Designing Ultra-Tech armor loadouts with Pyramid #3/85 and #3/96

[Michael Thayne]

The articles in Pyramid #3/85 and Pyramid #3/96 seem like they have a lot of potential for designing interesting armors not included in Ultra-Tech. However, I haven't seen a thread really exploring what can be done with them. So I'd like people to post their TL9+ armor designs made with those two articles.

I'll start. This is an idea I'm calling the "Complete Protective System" or CPS, which pulls triple-duty as assault armor, bomb disposal suit, and NBC gear. It's designed with stopping a 7mm electrochemical-thermal round in mind; the torso armor is thick enough to stop 99.5% of such rounds.

Components:

• DR 20 STF liquid armor, everywhere but face (10.5728 lbs., $1585.92)
• DR 10 laminated polycarbonate, face (1.4 lbs., $16.8)
• DR 25 polymer nanocomposite, torso (14 lbs., $5600)
• Sealed feature (neg., $106.75

Rounded final cost and weight: 26 lbs., $7,300

I don't super love how heavy and expensive the torso plates are, but was dissatisfied with the rules in the two Pyramid articles for approximating the coverage offered by real-world trauma plates, so I decided to go with full torso coverage. A much lighter and cheaper option would be to give the highest level of protection to the vitals only, which would save 12 lbs. and $4800.

[Anders]

Interesting. I haven't looked at that design system. What TL is the suit?

[Michael Thayne]

The suit is TL9.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The suit is TL9.

For EOD work I think you might want an opaque but much more protective visor that uses the "Armor Without Faceplates" rules from UT. I'd think you could just add it and the cameras that went with it over the regular faceplate.

[Varyon]

My general go-to is a bodysuit made of flexible material, covering all but Face* and possibly hands/feet (although gloves of the same material may be worn, which wouldn't alter cost and weight but might increase Don). Layered on top of this is what I call "simple armor," so-named because it uses a design that should be easily manufactured with a sort of "one size fits all" mentality (often through adjusting the amount of padding within the armor, so it still calls for a bit of time to switch who is wearing it), which I feel justifies a sizable - 50% - discount. The outer shell is designed to work with the bodysuit, so no layering penalties should be in play.

The bodysuit is made of whatever ballistic fabric is practical, and should probably be around 1/8" thick. Optimized Fabric construction is likely, but simple Fabric construction is possible, particularly if trying to keep costs down when outfitting a large number of soldiers. The armor layered on top could be more of the same, but up to 3/8" thick (which makes it no longer GURPS Flexible), or it could be made of rigid material up to 0.15" thick** and most likely of Plate construction. Simple Armor is something I came up with for low tech settings, but works just fine for "standard issue" armor in UT (or alternate-history HT) with some modifications.

Helmet: The helmet is a bascinet (covers Skull and back of Face), for 1.4 sf. The low tech version uses a metal grille to cover the front of the Face, but that's not useful when most threats are ranged piercing or tight-beam burning or the like, so for HT/UT, a full-coverage (0.35 sf) ballistic visor works. If you don't like the transparent options in the articles (or simply want more), consider the options in this thread.

Breastplate: Simple Armor gives 5/6 protection to the Chest (and full protection to the Vitals) for both front and back (visually, the "missing" material is near the armpit), for 4.375 sf. The low tech version typically reduces the back protection to 60-80% of the front to keep weight and cost down; it's up to you if you do so for your armor (I typically don't, as getting hit from behind is much more likely when shrapnel and firearms are involved than in LT settings).

Fauld: Simple Armor uses an armored skirt to protect the abdomen and possibly the thighs. This may be left out of UT armor, leaving the abdomen and thighs exposed, but if included needs to either be made of flexible material or be of scale or segmented plate construction. Gives full protection to abdomen for 1.75 sf, or full protection to both abdomen and thighs for 4.9 sf.

Shoulderguard: Rare for the LT version, and probably rarer still for UT Simple Armor, shoulderguards that also protect the outer portion of the upper arms are an option. These are 3/6 coverage for the shoulders and upper arms, but would arguably give 4/6 protection (the "exposed" bits would often require you to shoot through the chest to get to them). 0.7 sf for a pair.

Vambrace: These give full protection to the forearms, and 3/6 coverage (but arguably 4/6 protection, as above) to the elbows. 1.925 sf for a pair.

Handguard: Optionally, an armored plate that covers the back of the hand (but not fingers) is available, for 3/6 coverage (again, arguably 4/6 protection). 0.35 sf for a pair.

Shinguard: Gives full protection to the lower legs, and protects the knees from the front (also serves as kneepads for shooting while kneeling). 3.675 for a pair.

