From: ikonoqlast@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, August 11, 2014 9:56:13 AM UTC-7, David Friedman wrote:   
      
      
   > > Thing is, powered armor is fine, so long as you HAVE power.  What do you   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > do when it runs out?  Soldiers can never be *guaranteed* a functioning    
   >    
   > logistics tail.   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > The antimatter marble at the core of the power unit will last for quite    
   >    
   > a while, however.   
      
      
   Technically, in my universe, while they have anti-matter and other exotic   
   energy sources, what they use day to day is fusion.  It's an ancient (to them)   
   cheap and reliable energy source with easily available fuel.     
      
   I don't know if they have fusion generators THAT small though.  I haven't   
   decided, though I lean towards not.  I think rather modern internal combustion   
   engine equivalents.   
      
   A serious issue with power armor for infantry is maintenance and damage,   
   especially damage.  The scene in Starship Troopers where Rico's power is cut   
   remotely, leaving him utterly helpless and immobile, was important in my   
   thinking.     
      
   No, the point of power armor will not be the actual armor.  Heavy armor is   
   heavy, and not all that useful.  Infantry can always carry bigger guns, and   
   they already carry weapons capable of defeating actual tanks (at close   
   range).     
      
   It would have to be predicated on stealth and sensors, with only enough armor   
   to protect against near misses.  And it must be operable without servo   
   assistance.  The servos are just there to increase mobility and allow   
   cybernetically augmented physical    
   feats ala 'Cobra' (by Timothy Zahn, if anyone is unfamiliar.  The first is   
   excellent, the others less so).     
      
   That is not to say that walking tanks don't exist.  If some suck-, er,   
   customer wants that, some trading company will sell them the most advanced   
   models with all the bells and whistles.  God help them if they try to take   
   those against Imperial Marines,    
   or Fallschirmjaeger, or the Legion Exterieur.     
      
   (I was going to ask people for recommendations for an alternative to Legion   
   Etrangere for the 'french' version of Imperial Marines, but I got to playing   
   around with Google Translate...)    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)