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CTD - Combat Powersuit


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Somebody complained that there wasn't a power armour yet, so I cooked this up.

Again, I'm throwing this up to anyone who wants to have a go at it first, cause I

don't think I've got enough time to handle both flying suit and power suit at the same time.

If no-one's picked it up when I'm done with the flying suit, I'll pick it up again.

Nevertheless, comments please.

power.txt

Edited by tzuchan
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I like it but my only concern is the dates regarding the myomer technology. I've seen that stuff used a couple of years ago and setting a date of 2011 sets the date. Maybe use a few years after or a decade or something I don't know. OIther than that its a good start.
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I think putting the first apperance of power armor almost a decade before the game takes place, and having it be developed by an unknown terrorist agency no less really goes against the 'mood' they set in the origonal game for power armor.

 

I remeber the happyest moment I ever experienced playing X-Com was the first time my scientists told me I could research power armor. It was my new toy, my saving grace. And it fit with the X-Com agency being the most technologicly advanced human orginization. It's fine to say that many attempts were made at power armor, but I really think it should be said that none of the peices ever came together untill the discovery of alien alloys and Xezeium(or however the heck you spell it) power plants.

 

The moyamers are cool, but beacuse Battletech has used them before, I think it would be better, and would be tighter continuity to say that the power armor's 'muscles' are the same kind of dielectric polymers that are the controll cables for the interceptor, but reworked to provide more power and flexiblity when mated to a Xenium 122 power plant.

This would be a really cool combination of human and alien tech, and I think would give the player a real thrill from learning how to use the alien tech in ways the aliens hadn't thought of, and combining it with good ol' human iginuity.

 

I'll put up a draft of what I was thinking for comment and critizism as soon as I can find time to do it. Probalby by the end of the week.

Edited by Gutter Monkey
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:unsure: I wasn't too sure about the tank part... Anyway, I changed it into a squad of 5 ROV tanks much like the type the X-Corps gets to use in the game... Smaller, less armour and possibly not so good a reaction time... We can pretend that the Power armour was carrying better weapons, after all, they somehow managed to get a power armour up and running in the first place...

 

Tell the truth, I wasn't thinking too much into why a well-funded and conventional group couldn't get one up and running while an unknown underground group did... But here are a couple of possible reasons:

 

1) The underground group is a large, well organized subversive group, possibly working with the aliens... They are well funded and have been stealing and sabotaging the other "conventional" groups' research.

 

2) Because they are unconventional and working on a shoestring budget, they ended up thinking "outside the box" and came up with the idea...

 

 

Gutter monkey, you've given me somethings to think about, and either I'll work your ideas in, or pass the whole thing to you...

 

Anyway, latest revision, with new names and such... Read and review please.

power_V3.rtf

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Here for anti RTF ppl.

 

Power suit CTD Concept

 

Having developed effective body armor, the next logical step would be a powered armor system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Heavy Assualt Hardsuit Mark 4, HAH MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

 

Powered armor has always been seen as the ultimate answer in improving the effectiveness of soldiers on the battlefield, and black-box programs to develop the powered armor have set up by various agencies around the world since as early as the 1990s with various degrees of success, but all were stumpted by the fact that a light weight yet strong and responsive motor control system that could be mass produced was impossible to design.

 

However, ten years ago, a working power armor was spotted engaging authorities during a hostage situation. Despite the fact that it was bulky and slow, it managed to fend off the authorities and escape. Five months later, it was spotted again in a terrorist attack on a military base. The unknown power armor was engaged by a five unit squad of the new ROV tanks and was disabled. It should be noted that the ROV tank squad was almost effectively destroyed in the process of disabling the power armor.

 

A detailed inspection of the power armor revealed that it used a new type of motive system that mimicked the muscles in a human body. Our researchers were able to reconstruct details on the manufacturing process from files pulled from the onboard computer of the power armor. We also obtained the name of this unique motive system which is referred to as “Myomers”.  Unfortunately, myomers proved to be unfeasible due to the enormous power requirements needed to use them effectively and the unknown power armor was incapable of providing agents in the field with protection without unduly affecting their mobility due to the fact that the myomers were underpowered despite using a oversized fuel cell for the power source.

 

However, with our research into the UFO power sources, we are finally capable of developing power systems that are not only capable of powering the myomers, but at the same time still prove to be small enough to be mounted on a power armor without sacrificing mobility or power.

 

Finally, through the use of alien alloys as the protective armor, the Heavy Assualt Hardsuit proves to be resistant to plasma weapons, which is further improved by the addition of a layer of superconducting materials beneath the armored surfaces, allowing the heat generated by the plasma weapons to be dispersed over a wide area and reducing the damage done.

 

With the HAH MK-IV Praetorian, we have denied the aliens their strength and armor advantage over our agents in the field.

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checked foor typos, grammmar and flow. love the name as well:

 

Power suit CTD Concept

 

Having developed effective body armour, the next logical step would be a powered armour system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Heavy Assault Hardsuit Mark 4, HAH MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

 

Powered armour has always been seen as the ultimate answer in improving the effectiveness of soldiers on the battlefield, and black-box programs to develop the powered armour have set up by various agencies around the world since as early as the 1990s with various degrees of success, but all were stumped by the fact that a light weight yet strong and responsive motor control system that could be mass produced was impossible to design.

 

Ten years ago a working power armour reportedly engaged authorities during a hostage situation. Despite the fact that it was bulky and slow, it managed to fend off the authorities and escape. It proved impervious to the small arms fire available to the authorities. Five months later, it was spotted again in a terrorist attack on a military base. Recently the unknown power armour was engaged by a five unit squad of the new ROV tanks and was disabled. It should be noted that the ROV tank squad was almost effectively destroyed in the process of disabling the power armour.

