MJOLNIR GEN2 system specs & capabilities

Community Halo Universe
1

I’ve been curious about this for a bit (and just shot a couple questions out for the Q&A for next week’s bulletin) and thought I’d reach out to the community. We know so much about the old GEN1 systems, but almost nothing about the new S-IV kit.

If anyone knows stuff I don’t, I beg you to share! If not, I’d love to discuss possibilities based on what we do know.

What I Know

  • Unified systems compatibility with all GEN2 and retrofit GEN1 MJOLNIR equipment; universal fastener placement on GEN2 bodysuit allows quick outfitting of armor system regardless of variants chosen by individual Spartan
  • Customizable via Armor Ability and Support/Tactical package modules*
  • Full NBC (Nuclear/Chemical/Biological) protection as long as shield systems and seals remain functional
  • Notably superior physical strength enhancement in comparison to MJOLNIR GEN1 equipment (Noted by AlphaBenson)
  • All features from GEN1 Mark-VI standard equipment (targeting/ammo counter for dual-wield is assumed present from Spartan Assault, not used for gameplay reasons)
  • Power supply is a compact fusion reactor located at back of the torso carapace.
    (Bulletin Q&A 9/24/14)
    Other than these things, I know practically nothing about the stuff. The magnitude of its strength magnification, type of power system, what the actual armor/shield emitter plates are made from, nothing.

*Debatable due to presence of none of these in H5:G, possible need to disregard for same reason Dual-Wield is not serviceable; gameplay. (Thanks to AlphaBenson)

2

I honestly don’t think the majority of the Support/Tactical upgrades are canon, if any are at all.

Also, according to a Q&A session from earlier this year, the MJOLNIR GEN2 increases the user’s strength the most out of any other known model, which placed the weaker Spartan-IVs on equal terms with a Spartan-II in GEN1 in terms of pure strength.

Also, I would imagine that the plating of the armor is Titanium, like everything is in the UNSC, while the undersuit is some advanced polymer body suit, sort of like the black body suit from Fall of Reach.

3

Thank you! I meant to add a note about the AAs and SP/TP addons in the original post and forgot halfway through typing. I like the idea of H5:G SPARTAN-IV abilities better anyway, thankfully. I need to see if I can find other Q&A posts now that I know they’re a thing.

The only reason I didn’t naturally assume that the material composition of the armor was the same as the Mark sets is both how alien in design it is compared to all of GEN1 and the fact that there’s likely a ton of Huragok assistance behind its development. However, until proven otherwise that’s probably a good idea to just go ahead and assume it is.

4

Known fact: made of significantly inferior material to Gen I Mark VI armor, possibly as a cost/time saving measure for mass production purposes. This can be observed from the fact that Gen II armor suits can be brought down by an as-of-yet unknown percentage of a single SAW magazine (meaning some amount of <72 rounds of7.62 NATO fire (Scrugg’s betrayal scene)) and penetrated by a thrown knife with such ease that, even though hurled by a super-human, it passed through both sides of the gauntlet with room to spare.

This can be contrasted with the Mark VI’s known ability to shrug off 30mm and 50mm weapons fire, and the ability of the Mark VI to survive an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry and subsequent impact with not so much as a scorch mark to show for the event.

5

I know this is a side point to the OT’s main point, but after reading this, it made me curious. If Master Chief were to ditch the Mk VI in favor of a GenII armor set, while not being as durable, would his strength therefore also increase to even greater heights?

6

>

To be fair, it would seem the UNSC has developed Super Knives ™. Not only do you see one pierce the gauntlet of the GEN2, but you also see it pierce the hull of a Lich and the eyepiece of the Didact’s helmet. :v

7

> I know this is a side point to the OT’s main point, but after reading this, it made me curious. If Master Chief were to ditch the Mk VI in favor of a GenII armor set, while not being as durable, would his strength therefore also increase to even greater heights?

I was contemplating this as well. I wonder if it’s possible or if he’s maybe too biologically strong for the armor, so it only increases his strength incrementally.

