Grand Admiral, First Order Central Command
Development Thread: None
Manufacturer: Junbei Hao National
Model: ARA-09B
Affiliation: Atrisian Empire
Modularity: None, but generally highly customizable in cosmetic ways.
Production: Minor
Material: Ceramic/Composite Carapace with Ablative Plastoid plates.
Description: Admiral Cyrus Tregessar was never one to go with what convention demanded, whether in space or on the ground. The Stormtrooper corp was remarkably effective at direct assaults and boarding actions, but their training tended to emphasize obedience to command lacked freedom of movement. When Cyrus made his way to the then-Atrisian Empire, he had some ideas to develop a new fighting force to complement the raw power of the Stormtroopers. The Emperor proved receptive to the idea, and among other things gave Cyrus the opportunity to work directly with Junbei Hao to develop a suit of armor for the unit.
The unit became known as Imperial Force Recon, or also as 'Cyrus' Immortals,' 'Helldivers,' 'Special Branch,' and several other less flattering terms. They were designed to be deployed by either airborne or orbital insertion, and act as an advance unit, taking key objectives, assaulting cities, and providing surgical ground strikes in advance of the main assault. Thus they needed a suit of armor that provided excellent protection in the close and medium range fights that could be excepted. The Advanced Recon Armor (Model 9 Bravo) is the first truly successful result.
The armor consists of several parts. Closest to the skin is a form-fitting body glove which provides much needed padding and support. The bulk of the armor then consists of a fully enclosed Ceramic/Composite Carapace, which provides exceptional protection against kinetic energy, bladed weapons, the environment, and most other forces. The carapace alone appears to be lighter in many areas, and this is because the last part of the armor is Ablative Plastoid Plates, designed to absorb blaster fire. These plates are integrated into the armor itself, and give it its jagged and harsh appearance. Unlike stormtrooper armor it does not include a personal ray-shield, as the prevalence of cover in urban environments and severe limitations on aforementioned shields made the designers conclude it wasn't worth the cost and weight.
The helmet is by far the most advanced piece of equipment on the armor, and consists of a fully integrated HUD. Vision is provided by a pair of cameras which also have laser designator/rangefinders (limited to about 2000 meters, in perfect environmentals) and IR capability. The helmet itself is otherwise a perfectly solid plate, and provides truly exceptional protection as a result. The helmet is heavily shielded against ion weapons, to account for it's vulnerability. Thus ion fire on the body of the armor will generally not effect the helmet, but a direct hit on the head will. As a last resort, should this happen, the entire faceplate can be ejected, allowing the soldier within to see but losing the hud and most of the protection.
Given the realities of urban warfare, the armor makes a lot of concessions for close-quarters combat. Both elbows have integrated retractable blades, usable for utility or combat purposes. The fists and forearms are heavily reinforced, and can be powered similar to stormtrooper armor in hand-to-hand combat. Additionally, the armor is almost covered in spots for utility pouches, sheathes, energy packs, and anything else a soldier might need in the field. Typically a small vibrosword and several knives are carried.
A unintentional side effect of the Abaltive Plating was that the armor is highly customizable, with different plates being able to be switched out. While this can be visually quite impressive, it is as a rule entirely cosmetic. Compared with the stark uniformity of Stormtroopers, Force Recon soldiers tend to each have entirely individualized armor!
Classification: Multipurpose
Weight: 16 kg
Quality: 9(6)
Other Feature(s): The ablative plates provide the armor with increased resistance to initial penetration from most weapons, but are subsequently damaged in the process, reducing the overall effectiveness of the armor in subsequent shots/strikes in the same region of the armor. This is represented by the quality rating, which implies that the armor is slightly more effective than average stormtrooper armor for the first few shots, but somewhat worse after that. The plates can be replaced with the right equipment and if there are spares in around an hour for the whole suit. Given that the Force Recon are not operationally supposed to engage in extended engagements, this was seen as acceptable risk-taking on the part of the design.
Other examples:
*This will be followed up with some weapons (cool looking blaster rifles) and several air vehicles. This thread is for review by peers before I post it in the factory for approval (or disapproval, if that's how things go).
