Rifts Up Close: Huntsman Armor

By Tim Willard

This lightweight and fairly popular armor is manufactured by several small armor companies around the Great Lakes area, as well as a company in Southern Texas, a company in North Dakota, a plant in central Mexico, and another small plant in Ohio. The armor is considered minimal protection by most mercenaries and settlement militia, but the armor is priced right for those settlements suffering from a poor economy, and repair costs are very low.

The Huntsman series of armor was initially an early version of SWAT armor, invented prior to the North American Alliance Pact of 2035, produced mainly for New York, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, and other large metroplexes. Due to the rising prices of fossil fuels at the time, it was actually cheaper for Huntsman Inc to build factories in the industrial districts of the cities central to the locations purchasing the armors than to truck in the materials and supplies, manufacture the equipment, and then ship it to the end consumer.

By 2035 the rising price of fossil fuels had more and more groups predicting a total collapse of western civilization, and Huntsman Inc found themselves selling thousands of their body armors a month to civilians, militias, and paramilitary groups.

In 2039, Dow/Exxon produced the first synthetic gasoline, including fuel that could be used in high performance aircraft. This gasoline had actually more energy potential than normal gasoline, allowing more efficency per gallon. Exxon used the fuel to leverage the other gasoline and oil companies out of business, with its parent company Dow Chemicals sucking up the loss in order to allow the executives of Exxon to wreak vengeance upon the other corporations which had bankrupted it and facilitated a hostile takeover of Exxon by Dow Chemicals. Once the synthetic fuel was out, produced cheaper and sold cheaper than regular fossil fuels (Fossil Fuel Gasoline, 87 Octane sold for $6.93/gallon in North America, while Exxon NuFuel at 87 Octane sold at $0.78/gallon) it once again became cheaper to move materials around and have a zero-inventory supply system than it was to warehouse materials and have everything built in one place.

This also calmed the "End is Coming!" factions, and Huntsman Inc began suffering serious sales issues, with declining profit margins and unhappy stockholders. When the great "Miami Shootout" of 2041 took place, with the gunmen wearing Huntsman armor, it spelled the end for the armor company. Thousands of people had been injured in the six hour running gunfight, and every one of them levelled a multimillion credit lawsuit on Huntsman Inc, claiming that their lack of background checks or concern over who they were selling the body armor too directly led to the deaths and injuries.

When the dust settled, Huntsman Inc was totally bankrupt. They no longer owned the factories that produced the armor, and the ordered liquidation of the factories by the court never proceeded, as more than 2,000 of the litgants filed motions to have the factories turned over to those who won the lawsuit that were willing to pay part of their settlement for it.

By the time the Cataclysm rolled around, the factories were still there, gathering dust, stockpiled with production materials. Most of the factories survived the coming of the Cataclysm, and sat forgotten for decades until one after another they were discovered by explorers. Now, the factories often serve as the center of a small settlement.

The armor itself is a lightweight molecularly bonded kevlar/polyceramic layered ablative armor. Lightweight and somewhat flexible, the armor uses articulated joints like those found on ancient platemail. The armor is resistant to electricity and laser weapons, as well as absorbing kinetic shocks quite well. However, some versions of the Huntsman armor have a tendency to catch fire when hit by plasma, as the plasma melted armor plating vaporizes into a flammable gas that fuels the fire, which in turn melts more armor, in a cyclic action that eventually consumes the armor plating. Armor with this problem is identifiable by the "North Dakota Freemen" logo on the right forearm.

In addition, the armor has "hard plate" inserts beneath it of molecularly bonded neoaluminum, to help resist the kinetic damage from rail guns, autocannons, etc. The plate is easy to replace, should it be shattered or penetrated, or damaged too badly to use. Simply open the side, remove the hard plate, and reinsert another one. However, the leg and arm portions are made up of thick duraplast laminates, and must be replaced in their entirety should they be damaged.

Beneath the armor is a neoprene sleeve with environmental tubing running through it. This tubing keeps the wearer warm or cool, depending on the outside temperature, but the suit does not possess any power generating circuitry, forcing the wearer who wishes to activate the heating and cooling system to slot a NASEM into a port on the right thigh. The energy magazine will last approximately 2 weeks, however. When powered, this suit merely has a computer that decides if the wearer's body temperature is high or low, if it is hot outside or cold outside, and either heats the liquid in the tubing or cools it to try to bring the wearer to a comfortable temperature. Most of the time, this chip has to be removed and one with better environmental control is installed, as the built in chip is rather stupid.

The armor is not environmentally sealed, does not possess a helmet, and is not radiation shielded. However, a few version are fully radiation shielded, and possess a helmet (not pictured) that has a detachable locking collar to protect the neck, a polarizing face shield, and a detachable lower face gas mask/respirator.

One thing that does make this armor excellent is its non-existent EM profile, lack of thermal signature, and total absence of energy readings, allowing the armor to be overlooked by most sensor systems. For this reason, the armor has seen a resurgance in popularity by Crazies and Juicers now that the digital battlefield looks as if it will make a reappearance on Rifts Earth.

During the Cataclysm, many militia groups clad in this body armor tried valiantly to defend local citizens, but its inferior protection and out of date armor materials in the end came to no avail, and the groups were wiped out.

During the Second Dark Ages, many factories were found and either restarted, or were broken down and rebuilt in areas that were more habitable. Thousands of these suits were churned out with the intent of protecting the citizens of settlements, or to provide settlement militias with at least a small measure of protection.

On Rifts Earth, hundreds of these suits are sold a year, not counting the replacement hardplates and arm/leg pieces. Their often worn by light recon forces, police with a beat in a dangerous but urban area where heavy weapons are unlikely, and money strapped explorers/adventurers.

The Coalition States views this armor as a life-preserving necessity, and rarely makes an issue of it.

Weight: 16 lbs
Available Sizes: small, medium, and large (4' to 7')
Mobility: Fair
Availability: Excellent
Manufacturer's Cost: Free to 3,500 Cr
Wholesale Cost: 10,000-15,000 Cr
Manufacturer's Recommended Price: 15,000 Cr to 20,000 Cr
Black Market Price: 18,000 Cr
Wilderness Price: 7,500 Cr