Protec suit question

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings,
The description of the protec suit says it can be worn under other armor. Should this be interpreted so that it adds its full armor value when combined with other gear, or simply that it is thin and close-fitting enough to allow it to be worn underneath any other kind of armor (including vacc suits and battledress)?

The latter would mean that it 'only' adds +2 armor, following the normal rules for combining armor.

 

[phavoc]

I would say yes. But keep in mind that anything that can penetrate battledress will pretty much rip through your protec suit.

I think the protect suit is better layered with something like wearing reflec, which doesn't give you much protection against anything other than laser fire. Though I can see where the confusion is, as some of the entries specifically call out stacked values, and others do not.

Using battledress as an example, I would say if you were wearing it and you were hit with a weapon that penetrated the suit armor, your protec suit would be meaningless, or say maybe adding 1 additional point to absorbing the hit (a ref being generous!). But if you needed to abandon your suit, then at least you'd be armor factor 4 instead of zero.

Other than that I wouldn't allow stacking bonuses except in very specific situations (like wearing a ballistic jacket or reflec).

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I was thinking of pairing it with cloth armor or the Armotec Crew jacket from Merchant Prince, stylish and (discretely) protected!

If someone were to use it under battledress I'd agree with you, it shouldn't provide extra protection, but it would have the bonus of making you look fancy when exiting the armor - like Stark in IM2 when he attended the science fair, and wore a slim-fit suit underneath the Iron Man armor.

On a side note, since protec is armor, I should be able to install a computer weave, the auto-cleaning feature and perhaps even visual cloak, yes? And top it off with auto-polarizing glasses with hud, aim assist and other goodies... A hidden body pistol or two, or even a HEAP gun and the secret agent dude is almost done

 

[sideranautae]

Given that I'd expect Combat armor & Battledress to have all kinds devices fitted to the body of the wearer (for vacc suit purposes, automated functions, etc.) I think that they both would have a special undergarment that is the only thing worn with them.