# Craftable power armor, factions and balance issues

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/craftable-power-armor-factions-and-balance-issues/8609>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [January 13, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/craftable-power-armor-factions-and-balance-issues/8609 "2015-01-13T17:55:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 42

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**Author:** ![Stretop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/stretop/32/9864_2.png) [@Stretop](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Stretop)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/craftable-power-armor-factions-and-balance-issues/8609/42 "2015-01-15T14:43:45Z")

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> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> The only way I coud see the player making their own power armor (and other high tech prototype technology) would be if they somewhat managed to break into the manufacturers (Double-tech in this case) lab or factory, somehow found the complete schematics for every single part, restored the plant to working order, and then brought a faction in to operate machinery;

It is like saying “The only way I coud see Guglielmo Marconi making his own radio would be if he somewhat managed to break into Alexander Stepanovich Popov’s lab or factory, somehow found the complete schematics for every single part…” and so on. Technology is not a unique achievemnt: once the concept is known - anyone can create his own implemetation of this concept.

> [@iceball3](#):
>
> Yowzers though, i got a feeling this may turbulate into a shit storm, i suggest everyone calm down a bit so we don’t go acting out of emotional urge eh?

Good thing that I have abstracted myself from emotional reactions.

> [@Darkfirephoenix](#):
>
> We want “makeshift” power armor / exoskelletons that are doable with the ability/resources a civilian has today.

Correction. We want “makeshift” power armor / exoskelletons that are doable with the ability a civilian would have 30 years in the future and with resources of entire cities laid bare before him. That changes game a little, does it not?

[quote=“KA101, post:39, topic:8609”][Previous thread, happened last month even](http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=8879.0).

Answer was that a garage exosuit (not PA, basically a lifting frame) would be extremely resource-intensive to build and fuel, with little to no benefit: cost-ineffective.[/quote]

It seem that you have suffered a [Critical Research Failure](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalResearchFailure).  
Let’s see:

> [@Feasibility on crafting own power armor?](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feasibility-on-crafting-own-power-armor/8310/7):
>
> To be clear, a gasoline-powere staggering ramshackle power suit might be something that could be made craftable.

Really? Are you really think that to make something that is “gasoline-powered” is easier that to to make something that uses electricity? Where did you get such idea? Compare [this](http://animagraffs.com/how-a-car-engine-works/) and [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ylPV2bLES0). Which one is easier to costruct? Which one is easier to scale down, to miniaturize?

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> -How to make a suit that can support its own weight and enhance its wearer strength, without breaking your knees every time you try to move.

Can you elucidate how exactly this can happen? I am not sure I understand what you are implying here.

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> -Making the (presumably very heavy) thing efficient enough to work without requiring the power output of a hydro dam.

By using more efficient motors and less heavy frame and armor.

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> -Designing an UI that you could use while fighting (AFAIK, existing prosthetic and suits either are grafted directly into your nervous system, use the motion of certain muscles in your body to control the movement of your legs, or use handheld controls; none of them practical for fighting in).

Use bionics (aka Power Armor Interfaces). It is much like old telephones that used electrical current in cable to recieve both energy and information.

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> Plus, if it has taken at least 50 years (and billions of dollars, presumably) to develop the technology for things like the ReWAlk.

From where did you get that number - 50 years? And again - once concepts are nailed correctly, it is not as difficult to build the thing itself.

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> You could steal this technology,

Steal? Come on now, techs for PA Interfaces are freely avaiable through common books.

> [@John Candlebury](#):
>
> What makes you thing that a survivor would be able to build one in a cave with only a box of scraps?

What makes you think that a survivor have to build one in a cave with only a box of scraps? Once again - he have resources of entire city to build it.

> [@iceball3](#):
>
> Bootleg power armor should be of nearly no help in conventional fighting, given how difficult it is to calliberate.

Then military power armor should be of nearly no help in conventional fighting as well, since it is no less difficult to calibrate. In fact, military power armor should be vastly more difficult to calibrate (much like fighter jets compared to non-military planes) and it would probably have less functional tolerances.

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