Paladin Steel Storefront

[abtex]

Search for Chiappa 3-Barrel Shotgun cute toy.

CUTE = Killing you targets every-way possible

[ZINO]

Search for Chiappa 3-Barrel Shotgun cute toy.

CUTE = Killing you targets every-way possible

here look http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... E6J9X8zXQ#!

[taalismn]

Search for Chiappa 3-Barrel Shotgun cute toy.

CUTE = Killing you targets every-way possible

Well, Bandito Arms is already ahead of us there with the five-barrel Big Bore "Last Stand" Scattergun.
I'm sticking with auto-fire shotguns at this point.

[taalismn]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/06/16384224-cat-caught-smuggling-contraband-into-brazil-prison?lite

Though not publicly credited, Smallkin security intercepted the cat. After finding himself surrounded by automatic weapon-armed mice, the cat wisely surrendered.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel ‘Champion Five’ R-5 Model 500 Revolver
“HawhawHAW! Heyyy guys! Getta load of da’ little pantspis-(*KLICK*)- oh my, good sir, I did NOT see that big pistol you had on you, nor did I expect the speed with which you were able to pull it out and so accurately aim it between my eyebrows. May I buy you a drink and bid you welcome to my favorite drinking establishment?”

The ‘Champion Five’ R-5 Revolver is a Repligun remake of the pre-Rifts Smith and Wesson Model 500 .50 caliber pistol, touted at one time as the ‘world’s most powerful handgun’. PS has made a few material changes, such as making the weapon from more durable megadamage alloys, applying permanent dry lubricant molecular coatings to moving parts, and addressing problems such as sealing between the cylinder and the barrel, for less propellant gas leakage.
The original Model 500 was regarded as a ‘big game’ (or as a man-stopper) pistol, chambering high caliber rounds starting at .50 caliber. Details of performance historically vary, given the weight of the weapon and the difficulty in accurately firing it, due to both recoil and gas leakage from the cylinder(the muzzle flash is also considerable for a handgun). What is made clear is that the revolver had excellent stopping power and exceptional range for a pistol(thanks in part to its long barrel--213 mm/8.3 inches). The weapon was(and still is) regarded as a ‘wrist breaker’, being hazardous for inexperienced shooters to handle. In the world of Rifts Earth, however, with bio-augmentation, superhuman and supernatural strength, exo-assist skeletons, and cybernetic implants, these problems are less of a concern. Post-Golden Age technologies have also expand the variety of munitions that the weapon can chamber, allowing for greater versatility.
Though outperformed in rate of fire by automatic weapons and in damage by energy weapons, the Champion Five still has adherents among traditional gunslingers and those looking for a really intimidating and idiot-proof weapon at low cost. The PS customization shop does a good business engraving and chrome-plating weapons of this type for customers wanting a special ‘sporting’ weapon without sacrificing functionality.

Weight: 56 oz. (82 oz. with full muzzle brake and balancing)
MDC: 15
Range: 700 ft
Damage:(SDC rd) 8d6 SDC per shot
(Exploders)1 MD per shot
(Ramjet rd) 1d4 MD per shot
(PSX-1) 1d6 MD per shot
(PSX-1Exp) Express round that does 2d4 MD, plus has the same knock-down as Bandito Arms’ ‘Big Bore’ pistol rounds.
(PSX-2) 3d4 MD per rd
Rate of Fire: Single shot, ECHH
Note: A P.S. of 15 or better is required to accurately fire the weapon; anybody of weaker strength will be -2 to strike.
Payload: 5 shot cylinder
Special Features:
*Top Rail---for mounting a sight or scope
*Rubberized Handgrips
*Shoulder Sling Kit(attachment points under the gun butt and barrel)
Cost: 2,000 credits
Options:
*Muzzle Brake---Adds weight(about 6 ounces), barrel length(1.7inches), but also reduces recoil, allowing for a +1 to strike. Cost: +400 credits

[abtex]

Paladin Steel ‘Champion Five’ R-5 Model 500 Revolver
... among traditional gunslingers and those looking for a really intimidating and idiot-proof weapon ..

Is your ad department under fire and their desks about gunslingers looking for idiot-proof weapons?

Options:
*Muzzle Brake---Adds weight (about 6 ounces), barrel length(1.7inches), but also reduces recoil, allowing for a +1 to strike. Cost: +400 credits

Yes you may need the Muzzle Brake when firing this weapon.

Rate of Fire: Single shot, ECHH

How about a homing device so I can find the damn weapon after firing it?

Maybe shoulder sling for quick draws and added ammo carrying.
from here

Smith & Wesson Model 500 with extended ejector shroud, accessory rail, and sling - .500 S&W Magnum

[abtex]

Personally, I'm planning on taking over the universe in 2012, using methods so stealthy and cunning, nobody will be able to tell when I assume total control.

I wonder how that would even happen?

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel ‘Champion Five’ R-5 Model 500 Revolver
... among traditional gunslingers and those looking for a really intimidating and idiot-proof weapon ..

Is your ad department under fire and their desks about gunslingers looking for idiot-proof weapons?

Options:
*Muzzle Brake---Adds weight (about 6 ounces), barrel length(1.7inches), but also reduces recoil, allowing for a +1 to strike. Cost: +400 credits

Yes you may need the Muzzle Brake when firing this weapon.

Rate of Fire: Single shot, ECHH

How about a homing device so I can find the damn weapon after firing it?

Maybe shoulder sling for quick draws and added ammo carrying.
from here

Smith & Wesson Model 500 with extended ejector shroud, accessory rail, and sling - .500 S&W Magnum

I also didn't mention the prices for chrome-plating, walnut wood hand grips, or other fun little accessories, but yeah, you can fix a sling to it(and now I have images in my mind of a midget or Smallkin using this thing like a rifle).

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Micro-Scale Interstellar Scoutships

“It’s been said that the Earth space programs got their start shooting mice into outer space to see how they liked it. Now it’s said that their many-times great grand kids are back, and this time they want to run the controls of the spaceships.”

“How humiliating. We were so intent on stalking those fat wallowing merchant ships, we never noticed the space junk sidling up to us and locking on. I understand we were only boarded by a half-dozen little vermin, but once they got inside our ship and inside our machinery spaces, they ripped seven kinds of hell with our systems, leaving us dead in the water for your converted merchant cruisers to pick up! A brand-spanking new destroyer fresh-stolen from the mothball yard, and we get taken down by a converted commsat and a handful of pests! I ever get off this prison rock, my next ship is going to be fully stocked with CATS!”

“What next?! Faeries in space?!”
“You know, we COULD install Technowizardry systems...let’s see....”
“!”

It would become inevitable as the Smallkin became more integrated into the organization of the GNE that they would demand a hand in most, if not all, of the various endeavors pursued by their BigFolk colleagues. The exploration and exploitation of space is no exception. Though Smallkin could easily serve aboard larger spacecraft, there came the clamor from the Smallkin for space exploration equipment scaled to their own particular needs, and not just accommodation or modification of larger spacecraft types. PS/ASI engineers quickly got to work on scaled-down starship configurations, seeking to take advantage of the Smallkins’ small size for matters of economy, agility, and stealth. Surprisingly quickly, a number of first generation designs were rolled out.
Most of these designs are based on existing unmanned probe designs, modified with aerospace fighter systems(especially propulsion). This has greatly simplified maintenance and development times, as well as kept the miniature starships affordable.
Though many BigFolk are dubious of the viability of these small craft versus disposable unmanned probes of the same size, or larger and more capable full-sized scout ships, the SmallKin adamantly maintain that there is a place in the larger overall scheme of space exploration for the small manned MicroScout vessels.
Smallkin with the ability to hibernate will often be able to stretch mission durations by going into resource-saving torpor when not actively engaged in operating the ship or attending to the mission.

Currently four classes of MicroScouts have been constructed, with a large degree of customization possible on each class.

Arabella-class Micro-Scale Interstellar Scoutship
http://hdtv.biz-news.com/mm/image/boeing-DIRECTV_main.jpg
http://www.neontommy.com/sites/default/files/uploads/9.21.10%20Space%20Based%20Space%20Surveillance%20(SBSS)%20vehicle.%20Graphic-%20Boeing%20Co..jpg

“We’re strictly ‘hands-off’ on deep interstellar missions...no landings, no touching. Seems a helluva waste to argue for our own spacecraft, then go off only to sit around doing things that a dumb robot probe could do better and cheaper, but we have to face facts; we just don’t have the facilities that larger ships have. And that includes quarantine facilities. Nobody wants to be known in the history books as the ‘plague rats’ who brought back some alien virus or rampaging alien nanotech that infects the Fleet, so we play it safe.
That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t still have our share of adventures or get into trouble.”

The Arabella-class is a small, compact, manned space vehicle meant to be operated by exceptionally small sentients(‘Smallkin’). In general configuration, the ships resemble slightly oversized versions of existing unmanned probe satellites, with central service modules topped by large radio/sensor dishes, with various sensory and system appendages protruding from the probes’ sides. Only a close examination will reveal the small airlocks and observation windows. Performance is roughly comparable to a low- to mid-grade Three Galaxies space fighter with regards to speed and agility. Also, unlike the satellites they resemble, Arabellas are stoutly constructed enough to enter and exit atmospheres, their fragile-looking solar panel wings actually strong enough to act as airfoils(although the vessels need to deploy their forcefields as streamlining ‘aeroshells’).
Arabellas can carry light armament, but these weapons are meant mainly for self-defense, rather than offensive operations. Armor and shield protection is of necessity light, and it is NOT advised to take these vessels into combat.
Type: PS/ASI-McSFR-01 Arabella
Class: Deep Space Scoutship
Crew: 2-6 Size Level 1-3 sentients
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 300
Drive Section 200
Main Sensor/Communications Array 150
Secondary Weapons/Sensory Appendages(2-4) 60 each
Solar Arrays(2-6) 80 each
Forcefield 500
Height: 23 ft
Width: 86 ft ‘wingspan’
Length: 23 ft
Weight: 6,000 lbs
Cargo: 300 lbs
Some Arabellas may be modified to carry an external cargo pod(100 MDC) carrying up to 800 lbs of additional gear, and the pod may even be fitted for independent atmospheric reentry(ceramic heat shielding takes only HALF damage from heat-based attacks), but reduce the top speed/acceleration of the scoutship by 30%. while the pod is still attached.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life, supplementary solar power
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 9.4
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.94% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 1.1 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 12 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Aerospace Fighter Systems, plus:

*Long Range Optics----Scientific-grade high resolution multi-spectral optics systems

*Modular Sensor Pallets---MicroScale scoutships can be outfitted with the sort of high-grade scientific survey instruments one could expect to find on science probes, including EM detectors, ground-mapping radar, laser spectography sensors, radiation detectors, and the like.