8

> Known fact: made of significantly inferior material to Gen I Mark VI armor, possibly as a cost/time saving measure for mass production purposes. This can be observed from the fact that Gen II armor suits can be brought down by an as-of-yet unknown percentage of a single SAW magazine (meaning some amount of <72 rounds of7.62 NATO fire (Scrugg’s betrayal scene)) and penetrated by a thrown knife with such ease that, even though hurled by a super-human, it passed through both sides of the gauntlet with room to spare.
>
> This can be contrasted with the Mark VI’s known ability to shrug off 30mm and 50mm weapons fire, and the ability of the Mark VI to survive an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry and subsequent impact with not so much as a scorch mark to show for the event.

Was this in one of the comics? I have yet to read those. It would make sense, though. It could be that this is just the natural progression of the technology, as seen in the real world; a thing is made originally to last and to be used as long as possible with little repair, but in the name of production and weight/efficiency, the non-critical systems are stripped of heavier material and replaced with lighter, weaker material. Mark IV armor is seen deflecting needler and Covenant carbine shots in Forward Unto Dawn because it was armor, sans shields. With each progressive iteration after shielding is introduced, the base armor value of the physical equipment is reduced as shielding ability goes up.

All a GEN2 set really seems to be is platform for the software, strength augmenting and shield emitter systems. There’s no real armor rating there anymore. It seems, from this perspective, entirely reasonable that with time MJOLNIR may become nothing more than a bodysuit interwoven with hardlight emitters with a helmet, power pack and boots.

As to the last few posts, I too am curious what the changes in ability would be for S117 if he was given a set of GEN2. Somehow, I think he’d be better off with Mark VII or even just upgrades to his existing Mark VI set.

9

> I know this is a side point to the OT’s main point, but after reading this, it made me curious. If Master Chief were to ditch the Mk VI in favor of a GenII armor set, while not being as durable, would his strength therefore also increase to even greater heights?

In theory, it is possible. However, the Chief’s long-standing policy is to choose the best available equipment can for the job. Thus, he is highly unlikely to trade the Mark VI’s “shields and armor are so vastly superior to Gen-II that it must literally be expressed in orders of magnitude” defensive superiority in exchange for a small boost in his strength. (I’m serious. The Mark VI’s shrug off so much more punishment than the stuff that Gen II’s are compromised/penetrated/overcome by that if Scrugg’s had attempted to pull a similar ‘gotcha’ moment on Chief, the end result would have been nothing more than Scrugg’s looking utterly stupefied as he holds an empty SAW, with 117 turning towards him, arching eyebrow behind his helmet, and saying something to the effect of “Okay, Son, you’ve gotten my attention, now what are you going to do about it?”*)

> To be fair, it would seem the UNSC has developed Super Knives ™. Not only do you see one pierce the gauntlet of the GEN2, but you also see it pierce the hull of a Lich and the eyepiece of the Didact’s helmet. :v

Do not remind me of that bit of idiocy. Ur-Didact’s armor is supposed to be a high end Forerunner combat skin that, even if it lacks shields for some reason, canonically shrugged off a pulse grenade detonating inside of it, something that can supposedly reduce a hunter, armor and all, to ash. Given that this is the same comic that has repeatedly demonstrated it cannot even get the basic biology of the characters/races in question right (including Ur-Didact himself), among a great many other issues with it compared to the rest of Halo canon, my in-universe explanation of it is that it is Facepalmer’s poor attempt at making a biography of the Chief and herself. Very much like how Captain Qwark’s plans are all shown, if you’re familiar with the Ratchet and Clank series :stuck_out_tongue:

> Was this in one of the comics? I have yet to read those. It would make sense, though. It could be that this is just the natural progression of the technology, as seen in the real world; a thing is made originally to last and to be used as long as possible with little repair, but in the name of production and weight/efficiency, the non-critical systems are stripped of heavier material and replaced with lighter, weaker material. Mark IV armor is seen deflecting needler and Covenant carbine shots in Forward Unto Dawn because it was armor, sans shields. With each progressive iteration after shielding is introduced, the base armor value of the physical equipment is reduced as shielding ability goes up.
>
> All a GEN2 set really seems to be is platform for the software, strength augmenting and shield emitter systems. There’s no real armor rating there anymore. It seems, from this perspective, entirely reasonable that with time MJOLNIR may become nothing more than a bodysuit interwoven with hardlight emitters with a helmet, power pack and boots.

