Good, but not thick enough. (TEA-5 Dev Thread. PM if interested in joining.)

[Gigdragon]

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Every contact with the workbench broke the still air, but didn't break the block in inspiration he'd reached. Another thunk sounded as his head fell against it again. This time however, he raised his head and just started at the open plating and unfinished wiring of his creation. His TEA-5 armor was mostly complete, but he was having trouble figuring out how to get the blasted suit to assist him in carrying the weight. It wasn't that he didn't know how armor is commonly modified to assist strength, using servos at the joints to mechanically augment ease of movement. While that would work here, the positioning of them would be dangerous to him.

He'd made the outer shell of his armor with as few opening as possible, and in doing so made it so that any servos would have to be on the exterior, open to attack. His desire was to internalize them, but that would mean during a malfunction, the armor would protect him from them. Being injured by your own armor was not ideal for certain.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

An exasperated sigh broke the rhythmic thumping this time as he pushed himself away from the bench. With the squeaking of wheels in need of oil he stood from his seat to stretch his legs before he went stir crazy. Though even standing up was a small victory in getting a new perspective, it didn't send a rush of idea to his mind. It just gave him a higher angle to glare upon his unfinished creation as if trying to intimidate the armor from spilling the secret to its completion. Though, even One would have to admit that the armor was a champion at staring contests. His gaze broke from it and he moved to the shutter door entrance to the shop. Countless people wandered about on the streets and rode in their cars above. He wasn't on Nar Shadaa for the wealth of intelligence, but the wealth of people and product were ideal. Besides, he didn't have to pay anything to work here.

Out of the blue, inspiration stared him in the face as a holo-display read about some unimportant product on the holo-net. That was helpful, if no an answer. Moving from the shutter he brought out his pad and brought up the holo-net to search. He couldn't be the first to have this problem, perhaps someone else had solved a similar problem and posted a how-to on the subject.

 

[Gigdragon]

With a resigned sigh he powered off his datapad and tucked it back in his pouch. Microhydraulics was the most common response he got. It was used in another heavy armor to lower the strain on the wearer and ensure ease of mobility. Well, that was a fantastic addition he'd have to include, but that didn't solve his problem with the servos.

Walking back over to the workbench, he took up his tools to loosen the plating enough that he could get into it and add the microhydraulics into the suit. Once that was done though, he set his tools back upon the bench, and started to get ready for heading out. He didn't have the systems here in the shop, so he'd have to go out and get some. Lights clicked off one by one as he moved about, taking off his utility belt so that he can suit up. It takes a bit to get himself settled back in his TEA-4 armor so he could go out, but once he had done so, off went the last few lights and a few beeps on the electronic keypad to lock up the shop.

Off he went, taking his rented vehicle to the shop he needed, where he drove the shopkeeper crazy by making sure he got the exact measurements right for the micro-hydraulics. He didn't need to set up a mass system across the entire suit, just focus it in the joints like the servos....when he figured those out.

 

[Gigdragon]

The ride back to the shop was as uneventful as the ride there, quick, not pleasant, but time effective all the same. Taking a quick look around the area first to make sure there were no braver criminals about to try to steal from him, he keyed himself in and opened the shutter long enough to step inside before shutting it back behind him and re-locking it. After all, he was working on his own equipment here, and he didn't need anyone getting a peek of it with the plates opened and the schematics out.

What he does need, is some inspiration for the #%$&*'ed servos to fit in. He'd passed on the idea of using stim injectors in the suit, because with the right traumu he could get needles stuck in his body that would do some serious damage. The servos themselves wouldn't be too fancy, he'd already had the designs for those written up and the parts assembled.

The servos would employ a small set of motors on either side of the joint that would compress or relax in time with the flex sensors built into the frames. The frames would hook into the armor, so that whenever he would exert strength on a joint, the pressure sensors in the frame of the servos would react and the motors would provide extra force to the movement. He'd decided then that they couldn't be on the outside so they'd probably not lock up in response to being hit by an ion weapon. If they are internalized, they at least have some shielding against an ion attack...