 

A detailed inspection of the power armour revealed that it used a new type of motive system that mimicked the muscles in a human body. Our researchers were able to reconstruct details on the manufacturing process from files pulled from the onboard computer of the power armour. We also obtained the name of this unique motive system which is referred to as “Myomers”. Essentially the reason the ROVs were eventually able to disable the power armour was that the drain caused by extended use of the Myomers depleted the onboard fuel cells. At this point the user of the armour was unable to defend himself adequately and the remainder of the task force was able to kill the occupant.

 

With our research into the UFO power sources we are finally capable of developing power systems that are capable of powering the Myomers almost indefinitely in addition to being sufficiently small so that manoeuvrability and speed has been increased beyond the original design captured.

 

Finally through the use of alien alloys as the protective armour, the Heavy Assault Hardsuit proves to be resistant to conventional weapons in addition to plasma weapons. The addition of a layer of superconducting materials beneath the armoured surfaces further reduces heat damage from plasma and laser weaponry by dispersing it over a larger area.

 

With the HAH MK-IV Praetorian, we have denied the aliens their strength and armour advantage over our agents in the field.

Edited by Cartesian
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I don't like the Heavy Assault Hardsuit part of the name. It sounds like something Trojan would put out. "Men! Are you tired of your ladies laughing at the size of your piece? Get the Heavy Assault Hardsuit!"

The Mark IV Praetorian sounds really, really cool though.

 

Some alternatives: Assault Armor, Power Armor, Powered armor, Heavy Battle Armor, Combat Powersuit, Myrmidon Armor, Juggernaut Armor.

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Preatorian, or Myrmidon are the coolest parts. And powered armor system sounds cooler then hard suit, which is actually a piece of scuba diving equipment for extreme depth.

 

And I repeat my protest against powered armor being devloped ten years previous by an unknown terrorist agency. If you really want to have a past behind the suit, make the new powered armor a revamp of a mothballed US Army advanced weapons program that was shelved beacuse of weight and power issues, as well as complexity of manufature. And perhaps the only productive thing to come out of the origonal project was in fact the predisesor to the dielectric polymers.

 

It just doesn't seem right for powered armor to show up so much earlyer then the game. If you want that bit about taking out ROV tanks, that can be the fluff. Something to the effect of:

 

"At first I was not too sure about the new armor. I mean the damn thing weighs a quarter ton even without weapons and ammo, and I'm supposed to fight wearing this thing? I was expecting to get my uh- "hindquarters" handed to me by the ROVs. But once I powered up and finnaly got it calibrated right, it felt lighter then my duty uniform. I managed to take down four of the tanks, and really screwed the last one up before it got me. I can't wait to see the looks on the bug's faces when we show up in these!"

--Lt .Whetherson, X-Corp infantry field testing

Edited by Gutter Monkey
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And for the anti-rtf movement...

 

Having developed effective body armor, the next logical step would be a powered armor system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Powered Armor System Mark 4, PAS MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

 

Powered armor has always been seen as the ultimate answer in improving the effectiveness of soldiers on the battlefield, and black-box programs to develop the powered armor have set up by various agencies around the world since as early as the 1990s with various degrees of success, but all were stumped by the fact that a light weight yet strong and responsive motor control system that could be mass produced was impossible to design.

 

The closest anyone got was a US Army advanced weapons design team starting in the late 90’s and ending in the early parts of the first decade of the new century. Their main problem finding a suitable method of giving power to the trooper’s movements. Hydraulics were too bulky and imprecise, so it was determined a new system must be developed. The result of this effort were the predecessor’s to today’s dielectric polymers, the substance used for the control cables in the XC-1 Interceptor. A working prototype was actually tested, but because of the primitive polymers vast energy requirements, the suit had to be physically tethered to a power station. Another problem with the prototype was that it was severely underpowered, even though the body was made of light grade steel and aluminum, not the heavy armored plate required to give the suit any kind of life expectancy in a real combat situation. The project was canceled, and the prototype mothballed.

 

With the recent discovery of how to harness alien alloys and Xenium 122, the dream of this abandoned project has become a reality. Using new, advanced versions of the dielectric polymers specially modified we have managed to provide the flexibility and strength required to mimic the wearer’s motions accurately and with enough control to crush concrete or cradle an egg. These polymers have been bundled into what closely resemble human muscle groups. This has lead some members of the development team who are sci-fi fans to dub the groupings ‘myomers’. The myomer groupings are powered by a pair of miniaturized Xenium 122 rechargeable power cells, and have a large enough internal charge to run for 84 straight hours of active use. The power cells can be ‘topped off’ by hooking into the power plant of any Xenium 122 power assault craft, and the myomers are efficient enough that the drain on the craft’s fuel supply is negligible, only the equivalent of a few micrograms.

 

Each suit is fully adjustable, and is fitted to the individual specifications of each solider to provide a snug, but not tight, fit. The control system is a series of pressure pads that are built into the innermost layer, called a control lining. They are placed around major joints and movement areas, such as above and below the knees, and all around the shoulders. When a solder tries to move, they press against one or more of the pads. Information about which pads are being pressured, and how hard is processed by the armor’s computer, and this information is translated to appropriate stimulation of the concerned myomer groupings. This system requires very little training to operate, and once the trooper is used to moving in the armor, the process is as subconscious as walking. The power of the myomer system give the wearer the strength to haul around the weight of all the armor’s systems as well as any weapons and ammo he may be carrying effortlessly, and can amplify their strength so that even the physically weakest of the X-corps troopers can carry into combat vastly more weight the even the most formidable of soldiers could even lift, much less run with. All this strength does not mean however, that the Praetorian sacrifices control.

