[SG2] [DS2] [semi OT]PA & various B.S..was Women wargamers

Los spake thusly upon matters weighty: 
 
> It seems to me that the prevalence of PA would be a function of
economics.
> Obviously, if you could afford to kit out your whole army with PA,
then why the
> hell not? But unelss you are in command of a monolithic empire with
vast
> resources then that'll be a little expensive. What about small
countries and
> colonies?

It seems reasonable that NAC and ESU (by virtue of huge economies) 
and Japan and maybe NSL (by virtue of powerful smaller economies and 
high tech) would have a fair number of PA. It would surely be elite 
and rarer for PAU, IF, RH, FCT (size reasons), various independents.  
 
> Of course it depends on the timeline we are talking about. I suppose
at
> somepoint in the distant future PA technology, (miniaturization,
negative
> feedback technologhy, light weight or flexi armor, whatever) might be
accessible
> enough so that it's no more expensive, in relative terms, than a
hit-tech
> soldier's kit of today. I imagine that would have to be pretty far in
the
> future.

Like 3183 not 2183. Of course, we could be mistaken, but the 
assumptions made by Jon seem to conform to the PA is complex and 
expensive theory. 
 
> Now onto pros and cons of power armor. Pros are rpetty easy to figure
out, but
> what about cons? Can anyone think of disadvantages to power armor?
Besides
> economic ones? How does one walk through a mangrove swamp in the stuff
without
> sinking to the botom?

Sarcastic response: Fire up the GSR and walk along the bottom.... (I 
totally agree that swamps are bad for everyone, but least bad for 
PBI with some RHIBs or something). 

 How about endurance? How long can someone reasonably live
> in PA without a break, power consumption not withstanding?

Of course, this question applies very indirectly to FT too. How long 
can you sit at GQ in your vacc suit?

 What if I have to
> take a dump? OK what if I have to take a dump every day for a week?

MMMM...... lovely. And what if you sweat into it for a week? 
Overloaded air recycler. Imagine days of dirty sweat socks.....

What if I get
> a hard on?

Presumably accounted for in design if you plan to wear it over a day 
or so. How do astronauts currently cope with this one?

>  How about recharging powerpacks when you have no logistical 
support?

Sarcastic: Use energizers.... (really I think solar cells might go 
some of the distance on some planets, but you'd need log support big 
time). 

> (Special ops often works for days to months in hostile territory).

And imagine how quiet you are moving through the woods in a ton of 
metal with servos..... (you might hear and see better than the 
average human, and even hide standing still with chameleon gear, but 
moving you're a dead giveaway). 

 At least the
> GZG PA suits are very short duration affairs, with the NSL suit
lasting the
> longest at 48 hours (with unconfortable ramifications for the wearer).
SST and
> Steakly's ARMOR PA suits are not very long duration affairs either.

In fact, one point made by someone else (can't recall the book, 
female protagonist with ex-marine military training in combat PA) was 
that you needed to be really good to use PA to full advantage (if you 
weren't you'd fall over, break stuff, hurt yourself with your high 
strength, etc.). In this series, only real pros could jack up to 400% 
muscle and reflex boost - must be rock steady or you'll twitch and 
knock your own head off. Most people run at 150-220% boost once they 
have experience. But even here we have a variance in troop quality 
meaning faster movement and more combat effectiveness.	

> I don't know, just thinking out loud. But whenever I think of military
> technology, the first thing that comes to mind are not the book specs
of the
> equipment as most wargamers usually do, but the practical application
of the
> equipment. Factors that all go towards limiting the effectiveness of
even the
> best paper-looking wazoo gizmo.

Of course, ends up that sometimes someone comes up with a darn good 
piece of kit that you didn't think would be great, but as a rule, 
things have way more snags than armchair concept guys ever think of.  
(BTW, John, that wasn't a shot... you made some good points about 
PA and I think you might be thinking a few hundred years further 
ahead than we are in terms of the level of cost and complexity for 
the PA).  

Tom. 
/************************************************
Thomas Barclay		     
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Fax: (613) 831-8255

 "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes
 it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
 -Bjarne Stroustrup
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