Power Armour Design System (Part 1)

This is my attempt to create a system for designing different suits of power
armour for use in Stargrunt II. It can be used to design just about anything
from a very lightweight suit of Scout PA right through to the Heavy Combat PA
as per the standard rules. It can also create EVA suits and Aliens style Power
Lifters.

The criteria by which any suit of PA is judged is its size. (Seeing as we
don't have a points system and I for one are glad of that.)

There are three sizes of PA: Light PA is little more bulky than a suit of
unpowered armour (The D8 stuff in SGII) a man wearing light PA takes up 1
capacity point in a vehicle. Medium PA, more bulky and hence takes up 1.5
capacity points in a vehicle. Heavy PA, the bulkiest suits, these take up 2
capacity points in a vehicle.

As a suit of PA is designed various elements contribute various points to a
running total, when finished this total tells you the size of the suit. The
exact limits are left up to you. I would say that Light PA takes up 4, 5 or 6
points. Medium twice whatever Light takes (ie 8, 10 or 12) and Heavy three
times whatever Light takes (ie 12, 15 or 18).

By choosing the number you can limit the effectiveness of PA in whatever
setting you are using. I would suggest that for the 'official' background 5 is
picked.

Armour Rating. Points D8 2 D10 4 D12 6

Movement Rate. Points
6                   0
8                   1
10 2 12 3

Close Assault Mod. Points x1 0 x1.5 1 x2 2

Life Support. Points None 0 Filtration 0 Air Supply 1 per 12 hours
Vacuum Proofing     2
Medical 0

Extras. Points Cargo 2 Weapon Mount 1

The first three sets of factors should be self explanatory.

The Life Support factors are as follows:
Filtration: a gas mask/air filter as effective as the tech level of
your army allows. Air Supply: Self Contained, allows operations underwater or
in atmospheres which are lacking oxygen or poisonous. Vacuum Proofing: Allows
operations in a vacuum, in high radiation, in corrosive atmosphers, under
great pressures, etc. Medical: If the suit has this then any casualties use
the PA table, if not they use the ordinary troops table.

A Cargo load is any load that would cause a normal troop to move at half
speed: a wounded comrade, a portion of a Heavy weapon, etc. The ability to
carry these loads without slowing down or losing the ability to fire, etc,
requires additional servo motors, storage space, and other adaptations to the
suit. Weapon Mount: mount needed to fit a MLP. Also used if the suit is armed
with a weapon heavier than that normally carried by one man. Some weapons
might require a weapons mount AND cargo space
adaptations. (EG the ESU suit that mounts a RFAC/1 in the rule book.)

(NB, am I the only person who feels that there is a class of weapons
missing from SGII? We seem to jump from SAWs to RFAC/1s. That's from
a light machine gun to a 20mm cannon. What about the HMGs? I'll post my rules
for Heavy support weapons soon.)

Right that's the basic system, I'll post another message with some examples.

Cheers,