 

The armor carries a full NBC air and radiation filtration system, and can be equipped with it’s own air supply quite easily. The interior of the armor is fully climate controlled to the individual troopers liking, and a special undergarment wicks perspiration away from the body to keep the soldier dry. The soldier can even drink from a tube next to his or her mouth that connects to a camel bag type water bladder under the control lining over their back.

 

Their vitals are tracked automatically by the medical computer, which is situated next to the main CPU, and if the armor detects a breach of suit integrity accompanied by a change in the soldier’s vitals indicating a wound, a series of balloon like cavities are automatically filled with compressed CO2 from an internal reservoir to apply pressure as close to the wound as possible. If ordered to by the medical computer or by manual command from either the soldier himself or a medic, the armor will apply this pressure directly to the closest major artery, acting as a tourniquet.

 

Drugs can be administered to a wounded trooper by injecting into a port on the chest of the armor, which then transfers to a ‘nicotine patch’ intravenous delivery system consisting of a patch of plastic embedded with thousands of micro tubes that is glued to the skin, so the delivery of drugs takes place directly through the pores. The armor has five of these patches, one on each arm and leg, and the largest, directly over the heart.

 

The actual protection offered by this new armor makes it far and away the most durable protective garment ever developed by mankind. The alien alloys that make up the surface of the armor are layered in some places over twelve times thicker then our old personal armor. In the laboratory, one chest plate stood up to three direct hits from a heavy plasma before failing, and even then, the damage sensors underneath detected that if the test had in fact been a real combat, the soldier would have most likely survived, and perhaps even been able to return to duty eventually.

 

Truly, this represents one of the greatest steps towards leveling the playing field, and winning this war.

 

"At first I was not too sure about the new armor. I mean the damn thing weighs a quarter ton even without weapons and ammo, and I'm supposed to fight wearing this thing? I was expecting to get my uh- "hindquarters" handed to me by the ROVs. But once I powered up and finally got it calibrated right, it felt lighter then my duty uniform. I managed to take down four of the tanks, and really screwed the last one up before it got me. I can't wait to see the looks on the bug's faces when we show up in these!"

 

--Lt .Whetherson, X-Corp infantry field testing

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Good work Gutter Monkey, just a few places that can be better if you rephrase it...

 

Their main problem finding a suitable method of giving power to the trooper’s movements.

 

Might I suggest "The main obstacle to the developement of an effective power armor design was finding a suitable motive system."

 

A working prototype was actually tested, but because of the primitive polymers vast energy requirements, the suit had to be physically tethered to a power station

 

Think it would be better as "A working prototype was actually tested, but because of the vast energy requirements of the primitive dielectric polymers, the suit had to be physically tethered to a power station in order to be active for a reasonable period of time."

 

Another problem with the prototype was that it was severely underpowered, even though the body was made of light grade steel and aluminum, not the heavy armored plate required to give the suit any kind of life expectancy in a real combat situation. The project was canceled, and the prototype mothballed.

 

Think some parts can be improved here... Here's my suggestions:

 

"Another major problem was that the power output of the dielectric polymers was not high enough to enable a reasonable balance between size, weight and operational time. This meant that any suits developed would have been slow, bulky and underarmored. As a result, the development comittee decided to cancel the project and the prototypes were mothballed."

 

With the recent discovery of how to harness alien alloys and Xenium 122, the dream of this abandoned project has become a reality. Using new, advanced versions of the dielectric polymers specially modified we have managed to provide the flexibility and strength required to mimic the wearer’s motions accurately and with enough control to crush concrete or cradle an egg. These polymers have been bundled into what closely resemble human muscle groups. This has lead some members of the development team who are sci-fi fans to dub the groupings ‘myomers’. The myomer groupings are powered by a pair of miniaturized Xenium 122 rechargeable power cells, and have a large enough internal charge to run for 84 straight hours of active use. The power cells can be ‘topped off’ by hooking into the power plant of any Xenium 122 power assault craft, and the myomers are efficient enough that the drain on the craft’s fuel supply is negligible, only the equivalent of a few micrograms.

 

Err... any improvements I suggest is going to involve a rewrite of the paragraph, hope you don't mind if I give it a try... I'm not changing the part about recharging the power sources from xenium reactors, but I'm not too sure about the myomers being efficient... If they were efficient, why use Xenium-122 power sources(Other than the fact that it's small...)?

 

"However, with the development of Xenium-122 power sources based on the alien's UFO power systems, as well as the unique alien alloys, the project was reactivated under X-Corps control, and have successfully developed the first working power armor system. By creating bundles of specially modified advanced dielectric polymers that mimic the muscular system in humans, we have provided the Praetorian with the strength to crush concrete beams, yet have the control to hold an egg without breaking it. The members of the development who were sci-fi fans insisted on calling the new motive system 'Myomers'. The myomer groupings are powered by a pair of miniaturized Xenium-122 rechargeable power cells, and have a large enough internal charge to run for 84 straight hours of active use. The power cells can be ‘topped off’ by hooking into the power plant of any Xenium 122 power assault craft, and the myomers are efficient enough that the drain on the craft’s fuel supply is negligible, only the equivalent of a few micrograms."

 

Each suit is fully adjustable, and is fitted to the individual specifications of each solider to provide a snug, but not tight, fit. The control system is a series of pressure pads that are built into the innermost layer, called a control lining. They are placed around major joints and movement areas, such as above and below the knees, and all around the shoulders. When a solder tries to move, they press against one or more of the pads. Information about which pads are being pressured, and how hard is processed by the armor’s computer, and this information is translated to appropriate stimulation of the concerned myomer groupings. This system requires very little training to operate, and once the trooper is used to moving in the armor, the process is as subconscious as walking. The power of the myomer system give the wearer the strength to haul around the weight of all the armor’s systems as well as any weapons and ammo he may be carrying effortlessly, and can amplify their strength so that even the physically weakest of the X-corps troopers can carry into combat vastly more weight the even the most formidable of soldiers could even lift, much less run with. All this strength does not mean however, that the Praetorian sacrifices control.

