What do you think are the Top 10 Body Armors and why?

[gaby]

What do you think are the top ten Body Armors and why you think they are the best?

[rat_bastard]

10: Naruni Ceramalyte Nightsuit - Large prowl bonus
9: Austrialia Special forces body armor - High MDC
8: T-10 Tirax standard Body armor - Standard Multi optics, Great MDC, good mobility for heavy armor
7: Japan Special Forces Exoskeleton - good MDC+ stat bonuses
6: Special Forces CA-7 Heavy Dead By Armor - lots of good integral features
5: Triax Exoskeleton - Everything that makes the Triax armor good plus stat bonuses
4: China Geofront Exoskeleton - Better than Triax
3: Naruni Modular Body Armor - Lots of options, has the potential to be truely great.
2: CS-6EX Heavy Dead boy armor - lots of MDC, robotic strength.
1: Naruni Super Soldier Heavy Battle Armor - Better than the Dead boy armor.

[Anthar]

Off hand, but in no particular order:

1. The armored suit in the Tolkeen war series that regenerates PPE.
2. Naruni Heavy Battle armor (so good it's almost power armor)
3&4. Mystic Knight TW armors from Madhaven.
5. Cyborg NGR underwater armor (includes some nice weapons and is almost PA for cyborgs)
6. Bio-wizard suit made by Hecate and available at a huge price (3500 MDC)
7. Heavy draygon body armor (1/10th damage from lasers)
8. TW Atlas Enhanced Strength Power Armor (some sweet spells like "Giant")
9. TW Flying Dragon Power Armor (some nice spells there too)
10. Host armor from Splicers (Self explanatory).

[runebeo]

My favorite is South American Duelist Articulation Armor: The stylish armor has 75 M.D.C. and zero prowl penalties. Its easily concealed under loose clothing as well, but is very pricey.

NE-BA-20 Stalker Partial Body Armor: Radio built into the helmet (20 miles), built-in language translator, ten hour oxygen supply, kinetic energy dampening and cushioning system (arrows, bullets, rail guns, grenades and missiles deal half damage). Page 37 of New wave.

[Balabanto]

Actually, I like the new Northern Gun armor that enables you to take half damage from falls.

[Lenwen]

What do you think are the top ten Body Armors and why you think they are the best?

I personally do not have a top 10 P.A.

But this is my list in no particular order.
NG-JK1A (& 1B)
- 170 mdc ,
+8 attacks from the suit itself as well as
-granting additional attacks at lvls 1, 5, 10 for the Pilot.

Glitterboy - Obvious reasons
-Great (770)mdc protection,
-combined with incredible stopping power 3d6x10 at great ranges 11000+ ft .

Nazca Power Armor
-600 mdc ,
-1d6x10 first weapon system,
-2d4x10 for its secondary weapon system.

APA-100 Counterstrike,
-550 mdc, 600mph(Flying),
-40'000 ft (high the suit can fly),
-2d6x10 md at 3,000ft and it grants extra attacks per melee.

Kittani Destroyer
- 440 mdc ,
- 2d6x10 , 3000ft range
- 1d4x10 , 4000ft range
- 12 spells built into the chest.
- 4 Spells built into each Gauntlet ( this suit is perhaps the most versitile suit on rifts earth.)

[Lenwen]

Most of those are power armors, Lenwen, not body armors.

They're all Power Armor, Sir Arkady. I think Lenwen just misread the post.

Aye I did hehe brb with my personal top 5 Body armors.

[rat_bastard]

10: Naruni Ceramalyte Nightsuit - Large prowl bonus
9: Austrialia Special forces body armor - High MDC
8: T-10 Tirax standard Body armor - Standard Multi optics, Great MDC, good mobility for heavy armor
7: Japan Special Forces Exoskeleton - good MDC+ stat bonuses
6: Special Forces CA-7 Heavy Dead By Armor - lots of good integral features
5: Triax Exoskeleton - Everything that makes the Triax armor good plus stat bonuses
4: China Geofront Exoskeleton - Better than Triax
3: Naruni Modular Body Armor - Lots of options, has the potential to be truely great.
2: CS-6EX Heavy Dead boy armor - lots of MDC, robotic strength.
1: Naruni Super Soldier Heavy Battle Armor - Better than the Dead boy armor.

I would also like to put out an Honorable mention for my beloved Bandito armor for its freedom of movement and ability to be worn under power armor and NG's new two layer Peacekeeper armor for taking a great concept and then going absolutely nowhere with it.

