Environmental & Survival Systems

      These are systems designed to improve pilot survivability as well as to extend the duration of which a pilot may remain in a suit of power armor. Note that most suits of combat capable power armor at the very least possess the Heat & Radiation Shielding, Environmental Control, and the Air Filtration & Independant Air Supply. Remember, you have 15 freebee S.R. to choose from environmental and power systems.

Heat & Radiation Shielding: This feature is commonly found in all forms of power armor, with the exception of some utility types. Heat & Radiation shielding is essential to protect a power armor user from the heat of lasers, plasma, fires, nuclear fallout, and similar. As simple as this may sound, it is little more than a boundary layer of various materials surrounding the pilot's compartment and various essential systems, in addition to a series of cooling ducts and fans, in an effort to protect them. Protects against enduring temperatures up to 570 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that the suit can remain in an environment of that temperature for an extended duration. The quick impact of lasers, plasma, and similar energy weapons burn much hotter than these, but the impact sites cool quickly.

Enhanced Heat Shielding: This is the same basic system described above, with an added feature of a series of electrical cooling coils that keep the internal temperature of armor cool in enduring heat environments. This prevents the temperature of the pilot's compartment and the various systems on board from exceeding normal operating temperatures, from enduring temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit! This system does take a few moments to come online, and as a result, it does not grant immunity to the impact of hot energy weapons. This system is typically added to types designed to fight fires, explore volcanoes, and work in various other ultra hot environments.

Environmental Control: This is essentially a small heating unit and air conditioning unit for the comfort of the pilot. A pilot often spends a great deal of time inside of a suit of power armor. In hot or cold temperatures outdoors, extended periods of operations would become intollerable without such a system.

Emergency Escape System: While all power armor can be opened up to climb in or out, if the power armor is badly damaged or incapacitated in such a way that the access panels are not accessible the pilot may be trapped. This system prevents that from happening. It involves a handful of explosive bolts on the access panels into the pilot's compartment and a few strategically placed gyro operated explosive charges in various positions of the body. If the pilot ever finds himself in a position where he cannot escape normally, all he must do is pull a pin inside of the power armor, and this activates the escape hatch sequence. Firstly the charges located in various points over the body will detect the position and angle the power armor is sitting at through the gyros. If indeed his route of escape is impeded by the power armor laying on the access panels, the explosive charges will detonate thereby flipping the suit into a more convenient position. At that point the explosive bolts on the access panels will fire and blast them loose, permitting the pilot to escape or be removed from the armor.

Self Sealing Compression System: This system is designed to provide additional protection to environmental breaches and to strengthen a suit of power armor for orbital or deep water operations. While all power armor tends to be at least fairly air and water tight in peak condition, with any form of damage or with encountering deep ocean depths - the seals tend to fail. This strengthens the seals to permit operations up to 1.2 miles underwater without difficulty. Damage inflicted environmental breaches are also protected against. Normally sealed power armor tends to develop environmental breaches at around the area of strikes inflicting ten or more M.D.C., those with this system do not develop seal difficulties until strikes of 20 M.D.C. or higher are inflicted. Furthermore this system incorporates a damage control sealing system that can seal 3D6 damaged induced breaches. (Note: To continue sustained operations beyond six hours in length extended life support must be purchased.)

Food Dispenser & Waste Disposal System: A system designed with lengthy missions in mind, this system supplies the pilot of a suit of power armor with nutrient paste and waste disposal facilities for up to two weeks. It is notoriously uncomfortable, however, as it tends to chafe wearers - both male and female.

Air Filtration & Independant Air Supply: This is a basic, maintenance free filtration system, designed to filter out dust, grit, insects, and similar. A system included with this can detect a variety of impurities in the air such as gasses, harmful bacterial agents, hazardous smoke fumes, and the like - or also detect when the suit is underwater or in a vacuum. (It cannot, however, indicate to the pilot what impurities are present in the air, in the way that the environmental multisensor can.) When this environmental sensor senses such instances where the air is too hazardous to breathe, it switches automatically over to a pressurized cannister of breatheable air that comes standard with this system providing a 6 hour duration - twice that if using oxygen conservant techniques. Note that this environmental monitoring system, combined with the environmental control system, makes this suit completely environmentally sound - and capable of diving to depths of up to 900' without risk of rupture.

Extended Air Supply: This is an additional pressurized tank of breatheable air, intended to extend the air supply of an operator by up to 4 hours - twice that if using oxygen conservant techniques.

Electronic Gills: This system draws oxygen straight from water, during underwater operations and processes it for the pilot to use. With this system the breathing duration of the pilot is essentially indefinite, limiting the pilot only by his or her need for rest, food, drink and relief.

