light exosuits

[PKPenguin321]

like mechs, but less stompy

when you wear then you're not completely covered up and your face is still very much visible. you're not protected from the atmosphere and it doesn't have an internal air tank. it can only carry much less than an actual mech can. it puts you at a set speed that is slower than human run speed but faster than a RIPLEY's normal speed. you can still pass through people and don't block the view of things behind you (in other words, you lack the density that a mech has.)

basically this would allow convenience mechs for much of the crew. a book stocking mech/botany mech/janitor mech would actually be feasible if it wasn't a giant dense stompy machine, but rather a thin bunch of latices that wrap around you to allow you to use heavy tools.

as you can see in this image of an actual RIPLEY from the movie...

this man is not inside some giant dense impassable block of metal, he is covered in a bunch of metal bits that let him use giant clamps, and nothing more. no armor or excessive tools or personal atmosphere with spaceworthiness on top. just a clamping suit for clamping things. this is essentially what i am proposing, except that it would not be limited to clamps.

[1g88a]

No, add alien queen-style giant sprite Mobile Suits and Battletech mechs instead

More seriously many mechs rarely get used to begin with because a human can do almost as well if not better for less hassle. These would be even closer to the "a human could do that" end of the spectrum, even with the reduced hassle. At least for utility functions. I could see them being useful as combat mechs, though.

[lumipharon]

50% of the usefulness of a combat mech is being immune to stuns/stam damage.
Also being able to literally shit out clusterbangs (you can shoot them backwards because kek) is fun.

[1g88a]

50% of the usefulness of a combat mech is being immune to stuns/stam damage.
Also being able to literally shit out clusterbangs (you can shoot them backwards because kek) is fun.

You're right, a combat-effective light exosuit like the ones proposed would probably end up looking like this atrocity

[DemonFiren]

Bay has power armour, and this is exactly what we need.

[Wyzack]

That Grey knights mech looks like a papa death robot carrying it's baby death robot in one of those baby carrier things

[PKPenguin321]

50% of the usefulness of a combat mech is being immune to stuns/stam damage.
Also being able to literally shit out clusterbangs (you can shoot them backwards because kek) is fun.

well you see the point is that we leave clusterbangs and stuff for the full fledged mechs and have light exosuits for more general work, like civilian jobs

[Jacough]

If we're talking combat power armor the only proper way to go would be the elemental power armor

Spoiler:

Comes equipped with a laser for ranged combat and a battle claw for close range combat (can also be used to tear through regular walls.) A two round SRM pack can also be attached to it at the cost of slowing it down a bit. Also limited EVA capabilities in that it's not completely space proof but it allows you to survive in space longer than if you had no suit at all.

[RedMcCloud]

As others have stated, Bay-style power armor is the best option.

You get SOME of the functions of a mech in return for being slow and slightly stompier.

Give them smaller batteries in return or something that you have to manually switch instead of popping into a charging station for 'muh balance', but unless they're directly better then wearing a sec hardsuit in literally every way there's no reason to whine.

[Super Aggro Crag]

stupid dumb idea for stupid dumb people

[Cik]

If we're talking combat power armor the only proper way to go would be the elemental power armor

Spoiler:

Comes equipped with a laser for ranged combat and a battle claw for close range combat (can also be used to tear through regular walls.) A two round SRM pack can also be attached to it at the cost of slowing it down a bit. Also limited EVA capabilities in that it's not completely space proof but it allows you to survive in space longer than if you had no suit at all.

JADE FALCON BEST CLAN I INVITE THEE TO SUCK IT, FREEBIRTH SLIME!!

in all seriousness though there are spaceproof elemental suits anyway, so it's obviously possible.

uh, the idea i'm not sure about on the whole though, in reality mechs should probably just be not shit and then there would probably be no need.

[PKPenguin321]

stupid dumb idea for stupid dumb people

i dont blame you for thinking this since i didn't describe it very well at all
im not really sure how to explain it short of it sort of being like armor except a mech except much weaker than a mech

[DemonFiren]

stupid dumb idea for stupid dumb people

i dont blame you for thinking this since i didn't describe it very well at all
im not really sure how to explain it short of it sort of being like armor except a mech except much weaker than a mech

How about "combining modular power armour"?

