Stormtrooper armor

[NecronLord]

What's more notable is that the Empire can make combat armour that stops blaster bolts dead - Dark Trooper armour.

[apocolypse]

Concussion from the blast of the explosion or some such? An explosion like that would knock anyone off their ass.

A strong enough concussion can also kill you. Getting slammed in the chest with a solid, rigid armor plate can do a number on your ribs, cracking them and leading to lots of fun internal injuries like a punctured lung -- you not only exsanguinate, but you also drown in your own blood. If the plate slams into you hard enough, your insides turn into soup from the shock (Blast Lung Injury). You also need some kind of cushioning, something with a fair amount of give, to protect against concussive forces.

That's probably what the black stuff is for: it doubtlessly isn't just at the joints, but like a bodysuit under the white plates. It could also serve as insulation against thermal shocks; getting hit with a blaster bolt looks very exothermic, and as much as I hate my insides turning into gazpacho, I like them turning into pot roast less.

The black stuff is an encompasing body glove. You're correct, it isn't just at the joints. It's used to insulate the body and protect from bio/chem attacks. IIRC one of the VDs (maybe the RotS?) details the functions and capabilities of the body glove. I'll have to dig up quotes when I get back home.

[apocolypse]

I found one of the quotes I was looking for in the AotC:VD in regards to the body glove.

"Replacing the Mandalorian flightsuit is a pressurized black body-glove that protects against acrid vapors or even the vacuum of space."

[Wyrm]

What's more notable is that the Empire can make combat armour that stops blaster bolts dead - Dark Trooper armour.

That's elite shit, right?

[Noble Ire]

What's more notable is that the Empire can make combat armour that stops blaster bolts dead - Dark Trooper armour.

That's elite shit, right?

Pretty much. Powered/Shielded armor is pretty rare; Darktroopers, Republic Commandos, and Droidekas are the only military units I can remember who use them, each group quite elite (save perhaps the Droidekas, although field models don't seem to always have shielding.)

[Lord of the Farce]

That's elite shit, right?

Pretty much. Powered/Shielded armor is pretty rare; Darktroopers, Republic Commandos, and Droidekas are the only military units I can remember who use them, each group quite elite (save perhaps the Droidekas, although field models don't seem to always have shielding.)

Don't forget Spacetroopers. And there's also the AV-1 and (S, C, & A) variants of powered armour manufactured by GTU.

[Cykeisme]

Haven't there been at least two threads before this discussing the same thing? Seems to be a popular recurring topic..

I don't have exact numbers, but it's worth mentioning that most casualties in wartime are caused by shrapnel injuries rather than direct fire from small arms. The easiest way to take out infantry is with fragmentation or shrapnel weapons.
By encasing your guys entirely in hard armor, you significantly decrease (or entirely eliminate) the effectiveness of any given fragmentation weapon by shrinking the effective blast radius of these weapons.

Also, as was mentioned earlier, many of the troopers who fall may be merely incapacitated but not killed.
This is of even greater import due to medical technology. A trooper that has sustained injuries that would ordinarily be fatal could simply be tossed into a bacta tank, and in the MedStar novels, there are stocks of fresh organs that can quickly be transplanted into clone troopers (there's no issues with rejection since they're clones).
It's surely cheaper to doctor up injured clone soldiers than cooking up fresh ones.


Btw, anyone got more info on the Abrams driver who got taken out by small arms fire? Was his hatch open, or did the shot somehow hit his optics or something?

[Darth Wong]

Btw, anyone got more info on the Abrams driver who got taken out by small arms fire? Was his hatch open, or did the shot somehow hit his optics or something?

The news link was posted in the N&P forum but it was a really long time ago. It might have even been last year. The driver had his hatch open; the practical reality of driving around in a hot Persian summer in a tank presumably made him choose to do this. But there was another freaky kill involving some kind of rifle round that hit some very weak point in the armour and went right into the interior compartment. That was linked in the N&P forum too.

[patweb]

Just a note, you don't see very many fallen Storm Troopers moving around much after they are shot. Indicative of the fact they are likely meant to be portraited as KIA. It appears to me that 99% of all blaster hits are fatal (most of the injuries in Star Wars is due to lightsaber, perhaps due to the cauterizing effect of the blade).

It didn't appear to matter whether the target was armored or not. In fact, your chances of getting hit at all diminished if the character wasn't wearing armor (or apparently).

Maybe the armor was designed to attract blaster shots so that the officers dont' get hit .

HEHE.
Pat

[Darth Wong]

Just a note, you don't see very many fallen Storm Troopers moving around much after they are shot. Indicative of the fact they are likely meant to be portraited as KIA. It appears to me that 99% of all blaster hits are fatal (most of the injuries in Star Wars is due to lightsaber, perhaps due to the cauterizing effect of the blade).

So you figure that when someone is hit and falls down, he must be dead unless he's still crawling around and continuing to fight like Sylvester Stallone in a Rambo movie?

[Edward Yee]

I would modify to say that they could be enough to incapacitate, not necessarily kill...

[Noble Ire]

I would modify to say that they could be enough to incapacitate, not necessarily kill...

I'm pretty sure most hits from modern firearms incapacitate their targets as well.

[Connor MacLeod]

I would modify to say that they could be enough to incapacitate, not necessarily kill...

I'm pretty sure most hits from modern firearms incapacitate their targets as well.

Depends on the ammo and where you're hit. A hit from a small-caliber armor piercing round will generally (IIRC) leave a little hole with very little of the muzzle energy transferred to the wound (that's usually deliberate, for various reasons.) but a hit from a large-caliber hollowpoint (especially at something like a head) could leave a large and potentially fatal hole.

