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I will assume this was discovered by somebody getting a high end computer and running the numbers for cascade scenario, and frantically telling the oversight team and whatever passes as the leadership of the Norro that there's a way to turn a psylite deposit into a geological scale threat, and it goes up from there. While the Noro won't be happy, its better to know about it ahead of time than to be surprised by it, and it likely would have been discovered by anybody messing with psylite without using the established Noro methods. So it was inevitable that somebody would trip over it.

Nah...It's just that when you get substantial crustal deposits of psylite and plate tectonics...sometimes the earthquakes have an added dimension of hardship inflicted on people(specifically psi-sensitives) near the epicenter.

And given that PS has been using flawed quartz for PPE batteries in one-shot spell warheads, and psylite is just another(if very rare) form of quartz, it made sense that they would use disposable quartz power cells to power expendable psylite shock emitters. One industry's/technology's waste combined with another industry's/technology's waste....

The Genetic Legacy of Rifts Earth and the New Gene Trade

“Greetings, esteemed colleagues and honored quests. Thank you for attending this informal meeting on matters of the genetic health of our nation.
Over a century of magic exposure, dimensional flux, and the haphazard blending of human and humanoid blood lines from across the megaverse in the crucible of our world have wrought significant changes on the geneplasm of the humanity that stood before the Coming of the Rifts. The securing or nation-states and the advance of medical technologies that have allowed for an increasing number of safe births and the subsequent growth in population has allowed us to see the long term effects. In general, let me say, the genetic health of our nation is good.
Surprisingly, since the dissemination of that Lazlo Report on magic mutation, the native-born of our world have acquired something of a reputation of being good stud or breeder material. Apparently after several generations of hard births, high infant mortality, and rampant bad living conditions, we’ve reached a point that fewer and fewer things are killing us outright. Whether it’s disease resistance, damage resilience, magic propensities, or outright metatalents like psionics and superpowers, an increasing number of outside concerns are seeing us as a eugenic reservoir of meta-potential, and are looking to tap into that. Whether it’s for somebody’s supersoldier program, colonization effort, or species revitalization project, we’ve already gotten offers to buy genetic material from our better-performing citizens, and we’ve seen a number of agents of other worlds come visiting, despite the risks, to acquire DNA, and its carrier media from our various peoples. We sorry mess of mutts are considered to be thoroughbreds in some parts of the megacosmos, and we’re seeing representatives from across the megaverse looking to acquire stud rights. This presents us with both problems and opportunities, depending on how we handle the situation. Already we’ve seen a rise in abductions of citizens of breeding age, the victims in question made to give ‘donations’ or held for longer durations as breeding stock. We’ve also seen a number of attacks on known gene banks, bith in our territory and abroad, if it becomes known that those facilities are holding material from our world. On a friendlier note, as I’ve menyioned beforehand we’ve seen a growing number of representatives approach our people looking to get into our pants as it were. Under the right circumstances, it may beenfit us to avail ourselves of some of these offers.
Ah, ma’am, pull that back on.....we are not giving out samples herem and I didn’t mean that pants comment literally...”

The GNE and, by extension, the United Systems Alliance, gets around, both on their homeworld and dimensionally abroad, for war or for trade. And people being people, that gives plenty of opportunity to sow their oats or pick up an extra ‘passenger’. Rifts Earth, for all the detrimental mutations its societal collapse’s pollution and rift-born contamination has engendered, has also gained a reputation for producing a higher ratio of advanced abilities and wild talents.
While a lot of genetic mixing is done the old-fashioned way by romantic contacts across the GNE/USA trade network, there have been efforts to acquire Rifts Earth genetic material by a number of concerns. Some organizations see infusions of metamutation-rich Rifts Earth genes as a way of building up pools of metapotential in their ranks. Some shaterworld rehabilitation/reconstruction populations see it as a means of revitalizing too-small genepools, or repairing genetic damage. Offworld, the Casserine population of Atium has been suspected of running their own eugenics program, and the Amazons of Tavaza have made no secret of seeking fresh blood, especially that with meta-potential, into their bloodlines.
Conversely, some Rifts Earth natives are actively seeking to bring new blood into the mutated local genepool. This has led to some interesting results, though the Altess have rebuffed several attempts to finagle hybridization..at least when it’s not on their terms.
The growing GNE practice of gene-banking(against the need to clone new body parts or leave post-mortem genetic legacies) has also played into these trends. Already, several efforts by outworld concerns have been made to buy or steal these gene-banks. As the GNE is more tolerant of extra-dimensional visitors and congress with d-bees, the problem of ‘DNA-tourism’ in Greater New Englan territories is greater than in far less safe areas like the Coalition States and especially Lone Star. The legalized ‘entertainment guilds’ of the GNE have been advised of the situation and have taken a strong interest in the issue, both because of DNA collectors posing as freelance workers or rival organizations/services, and by individuals seeking to use the guilds to acquire material from staff.

If the M-Radiation of the Black Hole Projector could do BS to the natives of Thundercloud, than being on Rifts Earth should do the same eventually.

HOUND (High-Order Unknown superNatural Detector)
“Oh, you think I can’t see you, you skrugging fiends? I see you bright as day. That’s it, sneak a little closer before you spring your little ambush right into my trap . Just a little closer-”

HOUND gear fllls a gap in magic detection capabilities between scope-mounted PPE detectors such as are incorporated into the LR-OTS07 rifle scope and the ORACLE sets available to aerospace and marine vessels. HOUND uses a positionable vehicle-mount sensor system that improves on the old SNARLS system’s range by an order of 10.
HOUND was introduced during the Minion War’s incursion on Rifts Earth. and sets were quickly rushed into service to give friendly forces an edge against Infernal infiltration forces. Despite various transport cutoffs, plans and a few examples were gotten out to ofworld colonies and affiliates, including the Three Galaxies. Though too late to play a role in the mainstream fighting in the Mion War event there, locally-produced HOUND sets proved invaluable to rooting out Infernal stay-behind cells and guerilla forces, and have increasingly become standard equipment with AJC units .
The sensor has a 2,000 ft range(out to 4,000 ft with 50% error in determination), 60-degree arc per positionable sensor head, and can detect invisible entities. Other penalties similar to the Japanese SNARLS system(on which it is based.....see Rifts: Japan, pg. 116).
Cost: 75,000 cedits per sensor(multiple sensor heads may be mounted/tied in for better all-around coverage).

Blatant backronym aside, its about time they made a ground vehicle sized PPE detector. Simply knowing that there's something out there can make all the difference, particularly if you have the ordinance budget to play 'burn the whole forest down'.

Yeah, well, I realized that I didn't have a fully-fleshed out 'Cestus III' hover tank on my books, though it had been mentioned)and you even critiqued it as being slow), and that prompted me to revisit the Shadowfist as the basis, and again realized that an upgraded 'conventional' version of same would still need some basic magic detection gear...which was lacking...so, build the tools to build the tools, to build the tools that build the empire. HOUND popped out in no time, ready for use.

I figured you just hadn't put the work into turning it into full entry. You generally catch those sorts of things when you invest in writing a meaningful amount of fluff to attach to it.

And the Cestus III is going to be the better for it and the delay(not so the Providence or the Patriot heavy robot, it seems), thank you.

PS-GEVHMBT-17 ‘Zerghan’ Heavy HoverTank
(aka ‘ZerBrickan’. ‘Zergy’, ‘Dowgunner’)

“Here’s the thing about Paladin Steel...you’d think that a company so unabashedly ‘liberal’ and wide-flung would have problems with internal cohesion....people making off with corporate secrets or branch offices gaining a degree of self-sufficiency and ambitious or disgruntled branch heads then peeling off with the assets and starting their own rival firms. Well, aside from the Odessa incident, in which PS actually came out AHEAD on the deal, and some not-so-hushed-up stories of would-be embezzlers and corporate free-agents winding up worse than dead, Paladin Steel has a remarkably loyal corporate culture. Even with the Minion Wars cutting off branches for months at a time, there seems to be a lack of opportunists springing at the chance to make names for themselves knocking off the parent company products...this, despite the fact that Aegis Stellar Industries is acknowledged as being MUCH larger than its hellworld-based parent corp and could easily go it alone if they so wanted. And the Minion War gave them plenty of opportunity to do so.
Instead, all these little cutoff branches forted up, and continued to service their customer base. Rather than fold and accept the losses occasioned by lack of product coming in from the home core, the little greeners sat down with their customers and worked out new product wit what they had locally available, then manufactured to meet local orders.
When they get back in touch with adjacent branches or the Home Office, among the first things they do is shoot their neighbors copies of the new design. If they like it, the other branches make a few changes with what they have available, and then send the schematics farther down the line. When the Home Office gets it, if they like what they’ve been hearing about the design, they compile the changes and distribute the design to anybody else in the network who can manufacture it. It’s like a stream picking up silt and becoming a river laying down a delta. It’s clumsy, but it seems to work for the Greeners.
With such a process at work, you get designs like the Zerghan, which benefits from being passed through several different worlds and corporate sub-branches.”
---Phillip Kal-Refan, Business Analyst, Galactic Economic Review, Altess-Prime.

“We come to Conquer! We come to Dominate! We come to-*ZAAAUUUGGHHH!!!*<<fhizzzllle>>
“Welcome to the Rosette. Thank you for leaving. Hope you enjoyed the terawatts.”
----Encounter between Travesdeen interdimensional ‘Dominator’ forces and Zerghan-equipped CTRL Rosette Planetary Defense Militia

“They save money on these things because they use mostly components already in production. They save money because they leave off the costly and maintenance-heavy robotics. Then they make up for it by mounting hell-zapper weaponry from their starship supply sub-lines, because the things are big enough to carry the big guns. Then they deploy them across their Alliance, so anybody thinking to attack those worlds on the basis that they’re weaklings cowering together for protection discovers how effective that protection really is.”

“Like the Bruno, the Zerghan’s more properly described as a ‘land monitor’. It’s a warship turret on hoverjets. Even if you destroy its mobility without simultaneously destroying its armor, you more than likely now have an armed bunker opposing you. But bear in mind that it’s an armor-killer; you send it out to kill other tanks and robots. It’s less effective swatting infantry, so it’s a good idea to accompany your Zerghans with escorts better suited for dealing with power armor or even just heavily armed ground forces.”

“’Land monitor’? Be serious. Compared to the good old Phalanx, the Zergie’s a glass hammer. Oh, it’s got the guns, but it lacks the armor the old Wulfen tanks have. Speed’s just fast enough to put it in a class with the Phally, but it’s hardly a dreadnought. You save a little money with the Zergie, but I bet you could simply upgrade the Phalanx with new turrets for a little extra, mount the same amount of firepower, and actually come out ahead logistics wise.”

The ‘Zerghan’ is a derivative of the PS-IRA-04 Zysha Heavy Hover Assault Robot, as an effort to bring equally heavy firepower in a simpler to produce package. The Zerghan uses the lower body hoverplatform of the Zysha, omitting the robotic upper torso in favor of a more conventional heavy tank turret. Other changes include the omission of the back-up ‘crawler’ legs, ejection seat escape systems, and the ‘backpack’ heavy weapons space(though the weapons mounted there now tend to be among the types able to be fitted in the double-barrel turret). The head-mount weapon is now a cupola-style weapon mounting, and two smaller sub-turrets provide point-defense coverage. Ten feet of extra armored ‘tail’ have been added to the lower hover platform to increase stability, which reduces stress on the gyrostabilization systems which required extra attention on the Zysha.
The Zerghan loses some of the versatility of the Zysha, but gains a lower profile, slightly higher speed, lower costs and maintenance needs. Yet, for its size, the entire vehicle can be operated quite effectively by a crew of four.
Despite its limitations compared to other hovertanks in the same weight class(such as the CAD’s Phalanx), the Zerghan has proven quite effective and popular in defense roles throughout the GNE/USA territories, when and where the more conventional Cestus III wasn’t available. It has earned something of a ‘kitbash’ reputation, with local PS/ASI manufactories and garages, sometimes cut off from trade with other outposts for months at a time by the Minion Wars, adapting locally-available weapons to the Zerghan’s mountings.
Where it was available, the Zerghan often supplanted the existing and more conventional HMBT-025D Assault Tank variant of the Shadowfist, known also as the ‘Cestus II’, as many crews favored the ‘zergy’s’ faster speed and heavier firepower, However, the steeper price tag per unit meant that the Zerghan couldn’t beat the Cestus in numbers, and the easier maintenance on the less complex design made the HMBT-025D more attractive to the quartermasters. The Zerghan was thus often deployed alongside the Cestus IIs as ‘breakthrough’ or ‘cavalry’ tanks, exploiting breaks in enemies lines pried open by the HMBT-025Ds. Experience with the Zerghans’, especially those in the Three Galaxies, heavier weaponry and especially forceshielding options helped shape the follow-up HMBT-026 Cestus III that would become the favored heavy main battle tank of the GNEAS.
Besides Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries, which produces the tank for the United Systems Alliance, the Corianus-Typhen-Rosette League license-produces the Zerghan for their own forces.

Model Type: PS-GEVHMBT-17 ‘Zerghan’
Class: Heavy HoverTank
Crew: 4 (Pilot, systems operator, commander and gunner). An additional 1-2 passengers/crewmembers may be squeezed in.
M.D.C By Location:
Main Turret 500
Auxiliary Cupola 250
Tertiary Mini-Turrets(2) 180 each
Main Body/Lower Torso 700
Missile Launchers (8; lower torso) 50 each
Reinforced Pilot's Compartment 250
Speed:
(HoverJets) Using its hoverjets, the Zerghan can "skate" along most flat surfaces at up to 220 mph at an altitude of 25 ft.
(Leaping) By revving the hoverjets to max output, the Zerghan CAN make a powered leap of about 100 ft up/500 ft across, enough to clear obstacles, or leap small rivers and canyons. It’s damn uncomfortable for the crew, however, even with the padded seats and crash-fields.
(Flight) True flight is NOT possible
(Underwater) The Zerghan is fully watertight and can operate underwater, to ford rivers at 15 MPH, maximum depth of 500 ft. The Zerghan can also skim over the surface of relatively calm water (no more than a ten-foot swell) at 100 MPH.
Statistical Data:
Height: 30 feet
Width: 35 ft
Length: 50 ft
Weight: 125 tons
Cargo: Minimal cargo space; about six feet in the crew compartment.
Power System: Nuclear with a 20 year life span.
Cost: 110 million credits for a new unit with fully loaded weapons.
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot Systems:
360-degree Turret Rotation
Radar: Range 50 miles and can track up to 50 targets at once.
Radio/Video Communications: Wide band and directional, radio and
video transmission capabilities with a 300 mile range.
Standard Video Optics plus:
Thermo-Imaging
IR/UV Optics
Telescopic/Image Enhancement Optics
Low-Light/Nightvision system
Laser Targeting
Headlights/Spotlights: 300 foot range.
Heat & Radiation Shields
Independent Oxygen & Circulatory System
Combat Computer: The tank is equipped with an advanced combat
computer that can store and analyze data during combat with hostile forces.
Data collected by the combat computer can be displayed on the virtual environment cockpit monitors, which allows the system to display large amounts of data to the pilot and even highlight enemies and missile attacks with overlaid graphics. +2 to Strike w/ ranged weapons.
The combat computer tracks and identifies specific enemy targets, and has a database of over 10,000 images stored in memory. The computer can identify and track up to 250 targets simultaneously.

Weapons Systems:
1) Main Turret Mounts(2)---The Zerghan’s heavy turret has provision for mounting TWO heavy weapons, typically of the same type and many adapted from the Zysha’s heavy backmount weapons. Each mounting slot can be fitted with ONE of the following:
a) 45mm Heavy Rail Gun Pod/Mass Driver --A snub-nosed massdriver submachine cannon that looks like an old water- cooled Spandau machine-gun, with a much larger bore, and much higher muzzle velocity. The MD fires the same heavyweight projectiles used by Paladin Steel’s “Hellshot” anti-armor cannon, but
with better range, rate of fire, and payload.
MDC of Mass Driver: 200
Range: 5,300 ft
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per shot, or can fire off a 5-shot burst doing 1d6x100 MD!
Rate of Fire: Standard, EGCHH
Payload: 150 rd drum per cannon
Cost: 550,000 credits

b) 200mm Heavy Autocannon Pod---Uses the same IH-B 200 mm
Autocannon used by locally-produced copies of the Iron Heart IronFist Heavy Tank, but with a better autoloader.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: High Explosive (HE): 2d6x10 MD to 30 ft blast radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT): 3d6x10 Md to 12 ft blast radius
Armor Piercing (AP) 1d6x10 MD, no blast radius
APSD: 2d6x10 MD, no blast radius
(Illumination) Illuminates a 1 mile area bright as day, and burns for 2d6 melees
Can also chamber other specialized ordnance, such as TW shells, EMP bombs, and other types currently in development.
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: 80 rds per gun
Cost: 650,000 credits

c) 20mm PSGC-5 Heavy Gatling Cannon--- This oversized weapon, actually a six-barrelled ‘Taskin’ Rifle, spews high explosive shells at a rate that would melt a lesser weapon’s barrel. Improvements have been made in the weapon’s accuracy and range, and the turret-mounting on the Zerghan is far more stable and shock-resistant.
Range: 7,000 ft
Damage: 4d4 MD single shot (2 ft blast radius)
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
2d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst
6d6x10 MD for a 40 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 4,000 rd drum
Cost: 650,000 credits

d) 200mm Fletchette Cannon----This is the same weapon as mounted on the CCW’s ‘Phalanx’ Main Battle Tank, and is meant to take advantage of the wide distribution of the vehicle, its spare parts stockpiles, and various knockoffs.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3d4x10 MD to targets 10 ft or larger, or 1d4x10 MD to a 30 ft wide area.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 500 rds per cannon
Cost: 700,000 credits

e) 80mm MB Gauss Cannon(PS-MDJ80M)
Range: (Direct Fire)25,000 ft (5 miles)
(Indirect Fire) 62,500 ft (12.5 miles)
( Plasma Cluster-Direct Fire) 17,000 ft (3.4 miles)
(Plasma Cluster-Indirect Fire) 42,500 ft (8.5 miles)
‘Damage: High Explosive(HE)----1d4x10 MD to 15 ft radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT)---- 3d4x10 MD to 5 ft radius
Fragmentation--- 5d6 MD to 30 ft radius
Plasma----- 1d6x10 MD to 20 ft radius
(APFSDSDU)(Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot Depleted Uranium) 3d6x10 MD out to 6,600 ft, 2d4x10 MD out to maximum range
(Plasma Cluster)80mm---4 submunitions----Does 4d4x10 MD to a 4 ft blast radius, 4d6 MD concussion damage to a 20 ft blast radius.
Rate of Fire: 5 shots per melee
Payload: 3 tons total shell capacity
80mm AP shell weighs 12 lbs( 166 shots per ton)
80 mm plasma cluster shell weighs 20 lbs( 100 shots per ton)
Cost: 1.1 million credits

f) Superheavy Pulse Laser ---Modified starship point defense weapon.
Range: 5 miles
Damage: Cannon can fire at three fire power levels: 1d4x10 MD, 1d6x10 MD, or 3d6x10 MD per blast.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Bonuses: +2 to Strike
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 1.2 million credits

g) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 950,000 credits

h) Heavy Ion Cannon
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3d4x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: 4 times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 800,000 credits

i) HPC-03 ‘Vesuvius’ Heavy Rapid-Fire Plasma Gatler
Range: 8,500 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per single blast(4d6 MD at ranges beyond 7,000 ft out to maximum), 3d4x10 MD per three-shot burst(1d6x10 MD at ranges beyond 7,000 ft out to maximum), 4d6x10 MD per six-shot burst(2d6x10 MD at ranges beyond 7,000 ft out to maximum), and a whopping 8d6x10 MD(4d6x10 MD at ranges beyond 7,000 ft out to maximum) for a twelve-shot burst per single cannon.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Typically is fed by 240 rd belts.
Cost: 650,000 credits per single gun system; 1.2 million credits for the dual-mount. 40mm Cadmium-telluride cartridges cost 95 credits each

j) Particle Beam Cannon---Adapted from Kera-Tech’s own ‘Storm Lance’ Hovertank, the KTPB-40 has earned the nickname ‘Supershooter’ from PS engineers, who like its low-maintenance design, and superb range. This mounting is NOT available to the general market(exclusive to PS and its affiliates)
Range: 9,800 ft(nearly 2 miles!)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: NOT AVAILABLE TO THE MARKET;EXCLUSIVE TO GNE.

k) Pulse Disruptor---Aegis Stellar Industries, Paladin Steel’s Three Galaxies-based branch, was able to acquire examples of Golgan weaponry. With their expertise in plasma dynamics, the company was able to reverse-engineer Republik pulse disruptor technology and begin applying it to their own designs.
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per shot, plus 1/4 that in a 10 ft radius around the point of impact.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 700,000 credits

l) Heavy Plasma Cannon---Heavy plasma cannon adapted from PS’s own aircraft weapons research.
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 800,000 credits

m) G-Cannon---Adapted from starship point defense armaments. PS/ASI have improved on the tank-mounted version, adding gravitic baffling that cuts down on recoil.
Range: 12,000 ft
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per 10-rd burst.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 10,000 rds(1,000 bursts) per cannon
Cost: 1 million credits


2) Cupola-Mount Weapon---In place of the Zysha’s head, the Zerghan mounts a smaller auxiliary cupola turret fitted with a smaller weapon, typically used for antipersonnel and antiaircraft use. It can be fitted with ONE of the following:
a) Laser Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 6d6 MD per blast, 1d6x10 MD per pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Bonus: +3 to strike airborne targets

b) Plasma Cannon 1
Range: (Plasma)3,500 ft
(Plasma Bolt) 2,000 ft
(Magnetic Vortices) 2,000 ft
Damage: (Plasma)1d4x10 MD per plasma blast, 3d4x10 MD for a 3-shot rapid-fire burst(takes two attacks)
(Plasma Bolt) 1d4x10 MD to 15 ft blast radius
(Magnetic Vortex-SDC) 2d8 SDC per vortex, plus 60% chance of knocking down human-sized targets, and affects a 10 ft radius
(MDC) 2d8 MD per vortex, 3 ft radius
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonuses: +1 to strike from laser targeting
Note: Magnetic force vortices, being invisible, are -8 to dodge
Cost: 90,000 credits

c) Plasma Cannon 2
Range: (Plasma Shot)2,500 ft
(Plasma Scattershot) 900 ft
(Plasma Mini-Torpedo) 3,200 ft
Damage:(Plasma Shot) 1d6x10 MD
(Plasma Scattershot) 6d6 MD to 20 ft wide area
(Plasma Mini-Torpedo) 1d4x10 MD to 18 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire:(Plasma Shot) ECHH
(Plasma Scattershot) ECHH
(Plasma Mini-Torpedo) Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonuses:----
Special Features:
*“Hot Shotting”---This system augments the normal air-draw plasma re-mass system with deuterium-gas injected into the plasma flow for a cleaner, hotter, more potent ‘burn’. The deuterium is stored in pressurized cylinders attached to the feeds of the gun, like a CO2 air rifle cartridge. This allows the plasma to do 50% more damage, but the weapon now has a bit of a recoil due to the more powerful plasma acting like a crude plasma drive(-1 to strike).
Cost: A recharged cylinder of refined d-gas costs 800 credits(300 credits if the user can return a depleted gas cylinder at the time of purchase) and is good for 20 shots.