Emergency Floatation Device: This is a series of compressed tanks of air mounted internally with deflated air sacks - similar to an automobile air bag. If a suit of power armor experiences power loss or is incapacitated this system is activated in much the same way as the Emergency Escape System. Explosive bolts holding panels of armor onto the suit blast them off, and the air sacks are rapidly filled with oxygen - bringing the suit to the surface of the water. (Note that early versions of this system were not activated by a pin and earned the S-Mart Copperhead the rather unglamourous nickname of "Pufferfish" and "Blowfish" in Allied Naval Fleet service since it would inflate automatically when systems shut down even when the main body was depleted on land!)

Self Destruction System: This is exactly as it sounds, an explosive charge intended to destroy the power armor and the pilot if he remains in the suit. It can be used for a number of reasons - it may be used to prevent the suit from falling into enemy hands, it may be used to prevent oneself from falling into enemy hands, or it may be used as a last effort to destroy an enemy. While not exactly a weapon system it will inflict 2D6x10 M.D. to everything within a 20' radius, as well as completely destroying the power armor suit. Radiation then becomes an issue, as it spews forth from the nuclear reactor contained within. Everything within a 50' radius will be completely irradiated with toxic levels of radioactivity.

Electronuclear Charge System: While similar to the self destruction system this system preserves the life of the pilot at the expense of the power armor suit. During a battle against a supernatural creature, a robot vehicle, or even another suit of power armor and the pilot finds himself entangled this system can in effect channel a massive jolt of energy directly from the reactor into the opponent. This inflicts 3D6x10 M.D. to the opponent and works as a massive stun/neural weapon. Supernatural creatures with less than 1,000 M.D.C. will be knocked unconscious for 1D4 hours, robot vehicles and power armor with less than 1,000 M.D.C. but more than 500 M.D.C. will be shut down and will require 1D4 melees to bring the vehicle back into operations by flipping the breakers on all of the systems. Robot vehicles and power armor with less than 500 M.D.C. will have all of their electronics fried, requiring several thousand credits of repairs to get it back into operations. (Note that an EMP Capacitator CANNOT absorb this amount of energy - it will be fried.)

Flare Gun: A very basic system that resembles a grenade launcher, that deploys parachute type flares to mark a location, illuminate an area, or to signal over long distances. The range is 150', and if used as a weapon, inflicts 6D6 S.D.C. to it's victim. Each flare must be reloaded manually.

Parachute Pack: This is a very basic system installed on the back of a suit of power armor to allow it to be air dropped into a landing zone. For every 250 Lb. of weight one chute must be carried, counting the pilot, all ammunition carried, and the base weight of the armor. The weight, S.R., and cost listed account for only one chute.

Shock Suppressant Padding: This is a system of 'smart padding' that cushions the pilot of a suit of power armor during heavy impacts and falls, in an effort to minimize damage incurred from such events. The 'smart padding' cushions in such a way as to carefully give under weight of the pilot, while providing a certain measure of resistance, so as to cushion the pilot's body, and secure it so that it does not bounce around during a tumble or fall. With this system a pilot takes no damage from falls of up to 100'. For every 50' beyond this, the pilot will take 1D4 S.D.C. from a fall. Damage inflicted from impact type weapons is reduced to 1/10 it's normal amount.

Reinforced Pilot's Compartment: This is essentially a shell of armor that protects the pilot. If in the event the power armor is badly damaged, shut down, or essentially destroyed, this shell of armor, in theory, will protect the pilot. The base protection it provides is 30 M.D.C., but this armor may be beefed up in increments of 10 M.D.C., at additional cost. The one drawback to this is that it consumes a great deal of space. This option must be added to the main body's system requirements only.

Name Weight S.R. Cost M.D.C.
Heat & Radiation Shielding 5 Lb. 2.5 1,000 N/A
Enhanced Heat Shielding 20 Lb. 10 10,000 N/A
Environmental Control 2 Lb. 2.5 500 N/A
Emergency Escape System 10 Lb. 5 5,000 N/A
Self Seal Compression System 5 Lb. 40 60,000 N/A
Food Dispenser & Waste Disposal System 20 Lb. 10 5,000 N/A
Air Filtration & Independant Air Supply 20 Lb. 5 2,000 N/A
Extended Air Supply 10 Lb. 2.5 500 N/A
Electronic Gills 20 Lb. 10 75,000 N/A
Emergency Floatation Device 25 Lb. 20 12,000 Each balloon has 5 M.D.C.
Self Destruction System 30 Lb. 20 45,000 N/A
Electronuclear Charge System 15 Lb. 20 25,000 N/A
Flare Gun 2 Lb. 5 250 2
Parachute Pack 15 Lb. 5 1,500 5
Shock Suppressant Padding 30 Lb. 10 5,000 N/A
*Reinforced Pilot's Compartment 15 Lb.+5 Lb. 7.5+2.5 60,000+20,000 30 M.D.C.+10 M.D.C.


* These figures begin with the base attributes of a 30 M.D.C. reinforced pilots compartment. For every additional 10 M.D.C. added to this, increase the weight, and system requirements consumed accordingly.


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