 

Hmm... Going to rewrite most of this paragraph too...

 

"The myomers not only provide the strength to carry the weight of the Praetorian Powered Armor effortlessly, it also enables even the weakest of the X-Corps troopers to carry far more equipment than the most formidable of soldiers could lift unassisted, much less run with. However, despite the brute strength provided, the PAS MK-IV Praetorian does not sacrifice power for control. Each suit is fully adjustable, and is fitted to the individual specifications of each soldier to provide a snug, but not tight, fit. The control system, which we call the control lining, is a series of pressure sensitive pads that are built into the innermost layer. The pads are placed along major movement points such as the joints, neck and especially around the shoulders. When pressure is applied onto the pads by the movement of the wearer, information regarding the pressure exerted onto the pad is transmitted to a CPU which then stimulates the appropriate myomer bundles. Also, the wearer is provided with force-feedback system via a series of CO2 activated air bladders built into the undersuit that is worn under the Praetorian power armor. As such, very little training is required as with proper calibration, the Praetorian will effectively move with the wearer as if it was just a basic uniform."

 

The rest of the CTD looks fine to me, although I'm modifying this paragraph to have it match the undersuit that I added...

 

Their vitals are tracked automatically by the medical computer, which is situated next to the main CPU, and if the armor detects a breach of suit integrity accompanied by a change in the soldier’s vitals indicating a wound, a series of balloon like cavities are automatically filled with compressed CO2 from an internal reservoir to apply pressure as close to the wound as possible. If ordered to by the medical computer or by manual command from either the soldier himself or a medic, the armor will apply this pressure directly to the closest major artery, acting as a tourniquet.

 

"Their vitals are tracked automatically by the medical computer, which is situated next to the main CPU, and if the armor detects a breach of suit integrity accompanied by a change in the soldier’s vitals indicating a wound, the CO2 bladders in the undersuit immediately perform their secondary function to apply pressure to the wound in order to close the wound if possible. If ordered to by the medical computer or by manual command from either the soldier himself or a medic, the armor will also apply pressure directly to the closest major artery, acting as a tourniquet."

 

In anycase, a good piece of work. Keep it up.

 

[Edit]

 

I would like to mention that I'm still rather partial to Heavy Assault Hardsuit myself...

Edited by tzuchan
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Here are some thoughts I have regarding the muscle/myomer issue, with some questions possibly as well... this pertains to the power armor as much as flying armor I guess, so I'll double post in the other thread too.

 

The idea of the suits having enough myomers to enhance the soldiers strength-is there evidence of this in the original game? Meaning is you had soldier Bob holding a heavy cannon and getting 30TUs, and you then equiped him with power armor, did he more than 30TUs because the armor made his weapon lighter and thus easier to carry around? I don't think that's the case, so we can't have a text descrition that contradicts actual gameplay.

 

The other point that was made is that the alien alloys were very thin, so perhaps the bio-organic myomers must be grafted into the alloy itself, which limits the size/thickness of the myomer. This also limits the amount of force it can provide.

 

I see the myomers as a form of power steering really, making something lighter for you but not excessively strong. I wear about 50 pounds of armor in the SCA, and when it's strapped on it's not that heavy becasue the mass is centered on my body. The power/flying armor would be heavier still, and would cause issues for the average wearer. Why not explain that the myomers integrated into the suit are triggered by various pressure sensors and respond with the user's motions, providing additional force like power steering. The result is that the user feels like they are wearing a very light suit, and their TUs are not affected by the several hundred pounds of gear.

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Yea, I guess the power steering is more appropreate to gameplay then incresed strength, but I for some reason thought that in the origonal X-Com, the power suit DID increse strength for purposes of equipment carryng. It always seemed like whenever my troopers carried heavy weapons in a power suit, that they never did have TU penaltys.

 

Maybie that's just beacuse by the time I got powered armor, their strength had incresed naturaly.

 

I'm at school right now so I can't do an edit right now, but I try and do a rewrite tonight taking into consideration all your comments. I really like the CO2 bladders being used as force feedback systems.

 

If the suit does act more like power steering, I think it would be appropreate for the effect on the wearer to be as if they were wearing just thier skivies, but I think an appropreate side effect would be that small items such as grenades or stunsticks would definately feel lighter, even if heaver items like a blaster launcher still did feel heavy. I dunno, I guess I just always saw power armor as being a strength enhancing item, beyond just nulifying it's own weight. Maybie I've read Starship Troopers too many times. ^_^

 

Glad you liked it, I hope this next draft is better.

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Hokay, confirmed that the various types of armors didn't affect how much a trooper could carry without penalty in X-Com...

 

Muse was jumping around, so here's a paragraph that I think can explain away why the suit doesn't increase the user's strength....

 

"The PAS MK-IV Praetorian does not boost the wearer's strength in any way. This is because when the PAS MK-III design prototype, which provides the wearer with enchanced strength but is identical to the MK-IV in every other aspect , was undergoing testing, proved impossible to perform any sort of task requiring the least bit of fine control. As such, a limiter system was added to the MK-IV, as well as a reduction in overall myomer density. This resulted in a design that requires only very little training as well as being smaller in size than previous designs, allowing for more manueverbility in small spaces, a critical aspect of fighting the alien in their crafts."

