When would you use medium armour (NPC large scale organizations)?

[Senko]

I'm just wondering when would you use medium armour for a force (NPC wise) e.g. army/police/etc. Light would be standard cheap (realtively), easy to wear and can be issues to most forces. Heavy would be shock troops and SWAT equivalents. Power armour would be elite royal guards or equivalent. However I can't figure out a niche to fit medium armour into. Anyway got any ideas?

[BigNorseWolf]

Starfinder doesn't have medium armor, it has light heavy and powered. So. Heavy is the closest to medium.

Light armor is for anyone expecting that they might be shot at, OR expects they might wind up in space, or needs a place to plug in their armor upgrade.

Heavy armor is for people going into combat like, now because they know they'll get shot, or someone doing some seriously industrial mining or space t rex petting.

Power armor is for when you want a vehicle but need the versatility of a humanoid body with fingers and arms.

[Garretmander]

The closest to medium is any suit of light armor with high bonuses and low dex cap, or heavy armor with no speed reduction.

So... assuming your question was less about rules and more about setting, medium armor is for those who really want to wear heavy armor, but also really need to keep mobile at the same time.

[Senko]

It was more about setting not played starfinder much and didn't realize there was no medium at all (usually go for casters so light armour) or look at the powered armours (curiosity). This would actually fit with what was bothering me in a modern/futuristic setting you wouldn't really have use for a medium armour setting. It'd be light for cheap, minor protections if someone might happen, heavy for combat and powered for stationary high level protection or specific situations.

[Metaphysician]

It kind of depends on the system, though on a concept level? The difference between "Light" and "Medium" might hinge upon "What kind of training do you need to use it?" Medium Armor might be objectively superior to Light Armor ( or at least, objectively superior if you aren't a High Dex build ), but only if you are proficient with it, whereas Light Armor doesn't need training ( or only needs training that is mostly ubiquitous ). In which case, Medium probably would be the choice for most organizations for "mobile" forces, because they can safely presume that all their combat forces are properly trained. Light Armor wouldn't be used my combatants that need mobility, but by personnel who need something lighter to blend in or who are generally not combatants.

None of this really mattering for Starfinder, since no Medium Armor, of course. Though ironically Powered Armor and its "You need to plan and prep for using it beforehand" actually fits with how Heavy Armor was used historically. You didn't live in plate armor the way PCs do in D&Derivatives, you strapped on your plate armor ( with help from your page/squire! ) shortly before you faced battle.