Cost: 92,000 credits

d) Ion Cannon---PSIC-03 “Scheffer’ Ion Cannon
Range: (Ion Bolt) 3,000 ft
(Spray Bolt)1,500 ft and affects a 15 ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 1d6x10 MD per single bolt
(Spray Bolt) 4d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 32,000 credits

e) Particle Beam Blaster---PSPBW-10 ‘Fanblaster’, given a second life as a vehicle weapon
Range: 3,200 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD to an 8 ft wide swath
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 150,000 credits

f) 20mm Cannon
Range:(20mm)4,000 ft, 7,200 ft for the Model 2N
Damage:(20mm) 1d4 MD per shell
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst
1d4x10+4 MD per 10 rd burst
Airburst does 1d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius(single shot)
(20mm PSX-1) 4d4 MD single rd
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 1,000 rd drum
Cost: 40,000 credits. 50,000 credits for the Model 2N

g) G-Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD single shot, 2d6x10+10 MD for a 10 shot burst.
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 30 rd drum or 200 rd belts
Cost: 75,000 credits

h)Rail Gun(PS-RFRG30)---PS copy of the C-30R Rail Gun
Range: 2 miles
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 6d6 MD per 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,400 rd drum
Cost: 90,000 credits

i) PSPPR-9 TriBarrel ‘HeatWave’ Gatling Plasma Cannon(CT Cartridge)
Range: 3,000 ft...Maximum range for a six-shot burst drops to 2,500 ft with a 6-ft wide ‘spread’, and for a twelve-shot burst to 2,000 ft with an eight-foot spread.
Damage: 5d6 MD per single blast, 2d4x10+10 MD per three-shot burst, 3d6x10 MD per six-shot burst(2d6x10 MD beyond 2,500 ft out to its maximum range), and a whopping 6d6x10 MD for a twelve-shot burst(4d6x10 MD beyond 2,000 ft out to its maximum range)
Rate of Fire: Single shot, three, six, or twelve shot bursts
Payload: 240 round box standard
Cost: 45,000 credits. Cadmium-telluride cartridges cost 45 credits each

j).50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun(Browning M2HB-pattern)
Range: 10,000 ft
Damage:(SDC) 7d6 SDC single shot, 4d6 x10 SDC(1d4 MD) per 10 rd burst, 8d6x10 SDC per 20 rd burst, 1d4 MD per 40 rd burst.
(Ramjets) 1d4 MD single shot, 5d6 MD per 40 rd burst.
(High Explosive)2d6x10 SDC single shot, 1d6 MD per 10 rd burst, 2d6 MD per 20 rd burst, 4d6 MD per 40 rd burst.
(PSX-2) 1d6 MD per rd, 1d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst, 2d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst, 4d6x10 MD per 40 rd burst.
(Tracer) Every 11th round is a tracer, which gives a +1 to strike with bursts. However, the tracer stream also makes it that much easier for enemies to backtrack and locate the machine gunner.
Rate of Fire: Standard; rated at 6,000 rpm(or 1,500 rounds per melee)
Payload: 2,000-rd belt per gun
Cost: 8,000 credits per gun


3) Tertiary Mini-Turrets(2) ---These are two smaller mini-turrets on the main turret, adapted from PS’s power armor systems. They feature light rapid-fire weaponry and are intended for point defense against missiles and infantry. .
a) Light Rail Gun---Based on PS’s STARifle:
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 MD per single shot, 5d6 MD on a 5 shot burst, 1d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst
Rate of Fire: Single shot or 5-shot burst, Equal to the gunner's combined hand to hand attacks, or 4 attacks in auto-defense mode.
Payload: 1,200 rd drum feeding both weapons(60 bursts per gun)
Cost: 17,000 credits

b) Pulse Laser Turret: Paladin Steel also offers a lower-powered laser system, with unlimited payload and a longer range. The Pulse Laser is intended as an antiaircraft/antimissile system, and can be remote-linked to an air defense grid system, such as the Meles AAAV, Rattlesnake AAV, or the Vixen Fighter/Recon Pod, (Part of Paladin Steel's emerging BAMSP: Battlefield Asset Management System Package).
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3D6 MD single blast, 6D6 MD double- barreled blast
Rate of Fire: Equal to the gunner's combined hand to hand attacks, or 4 attacks in auto-defense mode.
Payload: Unlimited
Bonuses: +2 to strike airborne targets like missiles and aircraft/flying opponents(must be traveling higher than 10 ft off the ground)
Cost: 45,000 credits

c) Light Plasma Cannon
Range: 1,800 ft
Damage: 6d6 MD single shot
Rate of Fire: Equal to the gunners combined hand to hand attacks, or 4 attacks in auto-defense mode..
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 30,000 credits

d) Light Ion Blasters:
Range: 1,600 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD single shot, 1d6x10 MD pulse burst
Rate of Fire: Equal to the gunner's combined hand to hand attacks, or 4 attacks in auto-defense mode..
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 30,000 credits


4) Multi-Role Missile Launchers (8, four per side)--- Retained from the Zysha. Built around the rim of the circular lower body are concealed missile launch tubes. When in operation, the lids quickly snap up and open, launch, and then snap closed.
Range: Varies by Missile Type
Damage: Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 20, or 24
Payload: Each launch cell can hold 6 MRMs, OR 12 SRMs, OR 24 Mini-missiles OR 50 Micro-Missiles

Options:

*Chemical Sprayer System---Introduced on the IRA-04Xcx as a weapon of last resort, this allows the crew to introduce chemical agents from internal reservoirs into the hoverjets’ slipstream for maximum dispersal. The system is offered as an option on the Zerghan as an antipersonnel or camouflage measure.
Range: 100 ft range(1,000 ft w’ hoverjets engaged)
Damage: Varies by chemical used
Rate of Fire: Four times per melee
Payload: Internal reservoirs hold up to 200 gallons of chemical
(enough for 10 shots)

*Appliqué Armor---A common complaint about the Zerghan is its weak armor compared to contemporaries like the CAF Phalanx and the CA Linebacker. To remedy this shortcoming, extra armor plates can be added to the main hull, affording it an extra 200-350 MDC, but at the cost of reducing the top speed to 180 MPH. Cost: 18,000 credits per 10 MDC.
*Jettisonable Armor(Option)---Special precut division channels, break points, and integral explosive bolts allow the vehicle crew to jettison the appliqué armor, shedding it, usually to restore mobility(in the case of medium- and heavy-armors), lose contaminated outer plates, or shed unwanted riders. Once jettisoned, the appliqué armor CANNOT be reattached without extensive reconstruction and refurbishment(if anything is left at all of the original material)....Essentially, one has to re-buy the appliqué and/or jettisonable armor option to regain its benefits.
OPTIONAL: The explosive bolts, at the GM’s discretion, can explode off with enough force to do 1d6 MD to an 15 ft radius around the vehicle, due to flying armor fragments.
----Cost: +4,000 credits+cost of armor

*External Antipersonnel Fletchette Packs----An effort to further protect the tank against faster power armor and infantry, this system consists of a series of directional ‘claymore’-style fragmentation grenades attached to the outer hull and triggered either by command or by motion detector trip to fill a ‘kill zone’ around the tank with lethal shrapnel and antipersonnel fletchettes. Though many Zerghan crews favored speed as their main defense, the reactive armor came in handy against missile attacks and when a damaged tank was of necessity grounded and threatened by enemy ground forces.
Range: 100 ft
Damage: 5d6 MD to a cone swath roughly 50 ft long, by 10 ft wide.
Used as reactive armor against plasma and armor-piercing missiles, the computerized firing system acts as a PARRY, rolling to match or better the missile’s strike roll...a successful counter means that the missile damage is HALVED, while a failure means the tank takes full damage. Note: when dealing with volleys, one reactive armor pack can match TWO missiles in a volley, so in order to effectively counter a five missile volley, the tank must expend 3 reactive armor packs...two packs would roll twice to defeat their respective missiles, the third would only roll once. If the enemy missile launcher has a line of sight on the tank, they can target a spot on the hull which has no packs covering it (a called shot), in which case the remaining reactive armor is -4 to cover the gap.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or can be simultaneously fired in volleys of 1-10
Payload: Each side of the tank(sides, front, back) has 6 fletchette packs each(24 total), the turret has 4 each side, three on top(11 total)
Cost: 300 credits per charge.

*Cargo Pod---An external cargo module can be fitted to the fantail, usually supplies for supporting infantry or powered armor. 6ft x 10ft x 4 ft , 2,800 lbs capacity, 100 MDC, 10,000 credits

* Forcefield Pod---Provision can be made to fit the Zerghan with an available forcefield generator, usually a commercial aerospace model with 600-1,200 MDC, but low-end fighter-grade military variable screens(200 MDC per side, 1,200 total) can be mounted. The downside of this feature is that the FFG is an external module, with 350 MDC of shielding built up around it, but still vulnerable to enemy fire. Cost: Varies by available FFG installation; usually between 600,000- 3 million credits

PS-HMBT-026 Cestus III Heavy Hovertank
(aka ‘Mossberg’, ‘Greenbrick’)

The vision displays blinked with compensating filters and -Gorn- shuddered as its energy screens flared again. Sergeant Kokson cursed as he caught just a glimpse of glowing radiation source disappearing just behind a small rile, even as he heard the reassuring thud of -Gorn’s- autoloader ramming a fresh round into the massdriver. He cursed the slow cycle of fire of the heavy cannon as the shields took another strike and again the point of origin vanished back behind cover as his targeting recticle swept over it. Whoever had paid top dollar to equip these raiders with Naruni Juggernauts had hired somebody who knew what they were doing, and what they were doing was taking shameless advantage of the Juggers’ long range particle beamers to snipe at will at the garrison’s Cestii. The bastards were remaining just beyond the range of the HMBTs’ secondary armament and moving too fast for the slow-firing heavy cannons to get a bead on them before they dove behind cover. Unless the defenders could corner the raiders in a geographical fold the Juggers couldn’t jump out of and the usans could rain enough shells and missiles to drench their forcefields, or could bring up tanks with better rapid-fire weapons, this was going to become a slogging match. The damn Naruni PBCs could fire as fast as their gunners could pull the trigger, while -Gorn- and its brethren had to aim their shots, or be very lucky several times over. The fact that the Juggs would have chewed their way through a squadron of lighter vehicles was little consolation to Kokson as he tried to figure out if the enemy tank was going to try to outflank him behind the ridge or backtrack and snipe them from a previous position again. And they still didn’t know how many enemy mobiles had landed with those droppers they’d tracked earlier. There might be more than one Jugg lurking over there.
Hell with it. This was worth wasting a frisbee. Kokson toggled off one of the tank’s aerial drones to get a look over the ridge and hoped the raiders hadn’t also bought good air defense, like Naruni combat drones, to the party. If they did, this tango got a whole lot more complicated.

“We’re the big metal glacier come to grind down the opposition.”

“What the hell do those rimmers need a tank that powerful for?”
“You wouldn’t believe the size of some of the cockroaches out there.”

The Cestus III is the GNEAF’s(and likely to become the USA AJC’s) primary heavy hovertank and is based on the HMBT-025D Assault Tank variant of the Shadowfist stealth hovertank. The Cestus III drops the Shadowfist’s various stealth features adn technowizardry in favor of more mass, a larger powerplant, more armor(and that enhanced with reactive appliqué as standard), and more speed. The Cestus III takes advantage of advanced Three Galaxies technology to upgrade nearly every aspect of its main features; armor, armament, and speed, in order to at least equal the various knockoffs of the CAF Phalanx and TGE Dark Slayer, as well as Naruni’s latest AFV offerings beginning to appear on the galactic battlefields.
The Cestus III mounts a variety of weapons once considered heavy for vehicles, but which now pale in comparison to the HMBT’s main gun, which stops short of being SPG-grade. The Cestus’s role is to destroy enemy armor and entrenched positions through a combination of speed, endurance, and raw firepower. This comes, though, with a higher price tag per unit. However, it’s figured that for many situations, one cannot count on having numerical superiority or being able to trade lives to overwhelm an opponent; a heavy instrument is needed. The Cestus III was developed to be that heavy instrument.
The Cestus III has a number of features that, though they add to the overall cost, show a desire to be prepared for a variety of situations. The Cestus III carries a basic electronic sensor-jamming suite, smoke/chaff launchers, ROV mini-drones, and magic-sensors. On a pinch, the Cestus III can serve as a most effective command vehicle for squadrons of less sophisticated combat vehicles. Provision for being fitted with a forcefield generator from available 3G stocks shows an acknowledgement of the tactical situation and combat trends in the Three Galaxies.
The adoption of the Cestus III as the main line ‘heavy’ has not in any way diminished the role of the Shadowfist and its derivatives; the HMBT-025 and its variants often act in concert with the HMBT-026 to outflank and annihilate enemy forces. The Cestus III is seen with Regular Army and Marine armored units.
The Cestus is often compared to the contemporary Zerghan heavy hovertank, which is faster and mounts heavier armament. However, the Cestus is mechanically simpler, easier to maintain, less expensive per unit, and more durable, by virtue of its less complicated hull design. Still, as the Cestus reaches more USA units, it can often be found operating alongside Zerghans, anchoring their formations and providing reinforcing mobile bulwarks for the faster Zerghans to retire behind when the opposition gets too hot for the lighter-armored ‘zergies’. Cestuses reaching United Systems Alliance units also benefitted from experience derived from the earlier-deployed Zerghans, especially forceshielding options.

An interesting incident occurred at the beginning of the Cestus III’s deployments in the Three Galaxies. Both a CAF troop carrier and a USA combat transport, carrying armored units, responded separately to requests for assistance from the planet Wiscott, part of the nominally independent Duchy of Harwinton-Sachs, which was under attack by marauding forces of the Dadalane Jihad. The CAF contingent was equipped with updated Phalanx II tanks, the USA/AJC company had just been issued Cestus IIIs, and the Jihad attack force had brought to the picnic Kargkans, the Dadalane knockoff of the Phalanx, and more of them than either the CAF or AJC alone had. The CAF and USA units had not had opportunity to swap transponder codes, the CAF did not yet have updated warbook data on the Cestus IIIs, and both forces were dropping in sensor-fouling weather into largely unmapped terrain to deal with the Jihad forces moving against the nearest(and largest) community on Wiscott.
The result was an utter near-total hairball of units wandering nearly blind through the rough terrain, blundering into each other, and sniping at each other in what became a three-way brush-scrum. In several instances the CAF armored assumed the Cestuses were some new Dadalane tank, and the AJC tankers couldn’t tell the difference between the Phalanxes and the Kargkans in the cluttered Wiscottan countryside. The Jihad had the easiest time of it and just shot at everybody they ran into. After nearly a day of frustration and several hair-raising near-fatal blue-on-blues, the respective CAF and AJC commands got straightened out and managed to keep their troops from killing each other in time to counter the Jihad’s blitz on the colony. Now, suddenly caught between the upgraded Phalanx IIs and the new Cestus IIIs in coordination with each other, the Kargkans were annihilated, and the surviving raiders were forced to retreat offworld(taking further damage from the armed transports in the process) with nothing to show for their effort.
The aftermath of the Battle of Wiscott had both the CAF and the AJC, bruised and battered, grateful their units had received forcefield upgrades, but glad they hadn’t started a war with each other, but also showed the respective strengths of their MBTs. The CAF got a good look at the new Cestus in action, and the AJC got a good idea of how the Cestus III measured up against the latest CAF fighting vehicles and Phalanx knockoffs, in an effective position of being outnumbered. Both organizations would be reviewing the battle recorders of the incident for a long time to come to glean lessons from it.

Type: PS-HMBT-026 Cestus III
Class: Hover Main Battle Tank
Crew: Five, plus up to two passengers may be carried
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,200
Reinforced Crew Compartment 200
Main Turret 540
Main Gun 200
Command Cupola 180
Tertiary Turret 150
Retractable Lateral Missile Launchers(2) 100 each
*Propulsor Units(4) 200 each
*Destroying the Propulsors will NOT stop the vehicle(internal GMR coil) but will make it harder to control; reduce speed by 20%, and control rolls by -15% per unit destroyed)
Height: 9 ft
Width: 14 ft
Length: 30 ft(gun barrel makes it 36 ft)
Weight: 110 tons
Cargo: 12 cubic feet inside the crew compartment
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed:(Ground) 200 MPH, 2-3 ft off the ground
(Flying) Not possible, though the GMR drive can be ‘supercharged’ to propel the tank at speeds of up to 270 MPH , 50 ft off the ground, for brief spurts(no more than 5 minutes and allow for a 15 minute cool-down period between ramp-ups), and the GMR system can be used to allow the tank to ‘glide’ safely from altitudes of up to 2,000 ft
(Underwater) Fully buttoned up, the Cestus can operate quite comfortably underwater, moving at 5 MPH along the bottom(unless a Swimming spell is engaged), and can survive depths down to 800 ft
Market Cost: Currently not available for sale; limited to GNE and affiliates. If one were to become available to the Black Market, its advanced technology would bring 80 million credits or more.
Systems of Note:
Basic Robot Features, plus:
*Laser Communications---A point-to-point, line-of-sight communications system for unjammed and untraceable communications between similarly equipped vehicles.
Effective Range: 25 miles

*Periscope---The Cestus is fitted with a snorkel/periscope that can extend up to 18 ft, allowing it to look over walls, debris, vegetation, and look above the water like a submarine, when fording. Standard tank optics periscope head.

*PPE Sensors---Not as comprehensive as those mounted on many fighters, let alone the ORACLE sets available for warships(space and water), the HOUND (High-Order Unknown superNatural Detector) set still provides the tank crew with early warning of supernatural threats. The sensor has a 2,000 ft range(out to 4,000 ft with 50% error in determination), 60-degree arc per positionable sensor head( 6 heads are mounted), and can detect invisible entities. Other penalties similar to the Japanese SNARLS system(on which it is based.....see Rifts: Japan, pg. 116).

*ECCM System-----Onboard EW suite for dealing with intercepted enemy transmissions and cutting through hostile ECM.
Decryption Bonuses: +10% to Cryptography Skill
+15% to Radio skill rolls to defeat jamming

*(Near) Silent Running----The use of GMR hover systems makes the Cestus III exceptionally quiet for a heavy tank; under the right circumstances it has an accoustic Prowl rating of 45% in daylight and 75% at night.

*Electronic Stealth Suite---Retained from the Shadowfist due to its active electronic nature. An advanced electronic cloaking system, intended to defeat EM sweeps, ground radar, motion detectors, and even laser tracking devices. The problem is, of course, is that the system’s own emissions can be detected, revealing the presence, if not the exact location, of an active jamming unit.
Jamming Range: 20 miles
EW Cloaking: -15% to enemy Read Sensory Instruments rolls using ground search radars(NOT optical and thermographic systems). Enemy guided ordnance is -3 to strike teh tank.


Weapons Systems:
1.) Main Cannon(1)----The main armament of the Cestus is this oversized turret-mounted cannon, of which several types are available. The Cestus copies the HMBT-025D’s selection of heavier weapons.
a)175mm MB Mass Driver Cannon(PS-MDJ175M)
Weight: 128,000 lbs (14 tons)
Range:(Direct Fire) 33,000 ft (6.6 miles)
(Indirect Fire)(-6 strike w/o a forward spotter) 82 ,500 ft( 16.3 miles)
Damage: High Explosive(HE)---- 4d6x10 MD to 50 ft radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT)----5d6x10 MD to 10 ft radius
Fragmentation--- 3d6x10 MD to 70 ft radius
Plasma-----1d6x 50+10 MD to 50 ft radius
(APFSDSDU)(Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot Depleted Uranium) 7d6x10 MD out to 15,000 ft, 4d6x10 MD out to maximum range
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload: Varies; 5 tons available internal ammunition stowage
175 mm AP shell weighs 135 lbs( 15 shots per ton)
175 mm Cluster shell weighs 200 lbs( 10 shots per ton)

b) Heavy Laser Cannon
Range: 7,000 ft
Damage: 5d6x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

c) Rapid-Fire Rail Cannon Pod---A massive Kinetic Kill Cannon, normally carried as a turret-mount weapon by capital ships, but also configured as a centerline pod for heavy aerospace fighters, now adapted as an MBT cannon. Known as the ‘Slug’ among aerospace crews for the drag it imposes on transatmo craft, it has become known as the ‘Shrieker’ among tank crews for the high-pitched wail it gives off firing at maximum ROF.
Range: 10 miles
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per 80 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 8,000 rds(100 bursts)

d) Particle Beam Cannon---Adapted from starship weaponry
Range: (Palladium) 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 7 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 350 miles in space
Damage: 2d4x100 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: Two shots per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited

e) N-Class Particle Beam Cannon(?)--Cestus IIIs have reportedly been spotted sporting weapons exhibiting properties similar to the PBC carried aboard the Naruni J-2 Juggernaut Hovertank. If true, whether these weapons are the result of PS/ASI reverse-engineering(or parallel development) or implementation and sharing of the GSA’s plan to produce Naruni knockoffs, remains unknown.
Range: 2 miles
Damage: 5d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

f) Heavy Plasma Cannon---A Medium-class starship weapon mounted on a fighter
Range: (Palladium) 4 miles in atmosphere, 8 miles in space
(Kitsune Values) 4 miles in atmosphere, 400 miles in space
Damage: 1d6x100 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: Four shots per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited


g) Plasma Torpedo Pod----Developed from PS’s plasma weaponry and reverse-engineered Naruni technology, this weapon, originally configured as an aerospace weapons pod, powered by its own onboard micro-nuclear generator, fires a bolt of plasma wrapped in a degenerating magnetic vortex. The weapon has superior range to a conventional plasma weapon, as well as an area of effect similar to a missile, as well as unlimited payload, but rate of fire is much slower
Range: (Palladium) 3.5 miles in atmosphere, 7 miles in space
(Kitsune Values)3.5 miles in atmosphere, 350 miles in space
Damage: 3d6x10 MD to 15 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited


