is also a fair sight above their cheaper cousins; the plates tend to be slightly stronger, more numerous, and provide nearly complete coverage. This all, of course, comes at the further cost of more hindered movement; a price considered payable by the very organized, tactical organizations that don’t plan to have soldiers scrambling or outrunning their enemy.
Heavy: Heavy armor follows the mantra “if some is good, more is better” to an extreme. It is the foil to light armor; mobility is all but erased in favor of taking on bullets and blaster bolts like a champion. Slow, cumbersome, and sometimes weighing more than the people in them, heavy armor is impractical from an economic and tactical standpoint to be given to more than a handful of individuals in army formations, and its extreme size and need for preparation are usually too off-putting to make it attractive on the private market. In short, heavy armor fills a very specific niche of people who are fine with moving slow and getting shot more than their fair share.
On the lower end of heavy armors, manufacturers essentially take normal armor sets and simply begin to pile on plates, tech, and fabric. Usually sold to tactical response teams or specific, slow-moving army units, the armors are as much burdens to bear as they are extreme protection. Individuals who use them tend to give little credence to most firearms, as the only real threats are armor-piercing rounds or heavier weapons. On the downside, users are reduced to a slow jog at their fastest, and without the endurance of a god, that speed tends to not last for long.
On the high end of heavy armors are what have been likened to personal tanks. Usually heavier than their operators and a fair sight larger, these suits more often than not require movement assistance in the form of small hydraulics and powered systems (which demands carrying batteries, which demands more power). Inefficient to an extreme and only a hair faster than the average catapult, all of these detriments allow unrivaled protection. Users of high-end heavy armor fear no gun, shirk from no challenge, and run from no fight (though few actually can). Boasting numerous integrated support systems, some suits even increased the user’s strength thanks to additional movement systems, allowing for heavier guns. Generally, however, suits of armor this large tend to be far too demanding for the average humanoid to use, save for those with naturally great strength.