I was at work with most of this, so let me chime back in stupidly late.
Okay, but are we really going to carry around 3-4 or even 2 types of recon armor and use them on a per-mission basis? That's a lot of extra armors, armor parts, compatible armor weapons, etc. and it's going to affect a unit's mobility and dependability, not to mention the manufacturing output it takes to outfit soldiers with multiple armors/suits for various missions, which could be better used on non-redundant things.
I was merely pointing out that if they were expected to perform an assault mission, they'd don appropriate gear. They however, only do such missions if they're expected to just be attached to a regular Rikugun unit. If part of a primarily Ranger unit, they operate with the expectation of making sure to avoid combat in the first place. But if combat happens despite their best efforts, I would like to have
some armor between me and the other guys. Even if it isn't a full PA suit. And I was looking at what kit was available currently, and went with what was available. I only worked on the PAAR-40 and the SAR T41b in trying to update gear felt cumbersome or not completely up to date with current situations. Heck, I even made the PAAR-40 to use already existing stockpiles of ammo fitted into a different means of propulsion to operate with.
I think I can see where you are going, with this lightly armored skirmishers/scouts have been a part of warfare from day one, and are still with us. However, when I look at the setting and go 'ok, I want a scout/skirmisher' I'm going to go with what amounts to a Xiulurium Mindy or M6-1C Daisy type thing. Why? Because powered armor in this setting can fly, giving a huge mobility advantage over being on foot, even on foot, they allow for greater loads of gear. Because of that, they can bring more drones and other gear into play. It also means that if you do get your cover blown, you need to be able to be mobile, and being on foot isn't mobile in this setting. There are almost no downsides to a well designed suit of powered armor in this setting.
Because as useful as all that is... CFS is a huge signal flare, not to mention
deadly to anyone unshielded. You legit cannot use some of that benefit without frying anyone unshielded in such a fashion as to murder them. Concealing the armor when not in use is even
more gear you have to carry that may take up room you need for more useful kit. Oh, and if you have to ditch the armor because you can't recover it or even get into it before getting engaged, isn't exactly going to look good on your record after the fact (I understand many can't see this being a potential situation, but I can. And have been in with the Kaiyo II. Not having options to have people stuck outside of PA fighting enemy PA in a close quarters situation was not particularly fun or even engaging, it was, as Fiver is prone to say, supremely irksome. If I'm supposed to be using PA regularly, then why is it the one time I needed it for a fight [as the previous scenes I'd been in had me be in PA, but not actually need it], I couldn't use it? Or more importantly, not have the means to engage the enemy to try and reduce the effectiveness of their PA.).
Yeah, if this was real life I'd be calling the unit commanders asking "what do you actually need?"
This is why I went with items currently available. Things that fit the operation profile, for both Infantry and Rangers, on the Artemis and worked out what we would and wouldn't have stocked, much less what
could be stocked with the idea of having a company's worth of material to support 6 months with few resupplies. We're really only two undersized platoons, one of which is fully PA-equiped and expected to be deployed
in PA if they're needed. Rangers are going to primarily deploy outside of PA, unless the environmental conditions (such as Space or a Hostile Environment) means they need to load up into a PA suit to be able to operate normally. I've been asked if we have one of the SAoY tanks on the Artemis, and have said no. Why? As useful as a tank would be as a assault tool... We gave up the space to fit it to load extra parts for extending our ability to operate away from support bases, since it would have taken up space itself, as well as space for it's spare parts, then there's the fact that we'd lose a fireteam for a tank crew.
