love the artwork umungus, are you using a vector program? your designs are very cool, it really keeps the colors vibrant and rich. My software doesnt support the proprietary characters shuch as vrusks and yaz so I'm gonna have to pen to paper here soon if i'm gonna create any art featuring them.

And lets not forget about when the battle suit goes bad or doesn't work right, lol.

Thanks AZ!
I like that pic. very cool visual.

The characters approach a derelict hulk. I'd show them a picture of that guy.

Both the pics are hand drawn. Then I ink them and scan them. I color them with photoshop using a tablet. Still learning how to do it. I have some more power armor stuff I am working on right now.

Hey, umungus.  That's a great pick for the standard battlesuit!  I'm really looking forward to your article for the Frontiersman.  I love the concept of the powered armor.  I'm interested in seeing how you handle the protection aspect of armor.  Will it be similar to how the Skeinsuit protects or have you taken a new approach?

Also, AZ_GAMER, you have fantastic ability with photoshop!

Thanks AZ.

I deliberated a lot on that protection of the armor.

I imagine skeinsuits like modern day bullet proof vests that cover the whole body. They are flexible and provide some protection. So some of the energy still gets through as half the damage. I think solid armor would be different.

I don't really like the idea of just using structural points. (That sysytem was used for the tank in Sundown on Starmist) I wanted all the damage to be the same in combat. Didn't want to switch from doing D10's of damage to straight structural points.

I didn't think the percentage to protect the wearer was appropriate, because I beleive the wearer of the battle suit would be thoroughly covered. In the AD optional rules polyplate armor doesn't completely cover the wearer, so there is a chance a shot can get past.
 
In the end I went with a straight stamina value for the armor to protect the wearer. You have to punch through the suit stamina before the wearer takes damage. The suit can also employ defense screens. In the case of ablative damage (I made up two sheets for that) You need to punch through the armor in one location. Then all kinds of bad things can happen. Once you get through the suit STA/ armor you get a roll on the Battle suit damage table. Then you get blown strenghth amplifiers, detsroyed weapons, exploding ammo, suit system malfunctions, etc.

I am anxious to have people play it and ghet some feedback.

On the damage table there is a parabattery hit. Which would effectively shut-down the suit.

The dropship swung on the gantry away from the aussalt carrier. Schafer hated drops.
The ground pounders where safely inside the dropship; strapped in with an inertia field to absorb the buffeting and G's. The power suits get strapped to the outside with a bird's eye view of the planet below. Schafer would have thought the view was beautiful except for  the fact that he could see the UPF frigates in the distance holding off a Sathar heavy cruiser. He could see orbs of light silently bloom. Intermittent flashes from heavy lasers would momentarily dazzle.
 
The gantry stopped. The battle suits jarred. T'rting ,a Vrusk, cursed over the 'com.
T'rting was in his suit next to Schafer. A Vrusk had to be folded up to be mounted to the side of the dropship. Schafer knew that T'rting would be getting irritable after being in such an unnatural position for so long.

A low vibration rosonated through the suit as the dropship's engine spooled up.
The idea was for the fleet to screen the assault ship. The aussalt ship gets as close to atmosphere as possible and launches all dropships. The dropships want to get out of space and make atmosphere as soon as possible, or they get picked off by Sathar rockets and lasers. The dropships hit full thrust pointed at the atmosphere. At the last moment they go belly down and reduce speed. If they get the angle and speed just right re- entry won't kill you.

The UPF engineers and astrogaters worked all this out a long time ago. They failed to ask a battle suit marine strapped to the outside of a dropship how it all works out...
 
The dropship, well...  drops. For a few seconds the ship maneuvers clear. Then you feel the atomic drives push. Not gradual, like an interface shuttle, more like a hover transport hitting you.

The near blackout G's push you into your suit. Then the planet gets a hold of the ship and starts pulling it to higher velocities. Which is OK, for a few seconds the G's start to balance out. Then the ship goes belly down and reverses thrust. Your blood is not sure whether to pool in your feet or in your skull. Oh yeah, don't lose you breakfast in the suit.

Then your suit heats up, alarms go off. The suit warns you about external temperatures.
You should be OK though, the suit can handle a little heat. You reassure yourself as the atmosphere your violating starts to friction ignite on all the edges of your suit. Usually starts at your boots. About now your not in vacuum anymore. The mute turns off on the world. Sometimes you hear a howling or whisting or maybe just a ripping. The supersonic wind starts to claw and test and rip at every corner. You get to hear all this with or without external 'mics.

Not quite done. If there is a planetary defense, things get interesting. The dropship noses down again, Heads to an altitude that should give the planetary defenses less of a chance. Kind of like a Mach 3 express elevator.

Deployment is never the same way twice. The terrain is never good. Most of the time the dropship hovers to a landing we unlatch and hop off. The back drops down and the grunts charge out. The ships blasts off. Done.

Sometimes things are too hot for the dropship to land, so we do a rapid deploy. I'd like to meet the genious that thought up the Rapid Power Suit deploy. Or as UPF fleet calls it, "bowling." You'll see why in a minute. The dropship gets down to about 10 meters, The safe jump height for a standard suit. I say 'about' because some pilots are more skilled, or polite, than others. The dropship turns sideways and we drop off both sides. The guys on the lead side have it a little easier than the trailing side. Because the dropship is still moving forward. Something about needing some forward momentum to get out fast. Well if the forward momentum is bit too fast and the terrain trips you up, you go tumbling. So, your going head over heels in your battle suit, "bowling." Sometimes the trailing guys tumble into the leads and you get a pile up. Like a bunch of bowling pins.Usually don't get seriously hurt if you tumble. You just feel stupid all piled up.

Now your on planet, nauseous, weak kneed, banged up. You just need to remember your mission and get moving, fast.

That is all there is to a ship drop. All things considered I much prefer it to a pod drop. I'll tell you about those later........
 

Closer look at a Pod in the Rack ready for deployment