2.) Secondary Turret----Mounted in a smaller commander’s cupola is a pair of smaller weapons, usually a light energy weapon and a projectile type. Both weapons can be fired in synch at the same target.
a) Light Pulse Laser Cannon----PS XL-16-P Pulse Laser: Similar to the JA-12 Juicer Assassin's Rifle, or the Wilk's 457 pulse rifle.
Range: 4,000 feet
Damage: 4d6+2 per single shot, 2d4x10 for a triple pulse.
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

b) Ion Blaster
Range: (Ion Bolt) 3,000 ft
(Spray Bolt)1,500 ft and affects a 15 ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 1d6x10 MD per single bolt
(Spray Bolt) 4d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 32,000 credits

c) Plasma Blaster---PS ‘Lewiston’.
Range: 3,300 ft
Damage: 5d6 MD per shot, 2d4x10 MD for a four-shot burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 33,000 credits

d) 40mm Grenade Launcher
Range: 7,000 ft
Damage: (Fragmentation) 4d6 MD to blast area of 12 ft
2d6x10 MD to blast area of 40 ft w/ 10-rd burst
(Armor Piercing) 1d4x10 MD to blast area of 3 ft
3d6x10 MD to blast area of 8 ft w/ 10-rd burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 250 rds
Cost: 50,000 credits

e)Rail Gun(PS-RFRG30)---PS copy of the C-30R Rail Gun
Weight: 90 lbs
Range: 2 miles
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 6d6 MD per 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,400 rd drum per cannon
Cost: 90,000 credits

f) GrHW-01 ‘Flamma’ Heavy Gravitonic Rail Gun
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD single shot, 2d6x10+10 MD for a 10 shot burst.
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 200 rd belt

g) Heavy Machine Gun---- 12.7mm Snub-nose Short Gatling Gun. This high-powered four-barreled gatling cannon features enormous damage potential, and fair range in a small package.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1D6 MD single round, 1D6x10 MD per 10 round burst,
2D6x10 +6 MD per Full Melee Burst of 40 rounds
Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the pilot
Payload: 800 rounds

h).50 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun
Range: 9,000 ft HB
Damage: 1d6x10 SDC per rd
(WI Exploders) 2d6 MD per 20 rd burst
(Ramjets) 1d4 MD single rd, 5d6 MD per 40 rd burst
(PSX-1) 2d6 MD single rd, 4d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 800 rounds
Cost: 9,000 credits


3) Cupola Mount Laser Cannon/Anti-Missile Pulse Laser Turret------The Pulse Laser is intended as an anti-aircraft/anti-missile system, and can be remote-linked to an air defense grid system, such as the Meles AAAV, Rattlesnake AAV, or the Vixen Fighter/Recon Pod, (Part of Paladin Steel's emerging BAMSP: Battlefield Asset Management System Package).
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 3D6 MD single blast, 6D6 MD double- barreled blast
Rate of Fire: Equal to the pilot's combined hand to hand attacks, or 7 attacks in auto-defense mode.
Payload: Unlimited
Bonuses: +2 to strike airborne targets like missiles and aircraft/flying opponents(must be traveling higher than 10 ft off the ground)


4) Retractable Lateral Missile Launchers(2)---Built into the sides of the tank, these launchers are normally stowed behind retractable armor covers, and emerge instantly, cleared for action, when needed. Cestuses normally carry a mix of area-effect bombardment missiles and recon drones for acquiring and demolishing targets at a distance. The modular design of the missile launcher also means that in event of missile malfunction or imminent missile ‘cook-off’ in the launcher housing due to damage, the entire launch drum can be ejected from the tank and rolled away to detonate (hopefully) harmlessly at a distance from the tank.
This system has been made modular, allowing a variety of different missile types to be carried.
a) Micro-Missiles---- 100 per launcher
b) Mini-Missiles---- 48 MMs per launcher
c) Short Range Missiles---- 24 SRMs per launcher
d) Medium Range Missiles---- 12 MRMs per launcher

5.) Hull Turret(Tertiary Turret)---In place of the Multiplexor Turret on the original Shadowfist, the hull secondary turret has been made modular, allowing a variety of weapons to be fitted.
a) Rail Gun
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 1d4x10 MD 40 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 6,000 rd drum(100 bursts)
Cost: 90,000 credits.

b) Pulse Laser
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD short burst, 1d6x10 MD medium burst( 20 shots, 2 attacks), 2d6x10 MD long burst(40 shots, 2 attacks), 4d6x10 MD full magazine burst(80 shots, no bonuses to strike...does 3d6 MD to 4d4 targets if in a spray attack).
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 78,000 credits

c) Light Ion Cannon---PSIC-01 Tesla Infantry Ion Cannon
Range:(Ion Bolt) 1,900 ft
(Lightning Blast) 2,500 ft
(Shock Zone) 200 ft, and affects a 55-ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 5d6 MD single shot, 2d4x10 MD five-shot burst
(Lightning Blast) 1d6x10 MD
(Shock Zone) 3d6 MD per melee caught in the zone of effect
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

d) Light Plasma Cannon
Range:(Plasma Stream) 2,000 ft
(Plasma Bolt) 1,800 ft
(Scattershot) 1,500 ft
Damage:(Plasma Stream) 1d6x10 MD per blast
(Plasma Bolt) 1d4x10 MD to 8 ft blast radius
(Scattershot) 4d6 MD to a 20 ft wide area
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 90,000 credits

e) Particle Beam Cannon---The PSPBW-10, given a second life as a vehicle weapon
Range: 3,200 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD to an 8 ft wide swath
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 150,000 credits

f) EM Bolt Gun
Range: (EM Bolt) 4,000 ft
(Vortex) 3,000 ft
Damage: (EM Bolt) (Variable) 4d6 SD, 1d6x10 SD, or 5d6 MD per shot
(Vortex) Same as for the bolt at the point of impact, plus HALF damage in a 7 ft radius, and an 88% chance of knockdown(lose 1 APM and Initiative) for beings of 350 lbs or less, 65% chance of being stunned(-10 to strike, dodge, parry, and roll, NO Initiative, HALF speed and APMs for 1d4 melees).
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonus: Laser targeting add +1 to strike. EM bolts are -6 to dodge, on top of that!
Cost: 64,000 credits

g) Flame Thrower
Range:(Direct-Stream Mode) 230 ft
Damage:(Direct-Stream Mode)
(Gasoline/Alcohol) 1d4x10 SDC
(Napalm) 1d6x10 SDC, plus does 5d6 SDC per melee for 1d4 minutes
(MD Fluid) 1d4 MD per blast, 1d4 MD per melee for 2d4 minutes
(Incendi-Gel)2d6 MD, 2d6 MD per melee for 1d6 minutes
(WI Napalm-P) 3d6 MD per blast, 1d4x10+10 MD per concentrated burst(counts as two attacks). 2d6 MD per melee for 1d4 minutes.
Note: The flame-thrower can also be used to cover an area with fluid: up to 10 ft per attack used. Used with Super-Napalm, this does 1d4 MD, Incendi-Gel does 1d6 MD, and with Napalm-P, this does 2d6 MD.
Rate of Fire:(Direct-Stream Mode) Standard
Payload:(Direct-Stream Mode
(Gasoline/Alcohol) 20 blasts
(Napalm) 60 blasts
(MD Fluid) 100 blasts
(Incendi-Gel) 120 blasts
(WI Napalm-P) 200 blasts per tank(much more concentrated than the regular gasoline/alcohol).
Cost: 20,000 credits.

h) PS-RL-210 Fragmentation Rocket Launcher( a copy of an imported Russian design). Note that PS has also been experimenting with an incendiary variant using a magnesium mixture.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 single projectile, 1d6x10 MD per 10 rd burst/volley
at 3,500 ft, the rds go ‘grapeshot’, doing 3d6 MD(1 MD for a single shot) in a 12 ft wide area.
(Incendiary “Hot-Grape” Version)---Do an additional +2 MD per rd, and 1 MD of damage for 1d4 melees as the flare portion burns down.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 1,000 rd drum
Cost: 100,000 credits

i) Multiplexor---Identical to the original installation, the Multiplexor Turret can hold up to SEVEN different Spellcards and re-sequence them within seconds, courtesy of an automated touch-pad selection system. It still requires a PPE source, so a Light (200 PPE) or Medium (300 PPE) Powerstone is usually installed.
Range: Varies by spell
Damage/Duration: Varies by spell
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
PPE Cost per Use: Varies by spell. However, the use of focusing elements and activator spells effectively reduces spell PPE cost by HALF.
(So you Technowizards aren’t flummoxed by PPE costs in a long-running battle, while the still relatively high PPE costs for the high-end spells keeps someone from using Sphere of Annihilation in every battle).
Payload: Draws from the main PPE Batteries. In an emergency, the pilot, if they are a mage or psychic, can kick in their own PPE.
Bonuses: As per spell(if any)
Cost: Spell Cards cost (as per Jason Richards’ guidelines in Rifter #2) 5,000 credits per PPE cost of main spell plus an additional cost (as per following modifiers)
*500 credits per level of the creating caster(Mages’ time and PPE are money, so expect to pay more for the longer duration/higher power spells)
*Warlock spells cost 20% more, in addition to above modifiers, owing to the difficulties of adapting Elemental Magic to ‘conventional” magic systems.

6) External Antipersonnel Fletchette Packs(55)----An effort to further protect the slow moving tank against faster power armor and infantry, this system consists of a series of directional ‘claymore’-style fragmentation grenades attached to the outer hull and triggered either by command or by motion detector trip to fill a ‘kill zone’ around the tank with lethal shrapnel and antipersonnel fletchettes.
Range: 100 ft
Damage: 5d6 MD to a cone swath roughly 50 ft long, by 10 ft wide.
Used as reactive armor against plasma and armor-piercing missiles, the computerized firing system acts as a PARRY, rolling to match or better the missile’s strike roll...a successful counter means that the missile damage is HALVED, while a failure means the tank takes full damage. Note: when dealing with volleys, one reactive armor pack can match TWO missiles in a volley, so in order to effectively counter a five missile volley, the tank must expend 3 reactive armor packs...two packs would roll twice to defeat their respective missiles, the third would only roll once. If the enemy missile launcher has a line of sight on the tank, they can target a spot on the hull which has no packs covering it (a called shot), in which case the remaining reactive armor is -4 to cover the gap.
Rate of Fire: One at a time or can be simultaneously fired in volleys of 1-10
Payload: Each side of the tank(sides, front, back) has 10 fletchette packs each(40 total), the turret has 6 each side, three on top(15 total)

7.) Smoke /Chaff Mortars(2x6)----The Cestus mounts two six-tube light grenade launchers specifically configured to launch smoke, chemical, or anti-missile chaff rounds. Alternatively, the launchers can burn the rounds in their tubes, spreading smoke or chemical fog in the immediate vicinity of the tank, then ejecting the spent gas cartridge afterwards.
Range: 500 ft for smoke, up to 6,000 ft for chaff
Damage: Varies, chemical rounds are typically loaded witj Smoke or Tear Gas.
Chaff effects vary: can use Triax- or Northern Gun-style chaff.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4
Payload: 24 shots(2 grenades per tube)

8.) Decoy Launchers(2)--- Decoy launchers are multi-barrel mortars that fire off multimedia transmitter pods that pump out enough EM, IR, and acoustic noise to either mimic or drown out the MBT’s own. The decoys are designed to self-destruct after about 6-10 melees of operation; a small self-destruct charge incinerates the internal workings, preventing reuse or study.
Range: 500 ft
Damage: None, enemy sensor guided weaponry is +6 to strike the decoy, and it has a 70% chance of fooling enemy sensors as it being the ‘true’ MBT-target.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1, 2, or 4
Payload: 8 decoys per launcher, 16 total.

9.) Drone Rack---The Cestus has a turret-mounted launch and recovery box/pad for deploying mini-RPVs. These frisbee-like fliers can operate semiautonomously as scouts, decoys, messenger drones, or attack units. In addition, the tank can allot some of its missile capacity to missile drones. Another holdover from the Shadowfist/Cestus/Cestus II line, these drones allow the tank to make better use of its long range firepower when they act as spotters.
Payload: 3 drones
MDC of Drones:
50 each
Speed: 250 MPH, maximum altitude of 28,000 ft
Range: Typically can range as far as 50 miles from its parent vehicle
Systems of Note:
*Video Cameras w/ low light nightvision, wide-area, zoom, and thermal imaging
*EM/Radar Detectors---detects radar and radio transmissions, as well as other strong sources of electromagnetic activity.

Options:
The Cestus III was designed with growth potential in mind, and experience with the Zerghan yielded data on upgrades :

* Forcefield Module---The Cestus III engine upgrade was made for speed in mind, but also with providing power for a forcefield generator. Rather than the Zerghan’s bolt-on external unit, the Cestus III’s unit could be installed next to the engine, under the protection of the tank’s main hull armor. The FFG is usually a commercial aerospace model with 600-1,200 MDC, but low-end fighter-grade military variable screens(200 MDC per side, 1,200 total) can be mounted. Cost: Varies by available FFG installation; usually between 600,000- 3 million credits

Both look good, and I always thought that the Zysha was asking for a more normal Tank version.

The Zerghan is something of a glass cannon, at least for its size, but its also the better swarm buster of the two. Given its heritage, this is no surprise. The Cestus III is a much more traditional tank, as far as hovercraft go anyway, and focuses on methodical sequential target destruction at (relatively) longer range, as you would expect from a PS produced Phalanx alternative. This makes it more appropriate against anybody that isn't a swarm race, but the USA's two major Minion War-era constant force commitments (the Sorn and the Chor'ii) very much are, so there's a natural procurement dynamic in play. Thankfully, both the mantises and the bear-bugs don't have particularly good long range anti-vehicle capability, so the Zerghan's fragility is less of an issue. Barring Nuke barrages, but that's what the company AA platforms are for.

The Zerghan's going to have some variants, while the Cestus III is arguably already a variant of the Shadowfist line.
As noted, the Minion War's isolation of various factory outposts is going to spawn a LOT of tinkering. Likewise the Cestus III will likely see some refits with other sub-capital starship weapons as PS/ASI/WZT reverse-engineer more or develop more.

And scaling up the Shadowfist general specs yo the Cestus III such that it could match the unmodified Phalanx also gave me an appreciation for the Naruni J-2 Juggie....THat ####Ing particle beam cannon! I keep forgetting to compare it to the Megabago's 'happy atoms' PBC package, but it's still a bastard.
If that's what Naruni is selling on places like Rifts Earth, you gotta chew your fingernails about what the version of the Juggie they keep for their own security forces must be like.

(oh yeah, and I've been reading through your TGE background stuff...pretty impressive so far, though I'm only 1/3 through it).

The character still needs development, but the overall idea for who he is and what he does can get a shorter summery to serve as a justification for the TGE's new TW tricks. The Royal Kreegor (as enemies) are getting a bit overshadowed by the newer tech, so something that allows them to use their marginal spell casting ability (that they never really use) in a productive manner would do wonders for keeping them as a meaningful campaign nemesis. I'm going to make a TW-Sharktooth and/or Bloodfang for 'Sith Interceptor' vibes, and a TW-Doombringer Dreadnought because the Kreegor Emperor needs a personal pimp craft to make him a true big bad that you can't just nuke from space. Naturally there will only be the one, because that how these things work.

Oh, and a conventional Executioner II, because the canon version is really sort of wimpy when you get down to it, and it might be an actual upgrade program rather than attrition replacement.

Updates and Upgrades
"Because Progress Doesn't Stand Still."

* PS-AIAS-PSA-11G3---Three Galaxies Upgraded Power Armor

“We’re going to be recycling a LOT of old armor shell this quarter...maybe even this next business year...when people bring in their old Pee-Es-Ay-Elevens to be refitted. So be prepared to work overtime.”

“We’re still the line in the sand and the head of the spear. As the job has gotten tougher, SO HAVE WE.”

This is the Three Galaxies-manufactured variant of the venerable PSA-11 ‘Gendarme’ suit that has become a staple of GNE forces. Adaptable, reliable. easily to operate and maintain, it’s survived the test of time. But the march of history has also rendered its once acceptable armor protection paltry and lacking with regards to surviving damage from modern weapons. this was made abundantly clear with the PSA-11 went into service with the GNE’s Three Galaxies holdings and faced High Intensity Lasers and G-cannons for the first time. What was barely acceptable back home in a powered armor, emphasis on ARMOR, was suicide in the 3G. And the United Systems Alliance needed powered armor, and plenty of it.
Fortunately, Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries had quickly acquired access to advanced materials fabrication technologies and the facilities to expand on them. Orbital foundries that could build starship hulls could also produce armor stock suitable for environmental body armor and power armor. It was a simple matter to substitute newer materials on the PSA-11 assembly line, but oh what a difference it made in the field! The newer armor was tougher and lighter, and improved actuators, combined with less mass to move, have translated into slight improvements i n speed. The PSA-11G3 is still not equal t the task of racing a Warlord II or arm wrestling Groundpounder knockoffs, but it’s still available in quantity and with the right weapons configurations, can still do a number on the CAF and TGE standards.
The PSA-11G3 is slightly more expensive than its previous mark, but substantially better protected. The Three Galaxies tech base has also allowed for a few more options as well. Once the new fabrication specs percolate through the PS/ASI network, the PSA-11G3 is likely to become the new standard for the PSA-11 line, with older suits being refitted with the newer armor formulations.

Changes/Modifications:
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body - 390
Head - 100
Arms (2) - 180 each
Hands (2) - 50 each
Legs (2) - 220 each
Auxiliary Sensor Pod - 45
Thruster Pack - 100
Weight: 2,000 lbs
Power Plant: Nuclear-Fusion with an average energy life of 5 years
Speed:
Running: 75 mph; Note that the pilot tires at only 10% of normal rate
Leaping: 15 ft up/across, 120 ft up/across with a jet-assisted jump
Flying/Hoverjets: 80 mph, max altitude: 80 ft
(Skimming) 120 MPH, suspended 1-2 ft off the ground.
Market Cost: 900,000 credits. Adding a more powerful powerplant costs + 900,000 credits for a 10 year powerplant, 3 million credits for 15 years, and 5 million credits for 20 years
Weapons Systems:
The PSA-11’s modularity has only increased with advances in technology.

Manipulator Forearm Mounting(MF)---
MF8 ) G-Gun---Modified GrP-01, with rapid-fire burst mode and a ‘barrel booster’ powered by the power armor’s own powerplant augmenting the G-clip propulsor charge.
Range: 650 ft (double in space)
Damage: 4d6 MD per shot, 1d6x10+12 MD per 3-rd burst.
Rate of Fire: Single shot or 3-rd burst
Payload: 60 shot magazine, and it accepts standard 15 shot-magazine clips.
Cost: 18,000 credits

Claw Forearm Mounting (C)---
C8 )---’Screecher’ Claw. Incorporates a multimode sonic projector into the claw forearm. This proved unexpectedly effective against many Infernals during the Minion War.
Range: (Sonic Blast) 1,800 ft underwater, 600 ft in air
Damage: (Sonic Blast) Wide Beam: 4d6 MD to a 30 ft area
Concentrated Beam: 1d4x10 MD per blast
Sonic weapons do HALF damage through light ‘soft’ armors like MDC barding and padded armor.
Unprotected personnel must save versus non-lethal poison (16 or higher) or be stunned for 1d4 melee rds. People in sealed power armor save at an 8 or higher for the wide area blast, but make a standard save for the concentrated blast.
Sonar Blast----This is an enormous ‘belch’ of sonic cacophony that can blind sonar systems within range with a mass of ‘white noise’, knocking them out for 1d4 melees. Sonar and acoustic homing systems will lose target lock, and sonar-using creatures will be stunned and ‘blind’ for 1d4 minutes.
Vibration Blast---This takes up ALL attacks per melee to initiate and maintain, and consists of focusing a low powered beam on a sealed ship(submarines are ideal), and gradually inducing an ultra-low frequency vibration throughout its structure. While this doesn’t do any damage per say, it does affect the hearing and inner ears of crew members, causing creeping disorientation and increasing unsettledness, leading up to nausea. After one melee people with unprotected hearing(or un-insulated contact with the ship’s hull structure) will be -1 to strike, parry, and dodge, and -5% to skills(they become easily distracted). After two melees they are -2 to strike, parry, and dodge, -10% to skills, and are -10% to their sense of balance...and so on...People with protected hearing are immune to the effect, but beings with enhanced hearing are TWICE as susceptible to the effects.
This setting is most effective against vessels 60 ft long or smaller...larger vessels will take an extra full melee per 50 ft of length for this to work...or several cannon working in concert, to be effective.
Crush/Tear/Pry with Claw: 2D4 MD
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Market Cost: 180,000 credits

Backpack Mounting (B)---
b8 ) Contra-Grav Flight Pack---Substitutes for the clumsy SAMAS pack, and uses Three Galaxies contragravity propulsion instead. Though not considered a true substitute for a dedicated aerial suit, it makes a good stand-in in a pinch.
MDC of Pack:
Flight Pack 150
Thrusters (4) - 30 each
Weight: Adds 200 lbs to overall weight of PSA-11
Speed: 350 MPH. Max Altitude: 50,000 ft
Mach 1.2 in space
Bonuses: +2 to dodge in flight
Cost: 250,000 credits


b9 ) Ion Area Blaster Array---Cut-down PSHIW-04 ‘Calliope’ array, with eight tubes (two can be carried for a total of 16 barrels). Effectively an area of effect weapon.
(GSA Note: It’s rare that PS/ASI fields a weapons system aimed at a specific non-Infernal starfaring intelligent species, but as this began appearing on PSA-11s about the time the GNE was fighting the Chor’ii in Ender’s Cluster, the cannibal-bears apparently spooked the Greeners enough to make them apply their ‘zombie-mower’ philosophy to weapons design and throw together these corridor-clearers. We’ve since confirmed that the GNEAS was using power armor to defend several of their installations, and equipped them with these lightning sprayers hooked into the local power grid, and they piled up the eater corpses very deep around their positions in good order before the Chor’ii either ran out of bodies to throw or resorted to dropping lander-bombs on the entrenched bad-meat)
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per single shot, 1d8x18 MD to an 11 ft-wide area for a 8-shot ‘row burst’.
2d8x18 MD for a dual array 16 barrels firing simultaneously, to a 15 ft-wide area
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-8 shots
Payload: Effectively Unlimited, though it’s advised that for sustained fire, the power armor deploy a grounding wire to bleed off cumulative static charge.
Cost: 50,000 credits per array.


b10 ) Ion Shock Array---Shoulder-mounted PSIC-01 Tesla cannon. Up to two can be carried.
(GSA Note: Same as for the b9 option: the shock zone mode apparently proved REALLY handy when the power armor could pick a spot, plug into an external power grid, and watch the Chor’ii go puff when they ran into the field, while the soldier picked off any Chor’ii who looked like they had anti-armor weapons)
Range:(Ion Bolt) 1,900 ft
(Lightning Blast) 2,500 ft
(Shock Zone) 200 ft, and affects a 55-ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 5d6 MD single shot, 2d4x10 MD five-shot burst
(Lightning Blast) 1d6x10 MD
(Shock Zone) 3d6 MD per melee caught in the zone of effect
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 28,000 credits per cannon


b11 ) Dual Plasma Array---Adapted PSPPR-11 ‘Scorcher’ Plasma Weapons Pack. Up to two can be carried.
(GSA Note: The GNEAS was already issuing these things to their exterminator squads and cyborgs, so mounting a couple on a power armor, especially if they could also hook up an external power source and coolant lines ina defensive position, makes sense. When they weren’t nuking them in space or faying* them on the surface, the GNEAS was cremating the Chor’ii hordes eyeball to eyeballs. We’ve also heard that the soldiers who undertook this duty also had thermal-resistant appliqué applied to their armor , so they’d take less damage if they got swarmed and the soldiers behind them had to use flame throwers to burn the lice off them. That’s right; these guys were willing to let their own people SET THEM ON FIRE to deal with a vicious pest species)
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single blast, 8d6 MD for both guns firing simultaneously
Two dual-gun turrets firing on the same target simultaneously (counts as one attack) does 1d6x10+36 MD.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited. especially hooked up to an installation power grid.
Cost: 90,000 credits
Options:
*SprayFire Barrel Modification Kit--- This mod mounts a ‘watering can’ of multiple short projection coils on the barrel, splitting the plasma discharge into a dozen smaller plasma mini-bolts. Range drops to 500 ft, but the bolts do 3d6 MD to a 20 ft wide area.
Cost: +18,000 credits

*Plasma Bolt-exploder----Rather than a single plasma bolt, this mod supercharges the outgoing shot into a sort of freeform plasma ‘grenade’ whose cohesion deteriorates faster, resulting in shorter range, but which explodes with greater area of effect and intensity.
Reduce range by HALF, but the bolt now does 1d4x10 MD and explodes in a 5 ft blast radius . A single plasma ‘grenade’ costs two shots from the battery capacity.
Cost: +10,000 credits

*Autofire Mod(aka ‘Robofire’)---This fits the pack with its own sensor suite and auto-targeting parameters, to allow it to fire automatically on targets entering a ‘killzone’ centered around the wearer...The parameters can be preset or it can be set to fire on anything not broadcasting a transponder code(IFF badges are standard issue for GNE troops). Sensor range is 2,500 ft, and sensor types include a laser topographic scanner, low-lite, IR/UV, and thermal imaging, and microwave motion detection. The robogunner system has 4 attacks per melee(per turret), and +2 to strike, though it can be overridden on command by the wearer. Typically, the guns in automode have free range of motion.
(GSA Note: We’ve seen the footage of this in action against the Chor’ii. It’s almost as frightening as the cannibal-teddies themselves; a single soldier dealing out target-specific death while her dual backpack mounts are laying down a firestorm around her position with hardly any input from the soldier. Force multiplier indeed!)
Cost: +30,000 credits


*FAE---Fuel Air Explosive; the ‘Non-nuclear Nuke’.