Foot protection: The LT version uses a similar setup to the handguard, above, and is intended to be worn with sandals. For HT/UT, the character is likely to simply wear reinforced combat boots, for 0.7 sf for a pair. Optionally, the bottoms of the feet are reinforced for +50% to +100% to DR (and +25% to +50% to cost and weight).

Note even if all of the above are available, many combatants are likely to forgo some of it. I suspect the shoulderguards would be the first to be left off, followed by the handguards, then the shinguards, then the vambraces, and finally the armored skirt (helmet, breastplate, and boots are unlikely to be left off if the combatants have time to gear up). Optionally, the armored skirt could be modular, with the portion protecting the upper legs attaching to the fauld; in that case, the fauld is 1.75 sf and the extension is 3.15 sf and you'll probably see the upper leg protection following the discarding of the shinguards.

At TL 9, let's say we're using ~1/8" STF (DR 12/4) of Optimized Fabric construction for the bodysuit, ~1/4" STF (DR 24/8) of Optimized Fabric construction for the fauld/armored skirt, ~0.15" Titanium Nanocomposite (DR 25) of Plate construction for most of the rigid armor, and ~0.2" Nanoplastic (DR 7; from the linked thread) of Plate construction for the visor.

Bodysuit: 20.65*0.032*12*0.8 = 6.34368 lb; 6.34368*150*2 = $1903.104

Helmet: 1.4*0.12*25*0.8 = 3.36 lb; 3.36*250*5 = $4200, halved to $2100
Visor: 0.7*0.18*7*0.8 = 0.7056 lb; 0.7056*100*5 = $352.8, halved to $176.4
Breastplate: 4.375*0.12*25*0.8 = 10.5 lb; 10.5*250*5 = $13125, halved to $6562.5
Fauld/Armored Skirt: 4.9*0.032*24*0.8 = 3.01056 lb; 3.01056*150*2 = $903.168, halved to $451.584
Shoulderguards: 0.7*0.12*25*0.8 = 1.68 lb; 1.68*250*5 = $2100, halved to $1050
Vambraces: 1.925*0.12*25*0.8 = 4.62 lb; 4.62*250*5 = $5775, halved to $2887.50
Handguards: 0.35*0.12*25*0.8 = 0.84 lb; 0.84*250*5 = $1050, halved to $525
Shinguards: 3.675*0.12*25*0.8 = 8.82 lb; 8.82*250*5 = $11025, halved to $5512.5
Boots: 0.7*0.12*25*0.8 = 1.68 lb; 1.68*250*5 = $2100 (no halving, as these don't count as Simple Armor)

That's a grand total of 41.55984 lb (call it 41.5 lb) and $23268.588 (call it $25,000). It gives DR 12/4* (12 vs pi/cut, 4 vs everything else) everywhere but the front of Face, and layers DR 25 (total 37/29) on top of that on the Skull (and back of Face), Chest (5/6), Shoulders (4/6), Upper Arms (4/6), Elbows (4/6), Forearms, Hands (4/6), Knees (Front), Shins, and Feet, and layers DR 24/8* (total 36/12, flexible is lost) on the Abdomen and Thighs. The Face only gets DR 7, unfortunately (you can boost this all the way to 25 by using synthetic diamond, but that will boost the weight of the visor to 2.1 lb and its cost to $1050, for ~43 lb and $25,000; doing so will also make it semi-ablative, and every -1.25 to DR is -1 to vision due to cracks and the like). To this, feel free to add whatever features you see as important, such as IR cloaking for the bodysuit or a HUD for the visor.

Note you could markedly reduce weight (by ~23.5 lb) and cost (by ~$20,000) by making all of the armor panels (except the visor) out of DR 24/8 STF, getting DR 36/12 on most of the body. If you anticipate needing to deal with blunt impacts and DEWs (like lasers), however, such armor will be found wanting (you're going from DR 29 against such threats to only DR 12). Neither version of the armor performs well against direct hits from explosions (against large area injuries, you use the average of torso DR and your lowest DR; for the Titanium Nanocomposite design, Torso DR is roughly DR 21.625 vs crushing (considering it is itself a weighted average of 29, 4, and 12) while the lowest elsewhere is DR 4, for average DR around 13 vs cr; the STF construction has chest DR of roughly 12 vs cr (it's technically slightly lower, due to 1/6 of Chest being only DR 4) and the lowest elsewhere is still DR 4, for average DR around 8 vs cr). I suspect a bit of a hybrid design might be optimal; replace most of the Titanium Nanocomposite bits with STF, but either have some of it remain over the Vitals (built into the STF armor) or have some optional inserts.