It is from Escalations. However, it’s not just the armor that’s inferior, its the shielding systems as well. Scrugg’s guns down multiple (at least 2, possibly 3) Spartan-IVs, as well as a few allied Elites, and Brutes with what is heavily implied to be a single SAW magazine, and does so fast enough that no one has a chance to so much as utter a “Scruggs, what the yoink are you doing!?” or other such warning to the other Spartan teams. To put this in perspective, the Mark V armor the Chief wore during his trial run in TFOR, which has notably inferior shielding systems and armor to the Mark VI, tanked a number of 30mm rounds and only lost a quarter of its shields. Assuming that they’re using a 30mm round that is similar to the GAU-8 “Avenger” (and given that Ackerson was more or less trying flat-out to kill 117, we’ve no reason to suspect that he was in any way holding back), one, single, slug from those 30s would have had more power behind it than Scrugg’s entire 72 rounds 7.62 NATO magazine.

The Gen II’s are clearly little more than cheap knockoffs of the Gen I’s, that sacrifice incredible amounts of protection for the sake of being easier to produce.

*Well, not really. Such a thing would be wildly out of character for the Chief but it’s funny to think about. More realistically, it would have ended with him speed-blitzing Scruggs, disarming him, and then painfully disabling him (disabling, not killing. After all, you can’t interrogate a dead man to find out who he’s working for. A lesson that a certain self proclaimed Commander Most-Awesome-Spartan-Ever really should take to heart).

10

To be honest, I think the strength of energy shields has never really been defined, since it seems to alter on a book to book basis.

Like, one book, you’ve got Chief taking multiple MA5 rounds without much of a dent in his shields, and in the next, you’ve got Elites falling to a three-round burst from Chief’s MA5B. I mean, unless Chief enchants every weapon he touches with his protagonist power, I think the energy shields are only as tough as the writer(s) want them to be.

This sorta applies to warship shielding as well. Like, the Unrelenting, the itty bitty Covenant ship from tFoR, has shields that were able to take like two MAC rounds until they popped, and its hull was sufficient to survive another one (or two, maybe?) directly. Then, in other cases, you see Covenant ship shielding being popped by a single MAC round.

Also, I think Escalation is presented in the same vein as Spartan Ops, where characters apparently do not have shields at all for the sake of shortening scenes I guess.

11

It is worth noting that Elite shields have never been stated to be in any way comparable to Spartan shielding. Indeed, Mjolnir armor is supposed to be an improved variation of captured Elite/Covenant shielding tech, something the UNSC grabbed, took apart, and then made better. Not helping is that the Covenant 1. Don’t understand their tech 2. Canonically do reserve the best goodies for their higher ranking troops, so if known, the ranking of the Elite has to become a factor.

12

> It is worth noting that Elite shields have never been stated to be in any way comparable to Spartan shielding. Indeed, Mjolnir armor is supposed to be an improved variation of captured Elite/Covenant shielding tech, something the UNSC grabbed, took apart, and then made better. Not helping is that the Covenant 1. Don’t understand their tech 2. Canonically do reserve the best goodies for their higher ranking troops, so if known, the ranking of the Elite has to become a factor.

Zealots can take several sniper rifle rounds. If this is canon, that means that their shields might even be around 20 MJ - I remember it being calculated at around 1 MJ because of the way it fires, but it is also enhanced to a molecular level for increased muzzle velocity; then you also have the AP/SAP rounds.

13

So, for the sake of this discussion, are we all in agreement that GEN2 armor’s shields are not made of glowing translucent tinfoil and that Spartan Ops & Escalations disregarding shields for the sake of cinematic pacing/conservation of panels is just that?

Lore VS Gameplay VS Cinematic is an age old thing for Halo that we all know to be true. Spartans are nerfed majorly in gameplay for the sake of fun, because if we could take an entire SAW clip before the shields caved (or more) and could deflect another 30 rounds or so off the chestplate at least, no one would want to play it.

