Ok, at first I was a little bothered that Sabr could be staggered by a Badass Normal in that armor but upon a re-read of the issue, Sabr relied on her shield and force field to protect herself. Additionally, the underarmor of nanomachines was intended to increase strength and agility, not durability. So at a second glance, Miss Melee being able to knock her back with a surprise attack is more possible than I originally thought. Still, I doubt that kick could have seriously done much damage against that tough exterior. Then again, I’m assuming Jackie or some kind of technology, not Miss Melee, will be the ones to deal the winning blow. I’m eager to see how this will all turn out.
Glad to hear you’re taking steps to prevent pacing issues in the future. This issue may have had it’s flaws but I still enjoyed reading it nonetheless. I wish you luck and plan to support you on Patreon when I can spare the money.
Any suit of power armor worth deploying on the battlefield will be immune to direct unarmed attack.
Now, if you now how to open the power armor or other wise begin disassembly, PERHAPS you would have a chance, if you can do it fast enough or they aren’t paying attention, but even then, most advanced models (like this one appears to be) are going to be EXCEEDINGLY difficult to open from the outside, short of actually going through the armor. Perhaps impossible (that’s the end goal).
But direct assault? If it can take bullets without a problem, there is no baseline-human unarmed attack that will cause any damage, and if it has any noticeable strength-boost, it will be immune to any kind of holds.
Simply put, a suit of power armor like that would be immune to an unarmed human being. It’s making this particular issue a little bit hard for me to take seriously.
Srsly?! First of all, this is a WEBCOMIC for goodness’ sake. And it’s clearly intended to be on the humorous side, c.f. how Jan’s “disguise” makes her unrecognizable to her own husband, who by any real world standards should have picked her out instantly. If you’re reduced to looking for reality in webcomics, you need to go out more.
Actually, power armor and suits could be very vulnerable to some physical forms of attack. It would all depend on the nature of their design. An example would be armor that stops all projectile and beam weapons but proves vulnerable to a wooden stick.
Also possible: shields (which, as I recall, the SABR’s defenses are based on) which are designed to counter high-energy attacks such as bullets, explosions, etc., but aren’t geared to stop anything moving as slowly as the human body.
Also it is always a design compromise between durability and mobility. You want fast and agile or Tough, slow and plodding? That’s why aircraft carriers have support fleets as did Battleships before them. The long range hard hitters sucked at close quarters, close range combat.
Remember a pack of half starved squirrels will take down much larger predators and literally rip em to shreds.
Wow.. I think Miss Melee just did the bravest thing I’ve seen yet.
The kick just threw off a point of aim (which is pretty easy to do). I think she knows exactly that she cant’ chew what she just bit off, and did it any how, because that’s what heroes do.
If Sabr has no strength boosting capabilities (Which we have saw nothing to indicate it does) and relies on shields designed to stop high energy attacks like was mentioned earlier, then a surprise kick to the joint of her arm knocking off her aim is quite believable. Only more attacks will show how the Sabr’s defenses stand up against Miss Melee’s assaults. I’m a 110 lbs nothing and I’ve thrown off the dart aim of my 6’8 friend without even touching his arm. It’s not like Miss Melee hurt the pilot or damaged the suit in any way.
Despite the armor, SABR can have her balance offset and her limbs deflected with the proper application of martial arts. However, if she takes to the air to rain hell down on Ms Melee that could be a major problem.
Death from above always beats ground pounders unless they ant-iair capability. Downside of air superiority is that it can’t hold ground worth a wet tissue in a typhoon.
I knew it! The S.A.B.R.’s weakness is unarmed 30-something year old women! Mr. Keng shouldn’t be TOO disappointed for losing the contract
Nah, it’s just designed to protect against any weapon. Unarmed assailants weren’t taken into account in the design process.
