Quick question: what does EVA stand for?

ChaosAngel wrote:

I was looking through the core rulebook, and I found something. The Armor on the EVA sled is listed as simply "5", no slash, no further information. If this has already been discussed here, then I apologize, but my search-fu came up blank, so I'm looking for any input I can find. Thank you sooooo much for your time.

Probably a typo. Most likely it was meant to indicate that the EVA Sled itself (as distinct from the exposed riders, whose armor values can be anything but which are likely to be much, much higher,) has an inherent armor value of 5/5 - that is, 5 armor vs. both kinetic and energy attacks. 5/5 is [i]loooooooow[/i]. Any random spec of interplanetary dust is likely to blow through that without even noticing. It's probably meant as "just enough armor to dock and undock frequently without taking damage from bumping into whatever it docks with."

I think they would've written it as 5/0 if that were the case, Chernoborg. Though then again, with only the nebulous "5" there, that's as valid an interpretation as my suggestion of 5/5. That said, energy protection in EP is [i]liiiiiiiight[/i]. You can easily get 5 energy protection in any set of regular clothing. And remember that in EP, with plasma and ion drives and metallic hydrogen, the Δv budgets they're playing with are much, much more generous than the ones we have. The rocket equation tyrant is still there, but the invention of EP's various miracle techs means that we've handed it a Magna Carta and forced it to sign.

Plus, you should weigh the risk of a stray shot of interstellar radiation hitting the energy armor, absorbing and turning into a shower of nasty stuff, versus the risk of a stray blast from a microwave stunner on roast mode or a random shot from a laser rifle hitting the thing and disabling it in one shot versus not in one shot, if it has that 5 energy armor.