*I'm pretty certain the square footage given for Face is for what GURPS would call Face from the front (-5 to hit), with the square footage from Skull also covering Face from the back (-7 to hit). If this isn't the case, you - and I - would need to add more square yardage for the Face back
*[size=1]I rule that flexible material can be no more than 0.5" thick in total (hence the 1/4"+3/4" for that), while rigid can be no more than 0.2" thick, to maintain full dexterity for an SM+0 character. When layering the two, I use the 0.2" maximum, but treat flexible material as though it were 2/5ths (due to the ratio of allowed thickness) as thick as rigid. Thus, 1/8" becomes 1/20th (0.05"), leaving 0.15" for rigid. Skull and Chest could probably be x1.5, maybe even x2, this thickness without serious issue, but I'll ignore that here.[/quote]

[Michael Thayne]

I like the idea of aiming for a certain thickness of armor. Also d'oh I totally forgot about the effect of construction on cost for my own write-up.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

I'll start. This is an idea I'm calling the "Complete Protective System" or CPS, which pulls triple-duty as assault armor, bomb disposal suit, and NBC gear. It's designed with stopping a 7mm electrochemical-thermal round in mind; the torso armor is thick enough to stop 99.5% of such rounds.

By GURPS rule of thumb, that's not protection vs 7mm ETC, but against attacks doing about 13d (or 6d+2(2)). I'm not a fan of near-perfect armour protection, because then as a GM I have enemies with standard-issue weapons being no threat, and standard military small unit load-outs mean the next step up is the squad using shaped-charge grenades or RPGs on the PCs, and that means they get turned into pink mist. Also, if body armour gives effective immunity to the issue weapon, it won't be the issue weapon any more - something that will penetrate will be (in this case, probably 7mm ETC rifles with APHC or APEP bullets).

Thus, once I've decided on an issue weapon and ammunition, I design common body armour to 'protect' against it (that is to say, stop the average damage from it), not stop it outright.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Rupert

By GURPS rule of thumb, that's not protection vs 7mm ETC, but against attacks doing about 13d (or 6d+2(2)). I'm not a fan of near-perfect armour protection, because then as a GM I have enemies with standard-issue weapons being no threat, and standard military small unit load-outs mean the next step up is the squad using shaped-charge grenades or RPGs on the PCs, and that means they get turned into pink mist. Also, if body armour gives effective immunity to the issue weapon, it won't be the issue weapon any more - something that will penetrate will be (in this case, probably 7mm ETC rifles with APHC or APEP bullets).

Thus, once I've decided on an issue weapon and ammunition, I design common body armour to 'protect' against it (that is to say, stop the average damage from it), not stop it outright.

This is wholly unrealistic. In real life, military officers put in charge of procuring body armor say things like, "the acceptable failure rate for body armor worn by our soldiers is zero out of ten". That's why GURPS gives armor designed to protect against an AK-47 round that does 7d damage 35 DR. Of course, armor that provided that level of protection over 100% of the body would be prohibitively heavy, which is why real body armor might only provide it for two or three square feet of body area.

[Michael Thayne]

Thinking about the issue of how thick limb armor can realistically be while maintaining mobility: a suit of optimized fabric that's nominally 1/4 inch thick could be assumed to be only 1/8 inch thick around the joins, to maintain flexibility? Does that seem reasonable in terms of designing a suit ordinary soldiers could realistically wear while out on patrol without losing too much in terms of mobility?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

This is wholly unrealistic. In real life, military officers put in charge of procuring body armor say things like, "the acceptable failure rate for body armor worn by our soldiers is zero out of ten". That's why GURPS gives armor designed to protect against an AK-47 round that does 7d damage 35 DR. Of course, armor that provided that level of protection over 100% of the body would be prohibitively heavy, which is why real body armor might only provide it for two or three square feet of body area.

No, GURPS doesn't. A DR35 vest is one that's rated to stop 7.62x51mm AP rounds.

Note that the "Fragmentation Vest" (HT66-67) was supposed to stop 7.62x25mm Tokarev bullets. HT gives it DR6, with DR8 over the vitals from the front. This doesn't even stop the average damage. The concealed vests shown also follow this - the best of them should be level IIIA without plates - stopping a .44 magnum. HT gives the best of them DR12, which stops the average damage of a .44, rounded down.

It's also fundamental to the way DR is scaled on vehicles and heavy barriers. One inch of steel armour (RHA) protects against a 20d attack, and thus has DR70 (not DR120 or so), and GURPS is very consistent with this. It's how damage of large guns is derived, and how the penetration of HEAT rounds is arrived at.

EDIT: By the way, AK-47 rounds normally do 5d+1 pi, or 4d-1(2) pi- inc if API.