That solves the one serious issue with the design. Its naturally not as durable as the Ground Pounder, but that's something you'd expect given the remaining tech disparity. Being able to mount 4 good heavy energy weapons does wonders against chaff enemies.

EDIT: Oh, I think I solve the problem with PMs and stat blocks. You have to edit in the stat block after you send the initial message.

PS-GEVHMBT-17 ‘Zerghan’ Variants:
Most variants of the Zerghan simply replace the two-weapon turret with other turret types. However, there are other varaints, meant to address some of the problematic ‘kitbash’ traits of the original design.

*PS-GEVHMBT-17C ---This seeks to address the issue of the vulnerable bolt-on forcefield generator by moving it into the hull, in a radial installation around the main hull. This educes the magazine space available to the in-hull missile launchers, and precludes the use of scrounged FFGs. Instead, a specific forcefield generator was built for the type.
The PS-GEVHMBT-17C comes with a higher price tag with the integral forcefield, but as the shield type is variable, and the rating high(for a fighter-scale vehicle), this is quite acceptable.

Changes/Modifications:
M.D.C By Location:
Variable Forcefield 270 per side(1,620 total)
Market Cost: 119 million credits
Weapons Systems:
4) Multi-Role Missile Launchers (8, four per side)--- Reduce number of missiles each launcher can hold by HALF.

*PS-GEVHMBT-17AA ---The most popular variant is a dedicated air defense vehicle that mounts a heavy air defense turret with two rapid fire cannon(projectile or energy) and two missile launchers coupled to an advanced fire control system.

Changes/Modifications:
M.D.C By Location:
Top Radome 100
Turret Guns(2) 100 each
Turret Missile Launchers(2) 120 each
Height: 37 feet
Speed:
(HoverJets) Somewhat top heavy, leading to problems maitaining high speed; reduce maximum speed to 200 MPH and altitude to 18 ft.
Market Cost: 120 million credits
Weapons Systems:
Systems of Note:
*Advanced Radar: Range 100 miles and can track up to 96 targets at once.
*Advanced Targeting/Fire Control---Provides a +3 to strike flying targets
*EW/EM Sensors--Can detect the presence of active radar systems
*Auto-Fire ---Six attacks per melee under automated control, +2 to Strike and +1 Initiative
Weapons Systems
1) Gun/Missile Turret---The modified turret mounts two rapid-fire direct fire weapons and two missile launchers.
a) Rapid Fire AA Laser
Range: 2 miles
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per cannon, 2d6x10+20 per simultaneous burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Bonuses: +2 to Strike (+5 total)
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 900,000 credits each

b) Light Pulse Disruptor---- Copy of a Golgan weapon.
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per shot, plus 1/4 that in a 10 ft radius around the point of impact.
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 500,000 credits each

c) 40mm Autocannon----A popular anti-aircraft weapon.
Range: 2.6 miles
Damage:(Proximity Fuzed Fragmentation) 3d6 MD to 15 ft blast radius
(Armor Piercing Tracer) 5d6 MD single shot
(High Explosive Tracer) 4d6 MD to 10 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 444 rounds per gun
Cost: 300,000 credits each

d) T-410 20mm Missile Gun System----This is actually a missile launcher and a scale up to the 20mm projectiles used in the McMAALR-18 ‘Fire Orchid’ 20mm Anti-Aircraft Micro-Missile Launcher. It uses the electromagnetic massdriver system of the previous T-310 System. With a slightly heavier missile and slightly larger stator-ring system, the T-410 has improved range, punch, and accuracy.

Range:
(T-410)Gun launcher fires the micromissile out to about 8,200 ft, whereafter the rocket propulsion takes over.
(Micromissiles)8,000 ft for all types
Damage/Bonuses:
(T-410)
Pattern-2a---4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Pattern-2b----6d6 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 2d6 MDC out to a 18 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
Pattern-2c----(Incendiary)2d4 MD to 5 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 burn damage for 2d4 melees

Bonuses: (T-410)
(All Patterns)(+3 to strike airborne targets, +1 to strike ground targets) Gyro-Compass Chip, Laser-Sensor Microchip, Radar Trigger Chip, Image Sensing Chip, Infra-Red Sensing Chip.

Rate of Fire: Bursts of 3-40 rds per melee
Payload: 300 rd bin per gun.
Cost: 150,000 credits per gun
(Ammunition)
(T-410)
(Pattern-2a) 90 credits each
(Pattern-2b)130 credits each
(Pattern-2c)150 credits each


-Missile Launchers(2)
a) L-SAM ‘Black Talon’ Launcher
Range: 3 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3, or 4(all)
Payload: 8 per launcher
Bonus: +5 to strike, and gets TWO attempts to strike the target(agile enough to loop back on a target and try again)
Cost: 200,000 credits per launcher, 10,000 credits per missile

b) Short Range Missiles----12 shot launcher box.
Cost: 500,000 credits

c)*’SkyFlash’ Advanced Short Range Air to Air Multiple Missiles(ASRAAMM). This is simply the PS copy/adaptation of the Coalition’s own AIM-180 missile(see Coalition Navy, pg. 88). The ‘Skyflash’ is an MRM that splits in flight to unleash a pack of four smaller SRMs....a surprise that at relatively short dogfighting ranges(10-30 miles) can be devastating, filling airspace with a swarm of corkscrewing projectiles.
Range: 15 miles
Damage: 6d6 MD per each SRM missile(3d4x10 MD per volley)
Bonuses:+3 to strike

d) Medium Range Missiles
Cost: 600,000 credits for an 6 shot launcher

e) Shrike III/IV ‘Brilliant’ anti-aircraft missiles.
Range: 75 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD for the Shrike III, 6d6x10 MD for the Shrike IV
Bonus: +7 to strike

2) Cupola-Mount Weapon---Removed in favor of the radome
3) Tertiary Mini-Turrets(2) ---Unchanged
4) Multi-Role Missile Launchers (8, four per side)--- Unchanged. Typically loaded with SAMissiles such as the ‘Black Talon’ , ’SkyFlash’ or Shrike III/IV as above.

5) Countermeasure Launchers(2)---AAA platforms are always in danger of drawing counterfire, especially from radar-homing missiles, so this one is equipped with especially large countermeasure launchers.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is nuetralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 18 per launcher



*PS-GEVSPGM-17---A more substantial modification of the Zerghan, this fire support variant reduces the main turret to a cupola, and builds up a casemate with an opening roof, holding a heavy 155mm ballistic mortar, again, a weapon taken from the Zysha, or a pair of ‘Metal Storm’ 40mm mortar launch arrays. The GEVSPGM-17 retains its hull missile launchers as well, but drops the lateral turrets, and the vehicle CANNOT be fitted with a forcefield generator. As the vehicle is meant to remain at a distance from the front line and ideally move after each volley of shots , this was not considered to be a shortcoming.

Changes/Modifications:
M.D.C By Location:
Small Turret 200
Turret Guns(2) 100 each
Mortar Compartment 200
Market Cost: The GEVSPGM-17 has a reduced price, lacking the heavy turret, of 75 million credits.
Weapons Systems:
1) Turret-Mount Guns(2)----The smaller turret mounts two side weapons; a pair of triple-barrel plasma cannons are the most common fitout. Typically mounted in matched pairs, though some operators mix-and-match.
a) Triple-Barreled Plasma Cannons---These are the same weapons as originally mounted a ‘finger guns’ in the arms of the Zysha.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per single blast(so a full triple blast from one cluster does 3d6x10 MD!)
By angling the aperatures slightly to shoot in different directions, the array can also spray a 50 ft area with plasma blasts, doing 3d6 MD per strike(no bonuses to strike)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

b)Triple-Barreled Ion Cannons
Range: (Ion Bolt) 3,000 ft
(Spray Bolt)1,500 ft and affects a 15 ft wide area
Damage: (Ion Bolt) 1d6x10 MD per single bolt
(Spray Bolt) 4d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
On a Natural 20(Critical Strike) the ion weapon does TRIPLE damage instead of the normal double damage
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 32,000 credits

c) PS-44LVulcan Laser
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 3d4x10 MD per rapid-fire pulse blast(1 attack)
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 250,000 credits

d)PSMBL-5000B Laser
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD double blast, 1d4x10+8 MD quad blast, 1d6x10 MD full 5-shot blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 270,000 credits

e) PS-RFRG30 Rail Gun---PS copy of the C-30R Rail Gun
Range: 2 miles
Damage: 1d4 MD single rd, 6d6 MD per 30 rd burst.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,400 rd drum per cannon
Cost: 90,000 credits


2) Cupola-Mount Weapon---Removed in favor of the smaller turret
3) Tertiary Mini-Turrets(2) ---Removed
4) Multi-Role Missile Launchers (8, four per side)--- Unchanged

5) Casemate-Mounted Heavy Weapon---Concealed in the rear casemate with a sliding roof is a heavy ballistic weapon.
a) 155 mm Ballistic Mortar -Adapted from PS’s 155mm M-series massdriver cannons.
Range: 72,000 ft indirect fire
Damage: (Fragmentation)2d4x10 MD to a 70 ft radius
(High Explosive) 4d6 x10 MD to 30 ft radius
(Armor-Piercing Self-Forging Skeet) 5d6x10 MD to a 3 ft area.
(Plasma)1d6x*50* MD to a 50ft radius
(ICN) (Incendiary Cluster Net) The ICN shell is one of a new ‘family’ of artillery munitions being fieldtested by PS as an answer to Xiticix ‘swarm attacks’...Using weapons technology copied from samples acquired in South America, the ICN shell
throws out a cloud of 25 Plasma Nets (thermite-impregnated plastic webbing) out over a roughly 80 ft radius, each net of which is roughly 7 ft in diameter, and which is designed to entangle a target. The net then combusts, doing 2d4 MD for 1d4 melees.
Rate of Fire: Twice per per melee
Payload: 50 rds (ICN rounds take up TWICE as much space)


b) Metal Storm 40mm Mortar System(2x18 barrels)---Multi-tube, rapid-fire box-launcher mortar system. Sometimes used to deploy delayed detonation minefields.
Range: 6 miles
Damage: (Fragmentation) 4d6 MD to 6 ft blast radius
(High Explosive) 1d4x10+3 MD to 1.5 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-18
Payload: Each barrel holds 5 40-mm projectiles for a total of 90 rds per array, 180 rds total.

c) 280mm Gravex-2 Gravitic Mortar---Somebody wanted to know if it could be done, Verdict is, yes, though the payload is very limited, rendering the weapon of limited utility in a protracted firefight, especially since the GEVSPGM-17 retains its hull missile launchers. Still, the handful of Gravex-mortar carrier conversions serve the planetary militia of the PS/ASI branch factory that did the conversion, and rarely move far from a source of ready ammunition resupply.
Range: (GraVex-2) 11,000 yards
Damage:
*250-lb GP Bomb----2d4x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
*500-lb GP Bomb----4d4x10 MD to 60 ft blast radius
*Fragmentation---2d4x10 MD to 80 ft radius
(Incendiary “Hot-Grape” Version)---Does an additional +2 MD per rd, and 1 MD of damage for 1d4 melees as the flare portion burns down.
*Plasma----- 1d6x 40+50 MD to 60 ft radius

Rate of Fire: (All) Single Shot. Rate of fire depends on available power and the speed of the reloading mechanism.
Payload: 10 rds
Special Features:
*NO Recoil---The weapon lacks recoil due to the CG-plates generating a counter-gravitonic pulse to damp out recoil.This allows for a lighter overall weapons system.
Cost: 6 million credits


*PS-GEVHAPC-17----Armored personnel carrier variant of the PS-GEVSPGM-17, only replacing the mortar bay with a reinforced troop/passenger compartment able to hold 18 troops. While popular with troops who like the speed and armor, the GEVHAPC-17 is considered an extravagant waste of funds by military budget planners.
Changes/Modifications:
M.D.C By Location:
Reinforced Passenger Compartment 300
Market Cost: The GEHAPC-17 has a reduced price, lacking the heavy turret, of 74 million credits.
Weapons Systems:
1) Small Turret---Same as for the PS-GEVSPGM-17
2) Cupola-Mount Weapon---Removed in favor of the smaller turret
3) Tertiary Mini-Turrets(2) ---Added back on
4) Multi-Role Missile Launchers (8, four per side)--- Unchanged.

PS-HPBC-21 Heavy Particle Beam Cannon
This weapon was just undergoing testing at PS when it was suggested that the Megabago might make a good mobile platform for the adapted Orbital ship weapon. The multi-barrel gatling version under consideration was deemed too powerful and its cooling system too complex for PS’s engineers to consider for production(not that they didn’t try) and mounting on the ‘bago, but the single-barrelled version was more than adequate for the purposes of a BFG. It was in this form that the HPBC-21 was introduced, and earned notoriety from its use in the hands of hundreds of adventuring parties that bought the Megabago and its ‘stupidly powerful’ BFG armament.
The PS-HPBC-21 has been around long enough that PS has had time to tinker further with it. While the six-barrel gatling version has been superceded as an idea by more powerful realized hardware, the PS-HPBC-21 has benefitted from input on Naruni and Three Galaxies particle beam systems, and a newer Model B version with most of the bugs of the original issuance weapons fixed has been rolled out.
Though lacking the range of Naruni HPBCs, the PS-HPBC-21 is more compact, and that’s pushing sales of the weapon.

Range: 8,000 ft in atmosphere, 16,000 ft in space
(Kitsune values: 8,000 ft in atmosphere, 800,000 ft/160 miles in space )
Damage: 5d6x10 M.D. per shot
Rate of Fire:(Model A) Once every five seconds (3 times per round)
(Model B) EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited.
(Model A) Tied directly into the nuclear power supply, but can only fire 30 times an hour before needing time to cool down (otherwise the barrel overheats and begins to warp, reducing damage by 1d6x10 per five shots until the barrel collapses).

(Model B) Effectively unlimited. hooked into military-spec powerplants. Improved heat dissipation materials and systems eliminate the overheating problem.

Cost: (Model A) 4.8 million credits
(Model B) 5 million credits


Slayer -B Quad-Cannon(PS-RFL-41)
The Slayer-B quad-laser is actually a revamp of the PS-RFL-40 Slayer Quad-Laser, a weapon that promised to do plenty of damage, but was let down by poor range for a vehicle-mounted weapon. PS went back to to its original stock weapons to re-use the original JA-12 pulse laser specs to produce a weapon with better range and damage. The more powerful lasers have required improved power-draw and cooling, with a slightly bulkier housing, but the more sustainable rate of fire, better damage spread, and improved range are considered worth it. Many buyers/users of the original Slayer are quickly replacing the older weapons with the improved version.
Range: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 8,000 ft in space
(Kitsune values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 400,000 ft/80 miles in space )
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 2d4x10+16 MD short burst (four shots, one from each barrel), 4d4x10+36 MD medium burst (eight shots, two from each barrel in sequence), or 4d6x10+48 MD long burst(twelve shots, three from each barrel in sequence) .
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 360,000 credits

*Slasher Quad-Cannon(PS-RFL-42)---The ominously-named Slasher quad-laser is actually a revamp of the PS-RFL-40 Slayer Quad-Laser, a weapon that promised to do plenty of damage, but was let down by poor range for a vehicle-mounted weapon. Instead, Paladin Steel choose to enlarge the Slayer by bundling four RFL-25s, wrapping them in a large cooling jacket. Maximum output pulse burst is a little less than the full melee burst from the Slayer, but range is better and rate of fire much more sustainable. The larger Slasher is finding greater acceptance as a defense laser amongst ship crews.
Range: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 12,000 ft in space
(Kitsune values: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 600,000 ft/120 miles in space )
Mega-Damage: 2d4x10 MD single shot, 4d8x10 MD quad burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Cost: 1.2 million credits

*PS-RFL2-33D ‘Blazer’ Rapid-Fire Infantry Laser
“The ‘d’s’ for ‘Duh!’; we used the wrong damn weapon as the basis of the Blazer! Instead of using the FreeQues’ q-gun as the core mechanism and screwing on the Jay-Twelve’s optics, we should have just wrapped the Jay’s workings in a cooling jacket and jiggered its power-draw for sustained multifire. Minus the grenade launcher, we could have produced the thing for CHEAPER than the jasser. We had the capability, we just lacked the proper perspective. I imagine we’ll be rushing the new Blazer-dees out to the troops as fast as possible by way of apology.”

“That sound you’re hearing? It’s the accountants over at Wilks head-exploding in sequence.”

“Oh ####, you mean the geeners are going to be even MORE laser-happy?! I’m resigning from this chicken$#!+ border-watch contract! You can’t pay me enough to be facing the geener lines if they got even MORE of those laser-sprayers!”
---Chacris Leru, Mercenary, Free Quebec Borderers.

The ‘D’-model of the venerable ‘Blazer’ came about after a revisiting of the weapon and the comparable JA-12, and found a number of fundamental misassumptions they’d made engineering the original Blazer. With improvements in producing room temperature superconductors, Paladin Steel could produce a cheaper and more efficient energy conversion system for the weapon, for more power . Not just content with revamping the RFL2-33 into a JA-12 with a better cooling jacket for sustained fire, PS also added a modified barrel with ‘smarter’ adaptive optics that resulted in a 25% increase in effective range, and more advanced composites actually lighten the weapon by several pounds. Some want to call the ‘D’ and entirely new weapon, but PS has decided it’s an upgrade of the Blazer line and to prove it, has rebuilt old RFL2-33s to the new standard(though some critics contend this is a case of throwing out everything but the furniture notches).
PS/ASI is offering the RFL2-33D as either new factory-build or as a mod-kit to upgrade existing weapons.
Weight: 22 lbs
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 8d6 MD short burst, 2d4x10 MD medium burst( 20 shots, 2 attacks), 3d6x10 MD long burst(40 shots, 2 attacks), 6d6x10 MD full magazine burst(80 shots, no bonuses to strike...does 4d6 MD to 4d4 targets if in a spray attack).
Rate of Fire: Standard
Payload: 30 shots from the standard e-clip in the forward holder, 100 shots from a regenerating canister e-clip. Regenerates 5 shots per hour, and can self-renew four times before needing to be overhauled. E-clip adaptors allow the Blazer to use conventional e-clips and CS canisters in a pinch. Powerlink can now draw 160 shots from the normally 120-shot FQ power -pack units).
Special Features: Same as for the RFL2-33.
Cost: 52,000 credits for new-build, 36,000 credits to rebuild an existing RFL2-33.

Options:
The state of the art has changed, and the Blazer’s been around long enough for tinkering.

*Scatter-Laser Kit---This conversion adds what looks like a round-tipped air-cooled muzzle or perforated silencer to the end of the muzzle. In reality, it is a beamsplitter that converts the weapon into a short ranged ‘laser shotgun’, doing 3d6 MD per shot to an 10 ft-wide area, at about 1,000 ft range, with a single shot, and 6d6 MD to a 16 ft area with a burst shot, all with the flip of a switch. Cost: 9,000 credits

“The sociology of Greater New England would bring a conservative AND a liberal sociologist of a more peaceful society to tears(I would if I could cry, but the sentiment is there), particularly with regards to family structure. While faithful couple relations are the norm, it’s considered perfectly acceptable when hubby or wifey, whoever happens to be the parent on active duty, brings back some rescued alien princess, liberated ex-slave, or army buddy who’s also been sharing a sleeping bag(the echoes of your classic Sparta can be heard in the background, you hear, my esteemed Human colleagues?), it’s a fair bet they’ll be accepted into the household if they make the character cut. The pessimistic pragmatism claim here is that if one partner meet their mortality on a hell world excursion(which could be just going across town for a bottle of lactose substrate), there will be somebody to take care of the offspring…single parent households are strongly discouraged in the GNE, even if the other parent/adult figure is a live-in guardian or house assistant(and the GNE has rehabilitation programs that love to fit ex-slaves into such positions). The optimistic reason is that, with so much karoshi-threatening hard work and pragmatism going on, keeping everybody happy and sexual tensions down is a GOOD thing, especially in a culture so absurdly well-armed. Then, too, if there’s any coping problems, well, this is a culture that developed COMBAT psychologists as a viable profession and key part of their social infrastructure.

