Star Wars Stormtroopers in Real Armor [Ultratech]

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Varyon

As for what the 'troopers might be wearing, something like a tacsuit (or maybe just a skinsuit, both UT178) would work for the "body glove," and the rigid armor panels would probably give 5/6 protection to most of the hit locations. Their helmet is probably a Combat Infantry Helmet. I'd design their armor using the relevant Pyramid articles.

I wouldn't make the armour only protect on 5/6. I'd just call those armour chinks and be done with it. That gives high skill PCs a chance to show off. A 1/6 chance to hit a thin skinsuit encourages using massed auto-fire and thus the very opposite of the sort of high-skill cinematic heroes show.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Rupert

- as long as you remove lasers, or solidly nerf their Acc. Acc12 laser rifles will make head shots way too easy any time someone can risk a turn of aiming.

Blaster riffles have Acc 10, so the issue isn't limited to lasers. Blaster riffles do an average of 1 penetrating damage against DR 100, so the armor isn't immune to battle-field fire by any means, but it does force the enemy to use actual military gear.

Or hit something other than the torso.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by Rupert

In my Experience, the troopers return from battle in only one of two states - without a scratch or dead. They have DR100 on their Torso and DR60 on their limbs, extremities, 'Groin', and neck, which is pretty good even vs light blasters. However they only have DR38 on their skull (counting their DR2 noggins) and DR24 on their face and eyes.

Thus their torsos are nearly immune to even heavy blaster pistols, their limbs take little damage from them and even less from normal blaster pistols (and take little damage from Rainbow Lasers, even rifles), but even a normal blaster pistol will cause major wounds on a face hit and more than their HP on a skull hit. A heavy blaster pistol to the face means ~10HP damage, and one to the skull means ~28HP and a death check.

If you want serious hard armour protection, you need to use a Visored Space Helmet at the very least, and you really should have a Space Combat Helmet. However, equipping Storm Troopers as you suggest should work well thematically - their armour stops most damage from normal opponents who will lack the skill to hit them in the head reliably, but heroes should be able to head-shoot them reliably, making them far less dangerous to characters with good guns skills - as long as you remove lasers, or solidly nerf their Acc. Acc12 laser rifles will make head shots way too easy any time someone can risk a turn of aiming.

This is a pretty major issue (Well, arguably. I think it's an issue.) with ultra-tech armor in general. I think in some cases, it would make sense to give armor the equivalent of a low level of IT:DR in addition to its usual effects.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

This is a pretty major issue (Well, arguably. I think it's an issue.) with ultra-tech armor in general. I think in some cases, it would make sense to give armor the equivalent of a low level of IT:DR in addition to its usual effects.

Good lord no. Human beings are soft insides no matter how hard their artifical outer shell is. You put a powerful weapon's shot through a faceplate and it ought to be a life-threatening injury.

If it's survivable at all. This _is_ how meteor miner Wild Bill Williams deals with claim jumpers. :)

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Good lord no. Human beings are soft insides no matter how hard their artifical outer shell is. You put a powerful weapon's shot through a faceplate and it ought to be a life-threatening injury.

If it's survivable at all. This _is_ how meteor miner Wild Bill Williams deals with claim jumpers. :)

Arguable when it comes to energy weapons. But I was mainly arguing from a balance/enjoyment perspective. Having zero grey area between "not a scratch" and "pile of red goo that used to be a man" isn't fun for me.

[AlexanderHowl]

Space armor with space combat helment is not that expensive ($23,000) and it is not that heavy compared to modern loads (52 lbs compared to the standard 100 lbs for an infantry soldier). A ST 12 individual (which really should be the minimum for stormtroopers) would not even reach Medium Encumbrance, meaning that they could easily carry 33 lbs before reaching Heavy Encumbrance. They would have DR 80/60 on their heads and DR 100/80 on the rest of their body, which is worth the weight.

A blaster would reduce effective DR to 16/12 on the head and 20/16 on the body. With a blaster rifle dealing 6d damage, the damage suffered from a torso hit ranges from 0-16, which is not that bad. It is survivable as long as nothing vital is hit.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Arguable when it comes to energy weapons. .

No, energy weapons that make holes through armor will make holes through flesh.

As to not enjoying deadly combat it's one of the main hallmarks of Gurps. Maybe you want another system for this sort of thing?

As for me I don't want a system where PCs can't kill mooks. Stormtroopers are archetypal mooks and they are supposed to go down when shot.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Rupert

I wouldn't make the armour only protect on 5/6. I'd just call those armour chinks and be done with it. That gives high skill PCs a chance to show off. A 1/6 chance to hit a thin skinsuit encourages using massed auto-fire and thus the very opposite of the sort of high-skill cinematic heroes show.

Star Wars blasters function more like firearms than beam weapons, and should have Rcl 2 at a minimum. Bypassing 5/6 armor calls for a -4 to hit; while sprayed fire certainly can get past it, you'll often see better probabilities of a bypass by specifically aiming for it, at least if you're working with sufficient effective skill that taking a -8 is an option. That said, if you feel 5/6 would be a problem, I'd at least give a bonus to targeting chinks (as for cheap armor).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

S

A blaster would reduce effective DR to 16/12 on the head and 20/16 on the body. With a blaster rifle dealing 6d damage, the damage suffered from a torso hit ranges from 0-16, which is not that bad. It is survivable as long as nothing vital is hit.

You put enemy soldiers in rational armor and people will start using rational anti-armor weapons agaisnt them. Like 25mm HEMP from a grenade launcher. One of those pays very little attention to a Space armor. Or even a Dreadnought Battlesuit.

Personal UT armor isn't _for_ stopping primary anti-armor weapons.

[Prince Charon]

My general opinion of the stormtroopers in this context is that they're in cheap-quality (in the GURPS equipment sense) armour that was built by the lowest bidder: All those star destroyers, the super star destroyers, and the Death Stars are expensive, on top of everything else that you have to spend to keep the military oppressors of a galactic empire running.