*Laser Communications---Directional laser communicator; range of 500,000 miles.

*Folding Wings----The outer hull appendages of the MicroScouts can be folded up to the main body, generally reducing the overall size by 3/4s, and making it easier to stow the vessels aboard larger ships, or conceal them.

Weapons Systems:
1) Weapons Pylons(1-2)----The Arabellas can mount one or two weapons on armatures protruding out from the main body. These armature/hardpoints can each be fitted with ONE of the following:
a) Mini-Missile Launcher---12 shot pod
(Option)---Alternatively, the mini-missile launcher can be modified to fire the “S-Sting” ‘Smart Mini-Missile -----The S-Sting(for ‘Space Stinger’) is an attempt to adapt the guidance systems and accuracy of the ‘Black Talon’ L-SAM to a space-based missile. The missile resembles a rather stubby cylinder with a blunt-nosed optical cluster and protruding verniers(extend after launching), owing to the fact that the vacuum of space negates the need for streamlining the weapon.
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.
Range: 4 miles in atmosphere, 32 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4 miles in atmosphere/ 400 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD to a 15 ft blast radius
Bonuses: +7 to strike
Cost: 10,000 credits per missile

b) Short Range Missiles---5 shot pod

c) Medium Range Missiles---2 per hardpoint

d) Rail Gun
Range: 5,000 ft, 15,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 5,000 ft in atmosphere, 500,000ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 3,000 rd drum
Cost: 100,000 credits

e) Pulse Laser
Range: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 12,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 400,000ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD triple pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

f) Laser Lance
Range: 6,000 ft in hi-mode in atmosphere, 18,000 ft in space
3,000 ft in lo-mode in atmosphere, 9,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 3,000/6,000 ft in atmosphere/ 60/170 miles in space)
Damage: 3d6 MD single shot in hi-mode, 6d6 MD per blast in lo-mode
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Bonus: +2 to strike

g) Ion Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere/ 400,000 ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 1d6x10 +7 MD per energy burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

h) Particle Beam Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere/ 400,000 ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per single blast
2d4x10 MD double blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

i) Plasma Cannon
Range: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 12,000 ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 400,000 ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

j) Chaff/Flare Launcher
Flare/Chaff Launcher
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: 18 per launcher

k) ECM Suite----- Standard ECM suite for confusing sensor-guided weapons; -5 to strike

m) Sand Caster---Releases ultra-fine chaff or laser-reflective aerosol that covers a 700 ft wide area, lasting 5 melee rounds, and reduces laser damage and laser targeting bonuses by 1/3. Objects(missiles, spacecraft, etc.) moving through the cloud will take 4d6 damage. Each slot dedicated to a sand caster has 6 canisters.

n)Magnetic Disperser----Generator producing a special magnetic field that reduces ion and particle beam damage by HALF. 35% chance of diverting ordinary missiles.

o) Scrambler----Jams enemy radio/wireless communications in an 80 mile radius in atmosphere, 8,000 miles in space. 45% chance of confusing and deflecting radar-guided weaponry.

Auxiliary Craft:
A single lifeboat pod or zero-gravity scooter can be attached to the outside of the hull. Typically carries 1-2 micropower armors or 1-30 NEMA-style probes.


Options:
*Appliqué Armor
Light: +80 MDC main body. Cost: 160,000 credits
Medium:+150 MDC main body. Increase mass by 20%. Cost: 280,000 credits
Heavy: +200 MDC main body. Increase mass by 30%. Cost: 360,000 credits


*Laser Reflective Armor----Marketed in some sectors as ‘advanced thermal reflective coating’, this metallic covering reduces laser damage by HALF.
----Cost:+600,000 credits

*Laser Ablative Armor---More advanced PS laser-ablative ceramic, based on alien materials. Lasers do HALF damage. VFLs can NOT adjust to compensate. As an added bonus, Arkhon triphase weapons do 1/10 less damage.
----Cost:+800,000 credits(Rarely available to outsiders)

*Thermal Resistant Heat-Refractory Tile Armor---Special heat-resistant materials designed originally for reentry vehicle shielding, now applied all over the ship. Heat and plasma-based attacks do 1/4 damage
----Cost: +1 million credits


*Stealth Armor---Radar-absorbent ‘black body’ armor that cuts down radar signature. Regular radar and lidar systems have only a 20% chance of detecting the spacecraft. Thermal shielding reduces the thermal signature by 50%.Stealth Armor CANNOT be combined with other armor types.
----Cost: +2 million credits

Veterok-class MicroScout
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/ic/sis/images/sis_05SC-01308E_spaceway_300x375.jpg

“A little larger, a little more room to scratch in, a little more armor. Same lousy chow.”

“Baby Bird to Big Mama, we found your anomaly! Have cat in pursuit! Would appreciate Big Dogs!”
----Captain Moe Leemritz, Veterok-class Scout -Peeping Tom-, after encountering an Ikarian Empire scout.

The Veterok-class resembles the earlier Arabella in many ways, but is larger, with a larger main body and broader solar wings(allowing for more power-gathering). The Veterok allows for longer-duration missions with a slighter better speed and FTL system. They can also carry more armaments and equipment.
Type: PS/ASI-McSFR-02 Veterok
Class: Deep Space Scoutship
Crew: 2-6 Size Level 1-3 sentients
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 400
Drive Section 200
Main Sensor/Communications Array 150
Secondary Weapons/Sensory Appendages(2-4) 60 each
Solar Arrays(2-4) 80 each
Forcefield 700
Height: 16.6 ft
Width: 134.2 ft ‘wingspan’
Length: 24 ft
Weight: 13,000 lbs
Cargo: 500 lbs
Some Veteroks may be modified to carry an external cargo pod(120 MDC) carrying up to 1,000 lbs of additional gear, and the pod may even be fitted for independent atmospheric reentry(ceramic heat shielding takes only HALF damage from heat-based attacks), but reduce the top speed/acceleration of the scoutship by 30%.
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life, supplementary solar power
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 10
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.0% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 1.2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 13 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Aerospace Fighter Systems, plus:

*Long Range Optics/Sensors----Scientific-grade high resolution multi-spectral optics systems. In general, the Veterok’s sensors have 20% greater range than the Arabella’s.

*Modular Sensor Pallets---MicroScale scoutships can be outfitted with the sort of high-grade scientific survey instruments one could expect to find on science probes, including EM detectors, ground-mapping radar, laser spectography sensors, radiation detectors, and the like.

*Laser Communications---Directional laser communicator; range of 500,000 miles.

*Folding Wings----The outer hull appendages of the MicroScouts can be folded up to the main body, generally reducing the overall size by 3/4s, and making it easier to stow the vessels aboard larger ships, or conceal them.

Weapons Systems:
1) Weapons Armatures(1-3)----The Veterok can mount one to three weapons on armatures protruding out from the main body, identical to the Arabellas.

Auxiliary Craft:
1-3 lifeboat pods or zero-gravity scooters can be attached to the outside of the hull. Typically carries 1-4 micropower armors or 1-50 NEMA-style probes.

Options:
Same as for the Arabella.

Hector-class MicroScout
http://space.skyrocket.de/img_sat/intelsat-4__1.jpg
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/images/commercial-civil/weathersatellites/web_images/gms_77-61642_300x375.jpg
http://www.eoportal.org/directory/images/GMS_Auto3.jpeg

“You haven’t known stress until you’ve been on a ‘tapper’ mission....that’s where we sidle up to a comsat and go aboard it to add our own electronic bugs so we can listen in on their private conversations using their own gear. Sound easy? Well, we gotta ghost in to avoid getting spotted, and some of the people we REALLY want to tap sometimes arm their sats against tampering. Some even add self-destructs. And some even like to surround their sats with shepherds--armed killsats that zeke anything coming close. I tell you; nothing gets your pulse racing faster than discovering the constellation of killsats you just infiltrated waking up all around you just as you’re about ready to leave!”

The Hector-class resembles the standardized GMS/Intelsat/Comstar of Boeing, and deviates from the earlier folding solar-array boxes and octagons in favor of a more compact cylindrical shape, topped by a folding array of sensor dishes. The Hector-class is more stoutly and rugged constructed than either the Arabella or the Veterok vehicles. The emphasis, though, is on stealth, and most Hectors are outfitted as ‘black bodies’, fitted with stealth hull materials to decrease their sensor signatures, albeit at the expense of externally-carried subsystems and armament. Many Hectors carry advanced comm-hacking systems for tapping into satellite communications grids for eavesdropping and info-war missions, with several dedicated electronic warfare personnel aboard handling the action.

Type: PS/ASI-McSFR-03 Hector
Class: Deep Space Scoutship
Crew: 2-6 Size Level 1-3 sentients
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 480
Drive Section 200
Main Sensor/Communications Array 100
Forcefield 700
Height: 11 ft in diameter
Width: 11 ft in diameter
Length: 38 ft(17 ft with main antennae stowed)
Weight: 4,500 lbs
Cargo: 300 lbs
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life, supplementary solar power
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 12
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.2% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 2 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 16 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Aerospace Fighter Systems, plus:

*Long Range Optics----Scientific-grade high resolution multi-spectral optics systems

*Modular Sensor Pallets---MicroScale scoutships can be outfitted with the sort of high-grade scientific survey instruments one could expect to find on science probes, including EM detectors, ground-mapping radar, laser spectography sensors, radiation detectors, and the like.

