Tin Men

Development of a "man-made Suit" began early in the war and was earmarked as a priority by Tommy's Engineers, but very quickly fell by the wayside. The reason for this is generally accepted to be due to the development team, many of which were Pilots, holding the belief that the war against the Vannai should only be fought with Suits, and that the glory of combat and victory belonged to the Pilots alone.
Because of this vainglorious mindset, what little oversight ACC had over the project quickly forgot about it, and the Engineers lacked any interest in actually developing the project any further. Despite the initial hype surrounding the project, the Tin Man project was almost forgotten about entirely, with the few units formed around the project having to make do throughout the war with first-generation production models.
This did not prevent Tin Men units from playing a role in the war, though they did so without the fanfare of their celebrity counterparts. Tin Men were instrumental in the Bright Offensive in particular, as without the additional numbers they provided, a simultaneous operation such as that would have spread the pilots alone too thin.
After the signing of the Wellington Agreement, Armor Corps willingly devolved the majority of its military power back to the Tasman Alliance. The Tin Men were a topic of uncertainty, however, being a new unit type created by Armor Corps during the war, and remained under AC after the Agreement. It wasn't until the Dokuritsu Insurrection that the Tin Men topic was properly addressed, however, as up to this point their development had been left in the hands of the Engineers, who had neglected the project in favor of less focused pursuits.
<tabber>Tin Man Test Type=
==Test Type==
A near-mock up created as a proof of concept. The Test Type Tin Man exosuit was never intended to see combat, evidenced by its much lighter armor, limited sensors, and lack of substantial battery life. The proper MkI "production" model already existed on paper by the time of their initial revelation, and once ACC Command gave their approval for mass production, no further Test Types were produced.
During the Bright Offensive, some Test Types were sent into combat to help supplement ACC numbers during the massive operation. After the Offensive had concluded, surviving "Mk0" suits were scrapped by the Engineers, with some retained by AC R&D as hazard suits.
|-|Tin Man MkI=
==MkI==
The first production model of the Tin Man concept, the iconic “MkI” version, wound up being the model that AC’s Tin Men regiment fought the entirety of the Human-Vannai War with. As a program had been rushed out of its early stages, the MkI suit had numerous shortcomings; foremost among them being the bulky fuel cell battery pack mounted in the center of the chest area which, despite providing ample power for combat operations, presented a large, targetable weakness and could obstruct aiming weaponry. Nonetheless, lack of interest in the project saw none of these issues addressed, and the men and women fielding Tin Men Mk1 suits simply had to contend.
Despite being an incomplete design, the MkI still presented a number of advantages to the user that would be otherwise unavailable to an ordinary soldier. The suit featured light-enhanced, thermal and long-distance camera modes, a long range radio and tactical uplink. It is completely sealed to the outside environment, allowing for operation in bio and radiologically hazardous environments, as well as underwater and even theoretically the void of outer space. Being a powered suit, the Mk1 also allows the operator to carry a considerable amount of weight and utilize weaponry far heavier than an ordinary human would be able to handle.
The written-off nature of the Mk1 saw many personal upgrades, enhancements and adaptations be introduced by their users over the course of the Human-Vannai War, especially once suits of Mk1 began making their way into the hands of the Green Initiative. Although every Mk1 came issued with an ASR-15, weapons both lighter and heavier were developed by operators with spare or pooled personal funds. Concerns over the relatively light aluminum armor saw various up-armor kits be devised, though part of the initial reason for utilizing aluminium armor was due to a belief that aluminum would be more resistant to energy weapons than steel, in addition to being lighter and cheaper.
