Power Armor
From Star Frontiers Network
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by Brian Cliff - Artwork by Scarecrow
Author’s note: Back in the mid eighties when my sister, brother, a couple of our friends and I would get together and play Star Frontiers, this is one of the items we came up with. I used the polyplate armor as given in the back of the Digitally Remastered version of Alpha Dawn and applied an exoskeleton to it. There are also a number of optional items that can be added to the suit at time of purchase or at a later date. The suit is custom fit to a specific person.
Power armor is a full suit of polyplate armor combined with an exoskeleton. Full Polyplate Armor is a hardened polymer carapace designed to protect a combatant from harm. The suit comes standard with a 100 SEU power backpack built into the armor and a utility belt. The helmet is full faced and the visor is HUD ready (There is a power usage display for the 100 SEU power backpack displayed din the upper left corner of the visor). The helmet comes standard with a Chronocom (time being displayed in the lower left corner of the visor).
The exoskeleton consumes 4 SEU per hour giving it 25 hours of continuous use. Because it’s powered it eliminates the -10 to all Dexterity and Reaction Speed checks as well as providing all the standard benefits of an exoskeleton (vertical jump of 5m in 1g, +20 to hit in melee, +10 to damage in melee and the wearer can move at twice his/her normal speed).
A power screen can be used with the power armor and will attach to the utility belt along with a 50 SEU power beltpack. Defensive suits can not be used in conjunction with the power armor.
| Defense | Cost (Cr) | Wgt (kg) | Energy | DEX/RS |
| Partial Polyplate | 1,250 | 8 | 100 pts | -5 |
| Full Polyplate | 3,000 | 15 | 250 pts | -10 |
| Power Armor | 5,600 | 25 | 250 pts | -- |
| Partial Polyplate armor absorbs 1/2 damage from beam and physical attacks. | ||||
| Full Polyplate armor absorbs 3/4 damage from beam and physical attacks. | ||||
| Power armor absorbs 1/2 damage from beam and physical attacks. | ||||
Protection - Characters protected by this armor take only one fourth (round down) the damage that should otherwise be applied to them, if that damage comes from a beam weapon or physical/inertial source. The other three fourths apply to the armor.
Ablative - The armor can take 250 points of damage before it stops protecting the wearer.
Optional Equipment (all optional equipment will add to the cost and mass of the power armor). All costs include installation.
| Item | Cost (Cr) | Mass (kg) | Notes |
| Retractable Sungoggles | 2 | -- | -- |
| Compass | 11 | -- | HUD in lower right corner |
| Flashlight | 6 | -- | Mounted to Helmet, shoulder or forearm |
| Gas mask | 33 | -- | -- |
| IR goggles | 330 | -- | Fits over visor (removable)* |
| IR Jammer | 550 | 1 | -- |
| Magnigoggles | 220 | -- | Fits over visor (removable)* |
| Poly-Vox | 1,650 | 1 | Helmet mount only |
| Radiophone | 550 | 4 | Helmet mount only |
| Toxi-Rad Gauge | 25 | -- | HUD in upper right corner |
| HUD targeting system | 2,500 | -- | See below |
| * These items can be removed by the user and placed in a protective carrying case which is attached to the utility belt. | |||
All optional equipment can be added at a later date. HUD Targeting System – The HUD Targeting System is a small device that is attached to the barrel of any ranged weapon and provides a HUD cross-hair on the helmet visor when activated. It provides the user with a +10 to hit with that specific weapon. All HUD Targeting Systems are calibrated to that one specific weapon and helmet, they are not interchangeable without being recalibrated (a cost that is almost as much as the targeting system itself), A HUD Targeting System most be purchased for each weapon it is to be used with.
