Exo-Suit

Exoskeletal technology is a technology used commonly in many types of armor and space suits in the 4th millennium. Commonly but not limited to being used to enhance the strength of a user, exo-suits are common across most modern armor and space suit systems. Their advancements have allowed combat armor to be considerably heavier, along with increasing the capability and utility of space suit designs.

The massive increases in the technology since its introduction has allowed exoskeletons to become extremely small, yet fairly powerful. Though they have also led to designs much larger than the average person as well. Many modern exoskeletons have their joints woven directly into or onto the armor of a space suit or combat suit, allowing for exceptional mobility while drastically reducing bulk and weight. Innovations in power technology has also allowed for lengthy operations times without substantial recharge with some of the most efficient skeletons able to operate for weeks without needing a recharge of their power cells.

## Classes

Exoskeletons and suits tend to come in a variety of classes designed for different purposes and with a variety of characteristics.

### Civilian

Civilian exo-suits are often designed for space suits, manual labor, or for hazardous environment suits, providing extra strength to their users and allowing for thicker and more protective examples of these suits. Their power sources are left unburdened by combat suites or other technology, allowing for the installation of additional equipment, and the suits often have external mounts for mechanical armatures or other manipulators or tools.

Though mostly built for non military functions, some outlands nations and corporations, try to modify these exo-suits into primitive examples of infantry power armor. However their relatively weak power cores, combined with their general design often makes these power armor's very weak and only marginally better than the average infantryman.

### Industrial

Industrial Exo-suits are large often nearly two times the height and size of a person, and as their name suggests are designed for heavy lifting and other industrial applications. These exo-suits function more like a vehicle than a piece of clothing or armor. With the user nestled inside an operating cradle inside the suit. This cradle is armored for heavy impact's or other industrial threats, and possesses controls to operate Robotic armatures and other manipulators from inside.

An industrial power armor was used as the basis for the corporate wars: "FTC-20 Autonomous command unit" a suit of industrial exoskeleton modified to command large numbers of autonomous combat drones and give them orders. This armor would subsequently be further modified by the imperium into the: "AN-2 (Anvil-II) Assault power armor". Which dropped the command capabilities of its precursor for further armor and additional firepower mounts.

### Infantry Power Armor

Infantry Power Armor are exo-suits designed specifically for use by infantry. Their power core is far more powerful than civilian examples, yielding capacity and output at nearly 3x that of a civilian exo-skeleton. This allows for the installation of heavy armor plates and other protection or equipment that would otherwise crush a regular person under their weight. This can remain an issue, as should an infantry power armor suit have a power failure, it can yield a user mostly immobile until assistance from others can be rendered. Despite these and other risks though, infantry power armor is mostly reliable, and can provide a user with substantial protection to small arms threats, with some of the best designs able to fully protect the user from (unassisted) standard ballistic calibers across their entire body.

Some infantry power armor such as Praetorian: "P.R.D-005 Elite Infantry Power Armor" goes even further beyond ballistic protection. offering G-suits and thrusters to allow the elite soldiers to survive a drop through a planet's atmosphere and land safely on the ground. After which the descent thrusters can be used for increased maneuverability in combat. Such examples of infantry power armor are very rare and equally as expensive, rendering them usable to only the most well funded individuals.

Infantry power armor though seen mostly in military service, can also find its way into mercenary outfits or private security. Though the imperium has placed heavy restrictions on such use since the corporate wars. due to its expense, seeing full mercenary outfits equipped with power armor is fairly uncommon, and they may only be seen amongst their most elite and experienced contractors.

### Assault Power Armor

Amongst the heaviest infantry one can find the heaviest power armor to boot. Assault power armor similar to industrial exo-suits, towers over individuals and features a similar control and design scheme. However, where industrial exo-suits are mostly unarmored and unarmed, Assault power armor is the exact opposite. Most suits in this class have enormous metal plates, which can at their heaviest range to 4-5 inches thick. Along with additional armor across the body, these suits are often impervious to even assisted small arms fire, and require heavy weapons to deal any significant damage. The power core's and actuator's they use also boast significant energy output and capacity allowing these suits to be dangerously strong. With a negligent swing from an arm able to break the bones of a nearby individual. Even including those wearing infantry power armor designed to absorb heavy impacts. As such operators of these exo-suits often have to be careful as to their movements and ensure they do not accidently injure nearby friendly forces or damage equipment.

While many designs of Assault Power Armor feature weapons integrated onto the suit itself. Most make use of oversized man compatible weapons considered to be their "Primary" Weapon, one of the most well known being the: "Hades Power Armor Assault Rifle". A weapon that fires 12.7mm APHE shells, capable of ripping apart any target up to light armored vehicles. These weapons are far too heavy for an individual outside of these suits to operate alone, however, some are designed to function as crew served weapons, should a Assault suit not be available. Other than these "primary" weapons Assault Armor can also be mounted with secondary weapons or equipment such as: missile/rocket launchers, Laser Cannons, rapid fire EABW's (Electrically Assisted Ballistic Weapons), Melee weapons, deployable shields, ECM technology etc... These extra weapons are often mounted directly to the suit, and can be found on its back or arms.

One of the most famous examples of Assault Power Armor, is the imperium's own: "AN-2 ANVIL Assault Armor". Which can have its roots found in the corporate wars. The suit possesses extraordinary strength and protection, while still retaining a decent amount of mobility for its class. It is traditionally equipped with a Hades Power Armor Assault Rifle, left arm mounted - deployable ballistic shield, right shoulder mounted - laser anti tank ATGM, and left shoulder mounted - long beam gladius. it's design serves to cover as many range brackets and combat situations as possible, making the imperial heavy infantry some of the most dangerous opponents on a battlefield. This suit was modified to serve with praetorians into the P.R.D AN-2 ANVIL Assault Armor which features thrusters, and replaces its ATGM launcher, with a Heavy Laser Cannon designed to function for longer periods of time and with less access to resupply.