Battlesuits for smaller users...

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

With power armor, your arms are doing the lifting. Not a pair of robotic arms under your direction. There are powered components that complement your muscles, but your muscles and the machinery are cooperating.

Assuming two users, ST 10 and ST 15. With the ST 15 user, the battlesuit is capable of acting like it has ST 25. How much contribution is the user's ST 15 adding? (ST 25 gives BL of 125. ST 15 gives BL of 45. The battlesuit is capable of contributing 80.)

Now we put in the ST 10 user. Suddenly, the battlesuit is capable of only contributing only 60 (ST 20 = 80; ST 10 = 20; 80-20= 60).

So what happened to the other 20lbs of BL? That's a 25% decrease in the strength of the battlesuit's muscles based on who's operating it.

What's the upper limit on the amount of BL the battlesuit can contribute? If we (bizarrely) manage to get someone with a ST of 20, will the battlesuit act like it has a ST of 30 (BL contribution of 100), or a ST of 25 (BL contribution of 45)?

If the amount of power supplied by the battlesuit isn't fixed, then the maximum power should be available to the user, whether their ST is 10, 15, or 20. Simply make an Armory (or whatever...) roll to recalibrate the responsiveness of the battlesuit's muscles.

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Mind you, I know that the game designers went for a ST bonus, rather than a fixed amount of BL contribution, for simplicity. I just think it's weird that a battlesuit gets weaker based on the user's strength.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Assuming two users, ST 10 and ST 15. With the ST 15 user, the battlesuit is capable of acting like it has ST 25. How much contribution is the user's ST 15 adding? (ST 25 gives BL of 125. ST 15 gives BL of 45. The battlesuit is capable of contributing 80.)

Now we put in the ST 10 user. Suddenly, the battlesuit is capable of only contributing only 60 (ST 20 = 80; ST 10 = 20; 80-20= 60).

So what happened to the other 20lbs of BL? That's a 25% decrease in the strength of the battlesuit's muscles based on who's operating it.

What's the upper limit on the amount of BL the battlesuit can contribute? If we (bizarrely) manage to get someone with a ST of 20, will the battlesuit act like it has a ST of 30 (BL contribution of 100), or a ST of 25 (BL contribution of 45)?

If the amount of power supplied by the battlesuit isn't fixed, then the maximum power should be available to the user, whether their ST is 10, 15, or 20. Simply make an Armory (or whatever...) roll to recalibrate the responsiveness of the battlesuit's muscles.

Didn't I address that back in post #18?

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Mind you, I know that the game designers went for a ST bonus, rather than a fixed amount of BL contribution, for simplicity. I just think it's weird that a battlesuit gets weaker based on the user's strength.

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

I would have described the issue as the suit getting stronger rather than weaker, but it's the same thing from a different angle.

[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".

[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.

[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.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

So what happened to the other 20lbs of BL? That's a 25% decrease in the strength of the battlesuit's muscles based on who's operating it.

Armour won't fit people of a different size and build. The two battlesuits aren't the same battlesuit.

The one for the stronger (and probably also larger) person will be more powerful to take advantage of his greater tolerance and more space to put cybermuscle.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Armour won't fit people of a different size and build. The two battlesuits aren't the same battlesuit.

The one for the stronger (and probably also larger) person will be more powerful to take advantage of his greater tolerance and more space to put cybermuscle.

This only works if you rescale your power armor by user...if the big guy's armor has higher performance, it should also weigh and cost more and possibly have higher DR.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

This only works if you rescale your power armor by user...if the big guy's armor has higher performance, it should also weigh and cost more and possibly have higher DR.

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.