===OaTs Stats===
Tin Man MkI 	Tin Man MkI 	Tin Man MkI 	Tin Man MkI
Type 	Heavy Tactical Armor 	Heavy Tactical Armor 	Heavy Tactical Armor
Equipment Bonus 	+4 	+4 	+4
Max AGL Bonus 	+0 	+0 	+0
Armor Penalty 	-9 	-9 	-9
CP Loss 	5 	5 	5
Damage Reduction	30/Ballistic, Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slash, Concussive 	30/Ballistic, Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slash, Concussive 	30/Ballistic, Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slash, Concussive
Armor Points 	375 	375 	375
Weight 	720.5lbs 	720.5lbs 	720.5lbs
Cost 	 	 	
Special Notes 	Protects all parts of the body.Incorporates Passive Hearing Protection, Integrated flashlight, Headset.Negate all Will Saving Throws against blindness.May accept one set of armor plates.Increases wearer's STR score to 26 when worn, with all focus placed in POW. The servos built into the suit allow it to stand on its own with no force or strength required from the wearer.Due to its bulk, any character wearing this suit is only able to use Large or larger firearms, taking a penalty on the attack roll equal to the armor penalty.	Protects all parts of the body.Incorporates Passive Hearing Protection, Integrated flashlight, Headset.Negate all Will Saving Throws against blindness.May accept one set of armor plates.Increases wearer's STR score to 26 when worn, with all focus placed in POW. The servos built into the suit allow it to stand on its own with no force or strength required from the wearer.Due to its bulk, any character wearing this suit is only able to use Large or larger firearms, taking a penalty on the attack roll equal to the armor penalty.	Protects all parts of the body.Incorporates Passive Hearing Protection, Integrated flashlight, Headset.Negate all Will Saving Throws against blindness.May accept one set of armor plates.Increases wearer's STR score to 26 when worn, with all focus placed in POW. The servos built into the suit allow it to stand on its own with no force or strength required from the wearer.Due to its bulk, any character wearing this suit is only able to use Large or larger firearms, taking a penalty on the attack roll equal to the armor penalty.
|-|Tin Man MkII=
==MkII==
The MkII Tin Man came to be after the Human-Vannai War ended. After the “civil war” in 2015, the Armor Corps began the process of transferring conventional military assets back to Tasmanians. The Tin Men, being a wholly AC creation, were exempt from this agreement, however, and remained under ACC control. Development of the project remained the responsibility to Tommy’s Engineers - which is to say that development remained stagnant throughout the war. After the Dokuritsu Insurrection, ACC began looking heavily into the Engineers various projects and budgetary allotments, coming to discover a disheartening amount of embezzlement of coalition funds that, intended to safeguard humanity, had instead gone into frivolous projects such as recreational anti-matter, bio-engineered slavery, and keeping the economy of Japan under the Engineers afloat. The AC audit committee also discovered the complete lack of planned improvements for the Tin Men project, and, under its advice, a new project was launched by Armor Corps to finally deliver on the promises made when the original Tin Man project started; to show just how good a Suit humanity could produce with its own technology.
The MkII variant benefits from more sophisticated materials, components and weaponry. The integrated optics are far more powerful than the previous version and protected inside the helmet casing rather than being mounted outside of it. The original “dome” helmet is replaced with a far more articulate design that allows for more head movement while also adding a substantial neck guard. The power pack has been moved to the back and also reduced in size without affecting its capacity thanks to improvements in power cell technology over the past five years. In addition to overall improvements with the internal frame, the external armor has also been vastly improved, replacing the light aluminum plating with an advanced metallic ceramic composite, offering significantly better protection against kinetic weapons in almost every regard. MkII models also possess sufficient computational infrastructure to house Virtual Intelligence units, further adding to the MkII’s toolbag by providing instantaneous autonomous analytical capabilities, and comes equipped with its own radar/sonar systems. The result is a far more capable exosuit than the MkI.
|-|Dark Tin Man=
Several hundred suits of MkI Tin Men were transferred to Libra for its security garrison before the station's disappearance. Some of these suits would later be encountered still in operation during ACC's expedition. Towards the end of the operation, these so-called "Dark Tin Men" would also be encountered. Despite appearing to be in an advanced state of decay and lacking a power source of any kind, these peculiar Tin Men would display capabilities exceeding what would be expected of a MkI suit. Given that they only appeared after several phase shifts and accompanied the Vengeful Illusion, much of their nature is open to speculation.
</tabber>
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:Armor Corps
Category:TE Technology