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I have to agree with that concept, there is a point of overkill that can be reached. We really don't have to explain things away that the player would never know about unless they were told. I agree that the description should just explain that the myomers help compensate for the increased weight of the flying suit, making it exceptionally light. I would also not say it's smaller than the power armor, since in fact the model is not smaller but larger due to the flight components.
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Not any more then a seperate CO2 underlayer would. And if it was a seperate layer, that means it would have to be hooked up to a high pressure nozle, or more, and it would have to have a computer link to the rest of the suit as well. It introduces a layer of complexity that doesn't need to be there.

 

If the player reads that a CO2 bladder system is used for force feedback, he's going to assume that they are situated in such a way as to not interfere with the pressure sensors.

Edited by Gutter Monkey
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hmm... Seems to have gone dormant for a while...

Anyway, picked up Gutter Monkey's version of the CTD and did abit of messing around to suit my personal preferences... Don't know if anyone else likes my changes...

Anyway, attaching the RTF after the CTD, and if it's decided as final, will pass it on to Breunor.

 

P/s: fixed the fluffie abit by changing it to "... looks like it weights half a ton..." Hope that satisfies the critics.

 

Having developed effective body armour, the next logical step would be a powered armour system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Powered Armor System Mark 4, PAS MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

 

Powered armour has always been seen as the ultimate answer in improving the effectiveness of soldiers on the battlefield, and black-box programs to develop the powered armour have set up by various agencies around the world since as early as the 1990s with various degrees of success, but all were stumped by the fact that a light weight yet strong and responsive motor control system that could be mass produced was impossible to design.

 

The closest anyone got was a US Army advanced weapons design team starting in the late 90’s and ending in the early parts of the first decade of the new century. The main obstacle to the developement of an effective power armor design was finding a suitable motive system. Hydraulics were too bulky and imprecise as well as being extremely rigid. As a result, it was decided that a new motive system must be developed. The result of this effort were the predecessor’s to today’s dielectric polymers, the substance used for the control cables in the XC-1 Interceptor. A working prototype was actually tested, but because of the vast energy requirements of the primitive dielectric polymers, the suit had to be physically tethered to a power station in order to be active for a reasonable period of time.

 

Another major problem was that the power output of the dielectric polymers was not high enough to enable a reasonable balance between size, weight and operational time. This meant that any suits developed would have been slow, bulky and underarmored. As a result, the development comittee decided to cancel the project and the prototypes were mothballed.

However, with the development of Xenium-122 power sources based on the alien's [uFO power systems], as well as the unique alien alloys, the project was reactivated under X-Corps control, and have successfully developed the first working power armor system. By creating bundles of specially modified advanced dielectric polymers that mimic the muscular system in humans, we can then effectively provided the Praetorian the same amount of flexibility as that of the average person. The members of the development who were sci-fi fans insisted on calling the new motive system 'Myomers'. The myomer groupings are powered by a pair of miniaturized Xenium-122 rechargeable power cells, and have a large enough internal charge to run for 84 straight hours of active use. The power cells can be ‘topped off’ by hooking into the power plant of any assault craft powered by Xenium-122.

The myomer system is designed to only provide the strength to carry the weight of the Praetorian Powered Armor effortlessly as previous prototypes that boosts the user's strength proved near impossible to control. Simply put, the myomers act as a sort of ‘power steering’ that allows the user to move as if they were wearing nothing at all, rather then a 260 lb battle armor.

Each suit is fully adjustable, and is fitted to the individual specifications of each soldier to provide a snug, but not tight, fit. The control system, which we call the control lining, is a series of pressure sensitive pads that are built into the innermost layer. The pads are placed along major movement points such as the joints, neck and especially around the shoulders. When pressure is applied onto the pads by the movement of the wearer, information regarding the pressure exerted onto the pad is transmitted to a CPU which then stimulates the appropriate myomer bundles. Also, the wearer is provided with force-feedback system via a series of CO2 activated air bladders built into the control lining of the Praetorian power armor. As such, very little training is required as with proper calibration, the Praetorian will effectively move with the wearer as if it was just a basic uniform.

 

The Praetorian carries a full NBC air and radiation filtration system, and can be equipped with it’s own air supply quite easily. The interior of the armor is fully climate controlled to the individual troopers liking, and a special undergarment wicks perspiration away from the body to keep the soldier dry. The soldier can even drink from a tube next to his or her mouth that connects to a camel bag type water bladder under the control lining over their back.

 

Their vitals are tracked automatically by the medical computer, which is situated next to the main CPU, and if the armor detects a breach of suit integrity accompanied by a change in the soldier’s vitals indicating a wound, any one of the CO2 bladders can be inflated to act in it’s secondary role of applying pressure as close to the wound as possible. If ordered to by the medical computer or by manual command from either the soldier himself or a medic, the armor will apply this pressure directly to the closest major artery, acting as a tourniquet.

 

Drugs can be administered to a wounded trooper by injecting into a port on the chest of the armor, which then transfers to a ‘nicotine patch’ intravenous delivery system consisting of a patch of plastic embedded with thousands of micro tubes that is glued to the skin, so the delivery of drugs takes place directly through the pores. The armor has five of these patches, one on each arm and leg, and the largest, directly over the heart.

 

The actual protection offered by this new armor makes it far and away the most durable protective garment ever developed by mankind. The alien alloys that make up the surface of the armor are layered in some places over twelve times thicker then our old personal armor. In the laboratory, one chest plate stood up to three direct hits from a heavy plasma before failing, and even then, the damage sensors underneath detected that if the test had in fact been a real combat, the soldier would have most likely survived, and perhaps even been able to return to duty eventually.

 

Truly, this represents one of the greatest steps towards leveling the playing field, and winning this war.