Of course there are exceptions to the above, but these tend to exceptional for other things as well. The average Greener household tends to be happily well-armed, polygamous, and purpose-driven. They look out for their own and their neighbors, and have adopted the old pre-USA credo ‘we either all hang together, or we will hang separately’ to heart. While the pressurization of living on a world that seems intent on killing most of its inhabitants seems to be the external glue holding such a society together, the fact that Greater New England has not gone the insular species-supremacist route of its Coalition States neighbors, and has instead embraced a poly-sophont multi species society cannot rationally be explained by this, even with their openly-stated ‘trust, but verify’ policies. The Greeners seem intent on closing ranks against danger, assuming a multi-talented ‘combined arms’ approach to the Megaverse, expanding their territory so as to better disseminate their culture, and work to live up to the ideals of their ‘golden age’ past, without falling into the pitfalls of reality. Even then, they modestly claim to be a ‘work in progress’, and ignore calls of ‘Mary -suism’( a rather interesting concept in itself I’ve heard from my Human colleagues, but one I’m not sure applies well to xenosociology).

I cannot think of any other world that could make such a system work. Hellworlds are apparently good for -something-.”
——Vess’tol Köln, Anthropologist, University of Sheldholme

“‘In the Service of the People’ isn’t a great battlecry.”
“It isn’t. It makes a great pledge, though. Our battlecries usually involve profanity.”

Trying to walk the fine line between plausible and munchkin,,,or maybe I'm just a lazy sod...

Greater New England Military OCCs:

“Odds against us are rather daunting. Coalition States and their buddies on one side of us, Splugorth Atlantis on the other. Demons and monsters everywhere else. Even with our better equipment, each and every soldier of ours is going to have to take at least five of theirs down with them to make even a dent in the opposition. We need to train well, but we also have to train fast, and that’s just part of the problem. Can’t pick one over the other, we gotta do both. The how’s the big quarter-ton primate in the room. No offense, Sergeant Cha-chaff.”

“So I hear we’ve discovered a new bunch of refugees out-dimension. Kids who have seen their homeland invaded, their kin butchered, their families broken up, themselves enslaved and tortured, fitted with exploding chips in their bodies, and made to fight for their enslavers? Lost their innocence and their hope?
When can I expect the first of them at training camp? They’re already torn down, now we can build them back up.”
-Sgt. Catos Brumelli, GNEAS Regular Army drill instructor, Camp Rawhide


As mentioned in other postings, the GNE military accepts a wide variety of OCCs into its ranks, and has scrupulously copied training regimens where it can. In the developmental days of the Vermont Free State, this often meant using pirated training manuals from Free Quebec and the Coalition States, and even smaller, and at the time more successful, nation states like Northern Gun. In time, though, as a more sophisticated society emerged in Greater New England and its affiliated allies, colonies, and protectorates, a more distinctive and uniquely GNE military structure took shape.
The general organization of rank of the GNE military is based on the old pre-Rifts United States Armed Services, with a multiple skill program system(based on the Ninjas and Superspies OCC system, with various skill programs) that allows for great flexibility and diversity in skill sets.
In general, this has worked out well for operatives trained(and likely born and raised) in the GNE. GNEAS training emphasizes education, flexibility, and tolerance. Not knowing what they may be facing next from a rift or unknown lands in the way of enemies or potential allies, the GNE Armed Services endorses a ‘combined arms’ approach where its forces can bring a variety of skills and technologies to bear on a given problem. This extends to manpower as well; species-homogenous units are virtually unknown in the GNEAS. This may complicate logistics, but gives GNEAS units a variety of abilities to draw upon. Thus, PS military personnel can expect, and are trained to be familiar with, a greater variety of equipment and types of support, from pure technology to biotech, magic, psionics, and ‘superpowers’.
The downside is the GNEAS tends to be logistics-heavy and training takes more time than the CS takes to pump out cannon-fodder grunts. The recent demands of the Minion War, at home and abroad in the GNE Alliance’s many extradimensional territories, have some in the GNE worried about a need to streamline the training process, cutting out parts, in order to get as many at least marginally combat-competent personnel into the field. Recent news of the Coalition States’ Volunteer Program, though currently deployed against the Xiticix, has many in the GNE government worried that the CS may use similar suicide units against other targets, such as Greater New England concerns.

Enhancements:
“So what if you ain’t got the body to fight? If you got the strength of will and spirit, we can provide the strength of flesh and bone. Between cybernetic, magic, and biotech, there’s a buildup package for you.”

The GNE’s rather liberal technology base means that there’s a variety of means of improving a soldier’s physical performance. What might be considered extreme(such as full bionic conversion) or anathema(magic) in the CS, the GNE and PS routinely offer. The CS may have numbers and a larger local industrial base, the Germans an even more powerful war production machine, the Chinese their Golden Age tech and mystic martial arts, but the GNE can field combined arms supersoldiers in greater abundance. In fact, while other organizations seek only able-bodied recruits, the GNE can afford to offer medical treatment and augmentation in return for oaths of service. As many recruits hail from circumstances and environments that have left them impaired or injured in various ways, it is convenient to both repair the damage and enhance the recruits with the same procedures.
.
01-40%-Bionic Conversion
41-50% -Magic Cybernetic Conversion
51-75%-Eugenic Bio-Mod
76-90% Bioborg/Biotic Conversion
91-00%-Super Empowerment

Note: The GNEAS does NOT offer Juicer or Crazy conversion, preferring instead their Alt-Juicer and Alt-Crazy Eugenic Bio-Mods.

Irregulars(Free For All)
‘Irregulars’ are a fast and dirty way of supplementing the locally trained troops in the GNE military. These units are mercenary, vigilante, or volunteer units that receive monetary and logistical support from the GNE, but train and equip themselves, and maintain their own command structures. They are beholding to obey the GNE military organization, and can be held accountable for their actions by the GNE-JAG, but otherwise they can be fairly freewheeling in operation and recruitment.
Irregulars suffer from varying standards of training and discipline, despite efforts to vet and monitor them, and thus the GNEAS does not rely too heavily on their services. However, if the GNE has had the time to get advance vetting intel on them, the GNEAS can use its approved mercenaries and irregulars lists to quickly drum up support troops in a hurry.
(Game note: A quick way of ‘improving’ GNE Irregular forces is to have them run through the Boot Camp! program in Rifts Mercenary Adventures. Long-serving Irregulars in the favor of the GNEAS can be expected to have the full benefits of this training).


GNE Soldiery(Quick-System)

“So what if the guy next to me only has two legs and two arms and two eyes and breathes down the same pipe as he eats, and has his reproductive organs dangling outside his body shell?! Hei’s my BUDDY! He watches my flank and I watch his, and we both watch out for the tendril-ball that’s also our buddy, and the plant-not-a-plant watching her flank, and so on..That’s the way it squegging WORKS in this army!”

“We don’t got anybody from ‘normal’, ‘peaceful’, ‘humdrum’ backgrounds in this here army. The recruits from the GNE homeland have grown up knowing there’s monsters off the coast, human fascists inland, and even more nasty critters everywhere else. The offworld recruits come from hellworlds where the food and water are poisoned, or the land’s overpopulated, and one has to scratch, scrimp, and fight for a bite to eat, clean water to drink, and a safe place to sleep. Oh, we got our adventurers and mercenaries, thrill-seekers and bounty-hunters, who come looking for a little excitement, but they tend to be in the minority, and they more often than not expect to sign on as specialists, or buy themselves a commission in a contract unit. The real backbone of the GNE military’s the hardcases to whom having regular meals, productive routine, comrades backing you up, and a chance to maybe shoot back at trouble sounds like a step up from what they’re used to.”

“Okay, Karless sabotages the powerplant on this fykker, Simpus bombs the barracks, I’ll be busy beating the farttling snot out of the murdering martinet in charge, and you, Ricowski, get to rescue the girl!”
“Why do you all get the fun jobs?”
“Because, young Ricowski, we’ve all decided you could really do with some positive contact with the opposite gender. Now go and be somebody’s knight in camouflage armor.”

The demands of a multidimensional, multi-species society/organization has led to the need to train up mass numbers of soldiers more quickly.
The multi-skill program system(based on the Ninjas and Superspies skill program system) originally endorsed by the GNE was found to produce excellent highly-skilled and versatile operatives, but it took much too much time to train them. In the time it took a new GNEAS recruit to make all the choices to round out their training, or for their trainers to test and direct them to optimal skill balance, the Coalition States could stamp-mold at least two new class-batches of new recruits to THEIR forces, and the Splugorth could literally whip up a horde of thousands of minion-soldiers. The GNE, with all its fronts and commitments, needed a faster way to bolster its ranks, without abandoning its ideals.
The GNE has compromised with a hybrid system based on the Coalition’s own system. However, new recruits are immersed in a multi-species, multidisciplinary organization from the get-go, in order to habituate them to working with beings alien to their previous experience.
GNE soldiers are also encouraged to learn, and provided with greater educational opportunities than their CS counterparts. Over the long run, GNE soldiers can pick up more skills from a wider range of sources and experiences.
GNE soldiers under the new system still take more time to train up, but the new organization is more efficient at indoctrinating new recruits from outside the GNE’s established base population. In the long run, the system produces more skilled and versatile soldiers than the CS’s system.
In many ways the ‘NuArmy’ system is similar, if not identical, to the Chinese GeoFront, in that the modified OCCs reflect a better educated and more tolerant society, while still addressing the need for skilled and versatile soldiers prepared to handle the surprises of an accessible megaverse.

Pretty much any Coalition States OCC can be used with the following chances/slants:
-GNE military personnel tend to have more experience working in a multi-species organization, by pure immersion and exposure.
ALL GNE Armed Services personnel(including magic users and psychics) who have received state training get the following:
-Shock/Horror Factor---GNE military personnel get a +1 to save versus Horror Factor, even without special desensitization training. Working around facilities where your bunkmate might be a giant insectoid or demonically-visaged reptile tends to inure one to sudden frights.
-Language/Literacy---GNE military personnel can either pick up a free Language or Literacy skill(no bonuses), or apply a +10% to an existing skill.
-Lore: D-bee---Again, working closely with outdimension beings and non-humans gives a basic knowledge of them. GNEAS service personnel thus get this Lore skill without bonuses as a given.
-Medical---GNE military personnel suffer only HALF the usual penalties when using medical skills on members of species other than their own.

Added Skills:
-Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
-One extra Language/Literacy skill of choice(no bonuses) or apply +10% to any existing Language/Literacy.

Hand to Hand: Basic is typically replaced with either Judo or Jujitsu(the versions printed in the Game Master Guide), the GNE having benefited from the more well-connected and liberal societies of Lazlo and outdimension. Even if Judo is the ‘official’ standard hand to hand combat form taught to all, there’s enough veterans and drill instructors perfectly happy to teach the ‘dirtier’ combat forms to those willing to learn. This is especially true of ‘hardknock’ recruits from more savage backgrounds; they’re perfectly willing to be taught, or to teach, the more pragmatic hand to hand styles.

Sample modified CS OCCs:

GNE ‘NuGrunt’(aka ‘Og’)----Modified CS Grunt. The basic foot-slogger rifleman hasn’t changed much over the centuries, and there’s not much that can be done to change the fundamentals. The GNEAS just makes them better able to play nice with others that look different from them.
Bonuses: +10 SDC
+Math: Basic (+10%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
W.P. Energy Rifle gets an extra +1 to strike(due to the GNEAS’s ranged weapons doctrine)
+2 additional learned skills at levels 2, 5, and 9, +1 at level 12
-Substitute Hand to Hand Basic with either Judo or Jujitsu

GNE ‘NuBird’----Modified CS RPA SAMAS Pilot. Instead of SAMAS and SkyCycles, however, GNEAS personnel train in the equivalent PS-AAAS-PSA-14 ‘Fury’ Power Armor , and heavier flying robots such as the PS-HPA017 Raptorex, PS-RHv-03 ‘Tizon’, and PS-KVAR-02 Jayhawk.
Bonuses: +10 SDC
+Math: Basic (+10%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
-Robot Combat: Elite( ‘Fury’ Power Armor )
-Robot Combat: Elite(One additional of choice)
+1 additional learned skill at levels 2, 5, and 9, +1 at level 12
- Can Substitute Hand to Hand Expert with either Judo or Jujitsu

GNE ‘NuTech’----Modified CS Technical Officer. The GNE tech-schools turn out a LOT of boys, girls, and exotic gender beings who can think with their manipulatory appendages and fix the piles of gear that need fixing.
Bonuses: +10 SDC
+Math: Basic (+20%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
-Read & Operate Sensory Equipment(+20%)
-Navigation(+15%)
-PIlot Hovercycle(+10%) or Hover Vehicles(+15%)
+2 additional learned skills at levels 3, 6, and 8, +1 at levels 10, 12, and 15
-Substitute Hand to Hand Basic with either Judo or Jujitsu

-Reduce Penalties for dealing with alien technology by 25%

GNE ‘MilSpec’----Modified CS Military Specialist. Again, the GNE society trains a LOT of these experts to fill the many needed roles.
Bonuses: +3 vs Possession, +15 SDC
+Math: Basic (+20%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
+2 additional learned skills at levels 3, 6, and 8, 10, and 12, +1 at level 15

GNE ‘SpecFor’----Modified CS Special Forces/Commando/Ranger. The GNE’s Green Mountain Boys and Smuggler’s Notch units are easily the equivalent, and feared for it.
Bonuses: +3 vs Possession, +18 SDC
+Math: Basic (+20%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
W.P. Energy Rifle gets an extra +1 to strike(due to the GNEAS’s ranged weapons doctrine)
+2 additional learned skills at levels 3, 6, and 8, +1 at levels 10, 12, and 15

GNE ‘NuFly’---Modified CS RPA ‘Flyboy’ Pilot. GNEAS aerial combat specialists train to sue the GNE’s growing array of light aerial combatant craft such as the PS-CGC-03 Tsen Grav-Cycle, PS/KS-HVLAFV02 ‘Sebb’, LVX-U66W Vixen, and PS-LCA-HP-09 ‘Taon’ Combat Pod.
Bonuses: +10 SDC
+Math: Basic (+20%)
+Lore: D-Bees(no bonuses unless taken as an elective, then it’s taken with a +5% bonus in addition to any OCC bonuses).
-Language/Literacy:
American English at 95%
Dragonese at 80%
+2 additional learned skills at levels 3, 6, 8, +1 at levels 10, and 12, +1 at level 15

-Reduce Penalties for dealing with alien flying technology/vehicles by 15%


(Optional) Advanced Combat Training(Secrets of the Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity)
“-how the HELL did you do that?!”
“Training. Lots and lots of training.”

Though Greater New England and the Coalition States are diametrically opposed to each other, the close proximity of the former to the latter means that they observe what the CS is doing VERY closely. With so much espionage (and a good number of defections to the Five Star Alliance states) going on, the GNEAS has paid very close attention to CS military training protocols, especially advanced training. Thus it comes as no great surprise to many that the Greater New England CT program closely parallels that of the CS’s, and is virtually identical, with the main differences being an entirely different sociopolitical slant and access to a wider range of training locales and technologies. This has kept the GNEAS on rough parity with their CS opposition.
Because of this, PS/GNE characters can take the Coalition States ACT skill programs without prejudice. This training can also be extended to allied militaries and Irregulars(with the GM’s permission).

NEMA OCCs in the Greater New England Armed Services

“Yeah, NEMA might have been made up of supermen...for their time, but it didn’t serve them particuarly well when the Rifts came. They survived, but barely, and the living adapted to the new realities. We have to acknowledge that only steady evolution of our culture and our military protocols can preserve us, not slavish imitation of past and fallen glories.”

The GNE actually has, courtesy of the enclave at Smuggler’s Notch, sets of NEMA training manuals that would allow them to duplicate the OCCs of pre-Rifts NEMA. However, while technically comprehensive, the training programs practiced by NEMA are generally regarded by the post-Rifts GNEAS as the product of a society of plenty, relative peace, and megaversal ignorance. While many aspects of the NEMA military WOULD be adopted into the GNEAS training programs, greater flexibility was introduced into them.
Two other factors worked against a more thorough adaptation of the NEMA military OCCs; the Smuggler’s Notch community often endowed their training with a strong element of ritual that clouded more important aspects. Second, the Republicans have worked to suppress the dissemination of details of their military training program that they feel give them an edge in the post-Rifts world. While not entirely successful with regards to Greater New England’s acquisition of them, the Republicans have had enough pull with the Smuggler’s Notch descendants of the Mountain Warfare Training Center to put off GNEAS investigators.
Still, it is possible to have NEMA-style OCCs operating in the GNEAS, modified in the same way as the CS OCCs presented above, to reflect the changing times. These can be the result of essentially home-trained ‘heritage-clan’ operatives trained by Republicans living under cover in the GNE, experiments in parallel trainiing development, or security slippage of the aforementioned protocols by more liberal-minded Republicans sympathetic to the GNE. The NEMA Fire & Rescue ‘Roscoe’ is the most faithful to the original training regimen and can be commonly found throughout GNE communities.


United Systems Alliance OCC Training
“I don’t care if your planet DOES regard fighting nude as indicative of masculinity and courage! PUT YOUR ISSUED BODY ARMOR ON! All you’re doing is making the female soldiers laugh!”

The inception of the United Systems Alliance has only led to an expansion of the problem of training for the Greater New England Armed Services that have been tapped to serve as the nucleus-cadre of the AJC. With so many different worlds, cultures, and species, many with their own ideas of military training, the problems of creating common standards of training have only multiplied (literally) astronomically. Thus the same problem of many OCCs and RCCs applies. However, without the geographical constrictions of Rifts Earth, and more open trade and cultural interchange between societies elsewhere in offworld Greater New England and the United Systems Alliance, there’s less prejudice and pressure(for the most part). The practice of joint training exercises and shared training grounds has led to a surprisingly swift and easy adoption of the core training profiled above, though many regional variants in skill specialization and selection remain.

Time to repost this bugger, because one little tech-patch can make a world of marketing difference.

Paladin Steel PPR-4 ‘Comet Rifle” Plasma Bazooka

“We like to use the magnetic vortice launcher selector on this thing to prepare a clearing for camping by using it to knock down the low brush and flatten it into a clearing and fire zone....pull the stuff up and pile it in the center, and a touch of the plasma arc, and we got a camp fire going....instant camp!”
---Gorgo Dinkbutton, Orc Grunt, VFS Regular Army

This is another in PS’s small arms efforts; a heavy, bazooka-like over-and-under multi-mode infantry weapon that has been described as a beefed-up version of the breakthrough ‘Nimro’ variable-power plasma rifle, produced by Paladin Steel. The Comet Rifle is heavy, consumes power like a hog, but is incredibly powerful, capable of firing both a standard plasma bolt, a multi-bolt barrage, a magnetically-’packaged’ ‘plasma torpedo’, or an invisible magnetic vortice. It’s designed to be fired from one shoulder, braced with two hands, and sports two e-cips in the stock. An advanced targeting/sensor system is built into the ‘outrigger’ scope for greater accuracy and versatility. The Comet was originally intended for the PS space forces, but has since been adapted by a number of other agencies and branches as well.
The Comet is actually based on Paladin Steel efforts to reconstruct captured Mechanoid plasma rifles, and though the engineers haven’t managed to duplicate the alien weapon exactly, the resulting weapon is more efficient in its power usage, and has better range than any other manportable plasma weapon currently in PS’s arsenal, trading payload and power for range.
The production and distribution of the ‘Comet’ has thus far been rather limited to the PS Stelmarines(orbital armed forces) and elite groundside forces, but a number have also been made available to GNE allies for their evaluation.
(Update: the Comet Rifle has recently received an upgrade in its rate of fire operation, making it arguably faster-firing. This modification is being applied to all new production, and patch kits are being made available to update existing older weapons)
Weight: 15 lbs
Range: (Plasma)3,500 ft
(Plasma Bolt) 2,000 ft
(Magnetic Vortices) 2,000 ft
Damage: (Plasma)1d4x10 MD per plasma blast, 3d4x10 MD for a 3-shot rapid-fire burst(takes two attacks)
(Plasma Bolt) 1d4x10 MD to 15 ft blast radius
(Magnetic Vortices-SDC) 2d8 SDC per vortex, plus 60% chance of knocking down human-sized targets, and affects a 10 ft radius
(MDC) 2d8 MD per vortex, 3 ft radius
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Short E-clip proivides enough energy for 8 plasma blasts, or 8 plasma bolts, or 16 MD magnetic vortices, or 160 SDC blasts(10 SDC vortices equal 1 MD blast)
Long E-clip provides enough energy for 16 plasma blasts/bolts, 32/320 magnetic vortices
Remember: TWO clips can be carried; a push of a button above the trigger switches the clips.
Bonuses: +1 to strike from laser targeting
Note: Magnetic force vortices, being invisible, are -8 to dodge
Special Features:
*Sensor Package---To make this weapon more valuable to space forces, PS installed a ‘smart’ sensor package, taken directly off the ‘Maximus’ Laser Rifle.
Telecopic Optics
Pasive Nightvision
Thermo-Imaging
Laser Tageting---+1 to strike
PPE-Sensor----200 ft range(out to 400 ft w/ 50% error in aura determination), 60-degree arc, and can detect invisible enemies(See Rifts: Japan, pg 116 for details on the SNARLS system on which this weapon is ultimately based)
IR/Normal Light Spotlight---300 ft range
Optional Smart-Gun link--Can be fitted for a ‘smart-gun’ link or any other targeting interface
Cost: 90,000 credits

Options:
“Hot Shotting”---This systen augments the normal air-draw plasma re-mass system with deuterium-gas injected into the plasma flow for a cleaner, hotter, more potent ‘burn’. The deuterium is stored in pressurized cylinders attached to the feeds of the Serap, like a CO2 air rifle cartridge. This allows the plasma to do 50% more damage, but the weapon now has a bit of a recoil due to the more powerful plasma acting like a crude plasma drive(-1 to strike). HotShot modding on the Comet costs 10,000 credits, and a recharged cylinder of refined d-gas costs 700 credits(500 credits if the user can return a depleted gas cylinder at the time of purchase) and is good for 30 shots.

Variants:
* PPR-4B---(aka ‘B-Burster’) Three Galaxies-improved model with improved shot-cycling and a revised fire selection switch. This removes the 2 APM trigger-hold-down requirement for the triple-shot burst mode; the burst mode can now be engaged with one pull of the trigger.
With stepped-up production both home and abroad, the PPR-4B is expected to see wider distribution and will replace the older PPR-4 as the standard production model. Meanwhile. PS/ASI is issuing a patch kit/refurbishment for older models, upgrading them to the -B standard for 1,200 credits.

