So I have several questions about how to handle combat in with voidsuits.

This has come up quite a few time in our play already, so I'll mention the questions and the working answers that have come up.

What armour can be worn with a void suit?

my group has ruled that up to a light flak can be worn with the armoured void suit (selenite) and the AP stacks (total of 6), and that any non-power armour can be worn with an unarmoured voidsuit.

I'm have some problems with this interpretation, but it's worked okay so far.

What types of armour can be made voidworthy?

This hasn't really come up, but would be my solution to the first problem. With time and the trade (armourer) skill a void suit can be incorporated into a suit of armour. The inquistor's handbook describes incorporating a camo-cloak into armour, and this would be fairly analogous.

Can a void suit be damaged in combat, and what happens then?

In my group your void suit becomes damaged when a character becomes heavily wounded. The character is then exposed to the exposed to vacuum, with an oxygen source, and follows the rules on page 261. If in the vacuum of space a character has 2 rounds before taking damage from cold.

A void suit can be repaired with a repair kit and 2 successful Tech-Use or Trade (voidfarer) checks (each taking a round). After this the suit is considered repaired until the character suffers critical damage, at which point the suit must be repaired again.

I'm pretty happy with this rule, the only change I might make is making it

Lastly, How much long can normal void suit last in the void?

The book states that a selenite suit can last for 10 hours, but no time is given for a normal suit. I'd go with 5 hours at least.

I really enjoy your take on void combat. I'd say that most armors that are described as non-bulky or armor that can be worn under most clothing such as Xeno mesh, can be worn under a void suit. But even if you get attacked, armor bonuses shouldn't really stack (assuming you are using selenite rather then 4armor + 4 armor = 8, perhaps give a total bonus of 5?) But you have to remember that- if the xeno mesh armor save is used under a normal void suit that void suit is damaged in the process and can start leaking air out of it's tear (which is where the seal-patching kit comes in handy) and after a couple rounds, you can begin he begins the 2 turn countdown (I'd imagine it'd take longer than 10 seconds for small tears, especially if the character commits a half action to form a temporary seal with his hand, or objects around him).

But can other armors be made void suit worthy? I could easily imagine carapace being fitted onto the void suit. You could of course make new suits that confer a larger agility penalty say- if carapace armor was fitted on the outside. But even the production of the Selenite suit is considered a sacred relic and most characters while knowing how a void suit may work may have trouble producing a void suit for themselves without the help of a forge world. Like in life, it's one thing to repair a computer, it's another to build an entire from scratch. However, if the explorer is skilled enough you can give him a chance using the trade (armourer) skill. After all, you do have the final say in everything.

In this case, make heavier armor harder to craft with a voidsuit. Say 1-2 armor in a voidsuit would be Hard (-20), 3-4 Very Hard (-30), 5-6 Arduous (-40), armor that is 7-8 is light and normal power armor, which is already made to survive in the vacuums of space.

I do like your heavy damaged rule which can be used especially during, and after combat- and saying that the suit becomes damaged beyond repair after critical damage. However, I'd still give some minor tear's here and there if they character takes a nasty swipe or shot from a weapon. In this situation I wouldn't have them take any tests for any kind of cold damage or oxygen during combat, but undergo a process afterwards. If the explorer fails to repair his suit after combat (an easy tear would have a large positive modifer attached to it), have it so he must continually find oxygen in order to survive- or find alternative sources of heat. Otherwise I would give him a positive modifier to resist cold and suffocation, as he is mostly covered in his void suit, but losing heat and air to a small damage to his suit. After certain intervals of time, he must make another test, with the modifiers slowly decreasing until it reaches the normal Challenging difficulty at which point, his suit offers him no more protection from the cold, and his suit has leaked out all his air. Air, running out faster than heat- but being more replaceable than heat.

Your idea of 5 hours seems right on a void suit aswell, since- selenite has "dual re-breather cells" while i'd imagine a normal void suit has a single re-breather cell.

Couldn't a person simply put armor on outside the void suit?

Couldn't a person simply put armor on outside the void suit?

