What the title says.
How viable do you guys think this armor is in and of itself?
Look at modern day body armor
image of a plate carrier
For those who are not familiar with this line of plate carrier armor underneath the front and back covering is a SAPI plate. (Hence the term Plate Carrier)
Image of a SAPI plate
Now there are 2 small side plates but I wont bother linking those.
The armor is designed to take a few hits before being rendered useless. IE the plate will shatter enough to not stop a round from impacting whats beneath it. The Kevlar aka the helmet is not designed to stop a round so much as it sends the round curving along the helmet itself.
And we know that the UNSC uses something along these lines with their Marine and Army armor.
UNSC M52B armor
But now that comes to the actual Spartan armor
Mjolnir armor
It seems to cover most of the body which current day armor does not do and the M52B armor also has the shin guards.
And now look at Fire team Osiris’ armor.
Osiris
Vales armor as well as the one in white whos name I am blanking on seem to leave a massive gap in the mid section. With no shields that would be a big unprotected part. And many parts of all of their armor has a curve leading back into their body. IE any ballistic round would hit the curve and just follow it along until it impacted their suits under layer.
Of them all in my opinion Bucks armor is the most viable to wear if you had no shields. It seems to cover most of his body and his neck is well protected unlike Lockes.
Same with this image of the Chief.
Chief
Look at the front chest piece. If a round came in from an angle and hit it, the round would just curve around until it hit near his shoulder.
Same with the mid section armor. The rounds hit and follow along till they impact the body suit.
I realize they mostly face energy rounds but any kind of ballistic shot could just follow the plates. Shoot enough of them like from an AR and one or two will go right into a vital part.
So again the title. Is this armor really viable if they had to, say, fight other humans again? Once the shield goes down the body suit will only take so many rounds before it gives way. If it could even stop a round fired from a Halo time period weapon.
Well, there is that part in Fall of Reach where the Chief (wearing Mark V armor) managed to shrug of a hail of AR fire though I don’t remember if that was the shields or the armor plating itself. So Spartans wearing the armor should have no issues dealing with human enemies and their ballistic weapons. As for the practicality of the program itself: the old Mark IV to VI variants were quite effective but expensive as hell (i.e. the cost of a damn frigate) which made them a somewhat questionable investment for some brass at the UNSC. But with GEN 2 costs being well below that, I’d say the practicality of Mjolnir armor has gone way up even if, as you pointed out, some the design decisions might be questionable.
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> Well, there is that part in Fall of Reach where the Chief (wearing Mark V armor) managed to shrug of a hail of AR fire though I don’t remember if that was the shields or the armor plating itself. So Spartans wearing the armor should have no issues dealing with human enemies and their ballistic weapons. As for the practicality of the program itself: the old Mark IV to VI variants were quite effective but expensive as hell (i.e. the cost of a damn frigate) which made them a somewhat questionable investment for some brass at the UNSC. But with GEN 2 costs being well below that, I’d say the practicality of Mjolnir armor has gone way up even if, as you pointed out, some the design decisions might be questionable.
I’m pretty sure he used the shields to bounce the rounds.
Also in the Flood novel we know that a flood infection form can pierce the body suit so we can assume that the same could be send for at least some calibers of rounds.
It is my understanding that the ‘armor’ part of mjollnir, at least from gen2 upwards, is the black ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ with the various extra bits and bobs housing systems&equipment and providing extra protection to the vitals much like an extra ballistic insert in modern armors. It didn’t look like it in previous games but in H5 its fairly obvious especially in the bleeding-edge suits worn by Locke and Vale where the only painted parts jutting out is the chest rig. With that in mind, i don’t see any weak points a richochet could penetrate any more than an a direct hit could. EXCEPT the upper chest. With a curved plate, a hit there could send a bullet upwards and hit under the chin where i don’t think much armor is present. You need something like what Tanaka has on her armor there, only wider.
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> It is my understanding that the ‘armor’ part of mjollnir, at least from gen2 upwards, is the black ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ with the various extra bits and bobs housing systems&equipment and providing extra protection to the vitals much like an extra ballistic insert in modern armors. It didn’t look like it in previous games but in H5 its fairly obvious especially in the bleeding-edge suits worn by Locke and Vale where the only painted parts jutting out is the chest rig. With that in mind, i don’t see any weak points a richochet could penetrate any more than an a direct hit could. EXCEPT the upper chest. With a curved plate, a hit there could send a bullet upwards and hit under the chin where i don’t think much armor is present. You need something like what Tanaka has on her armor there, only wider.