With a grunt he underwent the arduous process of disembarking from his armor, and once more going to the drawing board.

 

[Gigdragon]

The drawing board was actually a free-edit holoscreen for drawing, which kept him from wasting any paper, since there really was no need. He could just save the data instead of filing away a piece of paper. Everyone needed one of these, probably already had them, but everyone needed one.

He'd barely started to draw the microhydraulics in when the answer to his servos slapped him in the face. The microhydaulics would need to connect to the inner and outer plating for max effectiveness. So all Oni had to to was rework the armoring on the joints so the equipment was under the first armor, but above the inner plating, keeping it wedged between the two....which is also the perfect place for the servos.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Once more his forehead impacted a surface in frustration, though this time it was a wall. He'd had the answer staring him in the face for a while now. It still meant he was going to have to adjust the design of the joints some to incorporate the new systems. It would mean a few extra hours of frustration since it meant fabricating entirely new plating, more welding, more tempering, and then adding the right bolts to hold together the parts that shouldn't be welded.

 

[Gigdragon]

Right as he had stripped the plating on the joints did another flaw in the armor rear its ugly head. The way the servos were designed meant that an ion grenade would screw them up. They were entirely operated by the motors, meaning it would take more effort than if they weren't there if they ever went down. It was an easy fix though, he just had to make it so the hinge was able to move without the motors, able to be operated on his own strength, but when functioning, the motors would apply extra force to his movements.

He was aware the systems would be difficult to operate because of how the systems were untested. He'd have to spend time training in the armor and extra time calibrating it to his preference. This would be fun. However, now he got to work on actually fixing the servos. He'd have to make the adjustments so he could factor in the new measurements of the servos. He'd factor in those variables as well when shaping the plating to cover them.

 

[Gigdragon]

So, a few hours later, the adjustments were complete, configured, and installed. The plating was already submitted to that droid operated smithy a few blocks away and they were being shaped into the exact measurements he order....or else. So now his thoughts were left to wander. Mostly occupied to what he'd do if he turned out to be an unsatisfied customer. He wasn't unreasonable, on the first mistake he'd just get a free re-do on his order so they could fix the mistakes. On the second mistake, he'd figure out some way to make one of the smaller helper droids into a hat. His first choice was a top-hat, but a 'straw' hat would work just as well, he liked the design.

He could shape the metal himself....if he had a shop for doing so, the materials, the tools, and an assistant for yelling at in order for stress relief. A droid preferably, a yellow-green colored one so he could despise it. His mind wandered to abusing said droid, and slowly selling himself on the idea of getting one just as a punching bag. Maybe put a hood on it and paint the face black so he could punt the stupid jawa droid in its annoying face.

This couldn't last forever though, and his mind eventually figured out that he was sitting in a chair, staring at a wall, and waiting for entertainment. With a sigh, he got out of his chair, stuck out his arms on either side, then let himself fall back into he landed on the wooden floors of the shop with a solid thud....accompanied by an oomph as a little wind was knocked from him. Man was he bored.

Of course, this was the perfect time to watch the smooth. silvered metals of the roof peel open as some horrifying beast sundered the metal with its predatory curved red claws. His heart-rate kicked through the roof as every strip of metal peeled away heralded more of the beasts bloated form into view. Its skin brought about the sight and smell of freshly tanned leather serving as a water-skin to some unknown fluid, stretched out over a monster. Some part of him knew this wasn't real, but that didn't stop him from adding four glowing red holes in the otherwise pristine metal, just to be safe.

Well, he wasn't bored anymore. Still, now the owner was going to know someone had been here while he was gone. Oh well, he wouldn't know who at least.

 

[Gigdragon]

Finally, after a few hours of leaving the shop to clear his head and just window shopping about, he got a call that his order was ready. Despite the bit of horror he'd been subjected to earlier, a smile graced his features as his boot turned about on the street. He really was hoping they'd messed up his order. The idea of the 'straw' hat droid had really grown on him, he'd amused himself with the mental image of wearing it while in his armor.