*Laser Communications---Directional laser communicator; range of 500,000 miles.

*Stealth Hull Armor---Regular radar and lidar systems have only a 10% chance of detecting the spacecraft. Thermal shielding reduces the thermal signature by 75%.

*ECM Suite----- Standard ECM suite for confusing sensor-guided weapons; -6 to strike. Note that this is an ACTIVE system, and its emissions will negate any form of passive stealth, letting anybody with EW sensors know that there’s active hardware.

Weapons Systems:
1) Internal Weapons Mounts(2)---The Hector can mount two weapons, similar to those available to the Arabella and Veterok ships, only housed in internal bays, shielded by the Hector’s stealth systems.

Auxiliary Craft:
The stealth nature of the ship dictates what small craft it can carry, as they must be housed internally; a single life pod/scooter, 1-6 microscale power armors, and up to 30 NEMA-style robot probes can be carried.

Belisario-class Microscout
http://space.skyrocket.de/img_sat/kh-9__1.jpg
http://space.skyrocket.de/img_sat/kh-9__2.jpg
http://www.fyjs.cn/bbs/attachments/Mon_1109/125_18615_e7aa2d8850a6b9c.jpg

“Yeah, we’re just that good that we merit our own starships.”

The Belisario-class is a larger micro-scale scout starship(the largest of the micro-starships), and resembles an ancient KH-9 Hexagon recon satellite, with a long cylindrical main hull, and retractable solar wings. The most striking thing about the design is its ability to carry four smaller micro-vehicles into action. As being what amount effectively to small starships, the Belisarios are much busier and robust mission-wise than many of the smaller ships.
Belisarios are typically used for recon missions and as motherships for inserting Smallkin special ops teams planetside or to enemy spacecraft/spacestations. The ships have sometimes been paired with a BigFolk aerospace fighter or CANOU(Smallkin or BigFolk-piloted) spacecraft for additional mission support, the two spacecraft typically harddocked for easy exchange of materials and direct communications.

Type: PS/ASI-McSFR-04 Belisario
Class: Deep Space Scoutship
Crew: 2-6 Size Level 1-3 sentients, plus 4-16 passengers(pod crew)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 540
Drive Section 150
Main Sensor/Communications Array 200
Weapons Turrets(2) 90 each
Solar Arrays(2) 100 each
Forcefield 800
Height: 10 ft main body diameter
Width: 10 ft main body diameter, solar arrays span out 40 ft to either side(total width 90 ft)
Length: 60 ft
Weight: 30,000 lbs
Cargo: 2,000 lbs
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life, supplementary solar power
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 15
(Kitsune Values: 40% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.5% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 5 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not Possible
Market Cost: 22 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Aerospace Fighter Systems, plus:

*Long Range Optics----Scientific-grade high resolution multi-spectral optics systems

*Modular Sensor Pallets---MicroScale scoutships can be outfitted with the sort of high-grade scientific survey instruments one could expect to find on science probes, including EM detectors, ground-mapping radar, laser spectography sensors, radiation detectors, and the like.

*Laser Communications---Directional laser communicator; range of 500,000 miles.

*Folding Wings----The outer hull appendages of the MicroScouts can be folded up to the main body, generally reducing the overall size by 3/4s, and making it easier to stow the vessels aboard larger ships, or conceal them.

*Stealth Hull Armor---Regular radar and lidar systems have only a 10% chance of detecting the spacecraft. Thermal shielding reduces the thermal signature by 75%.

*ECM Suite----- Standard ECM suite for confusing sensor-guided weapons; -6 to strike. Note that this is an ACTIVE system, and its emissions will negate any form of passive stealth, letting anybody with EW sensors know that there’s active hardware.

Weapons Systems:
1) Weapons Armatures(1-4)----The Belisario can mount one to four weapons, identical to the Arabellas.

2)(Optional) Orbital Deploy Warheads---In place of the mini-pods(see below), the Belisario can carry up to four long range missiles configured as reentry vehicles. Strategic nuclear warhead RVs are also also available, but rarely ever fitted/carried.

Auxiliary Craft:
4 Mini-Pods----These vehicles are developments of the McSOHV-04 ‘Blackball’, enlarged and modified with thicker reentry armor and an antigravity propulsion system. In the alternative, they can be replaced with unmanned probe units, sensor buoys, or missile-weapons.


PS-McSOHV-06 ‘Asterite’
Type: PS-McSOHV-06 ‘Asterite’
Class: Micro-Scale Special Operations Aerospace- Hovercraft
Crew: One Size Level 1-2 sentient, plus 1-6 Size Level 1-2 passengers
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 120
Height: 36 inches
Width: 36 inches
Length: 36 inches
Weight: 360 lbs
Cargo: If not carrying passengers, can carry up to 100 lbs of gear packed inside
Powerplant: Micro-nuclear w/ 5 year energy life
Speed: (Flying) Hover to 500 MPH, maximum altitude of 800 ft, but can safely descend from high orbit.
(Space) Mach 2
(Water) The McSOHV-06 can float, launch from the water, can thrust through the water at 7 MPH, and survive depths of 500 ft.
Bonus: +3 to Dodge, +2 to Roll with punch, fall, or impact.
Market Cost: 1.6 million credits
Systems of Note:
*Standard Power Armor Systems, plus:
*Radar Detector---Alerts to the presence of active radar
*Laser Designator---’Paints’ targets for laser-guided weaponry. Range: 3 miles.
*Stealth Design---Enemy sensors are -20% to spot the hovercraft, especially if the pilot is using careful evasive maneuvering.
Weapons Systems:
1) Mini-Lasers(3)---Arranged around the front end of the spheroid are three apertures for mini-lasers. These are typically used to help excavate a hiding place for the vehicle on a mission, clear obstacles, or as a last-ditch defense.
Range: 3,000 ft in atmosphere, ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 4,000 ft in atmosphere, 400,000 ft/80 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6 MD per shot, 6d6 MD for all three lasers firing simultaneously.
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) 30mm MicroMissile Launcher---A compact projectile weapons system, usable in both atmosphere and space, although it is primarily used against missiles and aircraft.
Range: 11,000 ft, ft in space
(Kitsune Values: 11,000 ft in atmosphere, 1,100,000 ft/200 miles in space)
Damage: (Pattern-3a) 4d6 MD single rd to 5 ft blast radius
(Pattern-3b) 1d4x10 MD to a 5 ft blast radius, or 3d6 MDC out to a 20 ft blast radius in fragmentation mode
(Pattern-3c)(Incendiary)2d6 MD to 5 ft blast radius, does an additional 1d4 burn damage for 2d4 melees
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-6
Bonuses:(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.
Payload: 24 rds

[ZINO]

Paladin Steel/Aegis Stellar Industries Micro-Scale Interstellar my hat off to you man you rock in writing ,stye and imagination man you rock

[taalismn]

ARID ROSE Augmentation Package:
(PU2 budget of 2.32 million credits per operative)

“The desert has a stark beauty all its own, and it doesn’t flaunt it casually. Those who venture out into it must prepare to respect it before they can fully appreciate it. The desert kills those who would gawk ignorantly at its beauty.”

“Even with all the resources the Company is putting into making sure the workers out here are comfortable...fusion powerplant, water condensers, air conditioning, biodome, the logistic chain’s long and vulnerable. Given the three suns this place has, and the value of the minerals we’re digging up, I can see why the Company was offering bio-mods as part of the work contracts. Even with all the preparedness put in, a breakdown in the fragile tech infrastructure we got out here could prove fatal. The bio-mods are just good insurance that we can all survive until somebody can get back to us.”

People will explore, exploit and colonize even marginally habitable environments, and Paladin Steel is eager to accommodate that tendency. The ARID ROSE bio-mod is designed to facilitate long term survival in hot, arid environments, be they in the deserts and wastelands of Rifts Earth, on other planets, or in other dimensions.
ARID ROSE uses some of the bod-mod techniques perfected in the more generalized LATE OMEGA mod, but focuses more on dry climate survival. Externally, the recipient’s skin becomes darker and tougher, with a look of leather(the soles of the feet, in particular, may develop thick pads for walking safely on hot rock and sand). When at rest, the person’s facial features, particularly the mouth and eyes, take on a tight-lipped, pinched look, exposing less softer tissue to evaporative heat. The eyes become darker, and a special eyelid can drop closed to act as protection against sand and sun alike. Internally, the nose, throat, and lungs have been modified to safely breath hot dry air and filter out fine airborne grit. The digestive system has been further modified to sustain the recipient during isolation with limited food and water, and the gut and kidneys are optimized for retaining and recycling water. Perhaps the most contreversial aspect of the biomod is to the nervous system; the person’s intelligence is tweaked upward in order to better learn and retain necessary survival skills. This bio-mod comes with an accompanying survival skill training regimen meant to allow the recipient to get the most out of the capabilities.
Thos looking for advanced combat abilities and amped performance will find ARID ROSE sadly lacking. Those looking to survive in desert conditions, however, will find that the ARID ROSE bio-mod just what they’re looking for. Though expensive for jaunts in the desert, the bio-mod is cheap if one is looking to settle in such conditions, and PS gives itself a healthy discount outfitting its long-term desert workers and sponsored settlers with this package.