I’ve never thought of it that way, but I am pretty sure the parts jutting out are the armor itself. And on the Chiefs armor he clearly has curved plates that would lead a bullet right into the body suit near his arms and stomach.
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> > 2533274865717713;4:
> > It is my understanding that the ‘armor’ part of mjollnir, at least from gen2 upwards, is the black ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ with the various extra bits and bobs housing systems&equipment and providing extra protection to the vitals much like an extra ballistic insert in modern armors. It didn’t look like it in previous games but in H5 its fairly obvious especially in the bleeding-edge suits worn by Locke and Vale where the only painted parts jutting out is the chest rig. With that in mind, i don’t see any weak points a richochet could penetrate any more than an a direct hit could. EXCEPT the upper chest. With a curved plate, a hit there could send a bullet upwards and hit under the chin where i don’t think much armor is present. You need something like what Tanaka has on her armor there, only wider.
>
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> I’ve never thought of it that way, but I am pretty sure the parts jutting out are the armor itself. And on the Chiefs armor he clearly has curved plates that would lead a bullet right into the body suit near his arms and stomach.
If the parts jutting out are the armor, then the Mjollnir is the worst armor ever designed protecting virtually nothing, having bullet-catchers galore and screaming ‘shoot here’ with the ‘armor’ being different color than the soft parts. I’m choosing to believe that there’s some thought put in the armor design and my interpetation is right but it wouldn’t be the first time i have been disappointed with devs just going with ‘rule of cool’ in an otherwise well crafted game universe 
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> > > 2533274865717713;4:
> > > It is my understanding that the ‘armor’ part of mjollnir, at least from gen2 upwards, is the black ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ with the various extra bits and bobs housing systems&equipment and providing extra protection to the vitals much like an extra ballistic insert in modern armors. It didn’t look like it in previous games but in H5 its fairly obvious especially in the bleeding-edge suits worn by Locke and Vale where the only painted parts jutting out is the chest rig. With that in mind, i don’t see any weak points a richochet could penetrate any more than an a direct hit could. EXCEPT the upper chest. With a curved plate, a hit there could send a bullet upwards and hit under the chin where i don’t think much armor is present. You need something like what Tanaka has on her armor there, only wider.
> >
> >
> > I’ve never thought of it that way, but I am pretty sure the parts jutting out are the armor itself. And on the Chiefs armor he clearly has curved plates that would lead a bullet right into the body suit near his arms and stomach.
>
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> If the parts jutting out are the armor, then the Mjollnir is the worst armor ever designed protecting virtually nothing, having bullet-catchers galore and screaming ‘shoot here’ with the ‘armor’ being different color than the soft parts. I’m choosing to believe that there’s some thought put in the armor design and my interpetation is right but it wouldn’t be the first time i have been disappointed with devs just going with ‘rule of cool’ in an otherwise well crafted game universe
I am really sure that the plates are the armor. Otherwise whats the point of that plates covering the legs?
Without shields Mjolnir seems lacking.
People need to read the wiki’s. the Undersuit is also armor.
- Titanium nanocomposite bodysuitSandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is a thick black armored bodysuit. This suit has numerous functions, small but vital to the safety and survival of the wearer. The bodysuit is made of a titanium-based material, making it very strong and yet very flexible. It also serves as another layer of protection against ballistics attacks and is coated with a heat resistant material to disperse heat from plasma weapons.
Honestly I’d say its pretty evident in the Reach and h5 depictions of it. It looked kind of vague before (didn’t help it was the joints on old low polly models). H4 quite terribly made it look like nothing more than a wet suit.
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> People need to read the wiki’s. the Undersuit is also armor.
>
>
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> - Titanium nanocomposite bodysuit
> Sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is a thick black armored bodysuit. This suit has numerous functions, small but vital to the safety and survival of the wearer. The bodysuit is made of a titanium-based material, making it very strong and yet very flexible. It also serves as another layer of protection against ballistics attacks and is coated with a heat resistant material to disperse heat from plasma weapons.
>
> Honestly I’d say its pretty evident in the Reach and h5 depictions of it. It looked kind of vague before (didn’t help it was the joints on old low polly models).
For some reason I always took that to mean that it would protect against small caliber rounds. Not stuff from say…A BR. I still believe that with no shields Mjolnir armor isnn’t up to par.
