Got this bit of information from Halo: Initiation, which was posted by a fellow member who go the comic on [url=http://w11.zetaboards.com/Halo_Archive/index/]Halo Archive[/url]. If you love Halo´s lore, check the site out. We´re always discussing any new news or information on anything Halo related.
[quote]The originals had augmentations not unlike the Spartan IIs, unbreakable bones, super strength, all of which the current IVs only have thanks to their armor. 8 of the 9 originals died after their augmentations[/quote]
Finally information about the SIV´s augmentations have been released and, just as I had thought, they don´t have augmentations on par with Spartan II´s or even Spartan III´s. All their strenght and reflexes come thanks to MJOLNIR gen 2 essentially, which literally doesn´t even make them Spartan´s anymore, just marines/ODST´s in fancy armor. Apart from the fact that the augmentations, on the first batch, were even more lethal than the Spartan II´s were and dozens of times more than the Spartan III´s first batch.
I´ve always stated that they were not up to level of the Spartan III´s and that they were objectively worse than Spartan III´s in pretty much all fields. Now we know that a Spartan III in SPI armor is pretty much equal to a Spartan IV in MJOLNIR in terms of physical prowess. With all the training and field experience Spartan III´s have, they curbstomp Spartan IV´s. And not let even talk about Spartan III´s with MJOLNIR armor...
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I like to imagine that after the whole fiasco with augmentations on the S-IIs and then the S-IIIs (mostly the twos) the higher ups didn't look too kindly on augmentation. So who cares really? They're Spartans, regardless of if they have unbreakable bones or steroids running through their system. The only thing the S-IVs need to improve on is their armor now. The fact that the MJOLNIR Gen 2 Armor gives them the strength to break an Elite's neck is also pretty badass, remember the whole point of the augmentations in the first place was because the armor was impossible to wear, after the war and collecting Covenant samples of their armor they probably picked up some tricks to not have to augment themselves.