Powers/Abilities:
-Armored Eyes---Provides protection against sand and other airborne irritants. (100,000)
-Polarized Vision---Built-in glare protection; also protects against UV. (20,000)
-Lungs: Filtration---The recipient can now breath tainted air, while fibers in the sinuses and tissues in the airway filter out fine grit; +5 save versus gases(200,000)
-Enhanced Kidneys---+2 save versus poisons, +1 save versus drugs and other toxins. Damage and penalties from toxins are HALVED, and duration is only 50% of normal.(250,000)
-Pre-Stomach---Can digest grass and other nutrient-poor foodstuffs. It can also be used to hold water(extend time the character can go without water by 1d4 days, if they’ve had time to tank up before). (300,000)
-Cold Resistance--- It can get cold in the desert, so the same modified vascular system that provides protection from heat can also protect from extreme cold. Takes HALF damage from cold-based attacks, and temperatures as low as freezing have no adverse effects.(120,000)
-Heat Resistance---Takes HALF damage from heat-based attacks, can tolerate temperatures as high as 130 degrees without adverse effect, and hold objects as hot as 200 degrees F without problem. (150,000)
-Armor Rating Increase(A.R. 12)(500,000)
-SDC Augmentation---+240 SDC(240,000)
-Increased Physical Endurance---+1 P.E. (200,000)
-Energy Reserve:(Fatty Bladder)---An extra energy-storage organ that stores water and nutrients, allowing the person to last one day per P.E. point without food or water. (120,000)
-Water Retention---The kidneys, gut, and vascular system have been modified to conserve water as much as possible, and the lungs and sinuses trap humidity from both inhaled and exhaled air. As a result, the person’s breath tends to be dry, sweat thicker and saltier, and excrement hard and dry. The person can go, even without factoring in their Fatty Bladder reserves, without water for one day per P.E. point. (300,000)
-Gland: Melatonin---Not as advanced as the PU2 gland, but still impressive: the recipient tans easily, adapting to local UV and harsh sunlight quickly. Never suffers from sunburn or skin cancers.(150,000)
-Heightened Sense of Smell---The same fibers that filter out grit from inhaled air also conceal an enhanced sense of smell. In particular, the ARID ROSE version has been tweaked to allow the person to better sense humidity and smells associated with water(+5% to Dowsing skill). 100 ft range, Recognize specific odors: 70%+4% per level of experience, recognize poisons/chemicals by smell: 50%+4% per level of experience, recognize specific person: 50%+3% per level of experience, track by scent: 40%+3% per level of experience every 200 yards. In circumstances where smell can come into play: +1 dodge, +1 initiative. (70,000)
-Brain Enhancement---+1 IQ, +1 initiative, +2% all skills. +1 save versus Horror Factor and Possession, +4 additional Secondary Skills(But one of them MUST be Wilderness Survival: Desert and the other Dowsing---if either of these skills is already possessed by the recipient, they can a +5% bonus, on top of the Brain Enhancement bonus)(600,000)


Total bonuses:
+1 IQ
+1 P.E.
Armor Rating 12
+240 SDC
+1 initiative
+1 save versus Horror Factor and Possession
+5 save versus gases
+2 save versus poisons
+1 save versus drugs and other toxins
Damage and penalties from toxins are HALVED, and duration is only 50% of normal.
+2% all skills
+4 additional Secondary Skills(But one of them MUST be Wilderness Survival: Desert and the other Dowsing ---if either of these skills is already possessed by the recipient, they can a +5% bonus, on top of the Brain Enhancement bonus. The others may be selected from Wilderness Survival---or any other allowed category if the person already possessed the two ‘mandatory’ skills.)
Can go without water for twice as many days as the recipient has P.E. points, +1d4 days(under optimal conditions; i.e., the person has fully fed and watered-up beforehand).

Options:
-Modified Appendix---Another biomod meant to improve the recipient’s resistance to toxins. Many ARID ROSE recipients also take this owing to the fact that many desert biomes sport a variety of venomous native lifeforms. +5 to save vs poison, damage and penalties are halved, and duration is only 25% of normal. (400,000)

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel VEBA-AUG-10 ‘Bounder’ Environmental Body Armor
(aka ‘Pogo Suits’, ‘Tumbler Suits’, ‘BouncyBodarmor’, ‘Boinger’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img321.jpg

“This armor’s for people too dumb to figure the particulars of jumpjet-equipped power armor, too stupid to be trusted with jetpacks, and too clumsy to walk down their own street without tripping over their own feet! Ask an engineer to explain the physics and they’ll just wave their hands ‘whatever’! Don’t try to figure it out; just wear it and get the job done! That’s what makes this stuff perfect for that percentage of grunts who can’t figure out how to wire a circuit or handle a computer but still know which end of a gun to point away from themselves and how to handle a club! People like you!”
----Drill Sergeant Morgo Yurtz, Greater New England Regular Army.

“Gods. The first time you go running in this stuff you’re going to tumble and trip and fall all over yourself, because you don’t bloody appreciate how freakin’ FAR up and across your leaps can take you. It’s very easy to lose your cool, lose your control, and freak out after you’ve catapulted yourself distances evolution hasn’t prepared you for. Especially since the hang-time on a jump lets you appreciate for a few seconds of stark raving terror just how far up you really are and how helpless you are to change course before you come back down. In a built-up urban environment that means you can expect to bounce off a few buildings, go through a window or two, and take a tumble into the street. In the country, especially rough country, that means hanging up in trees, bodyslamming into hills, maybe overshooting and finding yourself coming down the other side of a LOT higher cliff that you didn’t see when you started out. Pogo armor orientation sees a LOT of bruises, broken ankles, sprained wrists, dislocated arms, and vomiting in the helmet, and more than a few recruits and even hardened vets being carried off the field with BAD cases of vertigo. A lot of them subsequently transfer out to something more down to earth and grounded, like vehicular armor jocks. Those that stay, though, learn how to check themselves and pull their jumps, sort of like how the astro-walkers learn how to walk under microgravity. That way they don’t go ballistic on a short hop.”

“Ever been assaulted by a company of infantry in tumbler armor? It’s like being on the downslope of a basketball spill; dozens of bouncing projectiles coming down at you, only these basketballs have intent to kill.”

‘Bounder Armor’ is a new line of body armors utilizing advanced kinetic dispersal technology(part of PS’s ongoing efforts to duplicate, and ideally better, Naruni Enterprises’ Thermo-Kinetic armor technology) and new applications of the same technology as goes into PS Bionic Jump Rods.
Bounder Armor looks like heavily over-padded Urban Warrior EBA in many respects. Heavy shoulder and back padding protects the head and upper torso from impacts, while pads on the knees and elbows provides similar kinetic protection to the joints. Special systems of force-absorbant padding, fluid-filled tubes, and jointed articulation help soak up the shock of landing, as well as from physical contact strikes such as punches, kicks, and projectiles.
Though on the expensive side, Bounder Body Armor offers a degree of protection and mobility that rivals many light power armors, at less cost. The GNEAS and its affiliated Irregular forces have acquired large numbers of these suits to supplement their regular EBAs with a ‘high mobility’ armor.
(Small---Size Levels 1-4) 1ft -3 ft
(Medium---Size Levels 5-) 4ft -7 ft
(Large---Size Levels -) 8ft -12 ft
Weight:
(Small) 10 lbs
(Medium) 25 lbs
(Large) 45 lbs
MDC:
(Small)
Helmet 18
Main Body 35
Arms 16 each
Legs 25 each
(Medium)
Helmet 50
Main Body 70
Arms 45 each
Legs 50 each
(Large)
Helmet 100
Main Body 120
Arms 55 each
Legs 70 each
Mobility: Fair; -15% to movement, as the padding gets in the way of such actions as climbing, prowl, and gymnastics.
Special Features:
*Full EBA Features
*Kinetic Protection---Kinetic strikes from explosions, falls. projectile weapons, kicks, punches, and melee strikes do HALF damage. Fumbling the landing on a jump incurs NO damage with this armor(although if you jump in front of an oncoming truck or dragon and get struck, you still take damage).
*Jump Assist---Allows leaps of P.S. x25 ft across, half that vertically. Allows for jumps down of TWICE horizontal distance.
Cost:
(Small) 240,000 credits
(Medium) 260,000 credits
(Large) 390,000 credits

[ZINO]

Paladin Steel VEBA-AUG-10 ‘Bounder’ Environmental Body Armor
(aka ‘Pogo Suits’, ‘Tumbler Suits’, ‘BouncyBodarmor’, ‘Boinger’)
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img321.jpg

“This armor’s for people too dumb to figure the particulars of jumpjet-equipped power armor, too stupid to be trusted with jetpacks, and too clumsy to walk down their own street without tripping over their own feet! Ask an engineer to explain the physics and they’ll just wave their hands ‘whatever’! Don’t try to figure it out; just wear it and get the job done! That’s what makes this stuff perfect for that percentage of grunts who can’t figure out how to wire a circuit or handle a computer but still know which end of a gun to point away from themselves and how to handle a club! People like you!”
----Drill Sergeant Morgo Yurtz, Greater New England Regular Army.

again you come out with something awesome taalismn and I fell of the chair

taalismn (although if you jump in front of an oncoming truck or dragon and get struck, you still take damage).

really funny man!!!

[89er]

Is Paladin Steel interested in donating any equipment for the school? It would keep the students occupied while the crews clean up after the latest debate meeting.

[Arnie100]

‘Boinger’)

Sounds so wrong...

[taalismn]

Is Paladin Steel interested in donating any equipment for the school? It would keep the students occupied while the crews clean up after the latest debate meeting.

We at Paladin Steel are always pleased to contribute to the brand name corruption furtherance of education and the augmentation improvement of young people.

[taalismn]

‘Boinger’)

Sounds so wrong...

It's only funny until you have a commando(or several dozen) land on top of you with intent to maim.

[taalismn]

GAMILON-Ground Armored Mobile Interception Laser Ordnance Network

HLAA-101 Heavy Laser Carrier

“We’re Strategic Defense, charged with protecting the homeland, the cities, the factories, the heart and core of country. You can have all the little brush wars and border spats you want, but when we’re activated, it means the $#!+ just hit the fan and the proverbial balloon just went up. We might be derided for being ‘armchair soldiers’ who sit far behind the front lines and do nothing but run exercises and drills, but when the cash becomes real we know we can’t afford to screw up because there are no second chances in our field of operations, no retreating or repositioning to regroup, no leeway and buffer zone. No time to evacuate the civilians, no room to maneuver or dig in, no change to re-equip. We have to be at the top of our game and our equipment has to work flawlessly because WE ARE IT. ”

“Even with the improved capacitors on these things, the recharge time between shots can seem helllishly slow...especially when you know there’s a dozen warheads with a city-killer nuke coming in at you and your territory....being part of a Strategic Defense battery takes nerves of steel sometimes.”

