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[Amperzand]

Exactly.

I do know a reasonable amount of physics in various areas, and it's a favorite subject of mine, which is why I'm in this thread trying to explain all the things.

[Amperzand]

Certainly!

So, as an addition to the battlesuit thing, I had the idea of giving them automated PDW turrets as an addition to other armaments.

(PDWs being something between an SMG and an assault rifle, like the P-90 or MP7.)

With regard to the grenade launchers, should it be something like the MEC grenade launcher in XCOM: EW? Effectively a back-mounted revolver-mortar, with a standard gun- a minigun of some kind, for ballistics -held in the arms.

[wierd]

Or, y'know close-range stabbing.

Here is about the point where I say: "Screw physics, I don't know enough about them and they're getting in the way of stuff."

The problem here is that I want my sci-fi part to be as hard sci-fi as possible. Plasma isn't really a great weapon for a long time.

It would make an excellent starship weapon. The self-sustaining magnetic bottle + Relativistic velocities combined with the near vacuum of space would permit the projectiles to be quite long lived.  Normal magnetic deflectors would be designed for low density cool plasmas found in space-- Not this kind of insane stuff. You would need to be able to survive flying through a star to deflect this kind of munition.

It would rip a really big hole through just about any kind of armor imaginable.  With a starship, the expense budget is already going to be absurd. Power requirements for FTL travel will be absurd-- so the ship powerplant should be sufficient to drive such a weapon.

Fired from orbit down onto a planet, with the projectile traveling at a significant fraction of C, it would reach the ground before dispersing completely. 

The problem in orbit is cooling.  This weapon will make a lot of heat, and will be very slow to fire. It would pretty much quell any ground engagement that goes awry, and needs asset denial.

(At relativistic velocities, the atmosphere between the ship and the ground becomes added fuel for fusion reactions as the dense plasma plows its way past. Imagine a "reverse mushroom cloud" blasting down onto the surface.)

[NullForceOmega]

I like dual three-shot 40mm grenade launchers in each forearm.  It wouldn't be to hard to mount and the simplicity of the device makes it survivable, downside is no reloading during combat, but an infantryman can only hold so may grenades anyway.

I don't know about the viability of mounted turrets on an exoskeletal battleframe tho', seems like a lot of added weight and while it could be kind of small, it would probably effect movement negatively.

[GiglameshDespair]

Hmm.

Couldn't you just use something like a grenade machine gun? By using a backpack belt feed, you have a lot of shots without requiring to reload with clumsy power armoured fingers. Grenades grant you heavy anti-infantry and anti-light vehicle capabilities.

For additional anti-vehicle power you could make every third round or so on the belt a HEAT round, for a small sacrifice in anti-infantry fire.

Weight and recoil aren't such an issue due to the power armour.

Also how would you fire them :/ Surgical brain implants? I'd assume hands are busy with the arm guns.

I suppose your suit could track your eye movements relative to a HUD displayed inside the helm, somewhat similiar to the software used for paralysis victims. You could, with practice, use the interface quickly, and it would not require any implants.

[Tack]

Nah, just have different tracks of grenades in the backpack.
Switch ammo on the fly! Although it'll take some fifteen grenades before you get to the new line.

[NullForceOmega]

Toggle switch by one of the fingers?  Voice command?  It's a sci-fi suit of power armor, I'm pretty sure it can have an on-board computer with voice recognition.

[wierd]

EEG headset silly. It already exists.

https://emotiv.com/

Just build it into the helmet, give a little training.

[Amperzand]

I was assuming that the mini turret would be largely automated, tracking and firing on enemies, or asking authorization for things it didn't recognize.

I'm also assuming an inbuilt UI and computer at least on the level of a current desktop. The actual method of interaction is up for debate, but neural jack is an option.

As for the grenade launcher, I like the belt-feed idea.

I think with 40mm equivalent you'd basically take a current Mark 19 and link it to electric firing and targeting, but for something like the heavier, probably 80-120mm mortar in XCOM, a revolver design makes more sense.

[wierd]

Electrolaser.

It's a thing.  It isn't very accurate. It has issues.

[Parsely]

Hey, aren't there also tasers? By that I mean those guns which fire a clamp that shocks or something.

Air tasers fire metal prongs that puncture your skin.

[Amperzand]

Electrical weapons work, but they're not really the greatest main battle armaments. You could totally use the end of an unloaded railgun as a "Stunner" though.

And by "Stunner" I mean "Method of electrocuting an armored soldier to the point of violent demise".

[Dansmithers]

You know what's a great material for making projectiles out of? Degenerate matter. You've got neutronium, the densest stuff we're sure exists, gluon-matter, the densest stuff that most likely exists, and monopolium, which is super-freaking-dense, but probably own't exist for some time. Extreme density means no spalling and near-indestructibility, and the stuff has so much mass that anyone who touches it would die messily. The best part is, while neutronium is most likely unstable on earth, the other two aren't held together by gravity, but the nuclear strong and electromagnetic forces, respectively..

[Amperzand]

I did have the thought of, much, much later on in a timeline and edging towards tech-fantasy, building a Dyson Sphere around a neutron star, mounting it with a mass driver, and using the mass driver, powered by the star itself, to throw relativistic chunks of the star at things.

[wierd]

If you have a neutron star surrounded by a dyson sphere, you are just a controlled matter drop mechanism away from a true deathstar.

EG, hard gamma rays of sufficient intensity to sterilize a planet from lightyears away are just a good matter drop away. The gamma rays will easily pass through the shell of the sphere. This is a giant doomsday robot.

No need to go through the expense of digging up the neutronium.