History Main / WeWillWearArmorInTheFuture

** Gordon Freeman spends the series in the [[PoweredArmor HEV Suit]], which looks like safety-orange plate armor with chainmail joints. It's lab equipment designed for survival in hazardous environments or when handling dangerous materials (the name stands for '''H'''azardous '''E'''n'''v'''ironment suit), but provides ample protection from bullet and such. The Powered Combat Vest Adrian Shephard wears in ''Opposing Force'' works almost identically, but is much closer to realistic modern-day combat gear. Notably, ''Blue Shift'' portrays Barney's mundane security armor as just as ''durable'' and Gordon and Shephard's, it just needs to be replaced when damaged instead of recharge.
** The Combine soldiers in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' are aversion, as they're equipped with kevlar-like soft armor that resembles modern riot gear despite being employed by an interdimensional empire.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' is an aversion of this trope, as the Combine soldiers are equipped with kevlar-like soft armor that resembles modern riot gear, in contrast to the standard Sci-Fi plate armor with ShouldersOfDoom that most FPS soldier enemies tend to wear. Played straight, however, with Gordon Freeman's iconic [[PoweredArmor HEV Suit]] (which appears to incorporate [[RockBeatsLaser maille]] into its construction, interestingly enough). The HEV suit, however, was clearly lab equipment designed for survival in hazardous environments or when handling dangerous materials (the name stands for '''H'''azardous '''E'''n'''v'''ironment suit) rather than a piece of military equipment; while the Powered Combat Vest Adrian Shephard wore in ''Opposing Force'' provided a similar level of protection, it was much closer to realistic modern-day combat gear.

** Occasionally in the TMP era there would be a background RedShirt or two wearing an armoured chest plate and a [[WTHCostumingDepartment goofy]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/9/92/Perez.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090531062301&path-prefix=en helmet]]. ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' features [[https://scifanatic-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dscuni-vests-640x591.jpg flak jackets]] for dangerous away missions as a matter of course.

* Averted for the most part in ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''. Infantry generally wears fatigues with flak jackets and (somewhat bulky) helmets. Space Marines wear {{Latex Space Suit}}s to give them added agility in zero-g operations. On the other hand, full suits of [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor]] are more commonly used in place of infantry [[LostTechnology once the technology is rediscovered]], because even the emplaced weaponry used by infantry can do little against [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] or combat vehicle armor. Mech pilots operate almost naked as any kind of personal armor would only exacerbate the OverHeating problems they have to deal with.

* This trope already happened with UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. For the previous centuries armies had been using less and less Armor as gunpowder warfare made it hilariously obsolete, especially in line warfare of most European battles. After UsefulNotes/WW1 had devolved into trench warfare, the number of soldiers suffering from head wounds, especially from high explosive or shrapnel artillery rounds, increased dramatically. Light weight steel helmets were developed as a response and were quickly adopted by all combatants with the industrial capacity to manufacture them.

* The trope became TruthInTelevision when "futuristic" materials that had a chance of stopping high velocity projectiles were developed in the post-war period. These materials included high-strength aluminum, ballistic nylon, fiberglass composites (a.k.a. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doron_Plate Duron]]), Kevlar and boron carbide ceramics. Widely deployed starting in the Korean war, the new materials were light enough to be worn as a matter of course, but also strong enough to protect against a wide variety of threats. Korean and Vietnam era armour could stop pistol caliber rounds and shell fragments at point black range. Today military grade armour can allow soldiers to shrug off hits from assault rifles. Further advances in material science will make soldier-armour even more effective and therefore, more widely deployed. Even if the lighter materials aren't strong enough to withstand direct assault rifle fire, they can still be lifesavers against richochets and longer-range shots, which have lost a chunk of their energy. To say nothing of much weaker but still decidedly dangerous pistol-cartridge fire and shrapnel. Additionally, should the powered exoskeleton tech prove effective and cost-friendly enough, it is not unimaginable that someone will attempt to graft armor onto it -- power armored modern "knights" anyone?