The HLAA-101 is an adaptation of the PS ‘Drom’ Heavy Hover Carrier into a strategic heavy laser air defense artillery platform. It is intended as an important component of the GAMILON(Ground Armored Mobile Interception Laser Ordnance Network), the mobile aspect of the PS/GNE Strategic Defense Network protecting its territory from such things as IRBM and ICBM attack. However, the laser can also be used to attack high-flying aircraft, cruise missiles, and other aerospace vehicles. The mobility of the ground units prevents them from being easily targeted in strategic strike attacks, blunting surprise attacks and allowing the air defense umbrella to be maintained even with the loss of static defense facilities.
The basic ‘Drom’ has been modified to carry the workings of the Skymaster IIIHLC Heavy Airborne Laser Carrier, only fitted to a ground platform. The more stable ground mobile platform allows for the carriage of heavier and more powerful laser systems to compensate for the thicker atmosphere the laser has to burn through to its target. A faster rate of fire is also possible with the heavier systems, allowing the laser to engage multiple targets more rapidly.
The HLAA-101 is not intended to operate solo; it is typically deployed as part of a battery, with support vehicles, including back-up target sensing and acquisition fire-control vehicles, security, and crew support. As part of the larger GAMILON system, an HLAA will operate in cooperation with other laser carriers and mobile missile batteries covering each other.
The HLAA-100 prototypes saw their first combat deployment during the ‘Scud Wars’ with the Coalition States, when the CS began lobbing LRMs and IRBMs into GNE territory. The lessons learned from those brush war incidents helped define and refine the HLAA-101. Besides being deployed in GNE territory, the platforms are also seen offworld at major extraterrestrial/extradimensional colonies and GME-allied city-states.

Type: PS-HLAA-101GEV-SAD/GAMILON
Class: Heavy Duty Heavy Lift Ground Effect Artillery Platform, Strategic Air Defense
Crew: 18
Typically carries a security complement of 10-20 troops(power armor and/or cyborgs to assist with engineering)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 900
Reinforced Crew Compartment/Bridge 200
Main Turret 500
Point Defense Turrets(4) 100 each
Medium Range Missile Launcher(1) 100
Hoverjet Pads(6) 200 each
Maneuvering Jets(12) 100 each
Height: 20 ft
Width: 40 ft
Length: 70 ft
Weight: 480 tons
Cargo: Can carry up to 50 tons in the internal spaces
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 20 year energy life
Speed: (Ground)40 MPH maximum(Cruising speed is 25 MPH) 1-5 ft off the ground.
(Water) Can cross rivers and relatively calm bodies of water at about 15 MPH, but is not recommended for sea duty.
Market Cost: 46 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot Systems, plus:

*Long Range Sensors---Long range acquisition and tracking radar with a 200 mile range, laser range finding, thermal, and optical telescopes with a 100 mile effective range. These systems give the mega-laser a +6 to strike at ranges under 5 miles, +4 at ranges out to 80 miles.

*Hardened Systems----Like most of PS’s systems and vehicles, the HLC’s systems are hardened against ElectroMagnetic Pulse(EMP) and other side effects, including hard radiation, associated with nuclear attacks.

Weapons Systems:

1) Mega-Laser(1)---Though some rifles and infantry heavy weapons did more damage, few mobile weapons systems on Earth have the range of the HLC’s laser. This weapon is designed to start burning through a missile’s or aircraft’s shielding well out beyond the range of standard laser systems. Even so, the range is piddling compared to what some pre-Rifts Golden Age systems were supposedly capable of; hitting ICBMs and IRBMs in their terminal boost phase from hundreds of miles away....
Range: 80 miles
Damage: 3d6x10 MD at ranges under 5 miles, 2d4x10 MD out to 20 miles, 6d6 MD out to 40 miles, and 4d6 MD out to 80 miles.
Rate of Fire: Three times per melee
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Point Defense Weapons Turrets(4)---These are smaller, standard, PDS turrets meant to give the vehicle a backup system for self-defense. The standard system is an adapted naval rapid-fire gun system, though a laser system is also available:
a) Rapid Fire Gatling Gun
Range: 6,000 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per 60 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH, or 6 attacks per melee in automated fire mode.
Payload: 12,000 rds per gun(200 bursts each)
Radar Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike

b) RFL-42 Slayer Quad-Laser Cannon
Range: 6,000 ft(60,000 ft in space)
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 2d4x10 MD short burst (four shots, one from each barrel), 4d4x10 MD medium burst (eight shots, two from each barrel in sequence), 4d6x10 MD long burst (takes two attacks), or 6d6x10 MD full melee burst (takes three attacks).
Rate of Fire: EPCHH, or 6 attacks per melee in automated fire mode.
Payload: Effectively unlimited
Radar Targeting Bonus: +3 to strike

3) Medium Range Missile Launcher(1)---An MRM launcher has been added to give additional firepower, especially against enemy aircraft. It is also occasionally used to fire target missiles for live fire interception exercises.
Range: Varies by Missile Type (Medium Range)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type(Medium Range)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-12
Payload: 24 MRMs ready to go

This launcher can also be used to fire Shrike III ‘Brilliant’ anti-aircraft missiles.
Range: 75 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,4, 8, or 12
Payload: 24 missiles ready to fire
Bonus: +7 to strike

Variants:
*PS-HLAA-102GEV---Rumored to be under development by Aegis Stellar Industries in the Three Galaxies, the HLAA-102 is simply the same chassis mounting a capital starship laser or particle beam weapon for greater range and damage, allowing the platforms to engage starships in low orbit and re-entering assault vehicles.

[89er]

That works great for city defense or taking out that mothership under the influence.

[taalismn]

That works great for city defense or taking out that mothership under the influence.

Yeah, when we started moving out into the Megaverse, without that debris field/interdimensional flux roofing Rifts Earth, we realized that strategic defense was a priority for both our colonies and our clients. As ICBMs, nuke bombers, and giant alien ships hanging ominously overhead pose a major problem for many communities, working out suitable defense measures seemed a good idea.

[89er]

Inspired by Halo's Infinity, could it be possible for the alliance to create a planetary blockade ship? An entire military base, in space, that keeps anything from getting off the planet.

[taalismn]

Inspired by Halo's Infinity, could it be possible for the alliance to create a planetary blockade ship? An entire military base, in space, that keeps anything from getting off the planet.

We're not yet at that point of building really BIG dreadnoughts or battleships that could take on Three Galaxies' equivalents.
The best(current) option would be to park several Asteroid Cruisers around a planet to act as a combination orbital quarantine commands, weapons batteries, and onsite factories for killsats , x-ray laser bombsats, and BattleRings, as well as dozens of smaller modular spacestations re-tasked as weapons platforms. Use some asteroid miner rigs to start pushing comets and asteroids in closer for use as Hammers From God if it came to that.
So yeah, using existing off-the-shelf components, we could probably do it.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel HT-Series Heavy Trucks
(aka ‘Schwer-Schlepper’)

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/part-005_zps46b155c4.jpeg

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/miningtruck2_zps20ee2bc1.jpg

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/ETF-truck_zps431e4338.jpg

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/etf410aweb_zps5cc83ce6.jpg

“Outta my way, roadkill! I got deliveries to make!”

“Once we secure the area, I want the heavies moving relief supplies in soonest! That includes our support structure supplies! Can’t do our work proper without the proper tools. And tell the convoy guards to be on the look-out! We may have dealt with the main attack, but there might be stragglers or, gods forbid, a second strike force out there looking to hit the responders! We don’t want them hitting any vital supplies or the consequences could be DIRE! I mean, if they hit the coffee wagon, I’m not going to be able to control my people and there ain’t going to be any prisoners taken!”

Paladin Steel coming out with a new series of heavy modular utility vehicles is nothing new. Paladin Steel coming out with a new series of vehicles based on pre-Rifts designs isn’t anything new either. Paladin Steel coming out with a new truck series that has Triax claiming industral espionage? That’s new. That’s exactly what Triax is declaring about the new HT-series from PS; the German techno-giant is claiming that the new line of modular utility haulers is based on designs that are Triax’s copyrighted property.
Paladin Steel isn’t denying that the HT-series is based on the designs of ETF, a mining and hauling truck manufacturing firm that existed in Germany during the Golden Age, but PS claims that they came about the data legally, from unearthed records and examples found in North America. Triax officials have publicly disparaged this claim, wondering aloud why the United States, already swimming in trade protectionism of their own companies during the Golden Age, would import German vehicles at a time when American and German firms(including a newly-formed Triax, which had absorbed ETF, among other acquisitions....or so they claim) were gearing up as market rivals. Triax has instead implied that PS industrial spies hacked the designs from Triax industrial databases. Paladin Steel has pointed out that the HT-series may have its roots in the ETF design, but it has seen sufficient changes in a manner akin to Triax’s own Glitterboy variant(implying that Triax isn’t paying royalties to the original producers of the Chromium Guardsman*). The to-and-fro’ing over the origins of the HT-series has proven amusing to observers, but all in all is little more than yet another trivial spat between the two national-industrial rivals, which hasn’t impacted the production or sales of the vehicles in question one whit.
The HT is a large modular-frame wheeled truck, with a long chassis-bed, forward ‘glass cabin’ with maximum visibility, and the powerplant mounted directly behind the cab. A central ‘monorail’ chassis can be fitted with as many as four to seven axel units, each tire group on a side consisting of two large all-terrain tires mounted on an aircraft landing gear-style pivot unit. A central pressure unit can alter the tire pressure, optimizing traction(and fuel/power efficiency) for hard or soft roadbed conditions, as well as making for a smoother ride. A modular ‘powerpack’ system allows for the quick mounting and replacement of engines, allowing engineers to quickly modify the power configuration, and even add more engines if the need arises for more power.
The HTs do differ from the original ETF designs on several points. More durable materials and a range of more compact, more powerful, and more energy efficient powerplants are all part of the HT-series. PS offers the HT with a range of liquid fuel, electric, nuclear, and even technowizardry powerplants. What was on the original ETF rigs a large engine-cooling system mounted over the cab, is on the PS vehicles actually a large armored blast shield that can be dropped down over the armor-glassed crew cab for additional protection. The resemblance between this and the armored visor on the GNEAS’s PS-manufactored EBA has led to the HTs being nicknamed ‘visor trucks’.
Four basic models of the HT-series exist, all numbered conveniently by their cargo capacity. All four basic models share common components; wheels, suspension units, cab, equipment housings, basic frame members, and ‘plug-in’ power units that allow for a corresponding increase in power-to-weight simply by adding additional powerplants. And of course, Paladin Steel offers up a long list of options and accessories, many of them familiar to long-time PS customers as proven technology.
Though not designed for combat, the HTs are armored for the rigors of work and travel on Rifts Earth and in alien environments. Provision has been made for defensive armament to mounted, and inevitably the chassis has been used as the basis of mobile rocket and missile launcher platforms. The GNE Armed Services uses an increasing number of these vehicles as prime movers and mobility platforms for various command/control/sensor and missile/artillery systems.
Since their (re)introduction, the HT-series has been selling like hotcakes, both locally and abroad(including other dimensions), much to Triax’s ire, especially since sales of the HT-series are undercutting WR-5050 Super Hauler sales in some areas.

