Soldier wearing gelsuit with reinforcing add-ons.
Gelsuits are the latest development in the field of defensive suits. Gelsuits use duraweave or kevlar fabrics integrated with so-called non-Newtonian or "smart" fluids that react to sudden amounts of pressure or very intense energy impacts.
Such impacts cause the liquid components to react and become almost a hard solid material at the point of impact. Since the effect is purely a property of the fluids an external power source is not required for the suit to function.
Gelsuits are therefore at least partially effective against all energy or inertia based attacks. Any such attack will do half damage, the other half being inflicted on the suit itself.[1] The basic suit is rendered useless after taking 100 points of damage.[2] Add-ons such as a vest, vambraces, shoulder guards and greaves can extend this to 150 points at an additional price.
Gelsuits otherwise conform to standard rules for defensive suits.
The primary negative factor of a gelsuit is its price. A basic gelsuit costs 1,500 credits and has a mass of 1.5 kg. The additional armor pieces cost 500 credits and add .5 kg.
Notes and References[]
- ↑ Gelsuits will vastly reduce or eliminate penetrative damage but force/concussive damage will still be taken. In the case of energy damage, the primary effects on the wearer will be thermal with some minor skin damage possible. For example: a detonating frag grenade may pepper the wearer with shrapnel which does not penetrate or only lightly penetrates, but the force behind it will leave serious bruising and might even crack or break bones.
- ↑ The smart liquids don't degrade in effectiveness but the fabric parts of the suit do.