I avioed magic Armors because it simply widens the feild by so much and there is very little in the way of "stock" magic armors.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I have always been fond of RUE stock body armor, and anything NG and even a few MI. I prefer to, support Human brand armorers, Buy Local people! Support your Neighborhood Planetary Arms Dealer!

[Lenwen]

What do you think are the top ten Body Armors and why you think they are the best?

Ok I answered wrongly once so let me ask you if this is strickly a "Human" type of Armor ? Or anything goes type of Body armor ?

So long as its just body armor ?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I think they mean human, but throw up anything, even mage armor.

[rat_bastard]

What do you think are the top ten Body Armors and why you think they are the best?

Ok I answered wrongly once so let me ask you if this is strickly a "Human" type of Armor ? Or anything goes type of Body armor ?

So long as its just body armor ?

any non vehicle armor that fits your parameters, I avoided certain armors because I did not want to include non available/magic armors on my list but others went straight for the rune armors.

[rat_bastard]

10: Naruni Ceramalyte Nightsuit - Large prowl bonus
9: Austrialia Special forces body armor - High MDC
8: T-10 Tirax standard Body armor - Standard Multi optics, Great MDC, good mobility for heavy armor
7: Japan Special Forces Exoskeleton - good MDC+ stat bonuses
6: Special Forces CA-7 Heavy Dead By Armor - lots of good integral features
5: Triax Exoskeleton - Everything that makes the Triax armor good plus stat bonuses
4: China Geofront Exoskeleton - Better than Triax
3: Naruni Modular Body Armor - Lots of options, has the potential to be truely great.
2: CS-6EX Heavy Dead boy armor - lots of MDC, robotic strength.
1: Naruni Super Soldier Heavy Battle Armor - Better than the Dead boy armor.

See I added something so the list is now all mine

I am pretty awesome...

[Pox]

Sunaj...has always been my favorite, just good luck getting your hands on a set.

[runebeo]

Hecate's armor and the lesser ones her minions make can make anyone a minor god.

My GM promised me one day when we face the Old Ones I can get my own lesser suit of Hecate's armor, but she says I need 600 million and I only have 7 million saved up at the moment, but if I sold my NE-SDSR-2000 Star Dragon Superiority Fighter & my NE-HC-109 Combat Bike Nine I'd have another 150 million to add to the pot.

[Lenwen]

I generally do not have a top ten anything. And as such I will give my top 5 regular Body Armors, none of which are magical in nature . I consider any and all magical armors not really Body armors but Power Armors due to the power of magic.

Here is my top 5 in no particular order list.

Kittani Centaur Armor
MB - 130 mdc.

CA-6C Cyborg Armor
MB - 200 mdc.

CA-6EX Heavy Infantry EBA
MB - 200mdc.
This armor is actually an Exoskeleton which provides various bonas's as well as its enviormental protection and its MDC .

CA-5.
MB - 125 mdc.
Multiple weapon systems built into the armor.
As a Juicer gets huge bonases to alotta stuff they require less MDC armor to go even further then a standard CA6EX suit would go as far as protecting its occupants.

Man Killer
MB - 110.

Again the juicers require LESS mdc protection as opposed to any other occ and maximize the effects of said mdc better then most other occ's .

In my opinion Juicer armors are the Best when combined with thier regular occupants . No other armors ( Body armors ) can honestly compete with a equivlent armor with a juicer in it.

There for it is of my opinion that juicers EBA's are absolutly the best EBA's in Rifts earth. ( This is obviously not counting magical EBA's. and this does not mean on average every juicer EBA but the two that I mentioned specifically)

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

If someone knows the conversion rules for older armor, it actually get a lot better.

[Killer Cyborg]

Can we have top ten most popular body armors instead? I want to know what the average person (who can afford MDC protection) is going to wear.

What I can think of for that is:
CA-1 Dead Boy Armor
NG Maverick
Huntsman
Juicer Assassin Plate

Plastic Man.
Urban Warrior.
Home-Made armor.
In some locations, maybe Fury Beetle.

Juicer Plate probably wouldn't be too popular with non-juicers, because I imagine that the real juicers like to kick the snot out of posers.

[Killer Cyborg]

Rune Bikini Armor.

[Lenwen]

Rune Bikini Armor.

haha

Called shot at thee .. um .. well .. the "Heart" area !!!

[rat_bastard]

In the game I played in the Gladius user hooked up to one of the backpack batteries for extended use. I mentioned the Gladius because it not only has almost as much MDC as a suit of power armor, but it also adds an attack per melee like one as well.

If I ever play one of the rare non-psionic Cyber-Knights I might take this suit. I'll just hook up a charging cable (and a quick-disconnect) to the power-plant of my robot horse.