 

"At first I was not too sure about the new armor. I mean the damn thing looks like it weighs a quarter ton even without weapons and ammo, and I'm supposed to fight wearing this thing? I was expecting to get my uh- "hindquarters" handed to me by the ROVs. But once I powered up and finally got it calibrated right, it felt lighter then my duty uniform. I managed to take down four of the tanks, and really screwed the last one up before it got me. I can't wait to see the looks on the bug's faces when we show up in these!"

--Lt. Whetherson, X-Corp infantry field testing

 

Hm... after refering to the original CTD I posted, this baby really has grown up!

PoweredArmorV3rtf.rtf

Edited by tzuchan
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Don't worry about letting me know, after there's some more review I'll come back and do a final spell/grammar check and update the asset list. There's really no rush to update the list until we need it in a release. i expect that will be coming along as the X-Net interface matures and the XML system is finalized.

 

Your last line about the text's size struck true with me tzuchan, this text is huge... after working on lots of entries that are 25%-35% of this size, I'm wondering if this is overkill? Having all the info is great, I'm simply asking if it won't look strange to have a few entries that are extremely long compared to others... on the other hand, this entry is for an advanced item in the game compared to say a smoke grenade.

 

And suddenly the solution popped into my head: remember that we want to have a fixed format for every X-Net entry that goes like this:

 

In Game Name

In Game Stats

Short Summary Paragraph

Detailed Text for Those Who Wish to Read It

 

This allows the player to bring up the entry and look at the text area of the X-Net UI and see the name and vital stats of the item, as well as most if not all of the short summary without scrolling. So the entry could start something like this (just an example, but the stats are correct. Dots are just for spacing):

 

Powered Armor System Mark 4, PAS MK-IV Praetorian

Front Armor 100.....Left/Right Armor 80

Rear Armor 70.....Under Armor 60

 

Using the latest alien research we have created the revolutionary Praetorian Power Armor System. Using alien alloys, a Xenium-based power system, and new, reactive Myomer actuators, this tough armor feels like normal clothing when worn but can stop many of the alien weapons we have encountered to date.

 

Remaining detailed text goes here...

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Good point Breunor, I forgot about that.

 

As for painful gluing to the skin, I'm assuming that the area is throughly shaved beforehand. Thats how they get electrodes attached to your skin in hospitals, so I assume that's how they would attach the med patches which are similar in aplication if not purpose.

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The force feedback system makes good sense for the fingers and palms of the gloves, but probably not for other areas of the suit. It would help in holding things without crushing them, but I don't see that it's needed all over, that would be distracting more than helpful. Using it just for the hands makes it less complicated I think.

 

Actually the MediGun (current name being tossed around for the med-kit) uses the hypo-spray delivery system you might remember from the movies Running Man or True Lies, it uses high pressure to force the medicine through the skin and into the bloodstream. It also would have a coagulant(sp?) to stop the bleeding, and even liquid skin to bind a wound closed (which is a form of super glue, which I know is used in real hospitals to attach flesh too delicate for sutures). Having a medical transport system built into the armor that tracks everything and does everything would beg the question-why not put the small medical tubes into the suit and have it heal you as needed? The MediGun is the same size as a large pistol, so there's plenty of room to include it. But then we're affecting game balance.

 

May I suggest the following (which isn't as advanced sounding but would be way more realistic and easier to do): Each part of the armor (upper arm, lower arm, upper leg, etc) is accessible by flipping open a latch. The latch is typically going to be on the inside of the arm or leg where it's not going to be hit or grabbed. You also require a pressure tab be pushed to open the latch so it doesn't catch on something and pop open. Then the section of armor opens to expose the wounded area for treatment using standard medical procedures.

 

I know it's not as cool sounding, but I know it would realistically work. I've been strapped into lots of metal armor in real life and suddenly had to sit on a toilet, I thanked myself for having the foresight to make it easy to peel off in an emergency. I did it for safety reasons in case a bone was broken, but fortunately that hasn't been necessary. Knights had cod pieces for relieving themselves, so modern tech should allow multiple areas to have the same easy access to body parts.

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hey just dropping in real fast here, Looks good so far.

 

Here is a pic of the power armor and flight armor.

 

Flight is on the left and power is on the right. The flight is a derivative of the power if you wonder why the design is close. Also the pauldrons are not quite as visable since they clip into the model when the arms are extended like they are now.

front.jpg

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Hey Breunor,

 

About the force feedback. Yes, it's most critical in the finger and palms, but nevertheless, as long as we're making it more of a power steering than strength enhancement, force feedback is also important to make sure the wearer can't exert more force then he could.

 

The pressure sensitive pads mean that as long as the user is applying pressure on the pads, the suit will then try to move "remove" the pressure that is being applied onto the pad. With the forcefeedback system, the way I envision it, is that as it is applying pressure on the user , it is also preventing the user from applying pressure on the pad . So unless the user can overcome the force that the forcefeedback system is applying on him, he can't apply pressure on the pressure pads, and hence he won't be able to use the suit to boost his strength.

 

What's left out in the CTD is the fact that if the suit's force feedback output is set to lower than actual forcefeedback, we can get a sortof semi-controled strength boost. Maybe something for V1+...

 

As to the nanotube patch thingy, I think the main reason Gutter Monkey put that in was so that it would make sense that you can use the medikit on a power armor wearing agent on Mars without loosing suit intregerty... Although by the time you'd actually use that feature, you'd have lost suit intregerty in the first place... Having a plasma shot burn a hole in the armor tends to do that.

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Ah, the force feedback makes sense then. It just seemed like overkill to have an entire suit or layer just for that, perhaps there are small patches at the various joints that sense the pressure and provide the extra force?
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Bruenor:

 

Hmm...

The pads are placed along major movement points such as the joints, neck and especially around the shoulders.

 

Think that's already mentioned in the CTD itself...

 

The CO2 bladders (Which is the force feedback component) is still going to have almost 90% coverage of the inner surface, although that's not mentioned in the CTD, as it's also a component of the built in medical system.

