[TML] 20mm cannons and bulky aliens

[Brad Murray]

On Jan 22, 2008 3:19 PM, Joseph Paul <josephnjody at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> That is not entirely true. The 'rhino' represents a larger than human
> opponenet. The combat suit is proportionately upgraded in protective value
> because the opponent has the capability to carry more armor.

Does it?  As I understand it the proportional capacity to carry
doesn't scale linearly with mass, so in fact a larger creature may not
be able to carry as much armour per unit surface area as a smaller
animal (that is, while it would carry more armour, the thickness of
that armour might be less).  I would expect smaller animals to be able
to wear thicker armour and not the reverse (though as you scale down
you run into simple problems of mobility as thickness gets closer to
length between joints -- here the larger animals have mechanical
advantage).

-- 
Brad Murray (halfjack)