Do we need Glitterborgs?

[Shadowdragon7]

With some military's in rifts still making Glitterboys how come no one made any glitterboy armor plates for their cyborgs yet?

[kaid]

Actually I am pretty sure in the official errata for triax 2 there are some borgs that use GB armor.

[Athos]

With some military's in rifts still making Glitterboys how come no one made any glitterboy armor plates for their cyborgs yet?

I guess the same reason they haven't put GB armor on bigger robots, or boom guns on tanks, or any other logical extension of knowing GB tech, Kevin wills it not to be

[taalismn]

You kidding? I make it available to my borgs!
Of course, a chromed body tends to be a lot more maintenance intensive, and while you can garage a Glitterboy when you're not out fighting or adventuring, a 'borg is in motion pretty much ALL THE TIME, since it's somebody's BODY. That's going to put some wear and tear on the plates, so military beancounters aren't terribly fond of glitterborgs because of all the upkeep costs, especially if they're tallying costs for large numbers of them.

[Nightmask]

Well few people actually know how to make Chromium armor for one to actually develop such plating for a cyborg, it would also be far more expensive and heavier than existing armor and provide even worse penalties for movement than conventional heavy armor. So it's probably no seen as practical or needed (although you CAN convert any power armor or robot vehicle into a Cyborg chassis including a Glitter Boy) with what's already currently available. You'd need a more advanced technological setting like some of the Phase World civilizations with the means to produce Chromium armor cheaply to see it get any kind of use particularly wide-spread use as borg armor or other applications.

[Raze_7]

With some military's in rifts still making Glitterboys how come no one made any glitterboy armor plates for their cyborgs yet?

Since a Borg can carry a Shaker Tri-gun, then I'd allow them to wear a smaller amount of GB armor, with slightly increased movement penalties.

[kaid]

With some military's in rifts still making Glitterboys how come no one made any glitterboy armor plates for their cyborgs yet?

If you check out rifter 51 which has the official information for triax 2 borgs that did not make the book themselves there is a full conversion borg chassis that uses glitterboy alloy armor. The ironic thing is to carry the weight its overall armor winds up not being that much better than a normal full conversion heavy assault borg. It is laser resistant though which does help its durability vs laser using opponents.

[taalismn]

Depends how you perceive your cyborg most being threatened.
Given that lasers are the most common high-tech megadamage weaponry around, they're what are most likely to be pulled on a cyborg character, who in close quarters(like a bar) is likely to be seen as the big threat). so reducing the effects of that weaponry is handy.
On the minus side, the COST of patching up that specialized armor likely is more than replacing the same MDC equivalent(if not greater) of regular MDC armor.
And if your cyborg is mainly going to be used for hunting MDC critters not likely to be using modern firearms against him, then adding laser-reflective chroming is an unnecessary expense, since it's going to be scratches, dings, teeth marks, acid burns and thermal damage(from dragon breath) the cyborg is more likely to need repairing on a regular basis.

[Razorwing]

The big drawback to the Chrome Armor used by Glitterboys is that it is only effective against laser weapons. All other Energy Weapons (Ion, plasma, particle beams) deal FULL damage, as does magic, psionic and kinetic attacks (railguns and explosives).

Yes, Laser weapons are arguably the cheapest and most plentiful weapons in the setting, they also tend to be the least damaging. Additionally with the ability to modify their frequency to overcome laser resistant armors like the Glitterboy, said armor isn't as effective as people think. Yes, it is still some of the hardest armor to crack... but given the cost and weight to produce it... it isn't always the most practical.

The most common use for the armor in most situations is for its awe factor... the mirrored surface can be surprisingly intimidating... not to mention blinding... in a number of situations.

As for putting the Boom Cannon on other platforms... the same problems arise that the Glitterboy has... namely the massive amount of recoil the weapon produces. Glitterboys themselves are designed with hooks, pylons and recoil rockets to minimize the effect this recoil produces... and this is in addition to its considerable weight (over 1 ton). Any other platform will need to be designed to compensate for this massive recoil as well, most likely creating the same problem Glitterboys have when using the weapon... namely that they can't move while the gun is in use. This makes any large tank an even bigger sitting target than a Glitterboy (who have a considerably smaller target profile). Finally, tanks and similar weapon platforms are not likely to be as versatile or as maneuverable as the Glitterboys tend to be (the Glitterboy armor can get into places a more standard tank would have trouble reaching).

All in all, the chrome armor used by Glitterboys and the weapons they use tend to be a little impractical on anything other than the Glitterboys themselves. In fact, the armor itself is a little obsolete... it is only its legendary status and the awe factor on seeing it that makes it even remotely useful when there are cheaper and better options available. Even Free Quebec and Triax (the two nations that produce the majority of the armors) have made some much needed improvements to the original NEMA designs (some of which sacrifice the overall level of protection and raw firepower for a more practical application).

[Alrik Vas]

and as far as other GB tech is concerned, the new Devastator in Triax 2 has arm mounted boom guns. get some.

[kaid]

The funny thing is next to a GB heavy assault full conversion borgs with the heavy borg armor are more armored than all but a few outliers when compared to power armor or even giant robot vehicles. Combat borgs can be stupidly durable if built for it and about half of their armor is relatively cheap ablative armor that is cheaper to repair or replace.

[Tor]

Particularly since when you build a naruni force field into a borg, it is the double-MDC robot-style one (good luck affording it though) as opposed to the normal style ones, which suits of PA are limited to using.

If someone wanted to get a Naruni-field for a glitter-boy (no halving the laser dmg to that though, only after) or other large suit like the GBK or Terror Trooper, I could see some argue "it's PA" if they wanted to save on costs, or "it's bot" if they were wealthy and wanted the extra MDC.

[The Dark Elf]

I made up a Glitterborg OCC for an NPC!!!!!!

[Tor]

Possibly worth noting: NGRp169 lists the Dragonwing amongst the robots you can get a brain transplant into (effectively borgs) and Dragonwings are sometimes outfitted with glitter armor instead of stealth.