Ok, at first I was a little bothered that Sabr could be staggered by a Badass Normal in that armor but upon a re-read of the issue, Sabr relied on her shield and force field to protect herself. Additionally, the underarmor of nanomachines was intended to increase strength and agility, not durability. So at a second glance, Miss Melee being able to knock her back with a surprise attack is more possible than I originally thought. Still, I doubt that kick could have seriously done much damage against that tough exterior. Then again, I’m assuming Jackie or some kind of technology, not Miss Melee, will be the ones to deal the winning blow. I’m eager to see how this will all turn out.
Glad to hear you’re taking steps to prevent pacing issues in the future. This issue may have had it’s flaws but I still enjoyed reading it nonetheless. I wish you luck and plan to support you on Patreon when I can spare the money.
If nothing else she can probably get on her back and snap her neck, blech
Jan’s not in the neck-snapping business.
Though concussions would not be out of the question right?
All that body armor and all those weapons -will not- protect her from a close-up attacker who knows how to deflect another person’s limbs.
Any suit of power armor worth deploying on the battlefield will be immune to direct unarmed attack.
Now, if you now how to open the power armor or other wise begin disassembly, PERHAPS you would have a chance, if you can do it fast enough or they aren’t paying attention, but even then, most advanced models (like this one appears to be) are going to be EXCEEDINGLY difficult to open from the outside, short of actually going through the armor. Perhaps impossible (that’s the end goal).
But direct assault? If it can take bullets without a problem, there is no baseline-human unarmed attack that will cause any damage, and if it has any noticeable strength-boost, it will be immune to any kind of holds.
Simply put, a suit of power armor like that would be immune to an unarmed human being. It’s making this particular issue a little bit hard for me to take seriously.
Srsly?! First of all, this is a WEBCOMIC for goodness’ sake. And it’s clearly intended to be on the humorous side, c.f. how Jan’s “disguise” makes her unrecognizable to her own husband, who by any real world standards should have picked her out instantly. If you’re reduced to looking for reality in webcomics, you need to go out more.
Actually, power armor and suits could be very vulnerable to some physical forms of attack. It would all depend on the nature of their design. An example would be armor that stops all projectile and beam weapons but proves vulnerable to a wooden stick.
Also possible: shields (which, as I recall, the SABR’s defenses are based on) which are designed to counter high-energy attacks such as bullets, explosions, etc., but aren’t geared to stop anything moving as slowly as the human body.
Also it is always a design compromise between durability and mobility. You want fast and agile or Tough, slow and plodding? That’s why aircraft carriers have support fleets as did Battleships before them. The long range hard hitters sucked at close quarters, close range combat.
Remember a pack of half starved squirrels will take down much larger predators and literally rip em to shreds.
Wow.. I think Miss Melee just did the bravest thing I’ve seen yet.
The kick just threw off a point of aim (which is pretty easy to do). I think she knows exactly that she cant’ chew what she just bit off, and did it any how, because that’s what heroes do.
Could be. I hope you’re (at least marginally) wrong (about the “can’t chew”), but it doesn’t reduce the stones it takes to stand up for the right.
If Sabr has no strength boosting capabilities (Which we have saw nothing to indicate it does) and relies on shields designed to stop high energy attacks like was mentioned earlier, then a surprise kick to the joint of her arm knocking off her aim is quite believable. Only more attacks will show how the Sabr’s defenses stand up against Miss Melee’s assaults. I’m a 110 lbs nothing and I’ve thrown off the dart aim of my 6’8 friend without even touching his arm. It’s not like Miss Melee hurt the pilot or damaged the suit in any way.
Despite the armor, SABR can have her balance offset and her limbs deflected with the proper application of martial arts. However, if she takes to the air to rain hell down on Ms Melee that could be a major problem.
Death from above always beats ground pounders unless they ant-iair capability. Downside of air superiority is that it can’t hold ground worth a wet tissue in a typhoon.
Very true.
I just realized Rob missed a golden pun opportunity. In the admin comments below the page it should have said “Just in the kick of time!”
That would have been great lol. But Im just a punny sort of guy so dont mind me. 😀