Inner power suit:
Despite its popularity, it's still the idea I like implementing the least.
- There's established art for uniform and tech outfits. These work. The power suit could certainly fill in both roles in addition to combat outfit, but it'd have to be designed to be a solid contender.
- Possible inspirations:
- Samus Aran's Fusion suit.
- The combat gear worn by Mithril in the anime Full Metal Panic.
- Other stuff (anime: Innocent Venus)
- The Crysis Suit.
One problem to take into account would be the kind of helmet the power suit would wear. The helmet for the power suit could size-wise make the head look silly once the full power suit is worn - and making it bigger could give the power suit an equally ridiculous looking big head.
- Right now, Yamatai insert tech is at the point where it's feasible to have clothed individuals board a power armor and operate it. An independent power suit would be very new.
- Assuming extended operation, how do you pee and take a crap?
- Gloss over it, say you can't inside it, and make sure there's a conveniently placed zipper for such occasions? (note: peeing in space is hazardous to your health).
- Go for the whole catheter thing? (Eww, I never liked those)
- Wear nothing under the power suit and pee/crap at will - nanomachines would break the waste down and recycle it in time (whee >_>; )
- If a power suit is implemented, then the transition from power suit to power armor would need to be ironed out.
- Would it be applying each armor piece (chestplate, forearm guard, greaves, etc) separately over the power suit, making the power suit as tough as the flexible portions of other power armors?
- Are we talking about an armored exoskeleton?
- If so, is it just a frame the power suit can slip in mostly like someone boards a Daisy power armor? How should the boarding sequence go? (it's not only an issue of putting it in a armor bay - what if you need to enter/exit while in the field?)
- How does the power suit become securedly fastened to the power armor?
- How does one ditch the exoskeleton? Exit as normal? Eject it somehow?
- What happens if the power suit is wearing a grenade bandolier and has holstered guns on its belt? How would those fit in?
- Does the Exoskeleton have no muscle-mobility at all without the power suit? I see the line being very blurred on wether its an extra layer of armor with the insert being removable because it's a suit, or the extra layer of armor being an actual mecha akin to Bubblegum Crisis' motoslaves.
- What happens when you don't wear a power suit, but need to get in a power armor quickly?
- You can't?
- Some power armors inside a bay actually have the power suits already inserted, requiring the operator to slide himself in old-style (which brings the question: can you actually wear clothes in the power suit if it's supposed to replace the uniform?)
- Extra power suits are in the changing rooms. you drop by, don one, and you're good to go.
Blades: Retractable zesuaium or nodally generated. Would be situated on:
- top of forearm to deploy over the back of the hand
- the rear outer side of the forearm to extend out of the elbow
- over the top of the lower leg to extend out at the knee.
Don't see the point of shoulder spikes.
Underside of forearm: Two elements would see to fit well there.
- Graviton Projectors: Aimed in the direction the arm is being pointed at, used to push/pull targets, but incapable of fine manipulation and also much less effective on barrier-shielded targets.
That would allow to shove and drag a target around, a prepared user to push/deflect incoming missiles and grenades, to snag a discarded weapon and quickly drag it back and such. The projector would be inappropriate for fine manipulation that would allow to reload a weapon or remove the safety off a grenade (the beam would, in essence, be too wide to do so).
- Mine dispenser: This could be like an armored casing that flips out horseshoe-shaped explosives/shaped charged/sticky mines. One in hand the user has but slap them over the chosen spot and have them detonate as programmed or on signal. There's some nice imagery in slapping this on somethings back and then withdrawing only to have it then blow up.
Outer side of the forearm:
I wanted to avoid putting too much stuff on the forearms to avoid having them look too blunky, but you guys also seem to be very fond of the plasma torch idea, and Doshii appears insistent on it not being on the forearm's underside... so this is pretty much the only place the Plasma Torch can go.
