What kind of design philosophy for power armor does each culture provide?

What kind of design philosophy for power armor does each culture provide?

Discuss merits and flaws of each design, and talk about how they might get used in your games

Let's start off with the American T51b power armor credited being instrumental in the Battle of Anchorage.

...

the only good design philosophy is the one that requires pilots to be female and wear high-cut spandex suits.

That's a given. Though pattern do you put on the leotard?

Base them off WW2 memes.

So Jap PA is essentially tissue paper wrapped over an exoskeleton made outta wood. But they blow up on command, leading to suicide charges.

Soviet PA is basically just a regular uniform. Only a few soldiers receive actual power armor, not because you lack the means to produce more but due to the unholy amount of manpower you're fielding.
Cheap, simple, and light.

German PA is heavy, experimental, expensive, and ultimately gets beaten by soviets.

French PA doesn't have access control. Anyone can just hop in and take it.

>not thinking about what happens on the battlefield
i want gurofags to go and stay go.

I dunno about culture, but what do you guys think would be more useful Power Armor design philosophy, the semi mech like as in the OP or in picture related or more form fitting as in Fallout power armor here or Space Marine power armor?

Blue with horizontal white and orange stripes is a classic.

>not X-02

Depends on what the user wants out of the armor. OP's image is more dexterous than Fallout or Space Marine PA, but is going to be more vulnerable (the little arms aren't going to be as well armored as the rest of the suit). Space Marine PA is the exact opposite (if those assholes would actually wear their helmets at least) and FO PA is somewhere in between. I personally prefer more dexterous designs over walking tanks just because all the latter does is fool the operator into thinking they are something they are not and never will be. Why go heavy on armor when AFVs already cover that angle? Better to focus on the superior flexibility and dexterity of the human form than making yourself vulnerable as vulnerable to anti-tank weapons as you are (still even with PA) vulnerable to small arms fire.

That said, the needs of the operator come first. Oversized Space Marine armor work in a setting in which everyone is too stupid or too crazy or too much of both to properly employ their troops and only one faction in the entire universe actually bothers to invent new shit, but there are monsters out there that an rip a mortal man in half with their pinky tentacle. Which is 40k in a nutshell. Or any other setting purpose built for ridiculous pauldrons.


>anything else, but best boy

Armour*

The latter means you simply have more capable infantry, still able to do all the usual infantry shit.

The former is too large to fit into a lot of places made for humans, will most likely start having problems with the square-cube law, and may be heavy and expensive enough that you'll start having to compare it with regular combat vehicles, a comparison unlikely to be in its favour.

A form fitting armor might not be able to house whatever mechanism is needed to keep the armor in motion tho.

Everyone knows what the best power armor is.

(GURPS actually has rules for a nanomachine power armor, it’s the best)

Then you go for a middle ground that leans towards form fitting as much as possible. If you pack on so much shit that you're now vulnerable to anti-tank weapons then why not just build a mini-mecha? At least now you can carry proper weapons for a tank and can armor up to be mostly invulnerable to small arms fire. Tank like PA only works in settings in which man portable anti-tank weapons are arbitrarily missing or are arbitrarily weaker than other weapons in the setting. This is something oddly realistic about 40k. If it wasn't for the rampant stupidity, stubbornness, and pride of the factions involved then a clear winner would have been declared by now. Space Marines work because no one thinks to abuse their obvious weakness and, likewise, the Space Marines don't runaway a clear winner with their superpowers because their pride prevents them from ever taking an action remotely reasonable. The only oddballs are the Tau since they actually invent new shit and so should have already created mass-produced man portable anti-tank weapons that can take out a termie with a single shot.

The people being the smartest are actually the necrons. They are actually soul driven mechs. Their ground troops are actually the weakest part of the army as their ships are stupid strong and they have stuff like the aethonic orb

Formfitting but stylized. It's gotta be tricked out in some way. Tribes comes pretty close

VWV

Please forgive me, I'm the kind of guy who thinks classic cars are better because new cars look like shit.

I feel like the t51 and the T45 have a lot more charm. Hell I just like the whole T series

I like the Spanish way.

While I do agree the older ones have more character, the X-02 looks like post apocalyptic death-Batman armor.

Doesn’t help that the enclave is my favorite faction in fallout, and that it is the best armor currently made (fingers crossed for a new obsidian game with new armor models)

Actually, it gives me an idea. What if there is a universal idea that every technological civilization wants to create machines that look like hyperthophed versions of themselves or native animals. Humanoids make mechas, squids make 'martian tripods', bugs make mecha spiders and so on.

How much do you squat Veeky Forums?

>Martian Tripods

Let’s be real here, those things are the jam.

>Tfw not chinese waifu to operate with.

I've always thought the square great helm look clashed with the more rounded thick limbs and body. It looks like someone slapped a bucket helmet on a Zaku. Here I fixed it.

So, pretty much only Masamune Shirow?

>power armor
>not mech masterrace

>Using a Zaku.
>Not a scopedog.

Am I allowed to like both?

Of course, the Zaku is an alright grunt unit after all.
But the scope dog is the only patrician option.

Anaconda best girl

Mirin those glutes

I see you are a man of culture as well.

Probably my favorite part about the scopedog is that it shows how much firepower people would actually try to fit on a small walker like that.

I always get pissed when big-ass mecha like the Zaku or Jims only have one or two weapons. Hardly any secondaries or alternatives. When a modern tank or IFV fits like three or four machine guns or missiles on top of its main armaments.

A gun with either lighter ammo or heavier ammo for soft or hardened targets? A torso-turning anti-infantry minigun? A rack of rockets? The option to swap the main gun for an anti-armor piece besides? On a small machine? I love it.

It's part about what I like about the scopedog. Also than it can enter where a lot of other mechs can't and than it's pretty plausible, it gets destroyed when it must and it's not fuck hugh, super weapon, only a humanoid vehicles. Also why I love landmates and other shirow inspired mangas/media mechs, perhaps some day we will get one like those.

>APA

Midwestern Brotherhood inspired suits need not even apply.

I like the design, but the application is a bit silly. Why even give them legs when they sip around on wheels all the time.

Becausse you can then pass obstacles or broken terrain easier. You have the best of both worlds.

Where is the line drawn between power armor and mech? I'm thinking power armor would only be a robotic suit that your limbs were within the limbs of the suit. If it's big enough that you are encased in the torso or in a cockpit, it's a mech.

The Landmate is about the upper limit of what I'd consider a suit.

Thank you for adding to my animated collection.