Z-20 Jaeger Power Armor

One of the first things that became apparent almost immediately was that the Z-17 Power Armor needed to be replaced. Even before the Z-17 made it to the front lines, a replacement was already in the works. After the Z-17 had entered full production, the development team was divided into two  'Power Armor' teams and almost immediately there was a split in doctrine. The first team, Team A wanted to continue development of the same type of power armor as the Z-17, which was essentially just a mechanized suit of heavy combat armor. However Team B disagreed and began work on a suit of power armor that embraced its heavy exoskeleton. Massive metal and ceramic plates bolted to a massive exoskeleton. Usage of small and long weapons was sacrificed in exchange for larger and more powerful weapons. What essentially got created was a walking, one man tank that could be used as a mobile weapons platform and infantry support.

The Z-20 eventually got officially christened as the  'Jaeger' and entered service alongside Team A's counterpart. The Z-20 had many advantages but also significant disadvantages. Its large size and bulk meant the Z-20 was unwieldy in a close quarters fight and could in fact become more of a danger to the infantry its meant to support rather than the enemy its trying to kill. It also meant the Z-20 was a much larger target and could be knocked out easier by a team sporting enough firepower. The other problem that became noticeable after it entered production was that the Z-20s fusion core was utterly exposed on its back. A well placed shot with a sufficiently powerful weapon capable of penetrating the cores thick shell, would spell instant death for the wearer and the soldiers around in a spectacular explosion as the core breaches. However despite this, the Z-20 provided a powerful and much-needed set of heavy armor capable of taking significant damage and providing proper fire support for infantry. By the time the Old World ended, the Z-20 was in service in just about every major human military organization and some captured ones were put into service with the Yudovilegion, the Elven human volunteers.