(*And Freedom Station’s KLS Corporation, arguably the direct-line inheritors of the KLS mantle and original Chromium Guardsman patents, if they were still respected, would be in line to collect on licensing royalties and copyright infringement penalties if they bothered paying any attention to the wranglings of terrestrial corporations)

Type: PS-HT-170/240/320/400
Class: Heavy Multipurpose Industrial Truck
Crew: One, but the cabin can hold up to four people comfortably.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body(HT-170) 300
(HT-240) 350
(HT-320) 380
(HT-400) 400
Cabin 100
Blast Shield 150
Wheels(HT-170)(8; 2x4) Each wheel unit has 80 MDC
(HT-240)(10; 2x5) Each wheel unit has 80 MDC
(HT-320)(12; 2x6) Each wheel unit has 80 MDC
(HT-400)(14; 2x7) Each wheel unit has 80 MDC
Height: (all)21 ft
Width: 18 ft
Length:(HT-170)69 ft
(HT-240) 72 ft
(HT-320) 81 ft
(HT-400) 90 ft
Weight:(HT-170) 50 tons
(HT-240) 68 tons
(HT-320) 75 tons
(HT-400) 96 tons
Cargo:(HT-170) 170 tons( 155 metric tons)
(HT-240) 240 tons( 218 metric tons)
(HT-320) 320 tons( 290 metric tons)
(HT-400) 400 tons( 363 metric tons)

Powerplant: Liquid Fuel:
(HT-170)(1 unit) 450 mile range
(HT-240)(2 units) 450 mile range
(HT-320)(3 units) 400 mile range
(HT-400)(4 units) 380 mile range
Electric Fuel Cell:
(HT-170)(1 unit) 500 mile range
(HT-240)(2 units) 500 mile range
(HT-320)(3 units) 450 mile range
(HT-400)(4 units) 420 mile range
Nuclear(1-20 year energy life), or TechnoWizardry(1-10 year energy life)
Speed: 45 MPH
Can ford water as deep as 10 ft
Turning Radius:(HT-170) 25.1 meters
(HT-240) 29 meters
(HT-320) 31.2 meters
(HT-400) 34.3 meters
Market Cost:
(HT-170) 6 million credits for basic vehicle
+500,000 credits for liquid fuel
+800,000 credits for electric
(HT-240) 6.3 million credits for basic vehicle
+1 million credits for liquid fuel
+1.2 million credits for electric
(HT-320) 7 million credits for basic vehicle
+2 million credits for liquid fuel
+2.8 million credits for electric
(HT-400) 8 million credits for basic vehicle
+4 million credits for liquid fuel
+4.4 million credits for electric

Nuclear powerplants cost the same regardless of the size of the truck:
800,000 credits for 1 year power life
1.8 million credits for 2 year power life
4 million credits for 5 year power life
7 million credits for 10 year power life
13 million credits for 20 year power life

TechnoWizardry powerplants cost the same regardless of the size of the truck:
1 million credits for 1 year power life
2.5 million credits for 2 year power life
3.7 million credits for 5 year power life
6.6 million credits for 10 year power life

Systems of Note:
Standard Truck Systems, plus:
*Air Conditioning/Air Filtration(70% effectiveness at filtering out airborne toxins)

*Internal Fire Extinguisher System

*Land-Train Linkage---Up to four HT-series trucks can be physically linked into a larger land-train commanded by the cabin in the front truck. Each attached truck imposes a cumulative -5% penalty to overall speed and a -5% to the Pilot: Truck skill with regards to maneuvers.
(http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/road-train-payload-34879-2774989_zpse6c8e0c9.jpg )

Weapons Systems: None standard, but provision is made for a pintle- or powered-turret weapon mount atop the cab. Other weapons can be mounted on the cab sideboards, though these positions are likely to be covered up when the blast shield is lowered. See also Options.


Options:
*Standardized Cargo Bed Modules:
-Dump Bucket--Fairly standard around mining and construction sites. Features tilting and rotating bed so that contents can be discharged over the back or the side.

-Liquids Tanker---can hold up to 25,000(30,000 for the HT-400) gallons of liquid

-Vehicle Carrier---Can carry up to 20 regular-sized vehicles( civilian automobiles, up to SUV size, or jeeps/light trucks)

-Tilting Flatbed---The entire rear portion of the HT is fitted with a tilting platform or dumper for carrying vehicles, giant robots, or ore/debris. Cost: 160,000 credits for the basic dumper/platform. More extensive ‘beds, such as service gantries for robots and missiles can cost 2-5x as much, depending on how they’re outfitted.

-Barracks Module---This replaces any dumper module with a passenger module w/ 300 MDC, and accommodations for up to 55 passengers. The roof can be used for a landing pad, or for another 25-30 passengers to ride along on top(protected only by siderails and a tarpuline sunshade roof). Cost: 240,000 credits.


*Laser Headlights----For those times you just HAVE to drive through zombie territory.
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD per burst, 8d6 MD for a double headlight blast
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 200 shot battery conventionally powered models(Recharges 5 shots per hour). Effectively Unlimited w/ Nuclear Powerplant
Cost: 45,000 credits

*Sensor Cluster--Small sensor dish on a turntable, available as a backup sensor system.
MDC: 25
Sensors: Mini-Radar--5 mile range
Motion Detector--200 ft range
Laser Illuminator-----6,000 ft range, Designates targets for laser-guided munnitions/weapons
Laser targeting System(+1 to strike)
Cost: 12,000 credits


*Deep Water Fording Kit---This kit adds watersealing to parts of the hull, and an extendable escape tower (10 ft tall) and snorkel to the main top hatch, allowing the truck to cross bodies of water up to 30 ft deep(reduce speed to 4 MH driving on the river bottom). The kit takes a competent mechanic or tank crew about 30 minutes to fit. Cost: 50,000 credits.

*Engine Upgrade----A more powerful engine and more efficient power train can be added, improving overall speed, but at greater expense;
Speed: Can improve top speed by up to 50%
Cost: 7,000 credits per 10% of improvement over base.

*Range Boost---Adds additional fuel tanks(for liquid fueled models) or battery packs/fuel cells(for electric models). Each unit of Range Boost bought increases base range by x2. Up to four Boosts can be added without cutting into cargo capacity. Beyond that, each additional unit takes up 2 tons of cargo space.
Cost: 9,000 credits per unit for liquid fuel
24,000 credits per unit for electric

*Solar Collector---A means of recharging in the field for electrically-powered vehicles, this option mounts a high efficiency folding solar panel array atop itself.
mostly unobstructed sunlight gives the batteries an 8-hour charge; cloudy and overcast days cut available power to three hours.
Cost: 125,000 credits


*Mini-Radar----8 mile range
Cost: 2,000 credits

*Radar Detector----A dashboard ‘fuzzbuster’ for detecting other folk’s radar sensors.
Cost: 200 credits

*Motion Detector----In addition to alerting the driver of approaching objects, it can also tell them from what direction a projectile attack came from. 80 ft range.
Cost: 800 credits

*Stabilization Jacks---Tired of being knocked over by concussion blasts, or being rolled over by mobs of zombies before your flamethrowers can get to work? This interesting little system uses Glitterboy-style pylon technology to las and hydraulically drive four stabilizer jacks up to 5 ft into the ground, even through concrete and metal gratings, within 5 seconds, affixing you like a barnacle, and able to stay upright in even hurricane-force winds. System can disengage in 2 seconds, for that speedy getaway.
Cost: 9,000 credits

* Smoke Mortars---Mountable gas grenade launchers for providing covering smoke. 1-4 clusters are typically mounted.
Range: 500 ft
Damage: None, smoke(chemical agents such as tear gas can be substituted) in 10 ft radius.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2,3, 4, or 6
Payload: 6 smoke grenades per launcher, 12 total
Cost: 3,500 credits for the launchers

*Chaff/Flare Launchers---For those of you afraid of eating a missile from your friendly Coalition Highway Patrol....
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: 12 per launcher
Cost: 3,500 credits for the launchers


*Magnetometer---Detects disturbances in the local magnetic fields, signalling the presence of metal, active electronic hardware, or other EM-phenomenon.
Range: The magnetometer has a range of 4,000 ft and can detect vehicles and other metallic structures with 80% accuracy. Active fusion powerplant containment fields, energetic magnetic anomalies, and powered-up railguns can be detected at TWICE normal range.
Cost: 30,000 credits

