Honorverse Skinsuit Question

[edaw1982]

Is it mentioned, in any of the books what the oxygen reserve for the skinsuits is?

[Batman]

Not directly from immediate memory. Skinsuited personell who 'do' live through their ship being shot to shit are routinely up and around when they're found hours later so maybe looking at after-action rescue operations could be of use.

[Terralthra]

Not even House of Steel gives any hard numbers on endurance. If there were any, they'd be there, so I'm guessing it's unsaid. Certainly multiple hours, based on the recovery ops after the climactic battle in Honor Among Enemies.

[SpottedKitty]

Not even House of Steel gives any hard numbers on endurance. If there were any, they'd be there, so I'm guessing it's unsaid. Certainly multiple hours, based on the recovery ops after the climactic battle in Honor Among Enemies.

There's also the bit in the same book where Ginger Lewis is thrown loose by a sabotaged suit thruster pack; she was picked up after only half an hour, but there was a mention of someone years before being picked up after twelve hours, with no indication if that was close to his suit's life support limits.

[Batman]

Except that wasn't a standard skinsuit.

[Terralthra]

The skinsuit had an attached maneuvering unit, but it was still a standard-issue skinsuit, no? They mention specifically that when analyzing the forensic data, because the program that sabotaged the unit also interfaced with the skinsuit to disable the suit coms, which no legit program would do.

[Batman]

I 'thought' it said something about dedicated EVA skinsuits but the book disagrees so it looks like you're right. It also mentions 'standard skinsuit thrusters' which are moderately useless in 'non'-EVA situations so having them as part of 'every' skinsuit seems a bit silly but the book never explicitly says it 'was' a dedicated EVA suit.

[SpottedKitty]

<nod> The only actual different types of skinsuit I remember being mentioned are the standard one for all ship and station crew, and the heavy-duty one for combat personnel, like the Marines. Does anyone else remember the use of plug-in modules, like FAST packs, for extended sensors/comms or life support, the same way as the SUT is used for EVA endurance?

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. I can't remember a single instance of "running out of oxygen" even being treated as a serious danger in the Honorverse, unless it involves a catastrophic shipwide failure of life support. This indicates that skinsuit endurance can't be more than a day or two, or you could theoretically just live in the skinsuits long enough to get to a new destination.

[SpottedKitty]

I just dug out my copy of House of Steel, which has at least some details of Honorverse hardware. There aren't any actual endurance numbers, but it does say the suit material is quite thick (1-12 cm except for the gloves) and has micro-cells embedded in it containing supercompressed oxygen. Would it be safe to assume it uses a rebreather circuit to extend endurance a bit more? And there are two umbilical connections, so I presume anyone not actually needing to be out on the hull can plug into ship's consumables or a portable life support kit, no matter how bad the hull (lack of) integrity might get.

[Irbis]

I am pretty sure there were 2 page spreads on Manty/Haven suits in these two Jayne Intelligence books, though hard numbers alude me and I can't find mine ATM.

I just dug out my copy of House of Steel, which has at least some details of Honorverse hardware. There aren't any actual endurance numbers, but it does say the suit material is quite thick (1-12 cm except for the gloves)

12...?



I didn't read that book, but did they even look at their own illustrations? Unless it's backpack thickness or something.

and has micro-cells embedded in it containing supercompressed oxygen

I like how people treat HH as if it was "hard" SF while books are full of meaningless buzzwords picked by rule of cool, that are badly thought out/never work intended way in books/are actually worse than 21st century solutions...

And that's a pity, because HH would be really nice series if someone set editor with scissors loose upon them, especially someone despising black and white politic descriptions, Deus Ex Machina contrivances and Mary Sues.

[SpottedKitty]

There aren't any actual endurance numbers, but it does say the suit material is quite thick (1-12 cm except for the gloves)

12...?

I didn't read that book, but did they even look at their own illustrations? Unless it's backpack thickness or something.

That's the pretty pictures from the big expensive hardback edition of House of Steel; I just managed to get the paperback, which has little line drawings — and even the lightweight Navy skinsuit is quite a bit chunkier than that very nice colour pic.

And yes, the 12cm thickness was for across the shoulders, that's where the suit's main thrusters (and presumably their propellant tanks) were. Most of the rest was closer to the 1cm measurement.

<a little light goes on>

That's one of the pics by Thomas Marrone on DeviantArt, isn't it? I thought I'd seen something like it before.

[Irbis]

That's the pretty pictures from the big expensive hardback edition of House of Steel; I just managed to get the paperback, which has little line drawings — and even the lightweight Navy skinsuit is quite a bit chunkier than that very nice colour pic.

But that's how the skinsuits were drawn before. For example, one from Jayne Intelligence on RMN:

And yes, the 12cm thickness was for across the shoulders, that's where the suit's main thrusters (and presumably their propellant tanks) were. Most of the rest was closer to the 1cm measurement.

Hmm, ok. I don't suppose you have seen the paperback one online? Just interesting discrepancy, I guess.

That's one of the pics by Thomas Marrone on DeviantArt, isn't it? I thought I'd seen something like it before.

Source: http://thomasthecat.deviantart.com/gall ... -Harrinton So, I think?

[SpottedKitty]

That's one of the pics by Thomas Marrone on DeviantArt, isn't it? I thought I'd seen something like it before.

Source: http://thomasthecat.deviantart.com/gall ... -Harrinton So, I think?

Yes, that's him. That led me to links for someone else who seems to be actually part of the BuNine group, with lots more pics and 3D renders, including a very nice movie of a pinnace rendezvousing with a ship and settling into its boat bay.