* The marines in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' and ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' wear a cuirass of hard armor plates.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' the trend away from armor that started in [[TechnologyLevels TL 4]] (1450 to 1730) starts to reverse in TL 7 (1940 to 1980) with the discovery of lightweight, bullet-resistant synthetics such as kevlar. In some TL 10+ (2075 and beyond) campaigns armor is vital, while in others weapons are so devastating that dodging or shooting first is far more important. For example, disintegrator technology makes armor irrelevant because they do enormous damage and bypass most armor completely while FTL laser technology makes it so that soldiers always need to be in armor because shots can hit with deadly accuracy from tremendous range.
* Due to the general lethality of combat in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' armour is all but required to survive more than a couple shots. Besides [[PoweredArmor Battle Dress]] available armours range from practically useless leather to Combat armour that requires a laser or gauss rifle to really penetrate, there's also reflec that only defends against lasers and can be added to other types of armour. However most armour tend to be a higher [[TechnologyLevels tech level]] and much more expensive than the weapons that can pierce it.
* Armor is almost literally an art form in ''{{TabletopGame/Rifts}}'', with all sorts of styles in nearly every book. Given that your average laser pistol can core a modern Main Battle Tank in less than half a clip, this is necessary.
* Averted for the most part in ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''. Infantry generally wears fatigues with flak jackets and (somewhat bulky) helmets. Space Marines wear {{Latex Space Suit}}s to give them added agility in zero-g operations. On the other hand, full suits of [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor]] are more commonly used in place of infantry [[LostTechnology once the technology is rediscovered]], because even the emplaced weaponry used by infantry can do little against [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] or combat vehicle armor. Mech pilots operate almost naked as any kind of personal armor would only exacerbate the OverHeating problems they have to deal with.
* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' a cheap bulletproof vest can double your effective hit points, if you dump-statted Body, while riot armor can triple it and a fully upgraded [=MarsCo=] Hardcase can quadruple it at the cost of mobility. And that's not even getting into the powered or living armors.
* In ''TabletopGame/UnhallowedMetropolis'' almost everyone in London, 2105 A.D., wears Victorian-influenced armor when going out with a leather neckpiece being the minimum protection for unexpected vampire and animate ambushes plus most folk will have some thick rubber outerwear to protect against London's toxic polluted air. For those with the money or a dangerous occupation, they'll be wearing pieces of plate armor and chainmail layers plus their leather and rubber wear will be reinforced with metal studs and fastenings. The very rich will sometimes show off their wealth by wearing exotic lacquered armor made from descendants of Asian craftsmen who were stuck during the ZombieApocalypse.

* Most of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' armies give their troops some sort of armor, though the [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard's]] flak armor is commonly nicknamed [[FanNickname "cardboard vests" or "t-shirts"]] due to its [[ArmorIsUseless ineffectiveness]]. Of course, when faced with hypervelocity ninja star machine guns, gyrojet autocannons, Chaos enhanced versions thereof, laser assault rifles, and double-barreled .50 spewing monstrosities... it is somewhat... underpowered.

[[caption-width-right:350:Holy shit... [[ComicallyMissingThePoint that guy looks like ]][[Creator/JackBlack Jack Black!]]]]

In many science-fiction works most if not all soldiers and or police (especially {{Space Marine}}s) wear roughly as much plating as a medieval knight, often being PoweredArmor or made of composite materials (which does a decent job [[JustifiedTrope justifying it]] when those occur, since they alleviate the issue of mobility which would otherwise be compromised by such extensive coverage). Oftentimes this armor is portrayed as being completely [[ArmorIsUseless useless]], though sometimes it's [[AllThereInTheManual stated]], if [[InformedAttribute not demonstrated]], that the armor is completely bulletproof, it's just that they're using [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]] - or [[RockBeatsLaser the other way around]] if KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter.