We don’t have the blessing of a solid novel with an S-IV character in it yet (that I’m aware of) to judge how it’s supposed to be in lore, but I’m imagining that the shields should at least be as good as Mark V GEN1, even if the plating is pointless as armor. Otherwise, there’s no damn point to them existing.

14

Well considering every game’s base settings seem to be considered canon then there really isn’t a difference between the armors. The books seem so inconsistent I don’t think they can be considered as relevant. Plus we have not seen what Gen II is capable of.

People seem to not even consider that Scruggs could have used grenades. Also, if plot armor were taken out then Chief probably would have been killed by his SAW. It has clearly been shown that Mark VI is vulnerable to bullets or else the Flood would never use them against him. And you’d never be killed by marines if you betray them.

15

Aratech, don’t make assumptions and snarly things facts. Don’t present them as such, you’ll likely end up misleading a great deal of people too.

Mjolnir gen II’s undersuit is made of titanium-A. There’s a difference between titanium and Titanium-A.

Also what artoo? Books are very relevant and gameplay things happen.

16

I dunno if it’s just me, but the GEN2 Mark V visor looks unusually more tempered than any other visor. It has a more intense glazed appearance.

I like it.

Was it ever confirmed that Enforcer is based on the original Operator variant? If so would that be just the helmet?

17

> Zealots can take several sniper rifle rounds. If this is canon, that means that their shields might even be around 20 MJ - I remember it being calculated at around 1 MJ because of the size of the gun, but it is also enhanced to a molecular level for increased muzzle velocity; then you also have the AP/SAP rounds.

… Where is any of that stated?

The UNSC sniper rifle fires a 14.5x114mm Armor Piercing, Self-Discarding Sabot round. It is likely very similar in its stats to the real life 14.5mm round employed by Russian, Chinese and other such anti-material rifles. As such, it’s likely got about 32-33 kilojoules behind it.

For context, 20 megajoules is about six hundred times that kind of power. That’s double the amount of KE behind a 120mm tank round.

> Aratech, don’t make assumptions and snarly things facts. Don’t present them as such, you’ll likely end up misleading a great deal of people too.

What’s to mislead? Scruggs was armed with a SAW, or Squad Automatic Weapon. We know that the SAW has 72 rounds in its magazine, and it fires 7.62 NATO rounds that are identical to the MA series assault rifle (which are in turn identical to modern day 7.62 NATO rounds). We know that Scruggs killed at least two spartans, plus some allied elites and brutes, and did so literally before they had time to react or call out a warning. Reloading a weapon would require several seconds, time in which any of the three factions would have been able to use their comms. to call out a warning to their comrades (considering that said comrades are protecting three VIPs, at least two of which are the de facto leaders of their races, they’re likely to be on high alert, and if discovering that one of your cyborg super-soldiers is in fact a traitor isn’t enough to make you scream out a desperate warning as he stands there reloading his gun, let alone you turning your weapons on him and trying to stop him, then you’re simply too stupid to live, as they say.)

We also have no evidence that Scruggs used grenades (which honestly wouldn’t really bother something like a Mark V or a Mark VI, given the crap we see them put up with) or something much larger like a satchel charge (heck, we’ve no evidence he even had something like that on his person).

What we take from this is something called Occam’s Razor. Occam’s Razor states that the simplest answer is usually the correct one. In this case, in light of the lack of distress call, visual, auditory, or other evidence that Scruggs pulled a demolition charge, anti-tank weapon, or a Stanchion Rifle out of his backside, we therefore reach the conclusion that until proven otherwise, the most logical, simplest answer to how Scrugg’s carried out his betrayal is by taking the SAW and hosing his comrades and arms and the Elite and Brutes among the group, and did so without having to pause to reload. Given that we also have the specifications for the round that Scruggs was using (again, a 7.62 NATO round, which will pack about 3.3 KJ per shot), this allows us to reach a conclusion that even interpreted in the light most favorable to it (i.e. that Scruggs used far more rounds on the S-IV’s than on the aliens), Gen II armor is incapable of withstanding anything remotely approaching the abuse that Mark V’s and VI’s were shown to endure. (For context, even the Mark V demonstrated the ability to withstand a 4.2 megajoule event (the fall during First Strike) that left the majority of the operators alive and functional, and that even with those who died, their armor was still intact enough to cannibalize components from it). This is roughly equivilent to being shot a little more than 1,200 times with a 7.62 NATO round, or over fifteen entire magazines from a SAW).

