Different Avatar Physiques and Capabilities

Traak · 2011-10-20, 10:43 PM

If the RExo armor is required to be heavy assault, then the people wearing it, would, logically have to be more muscular. This means more strength, regardless of what armor they had.

This would mean they could throw a grenade farther, do certain things faster, and be capable of more powerful hits with a knife.

However, they would not be so fleet of foot as the standard armor or cloaker guys.

I know this is Auraxis, science fiction, and all, and everyone is on Nanovitamins or whatever, but it would still make sense that the RExo guys would need more muscle to haul that armor and weapon load around than the standard or cloaker guys.

Talek Krell · 2011-10-21, 12:06 AM

So much No.

Xyntech · 2011-10-21, 01:35 AM

The way I understand it, all armor in Planetside has some artificial muscle enhancement built into the suits. The larger ones have stronger artificial muscles to adjust for the heavier armor, up the the most extreme example of the MAX. In PS2 this may also allow for carrying heavier guns. In any case, the soldier underneath the armor doesn't need to be any different from one armor type to another. Otherwise a MAX suit would require an absurdly gargantuan soldier to man it.

Raw strength alone doesn't really make for a better grenade throw though and I don't think the game would really benefit from rexos going around trying to knife everyone, so no. Not really behind this one.

Traak · 2011-10-21, 02:47 AM

Originally Posted by Xyntech

The way I understand it, all armor in Planetside has some artificial muscle enhancement built into the suits.

And you can base this on what?

RExo's are slower, and lose stamina more quickly, can't jump as high.

The MAX's are motorized. The other things are armor, with nothing ever being mentioned of them having any motorization or strength augmentation. In fact, the reduction in speed and agility in each higher armor class indicates that this is incorrect.

Talek Krell · 2011-10-21, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Traak

And you can base this on what?

They're exo-armor. They're powered by definition, that's the point. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to carry it at all.

Traak · 2011-10-21, 12:52 PM

Au contraire "powered exoskeleton" and Reinforced Exosuit are no more similar than a powered airplane and a parachute.

You can't just generalize that anything with the prefix "exo" in it is automatically power-augmented. Are exorcists guys in power armor? How about if you are exonerated? That means Powered Exoskeleton Accelerated?

Nope. They are not, by definition. "Reinforced" does not mean "powered" and "exosuit" just means it is a suit worn outside the body.

An "exoskeleton" is what insects and crabs have, for example. "exo" means "outside". We have an "endoskeleton" which means our skeletal structure is on the inside.

Still no evidence it is powered. By definition, unless an exoskeleton is "powered" then it, simply, isn't.

And the fact that it is heavier is the reason more muscular soldiers would be needed to carry it. Which is my point. Different classes can have a requirement for a certain level of strength to suit them. MAX's are powered, so any pencil-neck avatar can use them.

Talek Krell · 2011-10-21, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by Traak

Nope. They are not, by definition. "Reinforced" does not mean "powered" and "exosuit" just means it is a suit worn outside the body.

I'm not aware of any suits worn inside the body, so I don't see why you would bother making the distinction. Part of the benefit of an exoskeleton is that you can rig artificial muscles to it and use them to amplify wearer strength. I'm open to suggestion if you have some alternative explanation for why heavier and heavier armor allows you to carry more and more equipment.

Originally Posted by Traak

And the fact that it is heavier is the reason more muscular soldiers would be needed to carry it. Which is my point. Different classes can have a requirement for a certain level of strength to suit them. MAX's are powered, so any pencil-neck avatar can use them.

Even if that were true, adding RPG stat sheets to every character would defeat the point of having the cert system be so open. It wouldn't make sense to let everyone train everything, but then refuse to let someone use HA because he didn't roll his character with a high enough STR value.

Traak · 2011-10-21, 04:34 PM

Oh. I thought once you went with a certain cert-tree, you were not able to dump the certs and re-cert as something else in the new game.

Of course, we don't know, yet, but I figured it was a locked-in specialization. Good point, however, if we can get other cert trees and stuff.

IOW, if I choose a character that is going to be HA/Heavy Infantry, and he can't ever dump that and go for cloaker or something else, such as Skeeter pilot, then the physical thing would work.

However, if the system is sufficiently flexible that he can be a variety of specializations, then, yeah, it can't be utilized.

My thoughts on this.

Talek Krell · 2011-10-21, 06:05 PM

Ah, okay. That would make much more sense in that context.

My understanding is that while you can't ever uncert something, there's no upper limit to the number of certs that you can hold or the number of trees they can be in. Hence the class system, which forces you to play a given specialization at a time even if you have every single thing unlocked.

Traak · 2011-10-29, 12:30 PM

Heavy Assault=Powered.

Light Assault- not powered.

As per the YouTube video where a Terran Soldier is Broadcasting Himself.

Talek Krell · 2011-10-31, 10:03 PM

I had always kind of figured that that the funny looking undersuit was some sort of artificial muscle suit, thus allowing the lighter armor to be powered, even though the plates weren't joined. Ah well. I was right about rexo, so I guess I'm not a complete twit.