Body armor has been used in battle since well before the AI Wars and continues to this day to be a major factor in a soldier's safety and defense. Modern armor in any form incorporates a power assist suit that uses electrically activated fibers that contract and expand in order to increase the strength of an individual well beyond natural limits. Different plates can be installed in heavier armor to provide an added degree of defense against specific weapon types.
Power Assist Suit Levels
Civilian: +25 kg [This level of suit is available as little more than a muscular assist jumpsuit, and most maintenance personnel on the station will have one as standard issue]
Standard: +50 kg
Improved: +75 kg
Advanced: +125 kg
Heavy: +200 kg
Light (Soft) Armor
In essence, light armor is the lowest level of protection that every soldier wears as a base as well as all security personnel. It consists of a tightly woven fabric not too dissimilar from kevlar but with the added strength of powered carbon nanorods that instantly shift a flexible area to something much more rigid at a moment of impact by a projectile. Light armor is mainly used by snipers and light infantry who favor mobility over protection.
Against Conventional: medium
Against Plasma: low
Against Optical: very low
Against Railgun: very low
Against Particle: very low
Medium Armor
Basically an improvement over light armor only in that it adds extra layers of protective material and a single plate over the chest and back made of any of the available hard armors. It removes some of the mobility that is favored by snipers and light infantry but the added protection makes it an option to them. Conversely, standard infantry have the option of using this as well should they wish to sacrifice some of their protection for the increase in mobility.
Against Conventional: high
Against Plasma: low
Against Optical: low
Against Railgun: low
Against Particle: low
Heavy Armor
Heavy armor is the same level of protection on its own as medium armor. However, it provides slots throughout the suit for hard platting to be added. There is little left unexposed with this armor but its weight seriously detracts from movement speeds.
Against Conventional: high
Against Plasma: low
Against Optical: low
Against Railgun: low
Against Particle: low
Armor Plating Options
Medium and heavy armor have the options for additional protection to be given over the main suit by adding hard plates with special properties that negate different levels of damage for different weapons. They are replaceable and inexpensive, especially in comparison to the cost of training another soldier.
Reactive Armor
Using small cells that contain explosives that detonate outwards upon impact, reactive armor is the primary defense against projectile weaponry. It has little effect on most energy weapons and plasma weapons are a danger to it as they can cause multiple cells to detonate at once, leaving a vulnerable area in the armor.
Against Conventional: extreme
Against Plasma: medium
Against Optical: very low
Against Railgun: high
Against Particle: very low
Reflective Armor
Useful against energy weapons by dispersing most of the beam energy away rather than into the body, reflective armor has its advantages against lasers that few other designs can provide. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of protection against other weapon types.
Against Conventional: low
Against Plasma: medium
Against Optical: extreme
Against Railgun: very low
Against Particle: medium
Ablative Armor
Ablative Armor was a result of coatings being used in spacecraft for the purpose of reentering the atmosphere of a planet. Ablative armor is very light for plate armor as it is simply an aluminum substrate coated with several layers of material. The coatings must be thin to prevent the entire structure from acting like a plate of ceramic which would shatter completely should a kinetic round impact it. Currently it is the most effective measure used against laser weaponry and it will also take much of the power out of plasma round as well. Conventional and railgun weapons are still easily able to pierce through this.
Against Conventional: very low
Against Plasma: medium
Against Optical: extreme
Against Railgun: very low
Against Particle: medium
Adaptive Armor
Adaptive armor is still in the experimental phase and is somewhat similar in build to reactive armor in that it is made of up multiple cells that act individually. Each cell contains a specialized nanotech chemical that acts as both a solid and liquid at the same time, otherwise known as a non-Newtonian fluid. Upon electrical stimulation caused by plasma weapons a cell will detonate and repel the blast. Heating caused by laser weapon will shift the chemical makeup into something akin to ablative armor. Impact from kinetic rounds will cause the fluid to harden instantaneously in response, absorbing all of the energy. The downside to this armor is that the cost is still very extreme and once a cell is hit by any weapon it becomes completely inert and ineffective should another shot strike the same point. However, due to the nature of the suits, there are multiple layers of cells, and the suit is capable of moving the cells around within the matrix of the suit, to move damaged cells from critical body areas to more non-critical locations. However, while this design makes for a very powerful suit of armor, it is also one of the heaviest armor systems available and will slow movement considerably more than the other options.
Against Conventional: high
Against Plasma: high
Against Optical: medium
Against Railgun: medium
Against Particle: medium
Power Armor
Power armor is the highest level of protection that any soldier can possibly have. It is a full encasement of the entire body that leaves no surface exposed. Strength is enhance well above the level that heavy power assist suits provide to give over 350kg of added lifting power to a person. The mass of the suit itself serves as a balance against weapons that operate with heavy recoil. While the joints are still the weakest point of any power armor, they are protected by spherical plates that enable full mobility as well as 80% of the protection afforded by the rest of the suit. Because of the value of a power armor they are not given to average soldiers but rather as command units to officers to ensure their survival through the harshest of any combat. Power armor is sometimes awarded to security forces that have the risk of dealing with heavy vehicles and the need for a high level of protection in some form is a requirement.