*Advanced Molecular Analyzer---A more advanced chemical sampler and sniffer that includes a chemo-spectrograph...Useful for testing for the presence of trace radioactives(and what type), petrochemicals, explosives, and toxics. Includes a deployable ground probe for testing soil. It is typically hooked up to the security system to sound environmental alerts and auto-seal the vehicle in event that it detects an environmental hazard situation.
Cost: 30,000 credits

*Ground Radar---Useful for locating underground pipes, cables, hidden bunkers, basements, and for testing the stability of the ground(can determine if the underlying soil is sandy and soft, or hardpacked and firm). The ground radar has a range of 3,000 ft, and has a 90% chance of detecting metal-cased mines, 60% chance of detecting non-metallic ordinance.
Cost: 10,000 credits

*Mine Detector-----A detection coil can be installed on the prow, and uses a variety of magnetic, chemical, and ground sonar detection systems to sniff out mines and buried ordinance. 85% accuracy.
Cost: 3,500 credits

*Sensory Cluster----MDC 80---Has the following sensors:
*Motion Detector--200 ft range
*Laser Illuminator-----6,000 ft range, Designates targets for laser-guided munnitions/weapons
*Laser targeting System(+1 to strike)
*Lance Scanner---Looks like a long lance protruding from the front of the craft. The Lance Scanner contains a magnetometer() and a short-range microwave radar for groundsearching minefields(in theory, the ground radar sound be able to detect even non-metallic mines, but takes twice as long). Range: The magnetometer has a range of 4,000 ft and can detect vehicles and other metallic structures with 80% accuracy
The ground radar has a range of 3,000 ft, and has a 90% chance of detecting metal-cased mines, 60% chance of detecting non-metallic ordinance.
*Aura Scanner---For detecting and identifying PPE concentrations
Range: 2000 ft
*Bio-Scanner---Has a molecular analyzer, enhanced radiation detector, high-powered accoustic ‘shotgun mike’(3,000 ft range), and thermo-imager optics.
* Optical Cluster--- Telescopic,IR/UV, Thermo-Imaging, Audio-Video-Survellance System
Cost: 80,000 credits

*NBC Sensor System Cluster---Small compact mini-lab pod that has the following:
---Geiger Counter---Detects radiation, type, and levels.
---Molecular Analyzer---A flow-through air sampler that tests for various common airborne contaminants and toxins, and determines air quality.
---Pathogen Screener---Another air sampler that looks for dust particles and spores, and the enyzme/molecular interactions of organic pathogens
Cost: 80,000 credits


*Dozer Blade---This is bulldozer/payloader blade that can be attached to the front, and raised up to 7 ft high by hydraulics, turning the truck into a land clearance vehicle. Very popular in winter for snow removal.
MDC of Blade: 100
Cost: 9,000 credits

*Extra-Wide ‘Corncob’ Tires---These allow the vehicle to wallow effectively through swamp and soft terrain. Effectively DOUBLES the width of the vehicle, but reduces the speed by 25% when crossing muck that would otherwise stop the vehicle dead. 9,500 credits per set.

*Gunports---Use your own handweapons to blast away at the bad guys outside, without compromising your own safety and the vehicle’s environmental integrity, with these special gunports with one-way locks(they let you shoot out, but keep the outside from getting in). Gunports impose a -1 to strike because of the limited field of fire. Heavy Weapons CANNOT fit in the gunports.
Cost: 1,000 credits each

*Chemical Sprayer System---For wiping vermin, mobs, or those equally obnoxious vampires off the car.
Range: 50 ft
Damage: Varies by the chemical agent used. If using water, does 4d6 HP to vampires
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 100 blasts of chemical/liquid
Cost: 200,000 credits

*Smoke Screen Generator---Generates a thick, obscuring cloud of dense smoke. Each blast covers a 60 ft area and anyone caught in the cloud of thick, obscuring smoke is. Has enough smoke-matrix for 12 clouds.
Cost: 10,000 credits

*Applique Armor---Adds additional protection(and weight) to the main body. Up to 300 additional MDC can be added, at 7 lbs, and 150 credits, per 1 MDC point. Lighter armor can be substituted, at 1 lb per MDC point, but the stronger polycarbonate armor costs 400 credits per MDC point.
*Thermal Resistant Heat-Refractory Tile Armor(Option)---Special heat-resistant materials designed originally for reentry vehicle shielding. Heat and plasma-based attacks do 1/4 damage
----Cost: +1 million credits
*Chemical Resistant Armor(Option)----PS’s patented chemically inert armor that sheds the effects of corrosive chemicals and stick’ums. Acids and chemical weapons do NO damage.
----Cost: +1.1 million credits
*Jettisonable Armor(Option)---Special pre-cut division channels, break points, and integral explosive bolts allow the vehicle crew to jettison the applique 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 applique armor CANNOT be re-attached without extensive reconstruction and refurbishment(if anything is left at all of the original material)....Essentially, one has to re-buy the applique and/or jettisonable armor option to regain its benefitts.
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

*Splinter Shielding---This is a set of heavy mesh applique panels mounted on a vehicle and offset by 3-6 inches, ideally to trigger armor piercing warheads prematurely and keeping them from making a more lethal contact angle with the vehicle’s hull.
A Splintershield offers only modest protection against conventional attacks; a typical screen has only 30-45 MDC. However, it still has some effectiveness as defeating missile attacks; on a ‘To Strike’ roll of 6-7, Armor-Piercing missiles bash themselves on the cage bars, doing only 1d4 MD, and on a 8-10, do only HALF damage due to premature detonation or re-direct of their kinetic force. And, for additional cost, it can be ensorcelled with an Armor of Ithan(50 MDC, HALF damage from magic fire/lightning/cold, 5 PPE per 5 minutes, +28,000 credits). Energy Field(60 MDC, 5 PPE per 5 minutes, +12,000 credits), or Magic Shield(60 MDC, 3 PPE for 10 minutes, +25,000 credits) spell.
SplinterShielding is ONLY applicable to ground vehicles and watercraft, and ONLY to the Main Body and wheels/treads (turrets and other features can still be specifically targeted). It CANNOT be fitted to aircraft, robots, or power armor.
Cost: 10,000 credits per 10 ft x4 ft screen


*Morphing ‘Armadillo’ Armor---Enfolds the ENTIRE truck in articulated armor plates, increasing armor protection, but effectively immobilizing the vehicle. Can only be opened from the outside by special electronic passcode(included in cost)
MDC: +400 MDC(to the HT-170 - HT-240), or +600 MDC(to the HT-320 - HT-400) when deployed
Cost: 500,000 credits(for the HT-170 - HT-240), 600,000 credits(for the HT-320 - HT-400) ; 100,000 credits for four Glitterboy-style laser pylons that drive into the ground and anchor the vehicle to the ground(takes a Robotic PS of 40 or greater to uproot the vehicle)

*Shock Blaster Security System---This addition to the standard anti-theft locks and alarms BLASTS the miscreant with bullhorns and industrial-strength strobelights that override passersbys’ normal apathy about car alarms, and limelights the thieving bastards like jack-lit deer, as well as chiseling their eardrums and optical nerves. Imagine a flash-bang grenade going off in your face while you’re trying to coathangar the door-lock.....
Range: 10 ft radius
Effects: Targets without ear and eye protection are temporarily blinded and deafened; -5 to strike, -10 parry/dodge, and 40% chance of stumbling and falling per 10 ft of movement. Has a Horror Factor of 8 to anyone else standing nearby, who think the car just exploded. Effects last 1d4 melees
Cost: 700 credits

*Flechette Packs----Located around the hull are special ‘reactive armor’ panels that can be also be triggered as anti-personnel grenades.This is one of several similar systems currently in service/under development by PS.
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 truck can be fitted with 10-30 flechette packs each, while the front and back can each take 6.
Cost: 200 credits per flechette pack

Variants:

*(HT-)HMRLS---Heavy Multiple Rocket Launch System----This variant mounts the launch boxes off the UT-11LMRLS Light Utility Rocket Launcher Truck. These are standardized trainable modular launchers, that can be quickly reloaded by simply swapping launch tubes/casings for fresh ones when available.
Note that the (HT-)HMRLS does NOT carry target acquisition or active targeting gear. Unless the missiles are pre-programmed ‘fire and forget’ or are equipped to seek their own targets(based on programmed sensor profiles), the missiles are ‘dumb’ or ballistic artillery and the launchers are simply that; launch platforms. For more sophisticated targeting, the (HT-)HMRLS must rely on other specially-equipped vehicles or a fire control network.
(HT-170)---2 launch boxes
(HT-240)---2 launch boxes
(HT-320)---3 launch boxes
(HT-400)---3 launch boxes
Each Launch Box can hold the following:
a) Mini-Missiles----60 per launcher
b) Mrk 3 Mini-Missile ‘Calliope’ Launcher---A larger version of the Mrk 1, with sixty tubes as the the Mrk 2, but with ‘metalstorm-stacked’ mini-missiles similar to the PS Missile Rifle.
Range: Varies by Missile Type(Mini-Missile)
Damage: Varies by Missile Type(Mini-Missile)
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1,2, 4, 6, 12, 20, 30, or 60
Payload: 60 tubes, 4 missiles each tube, 240 mini-missiles total per launcher
c)Short Range Missiles----40 per launcher

d) Medium Range Missiles---16 per launcher

e)Shrike III ‘Brilliant’ anti-aircraft missile. Often used in conjunction with the GAMILON (Ground Armored Mobile Interception Laser Ordnance Network) and the PS/GNE Strategic Defense Network.
Range: 75 miles
Damage: 3d4x10 MD
Rate of Fire: Volley of 1-8
Payload: 16 missiles ready to fire per launcher
Bonus: +7 to strike

