Well, it seems we are moving somewhere with that =)
No. Even modern exoskeletons are meant to be worn over (or, rather belted over) any clothing, including body armor (as demonstated with ones military experiment with). So I would say that exoskeleton itself must provide moderate defence (like metal armor) but very little coverage (like 10-20%, it is, after all, a exoskeleton) and be worn over everything (like all other belted-level items) including all variants of survivor suits, trenchcoats and so on (since it is, obviously, not providing any kind of environmental protection or climate-control).
About dodge/blocks - shouldn’t it actually depend on character’s strength? I can easily imagine character in exoskeleton that would activate “Hydraulic muscules” bionic if forced into melee with, say, zombie hulk. And simply extremely strong mutants should not have any problems with blocking and doging in it. If anything, such characters would have easier time blocking attacks when thay have such convinient hard anchoring.
Then what approach you see as allowed, that would actually lead to this transcendence?
Strange, but fine. On the other hand - if you are not going to implement specific high-tech items into battle-adapted heavy-duty exoskeleton - into what are you supposed to implement specific high-tech items then? Coffee-making? Grabs Atomic! coffemaker
Power armor with bells and whistles (climate control, environmental protection et cetera) is based on innumerable interacting subsystems that have to operate in concert with the operator. Basic idea of power armor is not. It is based on two (exactly two) interacting subsystems: locomotion and feedback.
Yes. Exactly. And the engineering question here is “How I can implement “Power Armor” concept considering the recouces I have now”. So I think this contraption should be (at basic level) far less effective than power armor, but (and this is extremely important) it should be very moddable - you created it - you know how it works and how it may be changed and upgraded.