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> > > > 2533274865717713;4:
> > > > It is my understanding that the ‘armor’ part of mjollnir, at least from gen2 upwards, is the black ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ with the various extra bits and bobs housing systems&equipment and providing extra protection to the vitals much like an extra ballistic insert in modern armors. It didn’t look like it in previous games but in H5 its fairly obvious especially in the bleeding-edge suits worn by Locke and Vale where the only painted parts jutting out is the chest rig. With that in mind, i don’t see any weak points a richochet could penetrate any more than an a direct hit could. EXCEPT the upper chest. With a curved plate, a hit there could send a bullet upwards and hit under the chin where i don’t think much armor is present. You need something like what Tanaka has on her armor there, only wider.
> > >
> > >
> > > I’ve never thought of it that way, but I am pretty sure the parts jutting out are the armor itself. And on the Chiefs armor he clearly has curved plates that would lead a bullet right into the body suit near his arms and stomach.
> >
> >
> > If the parts jutting out are the armor, then the Mjollnir is the worst armor ever designed protecting virtually nothing, having bullet-catchers galore and screaming ‘shoot here’ with the ‘armor’ being different color than the soft parts. I’m choosing to believe that there’s some thought put in the armor design and my interpetation is right but it wouldn’t be the first time i have been disappointed with devs just going with ‘rule of cool’ in an otherwise well crafted game universe
>
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> I am really sure that the plates are the armor. Otherwise whats the point of that plates covering the legs?
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> Without shields Mjolnir seems lacking.
In my interpetation they contain the ‘magnetic’ grip holster system as well as being a part of the system supporting&negating the weight of the armor and other gear as there’s only so much flexible armor can do in that regard.
And yeah, if the only parts of the suit that are actual armor are the few painted parts as you interpet it, then it would make more sense to slap the shield generator on an ODST armor.
> 2533274964189700;8:
> People need to read the wiki’s. the Undersuit is also armor.
>
>
>
> - Titanium nanocomposite bodysuit
> Sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is a thick black armored bodysuit. This suit has numerous functions, small but vital to the safety and survival of the wearer. The bodysuit is made of a titanium-based material, making it very strong and yet very flexible. It also serves as another layer of protection against ballistics attacks and is coated with a heat resistant material to disperse heat from plasma weapons.
>
> Honestly I’d say its pretty evident in the Reach and h5 depictions of it. It looked kind of vague before (didn’t help it was the joints on old low polly models)
That’s still pretty flimsy stuff to have on the outside considering what it would have to hold against.
Like i said before, i interpet the ‘titanium alloy outer shell’ (which doesn’t seem to be mentioned at all with gen2…) to be the black, outermost layer of mjollnir. The reasons being that:
a) It’s an actual shell and the painted pieces are just plates that cover virtually nothing and seem to just be supporting other stuff like the power plant
b) The mjollnir would make zero sense and would actually be hazardous to its user with how the plates deflect bullets toward the soft parts and it would have nowhere to house the numerous systems it needs just to make it usable and not half a ton of dead weight.
I might be giving the designers a bit more trust in ‘making things sensible’ than they actually deserve, though
I think everyone’s forgetting something here; look up MJOLNIR armor. The ENTIRE suit (yes including the black parts aka bodysuit) is nigh impenetrable to small arms fire. I said nigh because the only types of small arms bullets that can eventually penetrate MJOLNIR are AP rounds (its gonna take quite a few direct hits in roughly the same spot to go through the outer part, and 3-4 AP direct hits in around the same spot to breach the bodysuit or black parts Trust me, glancing blows from AP won’t do much more than put slight dents/grooves in the armor) and sniper rifle rounds. I think the sniper rounds are the only type of bullets that can breach the black part or titanium body suit and get into the undersuit with one direct hit cuz those bullets are freakin immense and they travel super fast. I think it would take something like 2 at the most 3 direct hit sniper hits in the same spot on the outer armor like the chest, back or thigh plating to breach it. And I’m talking about UNSC rounds 500 years in the future, not modern day rounds.
Also, don’t any of you dare say something like “oh our modern day AP rounds and normal bullets can breach MJOLNIR”. Yeah f***ing right. Mjolnir armor worn by Spartan 2s were just as thick as the ceramic titanium plating on Scorpions. No modern bullet, nor a barrage of hundreds and hundreds of bullets, is gonna breach that armor, and im talking no energy shields. If you’re a modern day soldier and you’re facing MJOLNIR, your ONLY hope is to start launching RPGs and/or shooting tank shells==>with the tech and engineering put into that armor worth billions of dollars each, a Spartan 2 in Mark 4 can take a modern day tank round to the chest and still keep moving, cuz all our military stuff, from bullets to vehicles, are absolute trash compared to the UNSC’s. Trust me, 500 years in the future, everything from guns to ships would have advanced and evolved so much that its like comparing modern day tech to stuff from the 1600’s at least
the armor is too heavy without lots of augmentations