In many science-fiction works most if not all soldiers and or police (especially {{Space Marine}}s) wear roughly as much plating as a medieval knight, though often PoweredArmor or made of composite materials. Oftentimes this armor is portrayed as being completely [[ArmorIsUseless useless]], though sometimes it's [[AllThereInTheManual stated]], if [[InformedAttribute not demonstrated]], that the armor is completely bulletproof, it's just that they're using [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]] - or [[RockBeatsLaser the other way around]] if KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter.

** Imperial Army troopers in the field have their own sets of armor, though they're much less covering than Stormtrooper armor, as shown by Veers and the vehicle pilots in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and ''Film/RogueOne'' (admittedly, an officer and vehicle pilots, not really expected to be in any sort of combat that would get them exposed to enemy fire) and the infantrymen in ''Film/{{Solo}}''

** This extends into ''Series/TheMandalorian'', in which the title character wears armor made of a special alloy that doesn't even lose its shine despite taking quite a bit of punishment. It doesn't make him immune to physics, however; anything (or anyone) with sufficient strength to knock him around is still a credible threat.

** Occasionally in the TMP era there would be a background RedShirt or two wearing an armoured chest plate and a [[WTHCostumingDepartment goofy]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/9/92/Perez.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090531062301&path-prefix=en helmet]]. ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' features [[https://scifanatic-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dscuni-vests-640x591.jpg flak jackets]] for dangerous away missions ass a matter of course.

*** Grenadier DKoK personnel do wear Lobster Plate reminiscent armor, and it could be that the flak armor is underneath the coat.

* The armor worn by Terran Marines in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' is likewise bulky, but does come with a helmet. Hilariously, the armor provides no in-game benefit as Marines have no armor value until you research upgrades. [[FridgeBrilliance However, the armor does give marines 55 health compared to the 10 health of an unarmored human.]]

* Lots of armor in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', which also functions as a spacesuit when necessary. This is probably because mass accelerator technology has made small arms even more lethal without armour. Not so much in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', however, where most of your teammates do not, in fact, wear armour.[[note]]In the game's lore, armor itself is functionally useless: modern firearms fire rounds at such high velocities that you would need incredibly bulky armor to even slow it down. Instead, armor functions as a base for the mass effect shields, designed to slow down incoming fire to survivable levels. While the first game has the shield generators installed in armor exclusively, the second and subsequent games appear to have shield generators in a variety of forms, meaning bulky armor is no longer required.[[/note]] Interestingly, several of the villains do.

As an aside, personal armor technology has improved dramatically in the last fifty years, whilst the average infantry rifle has actually become ''less'' powerful (cartridge sizes have decreased for the sake of accuracy, ergonomics, ammo capacity, and [[MoreDakka automatic fire]] capability). For this reason, this trope is increasingly looking like TruthInTelevision.[[note]]An average soldier can carry two to three times more 5.56mm ammunition than the older 7.62mm ammunition and the rifles that use it are lighter and easier to handle and more accurate and both rounds are equally lethal against unarmoured enemies.[[/note]]

* Most of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' armies give their troops some sort of armor, though the [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard's]] flak armor is commonly nicknamed [[FanNickname "cardboard vests" or "t-shirts"]] due to its [[ArmorIsUseless ineffectiveness]]. of course, when faced with hypervelocity ninja star machine guns, gyrojet autocannons, chaos ensorcelled versions thereof, and laser assault rifles, and double-barreled .50 spewing monstrosities... it is somewhat... underpowered.

* Most of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' armies give their troops some sort of armor, though the [[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard's]] flak armor is commonly nicknamed [[FanNickname "cardboard vests" or "t-shirts"]] due to its [[ArmorIsUseless ineffectiveness]].
** The Imperial Guard's uniforms make seem they're just wearing armour over top clothing like normal modern soldiers, but actually, their entire uniforms are flak armour as well.