Note that if you have a forearm shield mounted on that forearm, firing the arm-weapon requires to lose out on most of the shield's protective value. with that in mind, if a weapon would be inbuilt into the bottom of the shield, it could make up for the lack of offensive weaponry on the forearm.
Another possible weapon would be the Daisy's forearm cannon. I wouldn't put it on a turret, though: straight firing. By the same logic, we could always go for the forearm-mounted aether weapons (like the Mindy II) but that's something I want to avoid, especially if the power armor remains battery powered.
Additionally, the telescoping/swiveling camera to look around corners could also be set up there. I remember Mao using such on her M9 ArmSlave in Full Metal Panic and I can kind of get around the idea.
Possibility of palm-built weaponry:
What if the power armor's forearm is actually larger than the power suit's and that the power suit's hand only reaches as far as just before the wrist of the power armor's forearm? That would give the forearms a less elegant and beefier look, but would protect the power suit's hands and afford stronger robotic gauntlets rather than muscle-fiber.
The inside of the palm could then have a weapon more feasibly mounted in it. I suppose it's mostly an issue of artistic style and wether you like looking like an armored gorilla or not due to the implied greater bulk. Then again, the hardsuits of the Bubblegum Crisis' Knight Sabers seemed to manage putting railguns in those fairly ably. Dunno - what do you guys think?
SQUIRE:
The Kishi has shoulder hardpoints, the SQUIRE is pretty much meant to replace the shoulder racks with a set of motorized units that would:
1) Allow heavy weaponry to be wielded like other shoulder-mounted weapons and yet be also useable handheld.
2) Provide easy weapon swapping capabilities for the user.
I understand the nodal tentacle could achieve the same, but - to be honest- I'm seeing Arethusa go and it's one facet of it that I find overpowered. I want the SQUIRE to assist its user, not do part of the user's job to that extent. I'm not content with the way Arethusa is firing an ASP right now or helping reload like Nyton recently demonstrated.
Squire is not a Doc Octopus tentacle. It's a motorized shoulder rack. It's rugged and can put weapons in easy reach over the shoulder or under the armpit for the user, but I don't think - deployed - that it'll end up being that bulky in comparison to the weapons it'll serve as harness to.
Until I can convey better imagery for it, I'll ask to reserve judgment.
Helmet:
I talked about helmets before and how they couldf end up looking mismatched for the sizes. Also, a combat helmet might not always practical for extra vehicular operations where you could use a wider field of vision (redundant with skin-vision) or whatever.
One thing Fiver made for the MCAS is an assault helmet with weaponry on it. Seeing the Kishi is so far missing in anti-personnel pulse cannons like the Daisy has, I'm wondering if such would be a good idea - after all, other mecha heads like Full Metal Panic's Arbalest/M9s as well as several iconic gundams have machineguns on the sides of their heads.
If a weapon is integrated to the sides, it'd need to be one with low-or-no-recoil, I'd think. Possibly one that's not going to have all that much ammo. There's also an issue of viability with the power suit worn alone (lack of power?).
Another thing I wanted to do with the helmet, if the Kishi lacked the independent inner suit, was to make the neck-section beefier/more resilient. I think the vulnerability of the neck is often overlooked for the sake of visual style - but honestly, if a power punches at another's helmet, it'd look like the person's neck is pretty likely to snap.
Another point I wanted to cover was the life support system. how do these things have enough resources to last their user's a whole week in the vacuum of space, while looking all slender and non-bulky? If some thought is invested in it, I'd think it'd be possible to make the life support aspect somewhat more credible.
Weapon holsters (hips):
On the power armor, I figured that the top of the hips could be good spots to have clamps that would hold on to any of the smaller handheld weapons you wouldn't trust to a shoulder rack or SQUIRE. Stuff like a anti-personnel pistol, a chainsaw knife and such.
I figure the behind of the hips could also have an harness which would serve to hold something like that, though that section may be better served for the buttpack-kind of content (though the sides of the hips might also be able to hold packages like that too, maybe).