That probably depends on the quality of the suit. A best-quality suit, easily as flexible as normal clothing, could certainly be worn under armour, while a bulky suit like today's space suits couldn't be.

@OP

Power Armour can usually be used as a space suit of its own.

I think it depends on the type of suit. A normal Void Suit seems light-ish, and could have certain armours worn outside (Maybe not a helmet though). I'm imagining an electrically-heated, hermetically sealed, mostly-radiation proof body-glove with an integrated helmet and backpack power supply.

The Selentite Suit seems a lot bulkier, it even gives you an Agility penalty for wearing it. Combine that with it's own armour value, thrusters, vox-link and you're looking at the bulkiest personal armour short of Powered. You could wear armour under it, or maybe get custom-made armour for over, but even the stretchiest bodyglove is going to struggle, and Flak is a definate No.

As for shots causing rips, I would rule that anything with enough penetration to ignore the suit's armour, or any external armour, has caused a small tear. It's not a big deal for now, but you'll want to get it fixed up when they've stopped shooting. Maybe have air deplete twice as fast until it's fixed.

Critical damage would cause gaping holes, give the wearer a choice of holding the hole closed (-1 arm) or run out of air in a few minutes.

The void is dangerous, and going out there unprepared is asking for trouble.

You could definatly come up with a void-version of most armors, at least the heavy ones. Power-Armor for instance fluff wise is pretty much a void suit already. you could imagine a void-suit covered in carapace plates.

I don't really like the idea of stacking armor. I mean your PC's might run into someone with a xeno pelt that you decided had a armor value of say 2, then they want to wear it over their heavy armor. 2 armor isn't really that good, but goijng from 5 to 7 is amazing. I usually only let PC gain the advantage of the best armor they are wearing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit

I'd like to propose that this suit can be worn beneath any kind of armour. And air loss due to holes in the suit is not a problem since the suit is not pressurized, only the helmet. However, headshots inflicting critical damage would cause serious problems.

Once again, reality outshines much of fiction when it comes to awesome.

Graspar said:

That is an interesting article and I agree that suits like that could be easily worn under normal armor. The backpack would then be fitted over the armor again. Suits like that would also make excellent uniforms during space combat. When the hull is breached, you only need a hood/helmet and a mask with a cylinder of pressured air. Handy for those areas where losing crew would be wasteful.

I would say, treat them as good or even best quality voidsuits due to the fact that they must be tailor fitted to their wearer.

I don't think it would have to be tailor fitted to the wearer. The basic concept reads like spandex overalls with sealed helmet and rebreather, the very point of the suit is elasticity. But sure, high quality materials would be needed for any kind of safety so let's say good quality.

Also (curse the limited edit time to the eye of terror) being exposed to vacuum is somewhat less dangerous than the rules make out, see www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

Graspar said:

According to the article (see link in above posts), tailor fitting those suits was neccesary to make it good and snug on all the places. For that, they had to tailor fit the suits and even then found it hard to make it work everywhere. Therefore the good or best quality thing.

Hmm, then it appears I spoke to soon.

But what about the helmet? From what I can tell all that's really needed is something which covers eyes, nose, mouth and ears. So, can a helmet be worn over? I think that probably helmets that can't be worn over such a voidsuit could be adapted to keep pressure in by themselves.

Graspar said:

Open faced helmets could be worn if the "bodyglove" voidsuits uses a tight hood with facemask. Alternatively, you could use the classic bubble head helmet that fits over the armor. Problem is of course that with a setup like the latter, every headhit will result in a breached void suit even if the damage fails to puncture the helmet itself.

Well, combat is a bit abstract anyway, I'd let someone have their headgear intact until they take critical damage in the head. At that point however you'd be in trouble, the rules for suffocation are quite dangerous.

Sister Callidia said:

Also, it looks kind of silly... I mean:

Varnias Tybalt said:

You are right, the first RT wearing this should suffer at least a -1 profit penalty because his peers will have a hard time not to start laughing when they see him. On the other hand, every party that needs a joker will ask for him.So better start practising your comedy act.