the Black Carapace... for non SMs?

[Draco Ferox]

Concerning the abilities of a suit which is not hard-wired to your character, take a look at this:

www.popsci.com/node/20689

While it's nowhere near the suits which we are currently discussing, as it's more of a heavy lifter than an protective suit, it still has very fast reaction times, as it evaluates the movements of the user several thousand times per second and adjusts the motion of the suit to compensate; it does all of this from only a few actual contact points (hands & feet being the main ones). The best explanation of this was when Steve Jacobsen, the designer of the suit, showed how it worked by getting a photographer to walk around with his young daughter standing on his feet and holding his hands so that they faced the same direction. Within a few minutes, they had cohesive and clear movements, with whatever she did being echoed almost perfectly by her father, who's movements she was effectively controlling. This principle is how the XOS works, and could feasibly be the basis for some dubious 40k "science" regarding powered suits.

On a side note, I WANT one of those!