Comments on: Plot element: Breacher suits

By: jakub_czyli_ja

jakub_czyli_ja — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 10:43:33 +0000

Better materials as described on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_vest#Graphene_composite – nanomaterials, non-Newtonian fluids may significantly reduce mass armor’ mass combined with increased protection.
Power source doesn’t have to be built-in – replaceable fuel cells can give more autonomy.

Anyway it’s something medieval knight armor – to be used in specific conditions, but if such happen – it gives you advantage.

By: B3RG

B3RG — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 14:06:38 +0000

Look at Dragonskin body armor on YouTube
I saw it on discovery and it took a hell of a beating
And it was not really heavy

By: Woras

Woras — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 17:19:06 +0000

Probably nay.
Its times cheaper to make a suicide bomb drone to demolish heavy defenses (rc race car with camera and explosives strapped onto, for example) and just send in another with machine guns to sweep out.
Or aerial one with high RPM pistol.

Unless there is some compact high-power source – battlesuit is way too impractical.

By: Grumpy Guy

Grumpy Guy — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 15:09:14 +0000

Assuming that “they would have the technology” has always been the weak point of all future sci-fi utopias. We currently have VR tech, does everyone on Earth have it? No, only people with money do. We have the tech necessary to establish lunar colonies. Do we have one? No, nobody pays for that because there is no profit.
The world is driven by money and there is no reason to think it won’t be in 2030. Even if someone would invent a powered amoured suit, only extremely rich militaries and paramilitary groups would actually afford to buy and field them.
There are several issues with it, the legs/feet and weight distribution being one of them. Most of the robots being fielded nowadays roll on tracks for a lot of reasons, issues with the balance of the whole thing on powered legs being just one of them. Also, the fine electric motors required for each joint in the hips, knees and feet would be horrid maintenance. Also, the current military trend is toward unmanned drones, where the object being fielded is remotely controlled and disposable. This frees the machine from having to protect humans inside it, greatly reducing weight and increasing space available. There is absolutely no reason to build it with legs since this raises more issues than it solves. Even if you plan to stick someone inside it, tracks are still the best solution. Think of the power loader in Aliens, that thing would break the floor it is standing on with those small feet being the only ground contact, distributing all the weight from the suit itself PLUS the several tons of cargo it would be lifting. And to top it, you move all the weight on ONE leg, since the other needs to lift to walk? No way that would happen with real world physics.
Another issue, even if the suit is manned and not remotely controlled, it’s safe to assume it would be powered somehow and so any sort of electric shock or futuristic “EMP grenades” would take it out in one shot. Having a multi million suit being taken out by a cheap ass 50k Volt stun gun is not really a good investment.

By: ClassicFrog (EU)

ClassicFrog (EU) — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 11:19:53 +0000

As for the drone itself, it would not need to be bipedal. It could have 4 or 6 legs, insect like, greatly increasing redundancy and lowering ground pressure, and these legs could even have wheels to move around flat ground at high speeds. It could even have ability to hover or fly, if compromises were made in armour or weaponry department. And even it’s interior components, unprotected, would still be more resilient to damage that human body ever would be.

The only drawbacks would be the risk of being jammed or worse, being hijacked. But there would be counter measures for that as well.

By: ClassicFrog (EU)

ClassicFrog (EU) — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 10:53:58 +0000

To be honest, if one were to invest money in such a suit, he’d be better off investing it into a ground drone of similar size. Being controlled remotely has it’s own set of risks and challenges, but not having to build the exoskeleton AROUND the pilot, and no need to provide enough protection for the fragile human body, gives the design so much flexibility, so much advantage over manned suit, that I’m quite positive power armours will never be the “main battle tanks of the future”. Sure, they may still exist in some light form, to enhance ground troops effectiveness, working on the similar principle like the one we could see in “Elysium”, with the exoskeleton serving as a powered frame, offering extra strength, but not limiting one’s speed or movement. But trying to turn them into walking tanks is just counter-productive.

By: Cayden Cailean

Cayden Cailean — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 09:09:56 +0000

It can be done, but… my few thoughts:
- Is it fire/heat resistant? If not then best counter to this is Molotov cocktail, good luck with shooting that with APS – it will only make flame burst earlier. But i think it can be done fireproof for limited time.
- good old fashioned antitank mine or IED can be capable to destroy it quite easy – so this suit should have at least some basic electronic warfare equipment. Magnet field detector, radio jammer, etc, etc. This would of course cause shorter battery life, and even worse it can make suit operator overloaded with data. So the another thing is…
- this suit is quite valuable asset to any organization posses it. So i doubt it should work alone – it can be a spearhead but not a lone wolf. Behind (around) him should follow drones, and normal heavy infantry (in case if everything goes south and power armor need help itself), everything covered by snipers support if possible.
- If we use it only in selected, known locations, and we have some time to preparation then why not run it on power cable, and switch to battery only when/if power cord is cut. Of course it could be also detachable on will – so kind like an Evangelion in small scale. Battery could be also very easy replaceable – but it can make them also quite vulnerable, so it is a trade off.

ps. resistance only to 7,62mm? Then good old Dshk 12,7mm placed in front of door with some basic remote guide will become obligatory piece of furniture for every place worth of using power armor… of course i don’t expect power armor to care where are doors anyway, but… :)

By: Alvin Shiu

Alvin Shiu — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 02:53:55 +0000

Is it realistic? I thnk so.

You never know, technology is evolving ao quickly these days. Heck exo suits are already put into tests in US.

By: TigerTankTrackAttack

TigerTankTrackAttack — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 22:49:00 +0000

Yea (or Yay), this was a good read and I would enjoy to read more of this :)