Question Where can I test this?

We know that the vehicle builders have the flats to test their creations, but does that include the power suits?

Whateley has labs with lots of measurement equipment perfect for testing the basic operations of power systems, several ranges for testing different kinds of weapons, clearings for testing manoeuvring and (probably) some agreements with local aviation control for flight tests.

I don't see what functionality power armour might need to have tested that can't be done with these options. But unless shipping power armour across state lines is a hassle beyond Whateley's position I also don't see a reason the flats can't be used for power armour tests. The blast craters at the flats suggest they already test options beyond ordinary cars.

The flats would make a lot of sense for suits that make you a faux speedster, like the KoP's Runner model.

I must admit that when thinking about power armour with a top speed necessitating the flats my mind moves less towards "Runner" and more towards "piloted Transformer" (but i suppose that's still possible in the WU).

I previously mentioned flight tests being done at Whateley, but in retrospect if the testers believe the thing has a reasonable chance of falling out of the sky they may prefer to set up remote piloted tests over the flats instead of a school.

Blast craters or just poor driving?

I think the range instructors would insist on using the heavy weapons range to test the weapons loadout. I was kind of thinking strength testing, Like how did Jericho know his suit topped out at the equivalent of Exemplar 3 (I think it was.)

Cryptic wrote: I think the range instructors would insist on using the heavy weapons range to test the weapons loadout. I was kind of thinking strength testing, Like how did Jericho know his suit topped out at the equivalent of Exemplar 3 (I think it was.)

He would know from his design how much mechanical advantage and leverage he'd be getting, otherwise he wouldn't know how strong to make the rest of the suit (shear/compression strengths, etc.)

There's no reason why basic functions like strength cant just use the usual lab testing gear