"Best Future Armor" Topic

What will armor look like in the far future (but before personal energy shields)? I am thinking of the power battle armor envisioned by many different sci-fi writers and gamers. To me, the Space Marine armor is far too clunky and does not seem to work on actual human anatomy. Many folks like Halo, but I almost think that it will be smoother. I do think that there will be thicker impact plates on the outside surfaces of the body (outer leg versus inner thigh).
What do you think? Overlapping future lorica segmentata? Traveller-esque battledress? GW Space Marines? Jaffa? Yeah right, I want a giant, heavy tin can on my head!
Oh, and feel free to include pictures be they figures, comic books, etc.

DO NOT UPLOAD OR LINK OR DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD PUT A ZARDOZ PICTURE ON THIS THREAD!

Whew hope that worked.

I quite liked the suits that protected soldiers on extremely high gravity worlds in Halo Jones. They were like massive GW Terminator suits, but bulbous and rounded rather than blocky.

Kind of made the troops look like giant crabs or something, which is always good. They were a bit silly (and really were protecting the soldiers from the environment rather than the enemy), but I liked them.

Sorry, don't have a picture.

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dune power shields ala the film!

I think it depends on what you think Power armor will do?

Ideally it would be susceptable to large bore weapons, RPG's, missles ect.

It's so theoretical who knows? You could have suits for any situation. One think I think it won't be is mecha like Battletech or tall. The idea would be to have a suit that has a low profile that could assist and become like a light armored tank. The key would be it's mobility in areas where Tanks can't go. Areas like swamps, moutains, space aka vacuum ect.

Basically it would stop all small and light rounds. I dunno maybe up to a certain caliber. Although you could build a rifle that could take out a suit. Somethink like a recoiless or single shot large caliber could puncture the armor.

You may have suits that are primarily exoskeletons that increase mobility. You may have suits that are used for high altitude insersion with parachutes allowing for drops way out there. You could even have suits that have the photo-thermo camoflauge like preditor or ghost in the shell. They could be used for scouting and forward looking sensors and recon.

A good place to look for minis is Metal Gear. Just think of it as a platform for what ever equipment that would be prohibitively heavy for a average soldier. That could include electronics, weapons, armor,and mobile mechanization. The only real limit to power armor in the present is the power supply needed to run the electronics and mechanics.

POLYNIKES

I saw that!

That's not Zardoz, that's us gaming on a Friday night…me and Wakey-Dave if I'm correct…Poly was working the camera and laughing like a drain….
PS I'm writing as i write this….

With the new automated battle field the troops would be in a bunker controlling robots

Yes, it doesn't look cool but it is v=more likely than GW Space Marines!

But before that happens how about an powered exoskeleton that is in development?

Norscaman: "To me, the Space Marine armor is far too clunky and does not seem to work on actual human anatomy. Many folks like Halo, but I almost think that it will be smoother. I do think that there will be thicker impact plates on the outside surfaces of the body (outer leg versus inner thigh)."

My thoughts exactly:
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CC

Do comic books count? I like the armor worn by Hardware. He wears a protective nanite film. He can then stick on what armor plates, weapons and gear and the nanites hold it in place.

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Cyborg,

So THAT'S what those comic book chicks wear, even though to us they seem half naked.

"But, Honey, she's really not nude. It's Nanite Film!" I'll remember that, for next time my wife criticizes them. :)

CC
I really liked Charlize Theron's nanite film in Aeon Flux:
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Norscaman,

I guess it all depends on how far in the future you mean?

Near future? 50-100 years? 500? Or a few thousand years into the future?

CC

Well, technically, this is for traveller. I am trying to figure out what Battle Dress will really look like. I have one character who has been working for about 20 games to aquire full battle dress and I want to modify his figure to look really cool. I am sculpting the armor over a second copy of his current figure. He has been in my Traveller games since the mid 1990s.

So, this should be within the next 200-300 years (which is where I put traveller tech in our real world, except for jump drives), barring invention of nano-armor!

So THAT'S what those comic book chicks wear, even though to us they seem half naked.

Note that the nano-film armor also contains generous storage spaces for miscellaneous supplies and equipment, located prominently on the wearer's ventral thoracic region, as well as providing a wonderfuly slimming "corset effect" while in use.

In all seriousness, for any non-magic tech, the best "personal armor" is to not be on the battlefield. Use teleoperated remotes if you want a relatively safe combat experience. Even something as massive as a Heavy Gear-style combat walker isn't tough enough to keep you alive if the enemy wants you dead, and that's already at or beyond the line between armor and vehicle.

I like the armor the USCM wore in Aliens. The designs were cool, and everything that they carried looked functional. The design of the M4-1A pulse rifle has been copied in countless movies since.