[Cheimon]

Kind of mad that you're taking the loader from Aliens and describing it as "an actual RIPLEY" with "this man" inside. The actual Ripley is the woman inside, who's about to use that loading unit to kill an Alien Queen. I mean shit, if you haven't seen Aliens why even comment on how that thing should work?

I'm even kind of annoyed you're describing these as 'light exosuits'. They're heavy exoskeletons. Light exosuits already exist, they're hardsuits, and we have to assume they have a skeleton routing the weight through the feet because otherwise a set of armour plates like that (ie a Dead Space knockoff) isn't really feasible. There is current development into making real life hardsuits, and the consensus is that you probably need a really good power source as well.

What you're proposing is weird. Why would I want all the downsides of a mech (slow movement, clumsiness, inability to use my hands) without any of the upsides (environmental protection, additional armour, useful tools). At the end of the day the loaders in Aliens are built to tackle a problem which doesn't exist on the station, which is moving bulky crates around (this isn't difficult in ss13 because there's no height and there's no difficulty in pushing and pulling literally anything movable). Ripley uses one, sure, but only to keep the Alien Queen at a distance. She can't kill it with the thing, she has to end up spacing it. Mechs aren't hard enough to build that there is any use for an in-between variant with the worst qualities of both.

[Luke Cox]

I'd love to see power armor added in addition to mechs, and the entire robotics department moved to engineering

[Remie Richards]

I'd love to see power armor added in addition to mechs, and the entire robotics department moved to engineering

Moved BACK to engineering.

EngiRobo was and always will be best Robo.

[Zilenan91]

Why'd they ever move anyways

[Super Aggro Crag]

so syringe guns don't take as long to move to the DeconAnal

[Luke Cox]

Move Robotics to engineering, expand Xenobiology and make it its own job. Engineering becomes more populated, and science is nerfed in the process. Inter-department teamwork will also be required.

[Void Slayer]

What if the light mechs were based on the janitor carts or segways, where you can see and attack people but it is harder to do so and you get some extra abilities?

As a bonus we can remove the janitor carts and segways and replace them with a janitor mech.

I would like to see botany added to R&D, but keeping it also next to the kitchen would be quite hard map wise.

[DemonFiren]

Move Robotics to engineering, expand Xenobiology and make it its own job. Engineering becomes more populated, and science is nerfed in the process. Inter-department teamwork will also be required.

Once upon a time on Bay this used to be a thing.

I'll never know why it was unthinged.

[PKPenguin321]

Kind of mad that you're taking the loader from Aliens and describing it as "an actual RIPLEY" with "this man" inside. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

nigga who the fuck you think i am, fuckin wj with encyclopedic knowledge of all this shit? fuck

[Luke Cox]

Move Robotics to engineering, expand Xenobiology and make it its own job. Engineering becomes more populated, and science is nerfed in the process. Inter-department teamwork will also be required.

Once upon a time on Bay this used to be a thing.

I'll never know why it was unthinged.

Anybody from coderbus willing to re-thing this?

[Cheimon]

Kind of mad that you're taking the loader from Aliens and describing it as "an actual RIPLEY" with "this man" inside. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

nigga who the fuck you think i am, fuckin wj with encyclopedic knowledge of all this shit? fuck

It's not encyclopaedic to just watch the film. Aliens is worth a watch anyway, it's one of the greatest action films to ever come out of the 80s. Anwyay, there's no sense trying to justify something in game as "this is how it works in the film" if you don't really have any idea how it works in the film.

[Drynwyn]

Move Robotics to engineering, expand Xenobiology and make it its own job. Engineering becomes more populated, and science is nerfed in the process. Inter-department teamwork will also be required.

Once upon a time on Bay this used to be a thing.

I'll never know why it was unthinged.

Anybody from coderbus willing to re-thing this?

If someone else modifies the map to support this, I'll do the code (which is quite simple.)