Power Armour Design System (Part 1)

This is my attempt to create a system for designing different suits 
of power armour for use in Stargrunt II. It can be used to design 
just about anything from a very lightweight suit of Scout PA right 
through to the Heavy Combat PA as per the standard rules. It can also 
create EVA suits and Aliens style Power Lifters. 

The criteria by which any suit of PA is judged is its size. (Seeing 
as we don't have a points system and I for one are glad of that.)

There are three sizes of PA:
Light PA is little more bulky than a suit of unpowered armour (The D8 
stuff in SGII) a man wearing light PA takes up 1 capacity point in a 
vehicle.
Medium PA, more bulky and hence takes up 1.5 capacity points in a 
vehicle.
Heavy PA, the bulkiest suits, these take up 2 capacity points in a 
vehicle.

As a suit of PA is designed various elements contribute various 
points to a running total, when finished this total tells you the 
size of the suit. The exact limits are left up to you. I would say 
that Light PA takes up 4, 5 or 6 points.
Medium twice whatever Light takes (ie 8, 10 or 12) and Heavy three 
times whatever Light takes (ie 12, 15 or 18).

By choosing the number you can limit the effectiveness of PA in 
whatever setting you are using. I would suggest that for the 
'official' background 5 is picked.

Armour Rating.	  Points
D8		    2
D10		    4
D12		    6

Movement Rate.	  Points
6		    0
8		    1
10		    2
12		    3

Close Assault Mod. Points
x1		    0
x1.5		    1
x2		    2

Life Support.	  Points
None		    0
Filtration	    0
Air Supply	    1 per 12 hours
Vacuum Proofing     2
Medical 	    0

Extras. 	  Points
Cargo		    2
Weapon Mount	    1

The first three sets of factors should be self explanatory.

The Life Support factors are as follows:
Filtration: a gas mask/air filter as effective as the tech level of 
your army allows.
Air Supply: Self Contained, allows operations underwater or in 
atmospheres which are lacking oxygen or poisonous.
Vacuum Proofing: Allows operations in a vacuum, in high radiation, in 
corrosive atmosphers, under great pressures, etc.
Medical: If the suit has this then any casualties use the PA table, 
if not they use the ordinary troops table.

A Cargo load is any load that would cause a normal troop to move at 
half speed: a wounded comrade, a portion of a Heavy weapon, etc. The 
ability to carry these loads without slowing down or losing the 
ability to fire, etc, requires additional servo motors, storage 
space, and other adaptations to the suit.
Weapon Mount: mount needed to fit a MLP. Also used if the suit is 
armed with a weapon heavier than that normally carried by one man.
Some weapons might require a weapons mount AND cargo space 
adaptations. (EG the ESU suit that mounts a RFAC/1 in the rule book.)

(NB, am I the only person who feels that there is a class of weapons 
missing from SGII? We seem to jump from SAWs to RFAC/1s. That's from 
a light machine gun to a 20mm cannon. What about the HMGs? I'll post 
my rules for Heavy support weapons soon.)

Right that's the basic system, I'll post another message with some 
examples.

	Cheers,
		Steve

--
"Grab reality by the balls and squeeze." - Tempus Thales

Stephen Richard Pugh	 http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/estate/ax16