Sadly, his order had been completed to perfection. Darn. Well, he glared at one of the helper droids anyways on his way out. It couldn't tell of course, thanks to the helmet he was wearing, but it probably knew. Somewhere deep in its programming, it had some fear that its destruction and re-fabrication into summer-wear was narrowly avoided.

Tucking the box under his arm, he trudged back to the shop and did the same routine to get in and lock it up. Once that was done he quickly coated the servos in a slightly squishy polymer, oiled them up, and then actually settled in the rest of the way. Setting down the box, he pulled out his plating and set to work welding and screwing the plating together over the servos and other components. Next came the final wiring, cabling, and connecting the pieces to the underlying energy net. Finally. It was done. Untested, but construction itself was complete. Even better yet, it didn't explode! He connected in to charge, the powercell would need some overnight charging.

So, he locked up for the night, rigged the door to explode, and went to sleep. Tomorrow would begin testing.

 

[Gigdragon]

Well, seeing as how he slept through the night without being woken by an explosion to wake him, he assumed everything went well. So, he wasn't surprised when the shop was just as he left it, save for the gloves of his TEA-5 glowing slightly to signal the suit was fully powered. His excitement made him want to dance about, and since he was the only one here, he did so. For science.

He then actually got to business and unplugged it from charging, then started to get it put together on himself. Once he was all set up, he started with the simple diagnostics. He cycled slowly through the communications and visual settings in the helmet to make sure nothing was configured incorrectly.The diagnostic took a few minutes and everything checked out. Next he checked out the jetpack, just initializing it to lift himself off the ground and hover before settling down. Fuel consumption was in the acceptable range, and wasn't heating unnecessarily. Next came the flamethrower, he directed it on his other armor and just gave a quick burst so as not to do any damage, so that functions.

Now came for the part he was worried about. He took down the safety functions keeping the servos and micro-hydraulics inactive, and gave them a moment to activate. He started with the fingers.....and immediately after he turned the servos back off...they'd need some tweaking. Instead, he just worked on the micro-hydraulics for a few hours. They weren't breaking apart or malfunctioning, but he just needed to get used to moving a bit slower and work at their settings until they made his movements smooth, and made moving a little easier. At the very least it was less strenuous on his muscles now.

Next...just the servos.

 

[Gigdragon]

So, instead of risking propelling himself across the room and damaging who-knows-what. He started with one limb at a time. So, he flexed his arm, or at least tried. The servos did work, but their goal was to increase his strength without damaging him or affecting his abilities. This was not reflected in the first attempt because it took a moment for the movement to reach the initial threshold and start the motors, and once he did, it took it too long to stop. So, test one was a fail, he reengaged the safety on them.

So, some more adjustments later, he recalibrated them to engage almost instantly, and as soon as they met resistance, to stop. That system meant that as long as he resisted it would almost instantly balance out when he wanted to stop so it wouldn't throw off his aim. The second test was better on response time, but the power of the motors was still a bit delicate. So again he overshot what he wanted his target with his arm, but it worked for the joints in his legs to give quick movements in simple directions without too much need for minute changes mid-step. So, for the legs the system worked without trouble at increasing strength without sacrificing precision, but the arms and other joints would need....a bit more fine tuning.

 

[Gigdragon]

The solution came to him after quite a few more bottles of corellian ale, and even more hours, he'd had to take the armor open again. While the servos worked for the knees, fingers, shoulders, and back......the fingers and feet needed different calibrations, while he had to take out the elbow one all together. The ones at the fingers and feet still responded instantly, but strength came in at a steadily increasing amount until the servo felt internal resistance from the fingers or feet. So that he had a steady increase of speed and strength in the feet while he was running, thanks to a consistent balancing system that shut off the servos from increasing as soon as he gave a vocal command in the helmet. The fingers had a similar system, but without the consistent system, meaning when he grabbed something to crush it, he'd only have his own strength at first, but the longer he attempted to crush something withing his grasp, the stronger his grip would be....it could only double his crushing power...but it should be enough to crush some skulls, and maybe even light armor....maybe.