PS-VEBA-05TW ‘Excexion’ TW Body Armor
(aka Gemstar Armor)

“If we can duplicate some of the Splugs’ luxury items, we can threaten their market. If we can make them cheaper, we can undermine their market. If we can make them BETTER, we can pull their market out from under them altogether. Right now they have the better public relations, the manpower and the worlds to harvest for resources, but we’re catching up in our own ways, because we aren’t enslaving our talent, we’re not afraid to try novel approaches, and we’re opening up new markets all the time. The Excexion Project, if successful, will be just the beginning, a base upon which we can built future developments!”
----Keva Mendalen, Head of the Excexion Project, Paladin Steel Plate Division.

“As a first go, it’s not bad; spell duration could be longer, but this is market test and trial against what the Splugorth have been selling. A couple of personal multiplexors would be more versatile and easier to upgrade, but less convenient, what with fumbling new spellcards in the slots every time you wanted to change config, so the integral spells are more convenient. Still, I’d get a multiplexor added on at the customization shop.
PS is supposedly working on mini-plug-and-play crystal spell circuits for future armors, but that’s likely going to be a ways off, so don’t hold your breath waiting for it. You need a good TW suit? Can’t go wrong buying this one.”

“Exercise caution wearing this stuff. What with all the PPE detectors and magic-sensing species runing around now, you’re going to show up like a campfire in the field. The magic doesn’t make you a superman, it just trades you some new abilities.”

“Want to be a pragmatic romantic big spender? Don’t get your significant other simple jewelry for a gift, get them a suit of this stuff. As a last resort she can sell off its components, but she’ll find it far more useful before then.”

Excexion body armor is an effort to copy Splugorth Bio-Power Armor, several suits of which had fallen into GNE hands during the Great Escape following the Shriving of Atlantis. PS engineers and technowizards poured over the captured suits and were amazed by many of their features. However, psionic analysis, as well as several subsequent anecdotal accounts from the field, led to suspicions that the suits were booby-trapped in some way. Plans to duplicate the armors were shelved until further notice, but revived when the state of the art finally caught up to the plans. Finally, having built up expertise in working with magic materials, and a range of applicable off-the-shelf systems to keep costs down, Paladin Steel came up with the Excesion to test the waters.
Excexion EBA uses a suit of the newly introduced VEBA-04CxTW as the basis, then adds a crystal powerplant. Other improvements include a strength-boosting passive ‘truss-muscle system incorporated as part of the bodysuit liner.
Initially on the pricey side, it is anticipated that a greater abundance of magically-usable crystals from PS/GNE’s offworld Crystal Trade will bring the price of Excexion EBA down. The cost has been balanced by greater and easier access, more efficient use of PPE, extra (and in some cases backup) features, and a wide-scale promotional campaign exposing the secret takeover features of the Splugorth armor versus the new PS Excexion suits.
Besides the ‘mil-strac’ PS-VEBA-05TW design incorporating the look of GNEAS standard issue EBAs, PS also offers custom design Excexion armors.
PS/ASI regards the Excexion as a ‘first go’ model which, if successful, will likely serve as the basis of a range of variants, mainly differing in spell configurations, power levels, and features.

PS-VEBA-05TW Excexion TW Environmental Body Armor
Weight: 13 lbs
M.D.C. by Location:
Head/Helmet 70
Arms 60 each
Legs 80 each
Main Body 120
Mobility: Good; -5% to climb, and -10% to prowl, swim, and perform acrobatics.
Special Features:
Standard EBA features, plus:
*Mini-Periscope--The helmet mounts a small extendable antennae/fiber-optic telescope that can extend eight inches out from the helmet and transmit its view to the HUD; perfect for peering from behind cover.

*Integral Language Translator--Holds about 14 different languages( typically the most common languages in use in the area of operations). Selections can be changed by swapping out the language crystal module and adjusting the new one for individual’s speech patterns( mechanical translators are notorious for not catching/misinterpreting nuances and inflections) .

*Helmet Combat Recorder---This system allows the soldier to record what they see and hear onto three six-hour mini-discs for later transmission/download, or review back at base. To prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands, combat recorders can only be unlocked by special code-keys typically carried by officers; unauthorized tampering will wipe the discs.

*Mini-Head Up Display(HUD)---Allows for suit status and communications feed video data to be displayed on a mini-screen projected in front of the soldier’s eyes.

*Sensor Augmentations---The Helmet comes complete with IR/UV optics, integral telescopic magnification, passive nightvision, and Kirilian Aura viewer(detects PPE auras, including those of invisible beings, with 60% effectiveness at 200 ft range, but cannot determine power level or alignment). Additional sensors can be clipped on with a special visor system.

*Retractable Vibroblade---One, or both, arm vambraces will have a retractable vibroblade for use as a tool or a weapon. Does 1d6 MD

*Fiber Optic Pre-Programmed Camouflage Scheme Surfacing----Can switch the overall color scheme of the armor to any one of 16 different pre-programmed designs(held in microchip memory). Changeover takes 30 seconds(2 melees) to take
place.

*Tensor Web----The underlaying bodysuit is lined with ‘linear truss’ artificial muscle fibers that soak up and redistribute kinetic energy, allowing for amplified strength and more efficient use of motion:
*Bonuses:+4 to P.S. for purposes of leg lifts, lifting, and kick damage

*Extra Push---Reducing fatigue by 10% and increasing leap/jump distance by 10%.

*Shock Absorption----The pants soak up kinetic shock, so wearers can actually jump down twice as far as they might otherwise without taking damage from the fall.

*Damage Resistance---The tensor network of the suit actually helps redistribute the force of blunt force damage(both SDC and MDC, though the damage applies first to any armor worn over it), reducing it by HALF.

*Increased Balance---The muscle augmentation and shock absorption also help with keeping the person stable and braced upright in the event of something attempting to push them over. +2 to Maintain Balance.

*Sustained Action Lock---The tensor network effectively DOUBLES P.E.(or HALVES the fatigue rate) for sustained actions like carrying heavy objects in the hands, or pushing/bracing against a door, as the tensors effectively ‘lock’ in place...the downside is that if an action lasts more than a minute, the network will be slow to ‘unlock’; -1 to initiative for the first melee(such as being suddenly attacked while carrying a heavy box).


Magic Features:
*Mageplate Formulation-1C Armor---- This ectofiber-laced composite armor and structural material actually repairs itself with the application of PPE/ISP: 1 MDC= 2PPE/4 ISP.

*Merrill Armaments ‘Greenstar’ PPE Clip: ’Heavy’---200 PPE capacity, regenerates stored PPE at 2 PPE per hour/10 at a ley line, 20 PPE/hour on a nexus or in a dimensional pyramid

Spells:
(all are at 5th level)
*Fly as the Eagle(13)
*Swim as the Fish(3/6)
*Breath Without Air(3)
*Superhuman Speed(5)
*Heal Wounds(Usable on self and others)(5)
*Energy Field(5)
*Sense Magic(2)
*See the Invisible(2)
*Tongues(6)
*Negate Poison(Usable on self and others)(3)

Cost: 371,000 credits market asking price

That was the one flaw with it. The Warlock Marine would happily ditch the old V-81 now. The loss of 500ft of range isn't a huge loss for the increase in damage output.

Let it not be said we at Paladin Steel do not read the critiques and respond to our customers(current and potential).

The Excexion is a TW enhanced EBA-130, which is a good start. The tech features are good, but the spell selection is honestly more than half miss, and from people that should no better.

I get it being a market test, but not having Impervious to Energy is always a mark against TW armor, and not having a mobile force field of some kind doesn't help either. If the GNE issues them with knock-off N50 Super Heavies, that would be a different story, but that extra 50 MDC from Armor of Ithan can go a long way if you can move around. Of the ones it has, only Fly as the Eagle, Superhuman Speed, Sense Magic, and See the Invisible really stand out to me as being worthwhile. The others just seem too niche for a suit of MDC EBA. Swim is niche, BwA is redundant, Heal Wounds only matters if you can take a hit to your fleshy body and not get vaporized, Energy Field is a fixed defense, Tongues isn't as important if you have a good translator system, and Negate Poison has the same problem as Heal Wounds. It would make a lot more sense if it was taken to an SDC world, preferably one where it gets a 10x conversion, but its not really great on a Rifts Earth battlefield.

In more ways than one...I wanted to see if I could use the RUE rules to create a duplicate of the Spliugorth Bio-Armor from Rifts Atlantis and see if it made it cheaper....It doesn't, especially the gem requirements.
And the Bio-armor's spell selection DOES suck. You have to get level up to the Kydian Overlord Armor to get something that's halfway decent. And I gotta figure any attempt to duplicate that's going to be hellishly expensive.

However, in fan creations, especially on these threads, the state of the art has bypassed the TW rules through the use fo methods of mass production and handwavium materials that make the Excexion/Bio-Armor chumpish and rather silly.
So chock it up to experimenting with the canon rules and finding out that the Splugorth are getting by on market hype.

Okay, let's get back to what PS does best.....Variants.

Magic sensors courtesy of Kitsune.

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries PS-GMRD-AVTG/ADV-25 Aqrab Heavy Air Defense Hovertank
(aka ‘Black Scorpion’, ‘King Scorpion’, ‘Two-Barrel Buthy’, ‘Ack-Ack-Boom-Boom’, ‘Sky-Duster’)

“Here comes another! And another! Tag! You’re it! And you’re it! Flak both barrels! Lock and tag! On no, you are NOT shooting those missiles at me! See what I mean! Hope that hurt!”

“You want to watch the power gauges on the Aqrab; all those lasers and shields tax the reactors something extra. Fortunately the placement in the old infantry bays makes refueling and replacing the extra power units a snap, but it’s not something you can do in the middle of combat.”

“The Paladins have an odd habit of converting perfectly suitable battle tanks into personnel carriers, and perfectly suitable personnel carriers into battle tanks. Can they make up their minds for once?”

The Aqrab is a variant of the PS-GMRD-VTOL-CT-25 Slepnir’ Medium Aerodyne Troop/Power Armor Transport. It was an improvisational variant developed at the Synthar Works to counter the Sorm offensive in that sector, beginning with the defense of the Synthar factories themselves. Anticipating, from early reports of the size of the Sorm armada approaching the strategic system, that some of the giant Sorm ‘Cactus’ carriers would be able to make landfall on the two inhabited planets in the system, the PS/ASI technicians and engineers put every weapons platform and weapons system they had available into service and fielded. This included a supply of warship weapons the planetside warehouse depots had stocked, but no available ships to mount them on, and no time to improvise orbital weapons platforms to use them. Instead, engineers used a number of Slepnirs they had been using as transports and improvised gunships out of them.
The Aqrab drops the ability to carry troops and loses some speed and altitude in favor of adding armor and weaponry. The infantry bays are packed with two extra reactor systems and a stronger forcefield generator system cobbled together from units meant for Proctor heavy fighters(PS/ASI Synthar having picked up a servicing contract to supply replacement generators for IDF Proctors in the sector). The main turret was replaced with a spare Sangu Kinetic Kill Cannon cannon mounting, though medium laser turrets meant for Barong-class corvettes were also considered . Laser firepower was increased with the addition of a pair of ‘Slasher’ quad-laser arrays to the front. An air defense sensor and fire control system was grafted in to tie in the weapons systems and boost the accuracy of the long range weapons against the anticipated Sorm ground attack and landing craft.
Despite the hurried sustems integration and little time to shakedown the new machines before going into combat, thrown against the Sorm invasion of Synthar and Tagar, the newly modified Slepnirs proved their worth, especially as anti-aircraft platforms, their kinetic cannon shattering Sorm BoneCutters ‘like clay pigeons’, while their powerful shields protected them from retaliatory Sorm bombings, even with ‘pony’ tactical nuclear warheads. When the dust settled, the majority of the modified Slepnirs were still operational, with an impressive kill-score racked up between them.
The Slepnir variant performed so well that CheDive soldiers seeing the tank in action requested it for their own forces. PS/ASI Synthar obliged, modifying the interior fittings to better accommodate the CheDive physiology and adding extra flourishes to the hull to give it a more menacing aesthetic(The CheDive LOVE the look) . The request also suggested the name for the overall type: ‘Aqrab’, the Hebrew word for ‘scorpion’.
Though expensive, the new Aqrab ADV is slowly percolating through United System Alliance unitsm after the initial production runs went to satisfy the CheDive IDF order. The commonality of parts with other Slepnir variants is greatly helping the adoption of the type, though the one pinch in production is in producting the necessary variable forcefield generators fast enough to meet all production demands.

Type: PS-GMRD-AVTG/ADV-25 Aqrab
Class: Medium Aerodyne Tactical Gunship/Air Defense Vehicle
Crew: 12
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1,500
Main Turret 300
Forward Quad Lasers(2) 270 each
Auxiliary Laser Turrets (4) 80 each
Reinforced Crew Compartment 200
Variable Forcefield 400 per side(2,400 total)
Height: 34 ft + turret adds 8 ft
Width: 38 ft
Length: 87 ft
Weight: 155 tons
Cargo: 20 ft x70 ft x20 ft cargo bay
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Flying) Hover to 400 MPH, maximum altitude of 5,000 ft
Market Cost: 195 million credits
Bonuses: Slightly more maneuverable than the CS version; +2 dodge at cruising speed, +3 dodge flying over 300 MPH
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot Systems, plus:
*Stealth Systems---Thermal baffling and the use of radar-absorbant materials in the hull reduce the Slepnir’s chance of being spotted on long range sensors by -15%

*ECCM system: A semiautomatic system that uses electronic encryption and frequency jumping to (attempt to) negate jamming systems. The system has a 25% chance of negating radar or communications jamming (non-magical) when operating on automatic.
Having an Electronic Warfare Skill gains a +15% bonus to operating this system.
Note that this only applies to received communications (the system filters them out from the jamming clutter) and sensory data received by that unit alone other units cannot make use of it, unless they have an unaffected datalink/info-share with the ECCM equipped unit. Magic/psychic jamming is NOT affected by this system.

*Sensor Jamming---An active, manned system that gives a 30% +operator’s ECM bonus chance of jamming enemy radar, including radar guided munitions and missiles. Effective range of 25 miles. This has proven especially useful for the Aqrab’s air defense role, as it helps defend against HARM(Homing Anti-Radiation Missile) attacks.

*Advanced Fire Control---The Nominator-M16 Fire Control System rapidly designates targets in swarms(10 or more) and generates an optimal firing pattern. The advanced targeting computers give a +5 to strike airborne targets .

*ORACLE Mrk IVF---Omni-diRectional Aura Classification and Locator Electronics--- This was added to the later production models as a hedge against supernatural enemies such as dragons and Infernals.
• See Aura: Slightly different than the spell in that it can scan an entire target such as a ship or station. The enchantment can be used to target a single individual but only have one tenth normal range when being used in that matter. Costs 60 P.P.E. per activation due to extended range. Range: Fighter Mount: 100 miles (160 kilometers) in space and 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: Gives an approximate count of the number of life forms onboard. Gives the average level of experience, highest level of experience, and lowest level of experience [Given in these terms: Low (1-3), medium (4-7), high (8th and up).] Tells if there is any magic onboard. Gives if there are any psychics onboard (Mind Block will prevent detection), Gives a general count on the amount of P.P.E. the target has (basically the P.P.E. of the crew and any devices which store P.P.E.). Detects if there is any kind of possession. Finally sees if the crew or ship has any unusual aberrations.
• See the Invisible Sensors: The ships has several special optical and other sensor systems with see the invisible on them. Same as spell and used at will (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: Fighter Mount: 200 miles (320 kilometers) in space and 2 miles (3.2 km) in an atmosphere. Effects / Abilities: Can see forces, objects, and creatures which can turn invisible, or are invisible. Can also see vaporous beings and astral bodies.
• Sense Magic: The ship has sensors which the give the ability to detect active magic. Similar to spell and used at will (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: Fighter Mount: 20,000 miles (32,200 kilometers) in space and 200 miles (320 km) in an atmosphere.
• Sense Rifts: Ship has sensors which effectively allow Rifts to be detected. The system can be (requires no P.P.E. to activate). Range: Fighter Mount: 50,000 miles (80,500 kilometers) in space and 500 miles (805 km) in an atmosphere.


Weapons Systems:
1) Heavy Turret---The Slepnir frame was deemed sturdy enough to carry a medium starship weapon.
a) Heavy KKG Rail Gun Cluster(2x1)---The original fit to the modified vehicles used at Synthar, these were weapons taken off refitting/decommissioned Sangus, and proved especially effective at shattering the ceramic armor of Sorm vessels. Later variants include 3G G-cannons and medium laser cannons.
Range: 6 miles in atmosphere, 12 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 12 miles in atmosphere, 12,000 miles in space)
Damage: 4d6x10 MD per cannon, 8d6x10 MD for two cannons firing simultaneously.
(Exploding/Fragmenting Fletchette): 4d4x10 MD to anything caught in a 120 ft wide cone/’cloud’----Targets are -2 to dodge the ’shotgun spread’
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 500 bursts per gun

b) GR-2000 Grav-Cannon
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 8 miles in atmosphere, 8,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per 40 rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 500 bursts

c) Medium Laser Turret---Originally a spare ML system for a Barong corvette warship, these weapons are slower-firing and less versatile than the 135mm massdrivers they replace, but their damage curve and ability to track high speed targets are arguably greater.
Range: 7 miles in atmosphere, 14 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 14 miles in atmosphere, 14,000 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee
Payload: Effectively unlimited


2) Medium Range Missile Launchers (2)---Mounted on either side of the redesigned nose are two semi-recessed MRM launchers, meant primarily for long range air defense.
Range: Varies by Missile Type (Medium Range)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type (Medium Range)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-2
Payload: 4 MRMs per launcher, 8 total

3) ‘Slasher’ Heavy Pulse Laser Turrets (2, either side of the prow)---The Aqrab mounts the new Slasher Quad-Cannon(PS-RFL-42), which consists of four PS-RFL-25 laser cannons bundled together and firing rapidly in sequence. Their claw-like appearance makes the Aqrab look especially fearsome.
Range: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 12,000 ft in space
(Kitsune values: 6,000 ft in atmosphere, 600,000 ft/120 miles in space )
Damage: 2d4x10 MD single shot, 4d8x10 MD quad burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively unlimited

4) Lateral Pulse Laser Turrets (4; two forward, 2 lateral, 2 aft)--- This is the PS-RFL-25, the so-called “Prosek’s Gift’ thanks to its being derived from a reverse-engineered Coalition weapon!
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

5) Mini-Missile Launchers (4)----PS saw fit to mount several banks of mini-missile/rocket-propelled grenade launch tubes around the Slepnir, and these are retained on the Aqrab. These are typically used to counter missiles, and clear landing areas with area-of-effect warheads such as fragmentation, smoke, or gas.
Range: Varies by Missile Type (Mini-Missile)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type (Mini-Missile)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4
Payload: 24 per launcher, 96 total

6) Flare/Chaff Launchers (3)---Standard PS countermeasures launchers.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 24 per launcher

Variants:
*PS-GMRD-AVTG/ADV-25Chev----(aka ‘Black Scorpion’) Production model created for the CheDive, the GMRD-AVTG/ADV-25Chev has been stylized to look more menacing, in the same fashion as the Wyrm Tyrannis MBT. The -25Chev also adapts the dual-propulsion configuration of the Slepnir’s PS-GMRD-VTOL-CT-25RBT, with six extendable robot legs(each leg has 120 MDC) in slots along the sides of the hover flanges. When grounded, the Slepnir can rise up to 15 ft above the ground and stomp around at 35 MPH, kicks for 1d8 MD, and stomps for 2d6 MD .

I'd believe it being easy to convert the enchantments to ones that are more useful. And make the idiots that make the Bio-Armor look bad. Which may be worthwhile in and of itself.

Easy enough to do, and I'd started on some environment-specific variants before I decided to post what I had.
Haste did not serve well in this case, but it provided usable feedback.
Time to go offload.

I would like to put in a request for a Paladin Steel produced suit of Mage usable armor, preferably something more than a Skinsuit. The Cambridge Jungle would be able to provide a good organic material to make it out of, and Ectofibre will make up for the remaining loss in magical conductivity.

I'll wee what I can do(looks at the piles of Palladium books under the work desk).

As a favor to taalismn, I've done up some proper O.C.C.s in what I think is a distinctly GNE flavor; lots of skills and education. The 'low power' classes have 35 OCC skills at start, while the higher power non-magic classes get ~40. The Cyborg get a 5 skills tax to make up for being a borg. The magic classes get fewer skills on average to make up for their years of education in the mystic arts, with the exception of the Dimensional Pathfinder (Shifter variant) where they pulled out all the stops in training to be the absolute best due to their importance. I didn't give any major criticism on them when I show them too him, so here they are. Note that these only cover the planet based classes, as I'm still pondering how to do the stellar forces.

GNE Soldier/Grunt O.C.C
The GNE puts a substantial amount of time and effort into training its basic infantry, educating them well above what the Coalition considers typical. The GNE does not make a habit of training every soldier to operate heavy vehicles or power armor, but it’s extensive proliferation of light vehicles ensures that all of them have basic familiarity with them. In many ways, their training program can be considered a combination of NEMA’s Peacekeepers combined with the practical real world experience that has resulted in the North American Headhunter, resulting in a superior un-augmentent infantryman.

GNE RPA/Aircraft Pilot O.C.C
Like any advanced military, the GNE trains large numbers of highly skilled operators for its power armor, robots, and aircraft. Their training program is derived from their Infantry program, which results in its soldiers having a substantially broader skill base than most equivalents, which is critical given the GNEAF’s constant need to respond to unusual and/or complicated situations. The overall training can be considered a consolidation of NEMA’s Silver Eagle and Robot Sentinel, with an additional sprinkling of ‘Flyboy’ air/spacecraft piloting.

GNE Technical Officer O.C.C
The GNEAF, as a modern and technologically advanced military force, needs a vast number of highly trained technical experts to stay functional. As is the case for most of its professions, the GNE Technical Officer has substantially greater training than his equivalents, coming reasonably close to a truly dedicated professional such as the classic Operator or Body-Fixer with their MOS training. Naturally, their skill sets are in high demand in the civilian market, resulting in mustered out Technical Officers cropping up all over the GNE, with many being part of the local militia. They are a slightly less common sight amongst adventuring parties, but often form the ‘B-team’ supporters that keep the more notable and capable party members in the field.

GNE Military Specialist O.C.C
Effectively descendants of NEMA’s Intel-Agents and Military Specialists, the GNEAF’s espionage forces are extremely well trained and equipped. Specializing in the various dirty tricks that have lasted throughout the centuries, Military Specialists are not dedicated frontline combatants, but can have a larger impact than a full platoon if given the right opportunity. The GNEAF’s constant ‘special circumstances’ results in there being an overabundance of situations where their skill set is ideally suited, resulting in the GNE having a larger number of these agents than comparable nations.

