Battlesuits for smaller users...

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Sure, if you want to go into such small details.

In reality, all armour weight and cost should scale by the build of the wearer. GURPS rules ignore this, for the sake of playability and simplicity. Personally, I modify armour weight and cost according to build.

DR shouldn't change, though. It is equally thick, just with more surface area.

In that case it probably wouldn't be any stronger, would it?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

In that case it probably wouldn't be any stronger, would it?

More surface area = Longer cybermuscles.

The square cube law is the reason it adds a flat bonus and doesn't modify ST by a multiple of the user's ST. It might not be perfect, but as we don't know all the factors involved, this being a representation of imaginary technology, it is certainly better to select the simple method over a complex method when we have equal confidence in the accuracy of their results.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Yeah, I concur.

Not only is it a good idea, it's also consistent with the rules.

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

...if you know that it's a math-phobic kludge, why pretend otherwise?

The sad thing is that is doesn't even make the maths simpler. "Add 5 to Lifting ST, square the result, divide by 5, that's your new BL" is actually more complicated than "add 25 to BL".

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Icelander

More surface area = Longer cybermuscles.

Longer muscles are more powerful but not stronger. Strength is proportional to cross-sectional area.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Brett

The sad thing is that is doesn't even make the maths simpler. "Add 5 to Lifting ST, square the result, divide by 5, that's your new BL" is actually more complicated than "add 25 to BL".

But it doesn't just increase BL. It increases Striking and Lifting ST.

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by Icelander

DR shouldn't change, though. It is equally thick, just with more surface area.

It changes for Spaceships...l8-)>

Would it be worth creating a table of ranges of wearer ST and the cost/ wgt/ DR/ ST+ of the suits to match? I could see it mattering for SM difference (per Spaceships) but would it make as much difference for ST?

[Kuroshima]

Well, I would crack open Low Tech Companion 2, page 21, and use the rules there to scale the battlesuit: DR would be unchanged, weight would be multiplied by the weight column, and so would price. As for the ST boost, it depends. If you want the battlesuits to give an ST bonus, as per the RAW, then multiply the bonus by the Damage column. If you want them to have fixed ST, the SM+0 battlesuits have ST 10+Battlesuit bonus. Take this number, and multiply it by the Damage column. Dead simple.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

But it doesn't just increase BL. It increases Striking and Lifting ST.

Each of them separately. So the "add, square, divide" algorithm is only part of when needs to be done.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Brett

Each of them separately. So the "add, square, divide" algorithm is only part of when needs to be done.

I'm not sure what your point is, exactly.

I think that Pythagorean addition is suitable for both components of ST (which tend to be the same most of the time anyway). Then of course you have to look up the new thrust/swing damage, and figure out the new BL.

You could have a shortcut to determining the new BL by simple addition, but that wouldn't replace the need to calculate the new Lifting ST. It would require including extra, redundant information or making the calculation needed more confusing, and since Lifting ST has to be an integer it would result in a BL that differs from what your functional ST would indicate.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

You could have a shortcut to determining the new BL by simple addition, but that wouldn't replace the need to calculate the new Lifting ST. It would require including extra, redundant information or making the calculation needed more confusing, and since Lifting ST has to be an integer it would result in a BL that differs from what your functional ST would indicate.

Fair enough. I overlooked uses for Lifting ST other than as a basis for BL.