There's a lot of armor options. This one is pretty cheap overall. It assumes your GM allows softweave and uses Arsenal:
...
Softweave (reduces the highest armor B/I by your strength for encumbrance purposes) - WAR!
Holy...
I don't have WAR! but that seems...wow.
You could turn a Troll into a rolling bunker, with that.
-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist
Only if they use a shield, really. Otherwise the troll's body should get them close to max.
For example, the SR4A enforcer troll character has 9 body and 9 strength:
SWAT armor & helm (14/12) + FFBA (6/2 | 3/1 encum.) + PPP no helm or leg & arm casings (1/3) =
21/17 (18/16 encumbrance )
With softweave:
SWAT armor & helm (14/12 | 5/3 encum.) + FFBA (6/2 | 3/1 encum.) + PPP no helm (2/4) =
22/18+ ballistic shield (6/4) =
28/22 (16/12 encumbrance)
That said, I do not like softweave.
Trolls and orks suffer from social stigma. It's part of the cost for playing them. But in return you get higher body and strength. I won't go into all the other tactics that can take down a tank very quickly, not to mention that most characters will target the troll immediately.
Softweave offers that benefit to everyone else for virtually nothing. Admittedly, the character needs a decent strength to gain a significant advantage.
Min/max Body 1 characters out the starting gate - take your chances.
The only design reason I see for softweave is to help save non-combat characters from being one-shot imploding targets.