"Power armour"

[mutuhaha]

Hi,

I'm designing and making some "power armour" for my team/army, basically, it's a completely enclosed corrugated plastic/PVC/solid plastic suit of armour with those slightly elastic washing machine tubes for mobility in the joints. I plan to build a torchlight, binoculars and walkie talkie into the suit, as well as a small water tank to refill friendly players on field, and a water carrier backpack to restock friendlies.
Then there's the heavier terminator armour (inspired by Warhammer 40k) with larger capacity and possibly a bottle rocket launcher mod.
As we normally use 1 transparency with a mark (written in water soluble marker) for health of normal guys, the armour will have 7 marked transparancies (2 on the chest, 2 on the back, 1 for each leg and 1 more on the back of the helmet).

Both are big and scary (good against relatively inexperienced opponents).

And bulky (very) and slow.

I'm still not sure about how effective it will be for heavy assault on the field though, and how it can be improved...

[isoaker]

Sidenote: This thread better fits into 'The Workshop'

Welcome to the boards!

Armor has always been a lesser-desirable thing usually amongst members. While potentially cool-looking and intimidating, if it restricts your movement a lot, that's no good. As well, if you end up fully protected from water streams, it sort of takes the fun away from a water fight. The addition of 'life bars' may work if you have multiple people in armor suited up and having a 'power armour' battle, but if you have a guy in a suit versus a guy without, if the suit restricts mobility and visibility a lot, there'd really be no contest.

In the end, it really depends on what sort of game you're intending to play using such a suit. It also depends on how well things can be put together to allow the armor wearer to have the most flexibility.

[mutuhaha]

Thanks for the input!

I'll develop a prototype first, and run some field tests. Hmm, mobility, perhaps less bulky outer armour to increase that. As for the protection against water streams, although its fully enclosed, most guns with the strength and volume of a CPS 1200 stream should get through the bits without corrugated plastic sheets.
Visibility has to be worked on though. The armour is meant for daytime battles which are mostly less covert, especially in battles with 2 shield walls facing off and CPS 2.5Ks and other heavy weapons pounding each other, which is when its water tank and bomb stash will come in handy for the lighter-armed forwards. Stealth is definitely out of the question. :p

[Spinner]

Sounds fun, if you can get it working. Brings to mind the Stormtrooper look - though be careful, you don't want to over-rely on it and fall prey to the Stormtrooper Effect...

[LIGHT ANNIHILATOR]

I do not like armor, like isoaker said it takes the fun out of battling. However i do fell it is time for a new system for determing hits since the soakertags were a bad idea.

[Adrian]

Maybe I'm growin' old-fashioned in my old age ( :p ) but who on earth would want to water fight wearing a suit of armor made out of PVC? This kinda takes all the, you know, point out of fighting, not to mention it's gotta be a bear to get in and out of AND move around in.

Ah well, to each their own.

Adrian

[DX]

I personally do not like n00bish things like QFD's, hoses, armor, and shields, to mention the most common items. Water fights should be about direct engagement of the enemy instead of hiding behind equipment or using cheap stuff. Often, the most successful teams use none of this kind of stuff. Tech and tactics are the way to win the field.

However i do fell it is time for a new system for determing hits since the soakertags were a bad idea

Veteran teams can use the honor system. It works for us better than any tags or markers would. As long as there are people who can't be honest, tags will be needed. [Although age is a big factor here] Train your team, and there will be no need for such things as soakertags.

[marauder]

I personally do not like n00bish things like QFD's, hoses, armor, and shields, to mention the most common items. Water fights should be about direct engagement of the enemy instead of hiding behind equipment or using cheap stuff. Often, the most successful teams use none of this kind of stuff. Tech and tactics are the way to win the field.

However i do fell it is time for a new system for determing hits since the soakertags were a bad idea

Veteran teams can use the honor system. It works for us better than any tags or markers would. As long as there are people who can't be honest, tags will be needed. [Although age is a big factor here] Train your team, and there will be no need for such things as soakertags.

Haha... I remember back in the day we used armor. That was like 10 years ago man. Anyway, I haven't used the soaker tags, but I have a ton of them. Are they a good idea? I think the honor thing works best unless you're playing soakfest, but then that doesn't matter.

[LIGHT ANNIHILATOR]

Veteran teams can use the honor system. It works for us better than any tags or markers would. As long as there are people who can't be honest, tags will be needed. [Although age is a big factor here] Train your team, and there will be no need for such things as soakertags.

Maybe the honor system is not needed, since it is easy to tell when someone has been hit by a high-powerd cps gun.

[DX]

From long distance, in dense vegetation, in the deep woods, it can be very difficult to see a kill. The person who was hit should be the first to confirm a kill, our local definition is a wet mark on your shirt at least the size of your fist. This eliminates confusion caused by being hit with a spray-like shot, or being hit with drops of water. In normal combat, we do not get close enough to each other to actually soak the person. The score in our last war was 5-2 after a few hours of fighting. It was 0-2 up until the last 10 minutes. The Honor System is very important when you have several kills in rapid sucession.

[isoaker]

With respect to armor and soaking, while I know many of you guys would find armor either overkill, unnecessary, and/or unfair for various reasons, I can still foresee some types of games that armor can be used fairly and add to the fun of the water fight.

It really depends on what kind of game is being played.

That said, to be fair, a full-head-to-toe environmental suit would probably take the point of a water fight away, but having some 'protected' areas while allowing other parts to remain vulnerable can increase some of the challenge when dealing with an opponent.

[mutuhaha]

A prototype and internals should be finished by the end of October, ill post a picture of it then.