Hate to break it to you but in the but the Gladius sits on the Power Armor side of the Power Armor/Exoskeleton line, Its a vehicle, not a suit.

[rat_bastard]

Rune Bikini Armor.

And once again, with only a small handful of words KC wins yet another topic.

[rat_bastard]

Hate to break it to you but in the but the Gladius sits on the Power Armor side of the Power Armor/Exoskeleton line, Its a vehicle, not a suit.

I thought from the write-up the Gladius blurred the line between the two. I also don't remember seing any special skills needed to be able to pilot one of them, so I figured it would have been closer to body armor than power armor. (I personally draw the line between the two by the prescence of a needed skill, and especially something like a chart of bonuses from having power-armor combat elite in the suit.)

One, it has full vehicle stats, the other Exoskeletons don't, two there is a later power armor that is the Galdius with Fins in Merc Ops, three it lists its power source, something other full enviros don't do.

[rat_bastard]

I can see your point.

My group runs it as a top of the line body armor, but that is based on the detail of it not needing any special skill to use it (which where the GM's I play with draw the line).

That works, my group runs with a heavily modified Knock off as their primary power armor.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I can see your point.

My group runs it as a top of the line body armor, but that is based on the detail of it not needing any special skill to use it (which where the GM's I play with draw the line).

That works, my group runs with a heavily modified Knock off as their primary power armor.

Modified how?

[SkyeFyre]

Plastic Man is one of the most popular armors in my game. Sure it doesn't have a whole lot of MDC, but my players tend to play it smart, it's affordable, and having the EBA aspect of it really helps. I personally love it.

[Killer Cyborg]

Rune Bikini Armor.

I gotta ask, what kind of MDC are we talking about with what different styles????

It's statted out in Rifter 9.5.
(Along with "These Boots Are Made For Kicking," which should also go on the list).

Unfortunately, I don't own a copy so I can't say.
I think it's a couple hundred or something, but it's been a while since I used it (I had a female mutant pack-rat ninja that owned a set of the Rune Bikini Armor and the Boots).

[rat_bastard]

I can see your point.

My group runs it as a top of the line body armor, but that is based on the detail of it not needing any special skill to use it (which where the GM's I play with draw the line).

That works, my group runs with a heavily modified Knock off as their primary power armor.

Modified how?

Improved Optics (advanced thermals, Laser designator), Integrates with a specific suit of light environmental armor, has a built in force field (1/2 are Naruni, 1/2 are Spinne), Wilk's helmet radio, Modular Forearm and Hip Mountings, Sonic sensor and Jump Jets.

[Balabanto]

The Triax TX-SS 01 Shotgun. The great equalizer. Against EVERYTHING.

[rat_bastard]

Yeah, I know. And should be available in MercTown, too. Although probably at a mark up.

There is in fact an exclusive dealer in merctown, kraus importers or something like that.

[Dustin Fireblade]

LOL have to be German to start with Triax gear? That's weird, it sounds like your GM believes that Triax is exclusive to the area of Germany because they can't get their stuff over to NA very easily. However Triax has lots of dealers in North America and with their super-sonic ultra high altitude transports they are able to ship their wares here relatively easily. In fact Triax gear was one of the first selections available to NA players in early Rifts game. I would guess with the CS crack down on Naruni, that Triax gear is much easier to get than Naruni stuff. It's probably almost as easy to get Triax as it is NG or Wilks stuff. GM's just have to remember not to hand out front line NGR gear because that is exclusive to the NGR military However a few front line NGR items are sold in NA, usually they are underpowered variants though, like the NA version(Yep Triax makes underpowered versions of some of their gear for sale here in NA) of the Triax Predator or Terrain Hopper. The Triax Ulti-max is also sold here. At least 3 kinds of Body Armor. The Ion pulse rifle and the 2 pump weapons. There's a jet-pack. The Dyna-Max robot and probably other weapons/armor/vehicles I am forgetting.

Ask your GM to reexamine some of the Triax sections, like the Sourcebook and reevaluate whether he/she should make these items more available. Particularly the pump weapons, those are one the main equalizers in dealing with energy immune casters.

Well Revised SB1 does go into some detail on this - and yeah Triax imports are not easy to come by.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I can see your point.

My group runs it as a top of the line body armor, but that is based on the detail of it not needing any special skill to use it (which where the GM's I play with draw the line).

That works, my group runs with a heavily modified Knock off as their primary power armor.

Modified how?

Improved Optics (advanced thermals, Laser designator), Integrates with a specific suit of light environmental armor, has a built in force field (1/2 are Naruni, 1/2 are Spinne), Wilk's helmet radio, Modular Forearm and Hip Mountings, Sonic sensor and Jump Jets.