GNE Special Forces O.C.C
The normal GNE ‘MilSpec’ is primarily focused on accomplishing his mission with a minimal amount of force, often completing missions without firing a single shot. The GNE Special Forces are different, focusing on commando operations where high intensity fire fights are a near certainty. Sharing much in common with the Stelmarines, they are some of the most highly trained infantry that the GNE has access too. Skill wise, they are a combination of the NEMA Military Specialist and the Coalition State’s Commando and Rangers, and generally spend the rest of their lives in the GNEAF. Even if they ‘retire’, Special Forces operatives remain part of the overall GNEAF community, and are often tapped to conduct unofficial assignments. The GNE has seen its Irregular forces achieve incredible feats on a regular basis, and has a never ending need for high end troubleshooters to quickly resolve situations.

GNE Cyborg
Greater New England is a prolific user of Cyborgs, with a tremendous array of chassis to choose from. Beyond simple choice, these Cyborgs are much more stable than normal due to a combination of social acceptance, quality of life options, and the possibility of gaining a replacement flesh body with enough service. Then there’s the fact that a non-trivial number have managed to have children regardless of their lack of biological functions with the exotic and alien Shemarrians, and isn’t that an odd combination of descriptors to say.

GNE Field Scientist O.C.C.
While the GNE produces no shortage of normal ‘Rogue’ Scientists, there is a very real need for a cadre of elite specialists to quickly analyze exotic phenomena in extremely hostile situations. Thus, the GNE has established a training program to produce a number of extremely hardened scientific experts that can survive being on the modern battlefield and provide expert consolidation on whatever ‘special circumstance’ is at hand. With the Megaverse proving to delight itself in throwing a never ending stream of oddball situations and phenomena at the GNE’s exploratory efforts, Field Scientists are constantly rushing from one hotspot to another, facing a never ending stream of the strange and exotic.

GNE Techno Wizard O.C.C.
Greater New England produces more Techno-Wizards than any other form of spell caster, with the still new tradition being forged into a full field of academic study and industrial focus. Those that are willing to sign up with either the GNE or its symbiote company Paladin Steel are availed a much greater access to education and mystic lore, graduating with a far larger skill set and spell book than is the occupational norm.

GNE Line Mage (Ley Line Walker Variant) OCC
With its acceptance of magic and high education base, Greater New England produces no shortage of mages. While naturally falling short for Dweomer in quantity, the GNE tries to make up for it in overall quality, training its spell casters extensively in academic and physical fields. While quite similar to traditional Ley Line Walkers, these Line Mages benefit from an extensive support structure, resulting in even their most novice graduates being phenomenally well equipped in terms of knowledge and equipment. This does require a substantial tour of duty with the GNEAF, but their capabilities ensure that they will be dispatched on ‘intellectually stimulating’ assignments that test their skills to the fullest extent.

GNE Dimensional Pathfinder (Shifter Variant) O.C.C
Similar to Tolkien’s Artifact Hunters, Greater New England made it a priority to establish their own school of dimensional magic experts, resulting in the Dimensional Pathfinder. Far better educated and grounded than traditional Shifters, Pathfinders are at the forefront of the United Systems Alliance’s dimensional exploration efforts, being the definitive experts on the subject. Equally at home operating independently or as part of a large expedition, Dimensional Pathfinders are perhaps the individuals in the GNE most prone to finding themselves in ‘complicated’ situations, cut off from practical reinforcements and with hostile natives (or worse) bearing down on them. This is why they are lavishly equipped with whatever resources the GNE can throw at them, which often proves necessary.

GNE Stone Master O.C.C
The ‘Zot Smackdown’ provided the GNE with no shortage of escaped slaves with unusual skills, and among them were a small number of journeyman Stone Masters. While naturally far from the peaks of their profession, they were able to teach the full range of basic skills and abilities to others, which the GNE promptly formalized as an extension of its Civil Engineering program. Its graduates are no less capable than traditional practitioners, and have a great deal more formal education on the intricacies of conventional construction and urban planning. The few shortfalls in their available knowledge base were covered via trade with the United Worlds Warlock, who have a quite similar program of the same purpose. Over the years these graduates have been responsible for the establishment of the Five State Alliance’s magical infrastructure projects, setting up the Stone Pyramids and derivatives that feed their techno-wizard factories. For its part, the GNE would rather prefer that its infrastructure specialists stay well away from the front lines, but as Rifts Earth provides no shortage of opportunities for misadventure some combat training is included.

And now I can see why you assigned me to create a new suit of mage-compatible armor.
Not to worry; I'll do it up right.
I'm already thinking armongus-impregnated wood plate, Ectofibre-webbing, treated monster-leather maybe....Mageplate inserts....


And yes, when the cyborgs are asked specifics about the mechanics of said conceptions, all they say s'what happens in the garage, stays in the garage."

For my next trick, I will give the Coalition some love so that they can stay up with the Jones. They're nut cases, but their not STUPID, so they have to have come up with something to make up the lost ground.

Kinda surprised, though, that Forced March isn't one of the skills standard to the Grunts and rank and file military OCCs...Running in formation and drilling in team work seems pretty standard fare.
Didn't have RUE or was it just one straw too many to tip the OCC over?

As for the CS? They got the Unseen God, KS, shielding them. Either they got production capabilities out the wazoo, or somebody will need them as a buffer state against somebody else, like the Xiticix or the vampires.

The GNE has enough light vehicles that I don't think that their infantry have to march like a Napoleonic army. And if they have to move fast, that's what Running is for.

I'm buffing the Coalition up to 'not quite as good as NEMA' levels in their infantry equipment, having around as much performance but at a higher weight cost. Just throwing more bodies at a problem is ultimately sloppy, and if you bungle it bad enough its more costly in terms of material as well. Most of the CS Army is still burbs spawn with CWC-era equipment, but the actual Citizens will having something that's meaningfully better.

And the Line Backer is just BAD from a fundamental design perspective.

No kidding. If they'd ut the two main weapons in a common turret, so they could bring BOTH to bear more effectively on the same target...but I guess the reasoning is that as a hovercraft the whole tank can turn fast enough to brig both guns on a target in sequence.

Gets worse; those guns can't be fire linked and need their own gunners. Any they only do 1D6x10.

Hell, the missile launchers are its best weapons, so it should really be a missile-tank, but it lacks the payload for protracted shoot-and-scoot operations, and the rail guns and lasers get top billing.

*VEBA-12CLTW ‘Magex’ Environmental Body Armor
(aka ‘Wizar Suit’)
“Don’t ask how the hell the stuff allows you to cast magic without resistance, but puts up a wall when malign magic tries to stream back the other way. Same thing with how it allows you to absorb ambient mana instead of locking it out. The way I hear it, the scientists and sages had to invent several new fields of metaphysics to make it work, and most of them had nervous breakdowns afterwards. It works, it protects you, and that’s all that matters for now.”

“PS doesn’t talk about how much the new armor really costs, given all the features they built into it, given the mass distribution they got going to all their field-magic workers, but either they have new mass-production means or they’re sacrificing a lot of capital just to keep their mages safe. That last idea really has a lot in the mage community happy.”

“The unspoken outlay on these new suits on top of the hormone treatments and the extra spell training just means that if you take the government shilling, expect the guv to work you HARD. Don’t expect cushy living if you take the Green.”

“I don’t care if your armor makes you an Olympic-grade athlete! You’re still giving me ten laps in your skivvies! Move it, lardass!”

“It was a right bastard finding a strain of clonable skin leather that could block radiation...well, seeping the stuff in magically-charged water under a low-level Resistance to Energy spell took care of that...then there was the hassle of finding a food water-resistant natural fiber that could be woven tight enough to be airtight..The electronics were easy enough, being off-the-self, but magic being picky about everything else, we had to come up with a dozen new materials, methods to hold them together and make them work together, and survive the wear-and-tear testing.”

“El-tee-dubbaya is a bit more maintenance-heavy than regular hardshell gear. Besides the mages and the materials engineers tearing their hairs in the deal, there’s a whole wing of industrial chemists who went fumma-fumma trying to figure out a leather polish/preservative that didn’t stink hard enough to give every DogBoy in a ten mile radius enough of a snootful to find the wearer. The chemists’, and alchemists’, only consolation is that Army mages have to spend extra time taking care of their personal suits...and the Army don’t let them use familiars or golems to do the chore if the mages are ornery.”

The proliferation and official employment of mages of various schools in the Greater New England Armed Services led to a pressing need for body armor that mages could use without the hindrance of their spellcasting abilities. While previously, GNE mages had been issued the standard armors of the GNEAS, while protected, they could not use their special abilities unless they compromised that protection by removing parts, if not all, of their armor, a move not always wise during combat or in a hazmat situation. With more mages being actively trained and employed by the GNE services, clearly a better solution had to be found to better protect these valuable personnel.
As the conventional alloys and synthetic composites normally used in PS/ASI armors had proven too resistant to magic energies, unless made too thin and light to offer much protection, Paladin Steel experimented with other materials, including magic materials, that could be enchanted to compensate. One such trial was with a stabilized ectoplasmic ‘alloy’ developed for aircraft construction, Mageplate Formulation-1C, that could actually repair itself with the application of PPE or ISP. Others were various magically-hardened woods, and new organic materials, based on studies and samples of supernatural creatures, that the Cambridge Jungle biotech tribes had been studying. Ultimately they came out with specification VEBA-012LTW.
Key to LTW armor is a webwork of stabilized Ectofibre woven through the armor’s various material components. This magically-conductive wondermaterial allows the mage to project their mystic energies with little to no loss of PPE.
Overlaying the bodysuit is a set of plates of light Mageplate alloy, platelets of armongus-impregnated wood ply, and megadamage leather, the latter two materials recently introduced in bulk from the Cambridge Jungle biotechs. The use of (super)natural materials in over 75% of the suit’s construction insures that all parts are covered, bit also protected, without hindering the mage’s natural mystic channeling .
The life support and helmet electronics are purely technological, but the helmet features a faceplate of armored Ecto-glass; clear armorplas doped with ectofibres and able to carry permanent enchantments.
Despite its mainly organic composition, -12CLTW armor has been designed to look much like regular GNEAS EBA, so as not to immediately make mages stand out. This riles some old-school conservatives in the magic community, but most mages, especially those raised and trained in Greater New England, recognize the value, thanks to the Coalition States’ rabid anti-magic policies, of not pointing themselves out for sniper-attention.
While not as durable as regular-issue GNEAS VEBAs, -12CLTW armor still offers mages substantial protection, and access to special features that allow them to keep up with their no-mage teammates in the field.

Weight: 13 lbs
M.D.C. by Location:
Head/Helmet 70
Arms 30 each
Legs 35 each
Main Body 60
Mobility: Good; -5% to climb, and -10% to prowl, swim, and perform acrobatics.
Special Features:
Standard EBA features, plus:
*Mini-Periscope--The helmet mounts a small extendable antennae/fiber-optic telescope that can extend eight inches out from the helmet and transmit its view to the HUD; perfect for peering from behind cover.

*Integral Language Translator--Holds about 14 different languages( typically the most common languages in use in the area of operations). Selections can be changed by swapping out the language crystal module and adjusting the new one for individual’s speech patterns( mechanical translators are notorious for not catching/misinterpreting nuances and inflections) .

*Helmet Combat Recorder---This system allows the soldier to record what they see and hear onto three six-hour mini-discs for later transmission/download, or review back at base. To prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands, combat recorders can only be unlocked by special code-keys typically carried by officers; unauthorized tampering will wipe the discs.

*Mini-Head Up Display(HUD)---Allows for suit status and communications feed video data to be displayed on a mini-screen projected in front of the soldier’s eyes.

*Sensor Augmentations---The Helmet comes complete with IR/UV optics, integral telescopic magnification, passive nightvision, and Kirilian Aura viewer(detects PPE auras, including those of invisible beings, with 60% effectiveness at 200 ft range, but cannot determine power level or alignment). Additional sensors can be clipped on with a special visor system.

*Retractable Vibroblade---One, or both, arm vambraces will have a retractable vibroblade for use as a tool or a weapon. Does 1d6 MD.

*Extra Push--- The ectofiber mimics PS’s other passive-amp webbing systems in redistributing motion kinetic energy and giving back a little energy to each step. Reducing fatigue by 10% and increasing leap/jump distance by 10%.


Magic Features:
*Magically Regenerative--- One of the great advantages of the combination wood/armongus/leather/mageplate combination is that this armor and structural material actually repairs itself with the application of PPE/ISP: 1 MDC= 2 PPE/4 ISP.

*Muliplexor Amulet---Looking somewhat like the chest punch-plate of a Juicer harness, this socket allows the mage to chip in a spellcard(usually a self-amplification or protective charm) with spells not already integrated into the suit, and power them up.

*PPE Power Amulet Attachment----The standard -12CLTW armor doesn’t come with its own PPE source, so the wearer can power the features themselves. However, this handy attachment point at the waist allows the wearer to clip in PS (and, in a case of industrial espionage) Stormspire) PPE clips or any of Paladin Steel’s/Merrill Armament’s PPE ‘Regenerator’ powerstones. Note that the wearer cannot draw upon these PPE batteries for their own spells, but can use them to power attached TW systems.

*Ectoglass Faceplate---Besides possessing the PPE sensors in the LR-OTS07 rifle scope/Raptor-helm, the ectofiber-doped armorplas faceplate has been permanently enchanted to have a much wider field of vision for the optics.

* Magic Insulation---Borrowing from the Ectoskin suit, the ectofiber-weave also acts as an effective insulator against incoming directed magical energies, acting much like a Faraday Cage. Magical energy attacks to the armor are reduced in damage by 1/3, and the wearer gets to save +1 versus magic. Psionic attacks are unaffected.

*Integral Spells:
-Armor of Ithan ---100 MDC, 10 minutes, 5 PPE/10 ISP per activation.
-Impervious to Energy ---Energy attacks do NO damage to the wearer, 20 minutes/80 melees duration per level/activation. 10 PPE/20 ISP per activation,.

-Superhuman Strength ---Amps strength to SUPERNATURAL P.S. of 30 and P.E. of 24, +30 SDC for 300 seconds/20 melees duration, 5 PPE/10 ISP per activation

-Superhuman Speed ---Amps speed up 44(30 MPH), +2 parry, +6 dodge, for 10 minute duration, 5 PPE/10 ISP per activation.

-Superhuman Agility ---Boosts reflexes;+1 on initiative, +1 parry, +5 dodge, +5 roll, Automatic Dodge +5, Automatic Roll, +20% to Climb/Rappel, Tightrope skill of 88%. 20 melee rounds duration, 8 PPE/16 ISP per activation.

*Reduced TW Modification Cost---Subsequent technowizardry modifications if they don’t interfere with existing systems, cost 25% less to add to the -12CLTW armor. Popular additions include adding Spinning Blades or Silverize to the wrist blade(s).

*Backpack TW Link----The back panel of the armor has an interface plug that allows the fitting of a TW app-pack:

a) TW Flight Pack----Two flight systems are especially popular; Fly as the Eagle ( 50 MPH, 120 minutes, 13 PPE per activation)and Winged Flight;( 5 pts of Speed per point of P.S., 120 minutes, 18 PPE per activation).

b) TW Missile Launcher---Inspired by Triax’s TX-M4 Mini-Missile Launcher, this backpack can hold 12 TW Mini-Rockets or 4 Heavy TW Rockets. 90

c) TW Energy Weapon----This is a handsfree mounting for a magic energy weapon fitted to fire over the shoulder and aimed by a link to the helmet optics. Can be powered by its own PPE supply, the armor’s attached PPE batteries, or by the age themselves. A gyro-stabilized mount gives a +1 to strike in addition to any other optical sight and/o W.P. bonuses.

d) TW Defense Pack--- Carries an array of spells useful in area protection. Blast Shield( 10 ft radius, 10 melees, 9 PPE per activation), Sheltering Force( 10 hours, 10 PPE per activation), Protection Circle: Simple(includes an attached handheld stylus/paint sprayer to draw the circle)( 24 hours, 28 PPE per activation), Constrain Being( 60 ft, 20 minutes, 10 PPE per activation).

e) Dimensional Pocket Backpack---This ordinary-looking carryall is actually five times bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, and doesn’t weigh any heavier fully loaded than it is empty.

f) Underwater Operations Pack----Swim as the Fish: Superior( Spd: 20, 100 minutes, 6 PPE per activation), Armor of Neptune(150 MDC, 30 minutes, 10 PPE per activation), Sonar Hearing( 20 minutes, 5 PPE per activation), and Ride the Waves( 100 minutes, 5 PPE per activation). Popular with GNEN personnel.

g) Cloak Pack----Can provide a small group with stealth or camouflage capabilities, as long as they are in the radius of effect or touching each other(2-6 people, typically): Chameleon( 20 minutes, 6 PPE per activation), Path of Green( 300 ft range, 16 ft wide path, eliminates all traces of passage when it lapses, 40 minutes, 7 PPE per activation), Shadowmeld( 20 minutes, 10 PPE per activation), Invisibility: Simple( 20 minutes, 6 PPE per activation), Illusory Wall( 300 minutes, 8-15 PPE per activation), Illusory Forest( 300 minutes, 23-45 PPE per activation), Illusory Terrain( 300 minutes, 28-60 PPE per activation)

Options:
*Appliqué Armor---VEBA-012LTW can use the same appliqué armor overlays as the regular ‘mundane ‘ GNEAS suits, Though they add weight and hinder magic same as always, if spell-casting isn’t an issue and protection is, GNEAS mages can opt to use the extra plating, though most immediately remove it when the need is past.
In the alternative, wooden appliqué similar to the panels in the suit itself, can be applied. These cost 50% more than the regular ceramic and alloy plates, but interfere less with the wearer’s magic abilities.

Cost: Not for sale; exclusive to the GNEAS, but can fetch 490,000 credits or more on the black market

Variants:
None official, but an ‘economy suit’ without the integrated TW enhancements, would probably cost 95,000 credits

Well above what I was expecting, but with the amount of resource that the GNE sinks into its mages it makes sense. If nothing else, the UWW would be willing to hand out major favor for it, and that has a value that cannot be expressed in mere coin.

As for me, I've fluffed up the Coalition's post-Minion War condition and arsenal. If the Dead Boys are going to be treated as an actual threat beyond simple numbers, they have to have SOME actual capability on the individual level, and while they're genocidal nut jobs they're not stupid. The overall theme is 'not quite NEMA' quality, which I believe is appropriate given their known scientific capabilities. The GNEAF would still whup them even 2-on-1 in most situations, but the Coalition can manage 3-on-1, which it just too expensive and risky to attempt without a good plan.

Post-Minion War Coalition States
The most positive thing to say about the Coalition States is that they didn’t lose any of their major infrastructure and their overall production capabilities have recovered. This came at the cost of their forces being severely depleted, its stockpiles of resources and equipment being effectively spent, and Greater New England being in a stronger position than ever. Emperor Prosek has proclaimed to Coalition High Command that the Coalition States is simply unable to effect policy east of the Appalacians, and none could find grounds to disagree. As such, the Coalition has embarked on a strategy of containment, focusing on preventing Greater New England from projecting influence further westward. This has the side effect of accepting the continued existence of the city-state of Lazlo for the indefinite future, ending the Coalition’s dreams of their 20 year expansion. The only plus side was that the Greeners are the best buffer state between the American heartland and Atlantis that could be asked for.

The Coalition’s strategic situation is so complex that High Command is unable to make an honest estimate for when they will recover to their pre-Tolkien force levels, with the least bad forecast being between 5-10 years. It will be another decade after that until they will have sufficient forces to properly secure their territory, during which they will be highly vulnerable to raiders. While the Coalition has a large number of human bodies, it lacks the equipment to make the most use out of them, which severely limits their options. Beyond opportunistic missile barrages at the GNE, which will be more aimed towards public consumption than actual effect, they are in no shape to engage in a modern conflict against anything resembling another organized opponent, and this is something of an open secret amongst the true power players of the continent. The Coalition will recover thanks to their increased resource intake, but that is a long day coming.

It can thus be considered incredibly ironic that the Coalition is now engaged in what is likely the only type of campaign it can currently fight; an anti-vampire crusade. The Vampire Kingdoms of Mexico have taken advantage of the Minion War chaos and engaged in a wide spread territorial grab and terror campaign in the American-South west, pushing their normal opponents to the brink of collapse. It was only with the intervention of the Lemaurians and Shemarians that Reid’s Rangers and Arzeno survived the onslaught, and few if any of the mortal powers in the region could put up any serious defense. But the vampires were ultimately just that little bit too greedy, and have drawn the attention of both the Coalition States and Greater New England, resulting in a tacit agreement to work towards the same general end. While nobody expects them to work side by side, look at their campaign maps shows a distinct lack of overlap, showing that both would rather not be in a position to start shooting at the other.

While requiring a tool set unlike anything needed against technological (and most magical) opponents, the actual resource requirements for war against Vampires are surprisingly minimal. There are a wide range of wooden munitions available that are quite effective against the undead, and the larger (and more expensive) platforms are of marginal use against massed supernatural blood suckers. Thus, the Coalition is deploying its vast numbers of Minion War volunteer holdovers in purging actions across the Mid-West, and is slowly marching south to the Rio Grande and will sweep into New Mexico and the eastern most sections of Arizona. Greater New England has (via what is believed to be Rift transportation) committed their forces into Southern California, and will be purging east toward Tuscon and potentially Brisbane. Both Arizona and most of New Mexico are too far from the Coalitions heartlands to make any form of territorial claim, but they hope to gain intelligence for prospective future plans over the course of the campaign. If the GNE wishes to pursue the vampire down into Mexico, they are free to do so, as it will hopefully distract them from making a major attempt to push across the Appalacians in the meantime.

The purging campaign is understandably popular, with the Coalition coming off of its post-Minion War high and going into another obviously justifiable campaign against a much less dangerous but still clearly evil and supernatural force. While this is generally understood by even the rank and file to be as much about letting the most problematic holdovers be worn away from attrition, the remaining Juicer armies are at least half addicted to their superhuman abilities, and had been looking at the high possibility of having no war to fight for the rest of their augmented lives. Thus, a chance to find a worthy death protecting humanity from a plague of blood sucking monsters has been met with great enthusiasm, and if most of them ‘go rogue’ and keep on going further south than Chi-Town is willing to write them off as dying an honorable death and send the benefits to their next of kin.

If there is a silver lining to all of this, it is that the American Mid-West is effectively clear for colonization efforts barring the Hive-Lands. This will consume the majority of the Coalition's attention for at least a generation, as High Command focuses on resource extraction and population relief efforts. Emperor Prosek hopes to have a network of outposts and homesteads almost reaching the Rockies by the time of his son's ascension to the throne, which will provide the materials needed to make the Coalition’s image of strength almost match what it projects. The mining programs will take years to mature, but the agriculture efforts promise to solve the nation’s food concerns for the foreseeable future, solving one of the constant fears of Chi-Town. With any luck, and barring any further major conflicts, the Coalition hopes to have a good 20 years to recuperate, and hopes to be able to formulate a plan to further expand their control over the continent.

