Posted by: Bremen
« on: December 06, 2020, 03:05:27 PM »To me power armour is Elementals. WH40K Marines or traveller battledress which is just heavy infantry and carries heavier versions of infantry weapons. Anything carrying heaveir vehicle type weapons comes under the heading of Mecha which is vehicles for me.
Basically the dividing line I use is that since infantry with power armor can use personal weapons, then any armor where the soldier would reasonably use the same weapon as an unaugmented human makes sense as the infantry chassis. WH40k space marines are kind of borderline there; they use personal weapons similar to standard infantry but tend to use special larger and heavier versions.
If instead they wouldn't use man portable weapons like an assault rifle, then I treat it as a light vehicle. A quick google image search confirms Battletech Elementals fall in the later category.
Now, obviously you totally could use an infantry chassis but only give it crew served and anti-vehicle weapons and say they don't use puny normal weapons, I just figure the fact that it's an option means Aurora "power armor" is on a scale where it's supposed to fit. So something more like Halo or Fallout power armor than Elementals or x-Com MECs, to use examples.