[LaCroix]

Just a quick throw in.. the only one "rolling around on the ground a little" I have seen on the movie was that ewok hit by fragments of an exploding tree. And given the reaction of his comrade, he clearly died.

[irony on]So, we can assume that those who fell down and laid perfectly still ( the stormies) are all still alive, since the ones rolling around were the ones dying [irony off]

[Noble Ire]

Just a quick throw in.. the only one "rolling around on the ground a little" I have seen on the movie was that ewok hit by fragments of an exploding tree. And given the reaction of his comrade, he clearly died.

[irony on]So, we can assume that those who fell down and laid perfectly still ( the stormies) are all still alive, since the ones rolling around were the ones dying [irony off]

I would suspect most of those who survived were likely knocked unconcious by the concussion, or intense pain.

That aside, I'm assuming that you don't have any evidence other than half-formed "Hur hur, that's not what it looks like!" arguments, even in the face of canon descriptions of the armor.

[Hedgehog's Roommate]

Those shot while wearing modern ballistic armor are at the least knocked down. I've seen guys lose conciousness due to impact shock. Kinda freaky 'cause your not sure if they're dead or not. A limp human body is a limp human body whether dead or unconcious. I doubt the 'Trooper armor is that much better when you're talking about the power levels in Wars weapons. In fact I'd say it's dang impressive that the armor does as well as it does.

[FSTargetDrone]

The news link was posted in the N&P forum but it was a really long time ago. It might have even been last year. The driver had his hatch open; the practical reality of driving around in a hot Persian summer in a tank presumably made him choose to do this. But there was another freaky kill involving some kind of rifle round that hit some very weak point in the armour and went right into the interior compartment. That was linked in the N&P forum too.

This (second item down)?

[Lord Revan]

There's several cases of people inscepting motionless (or near motionless) bodies which suggest that infact it's possible to survive a blaster hit with right equipment even if you stay motionless after the hit (if that wasn't the case, there would no point in inscepting the bodies would there?)

[Lord of the Farce]

There's several cases of people inscepting motionless (or near motionless) bodies which suggest that infact it's possible to survive a blaster hit with right equipment even if you stay motionless after the hit (if that wasn't the case, there would no point in inscepting the bodies would there?)

You've got your "c" and "p" swapped on your "inspecting".

Anyway, as I mentioned the last time a similar thread to this appeared, in the introduction FMV for the Force Commander game, we see an example of a person in Stormtrooper armour being shot by a blaster carbine, but managing to survive (even if the said person is incapacitated and unconscious).

[Publius]

Someone hit in the chest suddenly with enough force to knock him violently off his feet is verly likely going to be stunned for a moment or two; given how powerful a blaster bolt is likely to be, it would not be at all surprising if he were knocked unconscious altogether after a solid hit. The fact that blastershot victims do not move about much afterwards does not necessarily mean that they are dead (there is a reason that a person's first reaction on finding a body is often to check for a pulse, because it is possible to mistake an unconcsious person for a dead one, or vice versa).

[LaserRifleofDoom]

Perhaps the armor has a reactive system that administers drugs? So the person is drugged unconscious rather than flailing around or dieing of shock. It would explain why they don't move, but it's a bit of a stretch. Not to mention completely unsupported by all literature.

[Darth Wong]

It's also possible that an attenuated blaster bolt produces electrical effects upon impact, like an ion cannon does. This would explain why a blaster stuns people on a low setting, and if that is true, then the attenuation of a blaster bolt by stormtrooper armour may tend to knock the wearer unconscious.

[Hedgehog's Roommate]

Perhaps the armor has a reactive system that administers drugs? So the person is drugged unconscious rather than flailing around or dieing of shock. It would explain why they don't move, but it's a bit of a stretch. Not to mention completely unsupported by all literature.

I thought there was something in the "Med Star" books. IIRC a 'Trooper is hit and his armor or body glove seal off the wound to keep him alive. Maybe I'm completely mistaken.

[The Original Nex]

Perhaps the armor has a reactive system that administers drugs? So the person is drugged unconscious rather than flailing around or dieing of shock. It would explain why they don't move, but it's a bit of a stretch. Not to mention completely unsupported by all literature.

Actually, Labyrinth of Evil has something like that for the clone troopers. The MedStars might as well.

[Kurgan]

What's more notable is that the Empire can make combat armour that stops blaster bolts dead - Dark Trooper armour.

That's elite shit, right?

Pretty much. Powered/Shielded armor is pretty rare; Darktroopers, Republic Commandos, and Droidekas are the only military units I can remember who use them, each group quite elite (save perhaps the Droidekas, although field models don't seem to always have shielding.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my knowledge of the games you're talking about different things...

Darktroopers are either:

[Dark Forces]
1) Phase 1: A droid soldier with blade arm and blast shield gauntlet.
2) Phase 2: A droid soldier in a suit of powered armor with jetpack (and the suit can also be worn by a living humanoid soldier) and hand held assault cannon.
3) Phase 3: Same as above but stronger armor and seeker rocket cannon.

[Rebellion?/Galactic Battlegrounds]
4) A guy in black Stormtrooper armor, with a jetpack and lower level Dark Side powers.

[Battlefront/2]
5) A gray Stormtrooper with weak-ass jump jets and a small blaster cannon or lightning gun.

None of them have shields...

The Republic Commandos have good quality trooper armor, but it isn't powered, and they have regenerative personal shields.

Droidekas have personal shield generators (different than the above) but no armor. They're just droids with the usual metal skin.


Now if you're just talking about units that seem able to survive blaster shots and keep fighting, fine, and ignore this.

Remember of course that the Rebels/New Republic had personal shields too. Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade, and Jaden Korr (thanks again, Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series!) all used them. Rare, yes.