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Wouldn't is be negative feedback rather than force feedback? Isn't force feedback to make it feel like you're doing something you aren't (eg with a joysitck or teleoperated device). Negative feedback means that whatever you do, something will be done to counter it. In this case, when you move, you apply pressure to the bladders, which activate sensors right? That causes the suit to move in such a way as to relieve the pressure on the air bladders, and deactivating the sensor.

 

-The Captain

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Bruenor:

 

Hmm...

The pads are placed along major movement points such as the joints, neck and especially around the shoulders.

 

Think that's already mentioned in the CTD itself...

 

The CO2 bladders (Which is the force feedback component) is still going to have almost 90% coverage of the inner surface, although that's not mentioned in the CTD, as it's also a component of the built in medical system.

Oops. :unsure: I see i missed a part of the text... my bad! :spank:

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Cpt. Boxershorts:

 

Erm... The pressure sensitive pads DO work on the negative feedback basis. Apply pressure, adjust position to relieve pressure. That's why we need a force feedback system(Yes, like the type used in your joystick gaming experience) to prevent the wearer from simply just applying a force to the sensors in the suit's arm, and having the suit throw a full grown muton around....

 

Let's see if I can come up with a clearer example.

 

Squaddie Boxershorts is wearing a power suit and is pushing against a wall.

 

Say the power suit doesn't have forcefeedback. As long as Squaddie Boxershorts is applying a pressure on the pads, the suit WILL MOVE to reduce/eliminate the force that Squaddie Boxershorts is applying. Problem is, by default the POWER SUIT is waaaay stronger than Squaddie Boxershorts, so it can break through the wall, although Squaddie Boxershorts may only be applying a force of 2 newtons...

 

Now, if the power suit has a forcefeedback system the way I envision it, as he is pushing against the wall, an equal force counters the pressure he is applying on the pressure pads, preventing him applying pressure on the pads unless he can apply more force than the forcefeedback system, ergo, is stronger than whatever is blocking him. So as long as Squaddie Boxershorts is not strong enough to break the wall, the suit won't allow him to do so.

 

Hope that clears up why I think we need the forcefeedback system.

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I'm hesitant to add anymore to the text itself as it's rather bloated as it is...

 

However, maybe we could put something in one of the two fluffies that explains that...

 

Anybody up to giving us a cute explanatory fluffie?

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I think simplifying the text on that item is better than going into even more detail. Why do you need to explain there is force feedback or pressure pads at all? Like you said the text is rather long right now. Why not limit the explanation to "due to space and contractile limitations in the armor, the myomers are able to negate the weight of this heavy armor, making it feel as if the soldier is wearing light clothing. The user still feels the weight of objects they are carrying-strengthening the myomers to exceed normal power levels would make the armor more effective in hand-to-hand combat, but also makes it dangerous to other soldiers without extensive training. Future development of power armor may integrate variable power levels, but our current crisis with the aliens limits such development at this time."
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  • 2 weeks later...

This thread has been hanging for quite a while... But here's a revised CT. I've tried to reduce the weight a bit, but I'm pretty sure I failed. However, some parts are now imho easier to understand. Please read and review:

 

RESEARCH COMPLETED: HEAVY ASSAULT HARDSUIT

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [TZU-CHAN LIM]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT : [253 lbs]

FRONT ARMOR : [Armor value]

BACK ARMOR : [Armor value]

SIDE ARMOR : [Armor value]

BOTTOM ARMOR : [Armor value]

 

Having developed effective body armour, the next logical step would be a powered armour system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Heavy Assault Hardsuit Mark 4, HAH MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

 

"At first I was not too sure about the new armor. I mean the damn thing looks like it weighs a quarter ton even without weapons and ammo, and I'm supposed to fight wearing this thing? I was expecting to get my uh- "hindquarters" handed to me by the ROVs. But once I powered up and finally got it calibrated right, it felt lighter then my duty uniform. I managed to take down four of the tanks, and really screwed the last one up before it got me. I can't wait to see the looks on the bug's faces when we show up in these!"

--Lt. Whetherson, X-Corp infantry field testing

 

Powered armor has always been seen as the ultimate answer in improving the effectiveness of soldiers on the battlefield, and black-box programs to develop the powered armor have set up by various agencies around the world since as early as the 1990s with various degrees of success, but all were stumped by the fact that a light weight yet strong and responsive motor control system that could be mass produced was impossible to design.

 

An US Army advance weapons design team in the late 90's developed the predecessor of today's Electro Active Polymers. Using that as a basis for the motive system, they developed what is now commonly refered to as "Myomers", bundles of Electro Active Polymers that mimic the muscles in the human body. With the new motive system, they went on to develope the first working prototype powered armor, the Evangelion.

 

Unfortunately, due to the high density of Electro Active Polymers in each bundle of myomer, the energy consumption of the Evangelion prototype was too high. The Evangelion was bulky, slow and seriously underpowered. Also, the protoype that the team developed had to be tethered to power station in order to be active for a reasonable period of time. As a result, the development comittee decided to cancel the project and the prototypes were mothballed.

However, with the development of Xenium-122 power sources based on the alien's [uFO power systems], as well as the unique alien alloys, the project was reactivated under X-Corps control, and have successfully developed the first working power armor system. Also, the use of advance materials developed recently, the power consumption of the myomer groupings were reduced to a reasonable amount. They are powered by a pair of miniaturized Xenium-122 rechargeable power cells which have a large enough internal charge to run for 84 straight hours of active use. The power cells can be recharged by hooking into a Xenium-122 based generator.