Post-Minion War Coalition Arsenal
The Coalition is focused first and foremost on producing enough equipment to replenish its forces, and doesn’t have much resources to spare in developing more capable models. However, several long running projects have come to fruition, mostly revolving around reproducing the various bits of equipment used by NEMA during the early Dark Ages. The Coalition lacks sufficient ultra-high grade facilities to produce the light weight alloys that so much of it was made from, but the functioning internals are just within reach of their current production base. Thus, the Coalition is putting these superior systems into the bodies that they are already producing, resulting in a heavier (and at times less accurate) weapon, but having idental range, damage, and energy endurance. While this is a substantial leap forward, even NEMA’s own equipment falls short of the Three Galaxies spec equipment that the GNEAF is beginning to field in mass, which puts the Coalition at a major disadvantage on the infantry scale.

Post-Minion War Coalition Weapons
The Coalition’s original ‘War of Blood Revenge’ equipment was highly downgraded versions of NEMA’s equivalents, but were still better than anything Northern Gun was capable of producing. Most of the 105 PA replacements can be upgraded to use the still better components, but it will take several years for the production lines to fully switch over. The Coalition has also begun to produce knockoffs of certain Paladin Steel equipment, particularly its particle beams, which have proven to be far superior to the best efforts of Chi-Town.

Post-Minion War Coalition Body Armor
The Coalition had gained limited manufacturing capability for the legendary EBA-130 when it acquired Lone Star, but the production line was marginally capable, and the resulting suits were only issued to high ranking officers with stylistic changes. The GNE’s introduction of an improved version as its new standard issue armor was a cause for alarm, as it clearly indicated that the Coalition was falling increasingly far behind. This resulted in renewed efforts to improve manufacturing capability, which produced results in the closing days of the Minion War.

Post-Minion War Coalition Power Armor
The Coalition has historically put no shortage of resources into its Power Armor for a large number of reasons, and none of those have changed. They may now face serious competition from massed Juicers, but they still offer a number of capabilities that even those superhuman warriors also need expensive equipment to gain.

Post-Minion War Coalition Robot Vehicles
For all of their capabilities, large robot vehicles are expensive and time consuming to make, both of which are major problems in the post-war environment. The smaller designs are not considered to be too much of a hassle, but the large platforms are simply too resource intensive to build up quickly. Thus, the Coalition has put far more effort into its scouting platforms than its brawlers, which it hopes to replace with much more effective designs before they are needed.

Post-Minion War Coalition Ground Vehicles
Despite what some say, robot vehicles are not the answer to all military problems, and arguably have more than their fair share of problems. Additionally, conventional vehicles are less expensive and better suited for long duration patrols, both of which are critical to the Coalition's current strategic needs. Thus, High Command has devoted a higher proportion of its resource budget towards replenishing the rosters of these platforms, and has allowed both modest upgrades and at least two major replacement efforts.

Post-Minion War Coalition Light Hover/Flying Vehicles
While lacking the bells and whistles that festooned higher end GNE platforms, the Coaltion’s various hovercraft and Sky Cycles were still good performers and highly economical. Their only real flaws revolved around their weapons, which were simple enough to upgrade with more capable components.

Post-Minion War Coalition Rotor Craft
Conventional helicopters are simply cheaper than VTOL jets, and are much better at patrol work. The Coalition hopes to replace the vulnerable rotors with GMR coils relatively soon, but the current models are more than sufficient against what forces the Coalition actually fights on a regular basis.

Post-Minion War Coalition Conventional Flyers
The Coalition has adopted a policy of strategic containment, hoping to keep Greater New England on the eastern side of the Appacians, but to do this they must be able to at least contest the bordering airspace. While the various low end ground support platforms the GNE field are simple enough to deal with, the Skytiger and upgraded Skytiger II have proven to be simply unsurmountable opponents, with even a two-to-one advantage is insufficient. The Coalition is frantically working a better strike craft, and while it is anticipated that GMR technology will allow for a much more capable VTOL capable craft to be developed, it will take years to bring to fruition. As such, they are stuck with what they have, forcing them on the defensive.

Post-Minion War Coalition Aerodynes
The Coalition had always been jealous of the GNE’s Gravi-Magnetic Repulsion technology, with enough tattered scraps being found in the Chi-Town Library to know that the claims of it being due to a pre-rifts wonder-material are true, but nowhere near enough to actually begin developing their own. The increasing numbers of flying ships produced by Paladin Steel made it ever more clear that the Coalition was fast being eclipsed in large scale aerodynes, but it the most painful example would be during Operation Elbow Drop, where the GNE brought down four of their mighty Aurora class Star Frigates to help establish aerospace supremacy at Calgary. These spaceships each out-gunned the present Coalition air force units, which included several Death’s Head Gunships, and was perhaps one the most disquieting realisations to that High Command confronted since the Sorcerer's Revenge. Fortunately, reverse engineering efforts of recovered samples had just reached the limited production phase, so there was hope that they would be able to contest these craft in the future.

CTX-55 ‘Grinning Skull II’ Medium Hover Tank
The ‘GS2’ is the Coalition State’s first use of reverse engineered Gravi-Magnetic Repulsion technology, and features a number of other improvements. The Line Backer had proven to be a fundamentally flawed design due to its lack of a turret and high crew count, prompting a return to the earlier format. Overall speed is equal to that of the Line Backer, along with overall component durability. The primary cannons have been replaced with powerful lasers (2D6x10), the mini-turrets have been replaced with much more powerful weapons, and the side mounted Mini-missile launchers have been replaced with MRM launchers off the Line Backer. The use of Skelebot CPUs has reduced the crew to 4; commander, driver, and two gunners, and they are protected by a crude but effective ‘Counter-Crush’ field. While production remains slow due to the bottleneck of GMR material fabrication, it will dramatically increase over the next few years.

The Coalition expects generally positive things out of their new tank, and despite its lack of electronic capabilities it has held up reasonably well against the GNE Bandersnatches it has encountered in skirmishes. The few occasions they have gone up against the mighty Cestus III have been complete routs, but High Command hopes that this can be compensated with far greater numbers and further refined designs in the decades to come. The effective production price of the GS2 is equal to that of the Line Backer, which is a strength considering its greater capabilities. The Coalition hopes to replace most of its frontline hovercraft with GMR platforms within a generation, but that is dependent on industrial expansion continuing at its current pace.

AFC-152 ‘Death Bringer II’ Assault Hover APC
Clearly inspired by the GNE’s Slepnir derivative, the Death Bringer II replaces the older hoverjets with GMR systems, granting it superior performance at a far smaller cost. Similar to the Grinning Skull II, the mini-turrets have been handed over to Skelebot AIs, with one crewman overseeing their targeting. The collective saved mass has been invested into replacing the turret mount with a 135mm Mass Driver, close enough to the performance of the Slepnir’s that it makes no difference. Unfortunately, the DBII lacks the Sleipnir's force field, electronics, and extensive secondary weapons, making it a substantially inferior combatant, but it remains head and shoulders above what other nations on the North American continent are capable of fielding. The Coalition hopes to have something better by the time they are able to begin the next round of hostilities, but that is decades away.

The GNE, once the disconnect from its USA outposts and colonies caused by the Minion War ends, would still find itself in somewhat the same position as the Splugorth...sure, they could bring in divisions of offfworld troops and equipment and SWAMP the Coalition States, but the GNE realizes that currently it has no real plan for governing the territory of the former CS in the event if/when the GNE won. At the very least, they'd be trying to undo generations of indoctrination, face a nasty guerrilla war, and have to deal with all the opportunists that would out for piece of the former CS and the ones now on top. While the GNE's USA arms have dealt wit situations like this on other planets, but the CS is in many ways a dark microcosm of the GNE itself, sharing common roots in a hellworld. Right now, it would be too much trouble reconstructing the CS and erasing its legacy of corruption, racism/specism, and fascist aggression. Even though standing on the sidelines and watching the CS go about what it does in middle America hurts, so far all the scenarios they war-game and scry out, indicate that a GNE steamroller would only make things worse for the people they would be hoping to save. .

Make no mistake, though...If the CS ever crossed certain lines of behavior, or used WMDs against GNE territory, the GNE WOULD come down on the CS and roll it up, ad to hell with the cost. The GNE has its own various flavors of WMDs, including quite a few aimed at Atlantis, and those weapons are just SOME of the GNEAS's options.

The CS has enough awareness to know that the GNE would make life deeply unpleasant for them if they wanted to, and knows it can't knock them out of the equation, so it'll begrudgingly settle for a stalemate in its eyes. Thankfully, they don't have any reason to go full 'Final Solution' other than ideology, and its easier to just drive D-Bee's out to places where they'd probably die than to just shoot them all. So long as the CS doesn't think its loosing, they'll avoid escalating.

Too bad for them that they're loosing the intel war as bad as the Abwehr did.

EDIT: One of the more amusing things I can see GNE Intel doing is getting their hands on Prosek's college thesis paper (the one Tarn mentions in the main bood), tearing it to shreds academically, and releasing the it all over the CS data net.

EDIT EDIT: With this out of the way, I will now do more work on my munchtastic 'Thoth; Power Incarnate' side-sub-continuity, which I can actually enjoy.

And every time any legal psychic in theCS's PSINET mind-police does a clairvoyant scrying the GNE? MASSIVE headaches.....
" I don't know what 'KS Character ShIelding versus Fan-Powr' means, but I get beat-me-in-the-head-with-an-anvil lobe pains."
"Maybe it's some sort for weapons system?"



Heh-heh-heh...Isn't power-corruption FUN?!

Coalition morality debates are irrelevant because nobody other than KS gives a rat's ass about the point he thinks he's making. Which he fails at, because the Coalition is so ham-handedly a villain protagonist they may as well be called the Draka. It doesn't help that he's in complete denial that the only people that actually "play" Rifts are power gamers, with all the actual role-players having abandoned Palladium decades ago.

Ah, I remember the all-too-short 'Curbstomp the Draka' thread over on Spacebattles...I think it got cut short because without author-shielding the Draka could get handed their arses by just about any decent spacefaring culture....and the less said about Draka vs the really BIG players, like the Culture, the less. I think ultimately the mods thought the whole business was getting too much sadistic kick-a-guy-when-he's-down.

Still, it did give us 'Night of the Superforts' and an even more decent (and similar) nuke-bombing story. 'Proof Through the Night'.

And now for something a little different....


(may as well use my beverage creation tables for something...)

GFC/G-Force Coffee
(aka ‘GeenBean Broth’, ‘Void Coffee’, ‘Black Hole Brew’, “Geener ####ing Cr@?”, ‘Grave Froth’, ‘Garage & Furnace Cleaner’, ‘Grease Pit Tea’, ‘Gravel-Flavored Concoction’)
“It’s not a narcotic, it’s just really bad ersatz coffee.”

“It’s a great unifier amongst us; you can’t live in Greater New England and NOT have an opinion about GFC.”

“One of the few things about the GNE that makes the Coalition States look attractive.”

“It doesn’t much eliminate your fatigue as it tractors you into its accretion disc, spins you around skimming its event horizon, yanks the fatigue poisons out of you, then gravity-slingshots you back out at a good percentage of light speed.”

“Hey, guys? Before we race off to face the Evil Kreeghor Overlord and his Invincible Henchies, can we fly by the USA outpost on Gildor and grab a cuppa GFC?”
“...we’re COSMOKNIGHTS, Dwi. You want to make a coffee run, NOW?!”
“It’s not coffee, it’s GFC. And we ARE facing Invincible Guardsmen.”
“...you think they have donuts there too?”

“We had an industrial accident....traincar of GFC syrup derailed and spilled into a local creek...the fish were jumping for DAYS.”

“The more you stare into the GFC, the more the GFC stares into you.”
“Shut up the philosophizing and drink it before it gets cold!”
“Before it eats through the bottom of the cup?”
“Before the barrista starts charging you rent for hogging that counter stool.”

‘G-Force Coffee’ is arguably the stimulant drink of choice for those in the business and military community of Greater New England. Rumors abound of how this drink came to be; some say it’s the synthetic product of a PS lab researching Juicer chemicals, others claim it was concocted by a mad alchemist who sold his secret formula to PS/ASI, while others believe it to be the secretions of bioegineered organisms created by the Cambridge Jungle.
Though it’s named ‘coffee’, GFC is not actually brewed from a bean, but diluted from an extract...temperature, water additives, and brewing/boiling/simmering time allowed to vary by the end-users. In its concentrated form, GFC is arguably toxic, and bright highly-visible warning notices on the shipping container recommend dilution ratios of a pint of extract in a -minimum- of five gallons of water to render it safe for most human constitutions.
GFC is easily adulterated, and depending on the species, a number of prefered compositions are known. ChaiChuks prefer theirs with enough lard to form a thick crust, Tavazans add ‘Amazon Moonshine’ in quantity and let the sobriety and intoxication factors fight it out, Steel Gaians take theirs with lubricating oil and a shot of gasoline, Apisori down it cold with ice cubes, Grackle Teeth prefer to make their GFC with hard water, and Drammin sip it with an anti-depressant. Chigdee seem able to take it straight and undiluted, but often have to be tranq-darted after a week of drinking it or else they start running around tearing off their clothes and trying to fly while singing Chigdee opera(described as sounding like a concerto for chainsaw and garden-trimmer).
Floopers noticeably avoid coming near GFC, and some people deliberately brew up pots of GFC as ‘Flooper repellent’. Larmac avoid drinking the stuff except in an urgent sober-up-or-else life-or-death crisis, and Greot Hunters have been known to give anybody drinking the stuff a wide berth. Vanguard Brawlers consider drinking GFC to be a religious experience.
Interestingly enough, pre-pubescents seem unaffected by consumption of GFC, aside from finding its taste ‘icky’(so it’s arguably household safe). Still, pregnant women are advised against drinking GFC.

a)*Source
Brewed in industrial quantities in massive factory-like production facilities.

b)*Cost
1d4 credits a cup the closer you get to the core of PS/GNE, ranging to 6d6 credits the farther away you get...and word and demand is spreading.
A pint of the undiluted extract costs 80-320 credits.

c)*Color
Light-absorbing non-reflecting black BLACK.

d)*Viscosity
Syrupy in its minimally diluted form.

e)*Temperature
Usually served pipping hot, but can be served chilled(it thickens when chilled, however---Kraks claim it’s good in the gelid form spread on sliced bread, like Vegimite)

f) *Presentation
Inert; it doesn’t bubble, froth, or roil unless something has been added to it. It just sits there...waiting...waiting to lure you in.

g) *Stored in/Served in
Stored in a metal drum or cistern. Served in a mug.

h)*Ingredients
It’s claimed that GFC is a mix of vegetable extracts and actual bean squeezings. Claimed, not proven.

i) *Bio-Compatibility
Actually compatible with a wide range of metabolisms and physiologies, making it popular as a pan-sophont drink(well, as popular as a drink that everybody can imbibe without being poisoned, and living to grouse about the stuff).

j)*Flavor
Acquired Taste---Drinkers claim that after the first dozen cups destroy enough brain cells, it starts tasting good.

k)*Intoxication
None; the amount of alcohol you’d have to add to it to make it even remotely intoxicating would outweigh the original volume. Not that this has prevented anybody from trying(i.e. Tavazan Amazons).

l) *Toxicity
In its concentrated extract form it’s regarded as borderline poisonous. In dilute form, it murders sleep and fatigue.
Note: Drinking the stuff at HALF its recommended dilution rate requires an immediate roll versus non-lethal poison. On a save, it holds off fatigue and the need for sleep for 3d6 hours, eliminates existing fatigue and hangovers, +1 on Initiative, +5% to skills requiring fine control and focus, and increase Speed by 25%.Lasts 1d6 hours. Taking another shot of the half-diluted stuff during that period imposes a cumulative -1 to each subsequent save vs poison attempt. On a failure, the drinker suffers mild trembling(-10% to skills requiring fine control and focus), -1 on Initiative, acts fidgety and very impatient, 15% chance of delirium tremens and hallucinations. Lasts 1d8 hours before they collapse and sleep like a stone for TWICE the duration they were awake..
Drinking GFC syrup STRAIGHT(or cut up to half the recommended safe concentration) requires an immediate roll versus lethal poison. On a save, it holds off fatigue and the need for sleep for 6d6 hours, eliminates existing fatigue and hangovers, +3 on Initiative, +1 to Dodge/Parry, +12% to skills requiring fine control and focus, and TRIPLE Speed. Lasts 1d8 hours. Taking another shot of the undiluted stuff during that period imposes a cumulative -1 to each subsequent save vs poison attempt . On a failure, -2 on Initiative, triple Speed, +3 Dodge, but movements are rather more spastic and impulsive(-20% to skills requiring fine control and focus), actandtalkREALLYfastanddisjointedlybecauseitshardtokeepfocSQUIRREL!, 45% chance of delirium tremens and hallucinations. Lasts 2d8 hours before they collapse and sleep like a stone for TWICE the duration they were awake..

Note 2: The above only applies to ORGANIC physiologies; non-organic drinkers like the Steel Gaians only drink the stuff to be sociable or because they like the taste.

m)*Side Effects
In its safely diluted form, a cup of GFC provides almost all the nutrients of a large meal. It won’t hold off scurvy, though, and more exotic carbon-oxygen biologies may require supplemental vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients(fortunately, GFC is easily adulterated). It also perks the drinker up like caffeine, holding off fatigue onset for 1d6 hours, and reducing existing fatigue penalties by 75% for the same time period.
Some claim that unless it’s adulterated, a steady intake of GFC kills one’s sense of taste, making it easier for the local cafeteria/messhalls/food services to serve lower-quality foodstuffs.

n)*Magic
None, unless you count ‘transforms you into a high octane spazz-machine’.

o) *Recommended Quaffing Method
There have been many arguments over this; some prefer to sip cautiously, others prefer the straight suction draw. Others prefer direct IV drip.

p) *Hangover
Excessive use/abuse of GFC can result in hard fatigue once imbibing has stopped and the effects wear off.

q) *(Best)Cure for the Hangover
Rest and a proper diet.
Negate Poisons/Toxins or a Purge spell will remove the worst side-effects, but also leave the person groggy and fatigued as if they hadn’t taken the stimulant drink.

PS/ASI RFGR-01 Deep Space Tactical Rocket Launcher System.
(aka ‘Rifger’)
“Guess what? They managed to shorehorn something new in.”
---Colonel Vlar Reltish, CAF

“Works best if you’re wearing Stelmarine armor with the full sensor suite on it. In space combat, if you’re eyeballing a target direct, odds are you’re screwed big time. You want as much advance warning as you can get to start laying your sights and plotting fire on a bogey before it can wipe you out.”

“Star Wasps are pretty well-armored against stray space debris, which makes manpad-scale fragmentation rounds pretty ineffective against them, but the laser warheads seem to catch them off guard. Even if it doesn’t one-shot kill them, they still get distracted and start looking around for who shot them. That hesitation can save your life.”

-Copy of the CAF’s Repeating Rocket Launcher, only modified to fire S-Sting(for ‘Space Stinger’) space mini-missiles. The RFGR-01 can also chamber regular mini-missile cassettes, allowing it to use standard mini-missile cassettes.
In addition, PS/ASI has developed a plasma-pumped x-ray laser warhead version of the S-Stinger, that has debuted with the RFGR-01. Though not as accurate as the long-rod warhead missile, it has an extended range of lethal that makes volleys of the missiles all the more dangerous to unwary enemy aerospace assets. The laser warhead mini-missiles can also engage two targets simultaneously; the one they contact-strike and anything close enough to be scored on by the laser, making the type especially effective in dealing with closly-packed swarm adversaries or missile volleys.
The RFGR-01, because of its ability to fire the S-Stinger, has been deployed almost exclusively with the Stelmarines, though it has also appeared in the hands of Fleet and Merchant Marine security units, and, like the PSMAGL-40DMs ‘Dhunker’ 40mm Marine Grenade Launcher with wetside port and harbor security, has caught on with space station defense units.

Note that the ‘S-Sting’ has only limited effectiveness in an atmosphere....HALF bonuses in a thin atmosphere and weak gravity well like Mars’, and NO bonuses, and HALF range in a thick atmosphere and standard gravity like Earth’s.

Weight: 23 lbs
MDC: 50
Range:(Standard Mini-Missile) Varies by Missile Type(Mini-Missile)
(S-Stinger)4 miles in atmosphere, 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
(X-Ray Laser) 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 12,000 ft in space
(Kitsune values: 12,000 ft in atmosphere, 20 miles in space,
Damage:(Standard Mini-Missile)) Varies by Missile Type(Mini-Missile)
(S-Stinger)(Long Rod Explosive) 2d6x10 MD to a 15 ft blast radius
(X-Ray Laser) 2d4x10 MD to 12 ft blast radius+ Laser does 1d6x10 MD
Laser-reflective armors take FULL damage from the x-ray component of the laser strike.
Rate of Fire: 2 shots per melee
Payload: 4-shot cassette
Special Features:
*Sensor Package---The sensor package includes an IR/Thermal sight, laser rangefinder(2 mile range) and directional mini-radar(2 mile range/100 miles in space) with audio-alarm to notify the gunner of target-lock and counter radar-beams locking onto the shooter’s position.

Bonuses:(Standard Mini-Missile) Use W.P. Heavy Mega-Damage Weapons skill
(S-Stinger)(Long Rod Explosive) +7 to strike
(X-Ray Laser) +2 to strike
Cost: 27,000 credits for the launcher
Options:
*Missile Trap---PS-made missile cassettes can be converted into missile-launching mines/booby-traps with the simple insertion of a sensor and trigger core.
Typically all four missile cells are(ideally filled) fired when the sensor is tripped. The missile-trap can also be remotely command-fired.
Standard mini-missiles get NO bonuses to strike, and S-Sting missiles must have target profiles pre-loaded, and even then they only get a +3 to strike(+1 in the case of the x-ray laser warheads) in space, NO bonuses in atmosphere, without the benefit of the launcher sighting package to feed them more substantial targeting information.
Sensor triggers vary, from simple pointblank trip wires and motion detectors(typical range 1,000-4,000 ft) to more sophisticated hookups to remote sensors. PS/ASI supposedly has a large library of preprogrammed target profiles that can loaded into the missiles from a chip, with target data on Star Wasps, Sorm cuttercraft, Naruni drone pods, and TGE Warlord power armors, to name a few.
Booby-trap kits typically cost anywhere from 60 cedits for simple point-blank triggers to more sophisticated systems with disposable sensors costing 500-4,000 credits. One particularly adept Stelmarine technical specialist even supposedly rigged up a daisy-chain of missile cassettes linked to the still-functional radar systems of a wrecked Kittani RoboFighter drifting in a wrecked Splugorth space station, the trap distracting counterattacking Minion forces long enough for the Stelmarine raiders to escape.