18

> It is worth noting that Elite shields have never been stated to be in any way comparable to Spartan shielding. Indeed, Mjolnir armor is supposed to be an improved variation of captured <mark>Elite/Covenant shielding tech</mark>, something the UNSC grabbed, took apart, and then made better. Not helping is that the Covenant 1. Don’t understand their tech 2. Canonically do reserve the best goodies for their higher ranking troops, so if known, the ranking of the Elite has to become a factor.

Apparently, they developed the MJOLNIR’s energy shields from captured Kig-yar shields, since originally Elites were not meant to be encountered until Mark V had already entered service the day before. This was never clarified in the reprints, and in Halsey’s Journal, there’s a page with a diagram of the Kig-Yar shield gauntlet, suggesting that MJOLNIR shields were reverse-engineered from the Kig-Yar shields. The whole “improved on” spiel could have come from how they thought enveloping the soldier in an energy shield as opposed to having a held object was an improvement.

Also, it seems like after First Strike, the whole “the Covenant don’t understand how their tech works” trait had been sorta dropped, or at least, never really mentioned again. Like how the Covenant’s military strategy used to just be “rush the enemy head on until they die”, even if that meant losing a ton of ships or troops in the process. Which if you ask me, is totally fine, since it’s pretty silly to think that a collection of sentient species barely have an inkling of tech they’ve had for thousands of years. Hell, the ancient San’Shyuum stood on equal ground with ancient Humanity without Forerunner tech being left behind on their world, so the species SHOULD be as intelligent as humans.

19

> > Zealots can take several sniper rifle rounds. If this is canon, that means that their shields might even be around 20 MJ - I remember it being calculated at around 1 MJ because of the size of the gun, but it is also enhanced to a molecular level for increased muzzle velocity; then you also have the AP/SAP rounds.
>
> … Where is any of that stated?
>
> <mark>The UNSC sniper rifle fires a 14.5x114mm Armor Piercing, Self-Discarding Sabot round. It is likely very similar in its stats to the real life 14.5mm round employed by Russian, Chinese and other such anti-material rifles. As such, it’s likely got about 32-33 kilojoules behind it.</mark>
> <mark>For context, 20 megajoules is about six hundred times that kind of power. That’s double the amount of KE behind a 120mm tank round</mark>
>
> Well… At least Chief’s shields took an anti-tank missile; missiles designed to
> destroy scorpion tanks that have armour plating remarkably strong compared to todays standards.

20

> > > Zealots can take several sniper rifle rounds. If this is canon, that means that their shields might even be around 20 MJ - I remember it being calculated at around 1 MJ because of the size of the gun, but it is also enhanced to a molecular level for increased muzzle velocity; then you also have the AP/SAP rounds.
> >
> > … Where is any of that stated?
> >
> > <mark>The UNSC sniper rifle fires a 14.5x114mm Armor Piercing, Self-Discarding Sabot round. It is likely very similar in its stats to the real life 14.5mm round employed by Russian, Chinese and other such anti-material rifles. As such, it’s likely got about 32-33 kilojoules behind it.</mark>
> > <mark>For context, 20 megajoules is about six hundred times that kind of power. That’s double the amount of KE behind a 120mm tank round.</mark>
> >
> > Well… At least Chief’s shields took an anti-tank missile; missiles designed to destroy scorpion tanks that have armour plating remarkably strong compared to todays standards.
>
> To be perfectly honest, going back and reading Fall of Reach now, the book might as well have been titled “Look how awesome the hero of this video game is!”
>
> Seriously, Nylund introduces the concept of a division of Spec Op marines that drop from orbit, only so you can see how great John is when he kicks their -Yoinks!- on two separate occasions. I like the author and everything, but it’s a bit hard not to roll my eyes whenever the Spartans perform feats that are not only superhuman, but also comic superhero levels of insane. Like, in Halsey’s Journal, a nine year old Spartan-II recruit straight up tosses a full grown man and breaks his spine, killing him.