The myomer system is designed to only provide the strength to carry the weight of the Praetorian Heavy Assault Hardsuit effortlessly as previous prototypes that boosts the user's strength proved near impossible to control. Simply put, the myomers act as a sort of ‘power steering’ that allows the user to move as if they were wearing nothing at all, rather then a 253 lb battle armor.

Each suit is fully adjustable, and is fitted to the individual specifications of each soldier to provide a snug, but not tight, fit. The control system is a series of pressure sensitive pads that are built into the innermost layer. The pads are placed along major movement points such as the joints, neck and especially around the shoulders. When pressure is applied onto the pads by the movement of the wearer, information regarding the pressure exerted onto the pad is transmitted to a CPU which then stimulates the appropriate myomer bundles. Also, the wearer is provided with force-feedback system via a series of CO2 activated air bladders built into the control lining of the Praetorian power armor. As such, very little training is required as with proper calibration, the Praetorian will effectively move with the wearer as if it was just a basic uniform.

 

Their vitals are tracked automatically by the medical computer, which is situated next to the main CPU, and if the armor detects a breach of suit integrity accompanied by a change in the soldier’s vitals indicating a wound, any one of the CO2 bladders can be inflated to act in it’s secondary role of applying pressure as close to the wound as possible. If ordered to by the medical computer or by manual command from either the soldier himself or a medic, the armor will apply this pressure directly to the closest major artery, acting as a tourniquet.

 

The actual protection offered by this new armor makes it far and away the most durable protective garment ever developed by mankind. The alien alloys that make up the surface of the armor are layered in some places over twelve times thicker then our old personal armor. In the laboratory, one chest plate stood up to three direct hits from a heavy plasma before failing, and even then, the damage sensors underneath detected that if the test had in fact been a real combat, the soldier would have most likely survived, and perhaps even been able to return to duty eventually.

 

Truly, this represents one of the greatest steps towards leveling the playing field, and winning this war.

 

"The original design specifications included enchanced strength among other things, but after a series of mishaps that led to the labs having two new walls, a new skylight for the base commander's room, various damaged equipment in [general stores] one and the base commander's cat clinging to the ceiling of the command room, the commander held us all at gun point and demanded that we forget about the enchanced strength..."

-- Dr. Emanuel , HAH Project Leader

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That's looking good, try to include a short summary as the first paragraph after the stats. At most it should be a few lines describing the armor, like the original game's text. The X-Net text area is limited in size, and we'd like to display the name, stats, and the short description without any scrolling if possible. I like the Heavy Assault Suit / Praetorian names too.
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Why is the weight in lbs? We should use the SI system. Anyway, 253lbs sounds like a whole lot
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RESEARCH COMPLETED: HEAVY ASSAULT HARDSUIT

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [TZU-CHAN LIM]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT  : [253 lbs]

FRONT ARMOR : [Armor value]

BACK ARMOR : [Armor value]

SIDE ARMOR  : [Armor value]

BOTTOM ARMOR : [Armor value]

 

Having developed effective body armour, the next logical step would be a powered armour system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the UFO power sources provided the answer. As such, we have now developed the Heavy Assault Hardsuit Mark 4, HAH MK-IV Praetorian. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent.

Err... That ain't enuff?

 

Hold a sec, let me work something here...

 

Having developed effective body armour, the next logical step would be a powered armour system. However, it seemed near impossible to develop a workable design until research into the [uFO power source]s provided the answer. Using Xenium power sources, alien alloys and new reactive myomers, we have developed the Heavy Assault Hardsuit Mark 4, HAH MK-IV Praetorian. The Praetorian is the first truly effective armor against the plasma weapons used by the aliens developed yet feels like normal clothing to the wearer. We have projected that if every agent is equipped with the Praetorian, the casualties suffered in the field will be reduced by as much as twenty to thirty percent. We recommend that the HAH-IV Praetorian be put into mass production as soon as possible.

 

BTW, is the format for the CTD as follows?

 

[sTATS]

[summary]

[Fluffie 1]

[Detailed text]

[Fluffie 2]

Edited by tzuchan
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Yeah, the format should follow

 

Name - nickname

Stats

Summary

All remaining details, in your prefered order.

 

For the summary, I would make it even more consise, like, "The Heavy Assault Hardsuit integrates the latest alien technologies to provide a powerful armored defense system. Much stronger than [personal armor], this hardsuit can protect a soldier from the most devastating attacks without any loss of mobility." Then you can explain the whys and hows of it all afterwards. The summary could even be a teaser, to get people to read more perhaps. "how can the wearer not lose any mobility?? let me read more..." that kind of idea.

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RESEARCH COMPLETED: HEAVY ASSAULT HARDSUIT PRAETORIAN ("Da Final Gasp!")

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [TZU-CHAN LIM]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT : [253 lbs]

FRONT ARMOR : [Armor value]

BACK ARMOR : [Armor value]

SIDE ARMOR : [Armor value]

BOTTOM ARMOR : [Armor value]

 

The HAH-MK IV Praetorian is the result of research into alien technologies and human ingenuity. Much stronger than the [personal armor], this hardsuit can protect the wearer from the devastating effects of the alien's plasma weapons yet does not affect the mobility of the wearer in any way.

 

Better? Stole rather strongly from Brue's example.

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Personally, I don't like the "Heavy Assault Hardsuit" it sounds like an advertisement for marital aids.

"Ladies! Tired of the men in your life nor 'measuring up?' Get the heavy assault hardsuit! It doubles organ size!"

 

Get rid of the hard part and it would be ok. Or...

 

Some alternative names for the hardsuit: Assault Armor, Power Armor, Powered armor, Heavy Battle Armor, Combat Powersuit, Myrmidon Armor, Juggernaut Armor. (Yes I know I'm repeating them. Its just so that it doesn't get lost in the people going 'ooh ahh.'

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