We Will Wear Armor in the Future: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Star Wars]]'' - The infamous stormtroopers and their predecessors the clone troopers. As well as the Mandalorians.

** Stormtrooper armor blocks radiation, chemical and biological weapons, stun bolts, and most (non-energy) melee attacks, as well as providing general life support and environmental protection. [[Armor Is Useless|Too bad (for the stormtroopers) that the rebels just use simple blasters.]] But, [[All There in the Manual|other sources]] say that while it might be penetrated by a direct blaster bolt, it would at least significantly reduce damage from the absorbed bolt, [[Fan Wank|so the]] [[Short-Range Long-Range Weapon|constantly close-ranges of combat]] [[Fan Wank|in the movies is why the armour seems useless]].

** This is illustrated in the first battle scene in the entire series~~. Armored stormtroopers vs. unarmored rebel bodyguards~~ - if a blaster bolt hits anywhere near one of the ~~rebels~~, they go down, while only direct hits to storm troopers do any damage. Also, you see some stormtroopers helping up their wounded after - while ''none'' of the rebel troops seem to be even moving.

** Blaster hits also tend to turn fist-sized chunks of a wall into shrapnel, so without armor near misses can wound or kill too. This is illustrated in the first battle scene in the entire series - if a blaster bolt hits anywhere near one of the unarmored rebel bodyguards, they go down, while only direct hits to armored storm troopers do any damage. Also, you see some stormtroopers helping up their wounded after - while ''none'' of the rebel troops seem to be even moving.

** Stormtrooper armor, as everything else, is designed for a specific purpose. As a product of the same "[[Zerg Rush|drown them in attackers]]" doctrine as TIE fighter, it's made to protect ''units'' rather than ''individuals''. That is, optimized to stop anything (short of very heavy weapons) that could inflict mass casualties. While ''direct hits'' of blasters stronger than handguns can ~~cause~~ ~~knockdown~~ ~~and~~ ~~injury and~~ melee weapons and sometimes a lucky shrapnel may kill through the weak neck joint, hits in a small area at just right angle are a rare misfortune, and stormtroopers can shoot more than they are shot at. ~~If a~~ large unit of stormtroopers cannot be stopped by toxic and corrosive gases, depressurizing, shrapnel and shockwaves of blaster near misses and grenades, ~~and~~ ~~fight~~ ~~on,~~ ~~they will~~ win simply because of the ~~advantage in~~ numbers, as long as they are disciplined and competent enough - and stormtroopers are. The helm's communication and optics lock down so it's mostly useless for an enemy who picked it up, especially for [[False-Flag Operation]].

** Stormtrooper armor, as everything else, is designed for a specific purpose. Being a product of the same "[[Zerg Rush|drown them in attackers]]" doctrine as TIE fighter, it's made to protect ''units'' rather than ''individuals''. That is, optimized to stop anything (short of very heavy weapons) that could inflict mass casualties. While ''direct hits'' of blasters stronger than handguns can knock down or wound, melee weapons and ''sometimes'' a lucky shrapnel may kill through the weak neck joint, hits in a small area at just right angle are a rare misfortune, and stormtroopers can shoot more than they are shot at. A large unit of stormtroopers cannot be stopped by toxic and corrosive gases, depressurizing, shrapnel and shockwaves of blaster near misses and grenades. They most often can win simply because of the greater numbers, as long as they are disciplined and competent enough - and stormtroopers usually are. The helm's communication and optics lock down so it's mostly useless for an enemy who picked it up, especially for [[False-Flag Operation]].

** If you look for tough "space marine" grade stuff, it's [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Katarn-class_commando_armor Katarn-class commando armor] of clone commandos. It's made of material resistant even to lightsabers, with shields on top of this, and even a retractable [[Vibroweapon|vibroblade]] on the glove. Later versions included cool extras like EMP-hardening. Of course, it's also inconvenient when the wearer tries to sit and costs (on black market) like ''five'' of Gian landspeeders<ref>low-profile "boats" in which Naboo Royal Security Forces buzzed by and one-shot assault hovertanks</ref> in mint condition, or ten used.

* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' - Making the fact that they left out the book's power armor even more obvious.

** The armor props were sold to a ''lot'' of other productions, like ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Firefly]]''.

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* In [[GURPS]] the trend away from armor that started in [[Technology Levels|TL 4]] (1450 to 1730) starts to reverse in TL 7 (1940 to 1980) with the discovery of lightweight, bullet-resistant synthetics such as kevlar. In some TL 10+ (2075 and beyond) campaigns armor is vital, while in others weapons are so devastating that dodging or shooting first is far more important.

** For example, disintegrator technology makes armor irrelevant because they do enormous damage and bypass most armor completely while FTL laser technology makes it so that soldiers always need to be in armor because shots can hit with deadly accuracy from tremendous range.

* ~~Due~~ to the general lethality of combat ~~in [[Traveller]]~~ armour is all but required to survive more than a couple shots. Besides [[Powered Armor|Battle Dress]] available armours range from practically useless leather to Combat armour that requires a laser or gauss rifle to really penetrate, there's also reflec that only defends against lasers and can be added to other types of armour. However most armour tend to be a higher [[Technology Levels|tech level]] and much more expensive than the weapons that can pierce it.

* In ''[[Traveller]]'', due to the general lethality of combat armour is all but required to survive more than a couple shots. Besides [[Powered Armor|Battle Dress]] available armours range from practically useless leather to Combat armour that requires a laser or gauss rifle to really penetrate, there's also reflec that only defends against lasers and can be added to other types of armour. However most armour tend to be a higher [[Technology Levels|tech level]] and much more expensive than the weapons that can pierce it.

* ''[[Fading Suns]]'', with its deliberate [[Anachronism Stew]], has anything from studded leather to stiffsynth (polymer cloth that bends easily, but hardens for sharp impacts) to ceramsteel [[Power Armor]]. There are personal [[Deflector Shields]], but [[Dune|slow cuts]] and blaster fire alike can leak through them.

== Video Games ==

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* In ''[[SSDD]]'' it's stated that buckminster fullerene armor made conventional firearms obsolete. However, the various weapons designed to counter it all have their own disadvantages ([http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070709.html slow firing], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070710.html cumbersome], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070712.html expensive], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070714.html tends to explode], etc).

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' there is a lot of both light and heavy body armor variants.

** The low-profile powered suits look a lot like cloth uniforms, but definitely function as armor. "Carbonan [[Latex Space Suit|crotch-huggers]]", as Karl Tagon calls them, seem to be standard issue in at least some human armies, and they stop a lot of things, from bullets to flame to anti-personnel [[nanobots]], can sustain the wearer in space for short time periods ([[Collapsible Helmet]] is deployed on mental command or bad atmosphere), and include inertiics that both protect from collisions and provide limited flight. [[Armor Is Useless]] usually when overkill with heavy weapons is involved.

** The low-profile powered suits look a lot like cloth uniforms, but definitely function as armor. "Carbonan [[Latex Space Suit|crotch-huggers]]", as Karl Tagon calls them, seem to be standard issue in at least some human armies, and they stop a lot of things, from bullets to flame to anti-personnel [[nanobots]], can sustain the wearer in space for short time periods ([[Collapsible Helmet]] is deployed on mental command or bad atmosphere), and include inertiics that both protect from collisions and provide limited flight. [[Armor Is Useless]] usually when armor-piercing ammo or overkill with heavy weapons are involved. Which is to say, almost as often as not.

** Toughs adopt armor after facing a squad of commandos wearing armor good against small arms, so they buy bulky powered armor that is destroyed a couple missions later. Since that armor restricted movement so much (their martial arts instructor said he'd rather fight naked) they exchanged it for low-profile suits that look exactly like regular uniforms (and are used as such), but are still powered and can stop a tank round. Now they also have heavier suits for use in boarding actions.

** Exosuits used by security teams on Haven Hive were capable of keeping wearers uninjured even after a plasma cannon hit (the same glancing sweep ''cut a wide gap through ship bulkhead and deck''), though the suit itself ends up utterly destroyed in process.