Yeah I agree unless you are defending yourself versus small arms fire or near misses with fragmentation weapons. Most modern heavy weapons would probably kill an average Human even if it doesn't penetrate the power armor. I don't mean to be a killjoy; its just Traveler likes to have a "Hard" sci-fi tech edge. There is a lot to be said about kinetic energy transfer to a static target. Bones shatter, and then pierce internal organs causing you to bleed out. Concussions and shock leave you open to be offed when an enemy comes up and sticks you in a weak spot between armored plates. I hope the guy's air supply is well armored cause once it's punctured you better be able to hold your breath while running back to your ship.

Sorry I don't mean to over examine the subject but if you want plausible armor then dying won't be easy to avoid once the big guns show up. I prefer fuzzy science to total realism; I don't spend all that time to make a character just to have him turned into a red stain the first time a plasma grenade goes off nearby. I like games that have big bulky armor that can deflect a tank shell and I can do a cartwheel in. I live in reality everyday; gaming for me is an escape to fun physics.

I like the rifles from Deep Rising, yeah the rotating barrel assembly is silly but makes the gun very scifi to me.

That is fair guys. But, in Traveller, the battle dress must have inertial dampeners inbetween the hard-candy shell and the soft gooey insides! Cyborg, I don't disagree about the fuzzy science. Traveller is actually only semi-hard. Twilight 2000; now that is hard sci-fi as was Traveller 2300 and 2320. But Traveller is part Star-Wars, part Alien. The Nano-tech might even work…

Keep 'em comin' if you got an idea!

Where are you playing Traveller at? Can I play? Hmmmm pretty please, with sugar on top.

As per modern logic, noted technology used with the US Stryker en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stryker which is testing an automatic tracking system that engages the incoming heavy weapon fire (missile, rocket, etc.)with destructive defensive measures….it fires its own weapons at the incoming units causing pre-target discharge of the RED weapons.

So I would say a smart computer with active tracking systems and micro-missles to counter the incoming heavy weapons fire…no need for bulky armor if the weapon fire doesn't hit you.

:)

Has anyone seen the new Dragon Scale type body armour? Its got a real cool look and looks very flexible. Saw it on Discovery channel,

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Would you like some input from someone who has seen the Armies Force Warrior/Future Warrior System, and about four of the Japanese Exoskeletons?

They are not "Battledress" in the sense that Traveller uses it, as the Traveller definition is becoming more and more dated as each week goes by.

The armor that covers the exo-skeleton will probably be some sort of Sapphire or other metallic-crystalline structure (Sapphire is metallic Aluminum). I have heard talk of metallic-hydrogen crystals that are pretty strong and light, but there is also talk of some of the lanthanides being crystalized with nanite technologies (That would be things like Crystalline Depleted-Uranium. Even stronger would be if you could ionize Uranium Nuclei and somehow overcome the magnetic repulsion of them to bind them together into a crystalline structure of just nuclei… That would require a LOT of power to do though. This would be the precursor of Neutonium, which is a material that is what Neutron Stars are made of… Essentially a giant neutron. Not quite infinitely dense, but getting really close to it)

Anyway, if you look in many of the GURPs traveller books you can see what Canon Battledress looks like.

Even more realistic BD can be found in the Ghost in the Shell Manga (and the Anime, but more so the Manga). They will probably follow some form of animistic form that may or may not be anthromorphic. Weapons may or may not be integral parts of the suit; depending upon how it is designed, the weapons are designed, and what kind of weapons are intended to be used.

This is all presuming someone doesn't come up with a better gun/ammo that makes body armor obsolete – again.

If they do, we are were back to running around in cloth uniforms – again.

Armor has disappeared before and, given the right weapons, will again.

Da Big Kahunna

I rather like the Landmates from Shiro's Appleseed.

The operator is situated mainly in the torso, with legs extending into the upper thighs of the machine, arms in articulated armoured sleeves projecting from the torso (the main arms mimicing the movements of the operator's arms) and a heads up display built into the inside of the chest cavity.

To me, it looks like his stuff would work

von is right. Appleseed is one of the few Anime films that tries to make the all the hardware "functional". I really like the fact that most of the "eyes" that the cyborg's have are camera lenses.

It'll be cloth. Just really smart, really expensive cloth.

I like the cyborg with "bunny ears". At first I thought it was dumb looking, but then when he extended one around a corner to spot the enemy and an optic sensor popped out I thought it was brilliant.

tabletopwarrior: Mid-coast Maine. Anywhere nearby?

Sapphire armor… interesting. I like it. My watch-face is sapphire, why not my armor!

I think armour will be more like the armour in the upcoming PC shooter Crysis:

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