We use a small mininuke plant, along with jump jets from JU, and some light weapons. We also have all the locations statted instead of just the main body. That kinda makes it a little munchkin, but it's power armor so w/e. Btw, the mods cost more than the armor. Only nightvision for vision enhancements though.

[Shorty Lickens]

I cant see myself making a Top 10 list, as its unlikely any PC would have 10 different sets of Body Armor and wear them in order of preference, 1 through 10.
I will say that my faves are usually ones with powered exoskeletons. That way you get most of the benefits of Power Armor without a pilot skill.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Well Revised SB1 does go into some detail on this - and yeah Triax imports are not easy to come by.

So they have reversed all the other sourcebooks that say Triax stuff in NA is just uncommon? I mean like Rat Bastard pointed out there is a Triax dealership in Merctown. Can't be that hard to get if there's dealerships in NA. The Coalition has a trade agreement with Triax to allow their stuff to be sold here. This all changed for some reason?

I don't really see a change myself, so much as additional clarification. As far as I know there's just that one place in MercTown that is a "authorized" dealer (who apparently sells T-11 EBA which is suppose to be exclusive to the NGR), and I think two or three other weapons shops that sell Triax weapons in addition to other lines.

(Compared to Wilks that seem to have "official" shops in every major non-CS city and Northern Gun that's just about everywhere.)

[Dustin Fireblade]

Yeah you're right the CS has a trade agreement with Triax and authorizes them. This allows them to import a limited amount of their material to North America.

And, the CS secretly undermines and limit their ability to import/sell.

CWC pg 24 shows just how much of a market Triax has too btw. Granted that it's information at least 4 years out of date in the game, but I imagine it hasn't changed much. With the store in Merctown, I would expect it to grow.

At any rate, I don't see much change from the old SB1 when Triax was introduced to now in terms of available gear. Triax gear is uncommon in NA, but not impossible to find. Anything listed in SB1 or listed as "mass-market" should be available in NA - maybe not in great amounts, but enough for character's at least.

[rat_bastard]

There is also the effect of independent traders buying Triax surplus and selling them at profit overseas at a 100% markup.

[Ale Golem]

In the game I played in the Gladius user hooked up to one of the backpack batteries for extended use. I mentioned the Gladius because it not only has almost as much MDC as a suit of power armor, but it also adds an attack per melee like one as well.

If I ever play one of the rare non-psionic Cyber-Knights I might take this suit. I'll just hook up a charging cable (and a quick-disconnect) to the power-plant of my robot horse.

Hmm, now where would the plugs go in the horse....?

I'll second the Gladius as one of my favorite armors. It's my back up armor for a Two Horned Techno Man I'll be playing in a month or so, for the places he can't pilot an 11 foot suit of power armor.

Hate to break it to you but in the but the Gladius sits on the Power Armor side of the Power Armor/Exoskeleton line, Its a vehicle, not a suit.

I thought from the write-up the Gladius blurred the line between the two. I also don't remember seing any special skills needed to be able to pilot one of them, so I figured it would have been closer to body armor than power armor. (I personally draw the line between the two by the prescence of a needed skill, and especially something like a chart of bonuses from having power-armor combat elite in the suit.)

One, it has full vehicle stats, the other Exoskeletons don't, two there is a later power armor that is the Galdius with Fins in Merc Ops, three it lists its power source, something other full enviros don't do.

I can definitly see how you can justify classing it as power armor but I think I'd have to agree with Arkady about it being top of the line body armor. To each their own though.

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

I have to agree that it is a top of the line BA as opposed to a power armor. However, in SA 2 there are power armors that are basically just the Gladius plus weapons. Theya re classified as PA, but thats South America, so....yeah.

[Library Ogre]

There is also the effect of independent traders buying Triax surplus and selling them at profit overseas at a 100% markup.

Also, note that Northern Gun sells knock offs or licensed builds of Triax equipment, like the Explorer armor and others.

Which has got to be hella cheaper for Triax, anyway.

"Hmmm... we can license this company, in the US, to build designs, with them paying us a fraction. Or, we can try to fly crates full of weapons and ammunition across demon-infested seas on a schedule regular enough to make our retailers happy."

Sounds like a sound plan to me.

[Khord - Lizard Mage]

My last 3 PC's did not wear armor at all. Currently playing a Lizard Mage in a high powered game, and played a Phase Adept and an Undead Slayer before them in different campaigns. Now if we start talkind Naruni forcefields and phase fields those are standard equipment. As far as body armor goes I always liked Sunaj and TW Mystic Powered Armor.