f) Long Range Missiles or RPVs----4 per launcher

g) ‘Katyusha’ Artillery Rockets----Basic, much-copied, free-flying solid-rocket artillery projectiles:
Range:(Short) 7 miles
(Long) 13 miles
Damage: Both missile types use a 122mm warhead, typically the following warhead types(damage may vary as much as 50% by the quality of warhead manufacture):
(Fragmentation) 1d6x10 MD to a 60 ft blast radius
(Incendiary) 1d4x10 MD to a 50 ft blast radius, plus 01-75% chance of setting combustible materials aflame
(High Explosive) 2d6x10 MD to a 20 ft blast radius
(Plasma) 3d4x10 MD to a 40 ft blast radius
(Smoke) Covers a 100 ft area in thick obscuring smoke. Typically disperses within 1d6 melees, depending on local wind and humidity conditions.
(Chemical) Varies, but typically used to dispense CS or nerve agents(currently only the Sovietskii uses chemical munitions, though it is rumored that Warlord Sokolov has been seeking to acquire such weapons). Typically covers a 100 ft area. Like the smoke, local weather conditions determine the dispersal rate.
(Submunition)---Detonates airburst style over the target and scatters a small cloud of grenade-like sub-mines, that can be used to infilade an area with contact explosives or delayed-fuze mines. Carries over 18 submunitions, scattering over a 100 ft area, and doing 5d6 MD to a 10 ft blast radius each.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-30
Payload: 40-tube array per launcher
Penalties: Katyushas use the standard rules for unguided artillery with regard to deviation from target. Best fired in salvoes of 4 or more rockets.
Cost: Basic Katyusha launcher costs 400,000 credits, missiles cost 5,000 credits for short range, 10,000 credits for long, plus the cost per warhead; Fragmentation costs 45,000 credits, Incendiary 60,000 credits, High Explosive 70,000 credits, plasma 100,000 credits, smoke 800 credits, sub-munitions 120,000 credits.

h)Harpoon III Missiles---Common with coastal defense batteries, Harpoon IIIs are medium-range, plasma-explosive, wave-skimming, “smart” missiles designed to close with an enemy vessel under effective radar coverage, then jink up and dive, so as to penetrate the thinner upper works armor, or else can be set to penetrate below the waterline armor belt.
Range: 40 miles
Damage: 2d6x10 MD to 40 ft blast radius
Bonuses: +5 to strike
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4
Payload: 16 per launcher

i)ASROC---(Anti-submarine Rocket)---Another weapon common with coastal defense batteries. The Paladin Steel Asroc is the post-Rifts adaptation of the rocket-propelled torpedo commonly used by old U.S. Empire warships. It consists of a short-range torpedo mounted atop a short-range missile booster, and is compatible with most short- and medium-range missile launchers. The chief advantages of the Asroc over conventional depth charge and torpedo launch systems, are response time, stand-off range, and the fact that the sudden arrival of the torpedo from above gives the enemy little advance warning.
Range:(Booster) 5 miles(Torpedo) 5 miles
Damage:2d4x10 MD (HE) or 1d6x10 MD(Plasma)
Bonuses:+3 to strike within 1,000 ft
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4
Payload: 16 per launcher
Cost:10,000 credits per rocket

j) PSML-12/120 Heavy Combo-Bolt Launcher---This is simply the combined long range missile and mini-missile launcher from the old IHA Iron Bolt Missile Vehicle. PS has been copying the design and producing spare parts for the old IHA lines after enough expatriate IHA engineers sought refuge and employment in GNE territories after the Coalition’s seizure of New Kenora, so components of old IHA designs have appeared in a number of PS vehicles. The PSML-12/120 carries and fires 12 long range missiles and 120 mini-missiles per launcher.
MDC: 150 per launcher
Cost:3.3 million credits per launcher unit; missiles cost extra.



*(HT)SPG/M-200----Self-propelled gun model mounting a massive 200mm massdriver cannon in an enclosed turret(200 MDC), and integrating a small onboard ammunition supply(additional shells can be carried by accompanying vehicles) and deployable stabilization jacks.
200mm MB Massdriver Cannon(PS-MDJ200M):
Weight:49,000 lbs(24.5 tons)
Range:(Direct Fire) 40,000 ft (8 miles)
(Indirect Fire) 100,000 ft( 20 miles)
Damage:High Explosive(HE)---- 5d6x10 MD to 55 ft radius
High Explosive Anti-Tank(HEAT)----6d6x10 MD to 15 ft radius
Fragmentation--- 4d6x10 MD to 75 ft radius
Plasma-----1d6x 50+15 MD to 60 ft radius
(APFSDSDU)(Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot Depleted Uranium) 8d6x10 MD out to 15,000 ft, 4d6x10+5 MD out to maximum range

Rate of Fire:Once per melee
Payload:Carries 30 rds ready to fire
200 mm AP shell weighs 200 lbs( 10 shots per ton)
Cost: 9.5 million credits

[taalismn]

From big to small....

Paladin Steel (Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04 MicroSkimmer
(aka ‘airwalker’, ‘air-raft’, ‘rat-zip’, 'mouse coaster', 'flying beer coaster', 'flyin' four-rings')

“Now instead of us regular-sized folk having to constantly look down to avoid tripping over or stomping on one of the little blighters, we have to watch out for them coming in at eye-level and hitting us in the heads! Twice already I’ve come around a corner and almost had a face-first collision with some air-rat whipping around the corner in the other direction!”

“So this thing’s basically a flying Segway for really small people?”

“Disillusionment: what you think are dozens of softly glowing fireflies rising out of the forest are really the rocket flares from incoming Smallkin shoulder-launched twenty-millimeter micro-missiles.”

The MicroSkimmer is a Smallkin vehicle meant to allow Smallkin to move around the facilities of BigFolk with less trouble.
The MicroSkimmer is based on the ParrotAD Drone, a recreational toy drone helicopter that was quite popular in the Golden Age. Four-rotored, battery-powered, and equiped with ‘smart’ gyrostabilization and mini-cameras, these micro-drones hummed and weaved through backyards and through homes and office buildings for decades.
Like the Handi-trac, the ‘Parrot’ has become the basis of a variety of multipurpose utility platforms in Paladin Steel service. The manned Microskimmer variant replaces the remote control with a seat for a single pilot. More advanced carbon fiber and low-megadamage composites replace the original plastic, and the power system is a longer-lived and more efficient rechargeable battery or e-clip powering more efficient and powerful electric motors. For indoor use, the microskimmer retains its outer plastic bumper and collision-warning sensors for avoiding ramming into people’s heads or colliding catastrophically with walls and furniture. The MicroSkimmer can be manually piloted, fly on its own autopilot, or be slaved to an LAN wireless ‘air traffic control’ system positioned around a building or campus.
Though not intended as a combat vehicle, the Microskimmer inevitably sees action, its gyrostabilization(and often a handy prehensile tail on the controls) allowing the pilot to use handheld micro-scale weaponry(such as a micro-missile launcher) to attack larger opponents, then quickly zip away.
The MicroSkimmer is typically found in and around large office and industral facilities in the GNE, where common-use ‘flyer pools’ of the vehicles are situated in common areas, recharging off the main power grid and available for use by Smallkin who don’t want to risk being trod underfoot in busy BigFolk areas not equiped with more convenient separate Smallkin access ways(aka ‘gerbil runs’). They are also available for rent in some larger communities.
Type: (Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04
Class: MicroScale Vertical Takeoff and Landing
Crew: One Size Level 1-2 sentient
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 3
Rotors(4) 1 each
Height: 5 inches
Width: 20 inches
Length: 20 inches
Weight: 1 lb
Cargo: Can carry up to 2 lbs of passenger and personal cargo
Powerplant: Electric; rechargeable/replaceable battery(, good for 1 hour’s worth of flight operations) or e-clip(a standard e-clip is good for 12 hours’ worth of charge)
Speed: (Flying) Hover to 11 MPH(SPD: 12), maximum altitude of 45 ft(though typically operates at around 7-9 ft)
Market Cost: 550 credits
Systems of Note:
*Gyrostabilization---+15% to Pilot Helicopter/Hovercraft skill
*Autopilot---This allows the MicroSkimmer to follow a simple, preprogrammed course, or hold steady in flight, interrupted only by predetermined response from its motion detectors.
*Failsafe Mode---If the pilot takes their hands off the controls, and the autopilot is not engaged, the MicroSkimmer will automatically go into Safety Mode after three seconds and will commence a descent to perform a soft landing.
*Rotor Contact Mode---Because of the exposed nature of the rotors below the passenger/pilot, the individual rotors will automatically stop if an obstacle(like an arm or leg) is thrust into the rotors.
*Motion Detection Chip---Can be programmed to stop the MicroSkimmer in mid-air or cause it to veer away from obstacles. Range of 10 ft.
*Altimeter---Monitors altitude.
*Mini-Running Lights
*Silent Operation---Has an effective Prowl roll of 60%

Weapons Systems: None, though the pilot can use micro-scale infantry weaponry such as pistols, rifles, micro-grenades, and single-shot micro-missile launchers.

Variants:

*(Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04RC---A remote-control variant similar to the original ParrotAD drone is available for use as a surveillance drone, carrying aloft the equivalent of a cybernetic eyeball. It can also carry the equivalent of a grenade if used as an explosives delivery device. Typical remote control operation(usually from a handset) is about a mile(longer with more powerful transmitters/repeater stations).

[ZINO]

one word "DAME!!!"

[kronos]

From big to small....

Paladin Steel (Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04 MicroSkimmer
(aka ‘airwalker’, ‘air-raft’, ‘rat-zip’)

I see information for these (mostly shipping info and invoices) for these and parts for them at work quite often.. the joys of working for a major multi-national delivery/shipping company, at the airport.

[taalismn]

From big to small....

Paladin Steel (Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04 MicroSkimmer
(aka ‘airwalker’, ‘air-raft’, ‘rat-zip’)

I see information for these (mostly shipping info and invoices) for these and parts for them at work quite often.. the joys of working for a major multi-national delivery/shipping company, at the airport.

Parrot's a French company, so small wonder.
(Actually we're equipping the local Smallkin using the local logistics transport system )

[ZINO]

From big to small....

Paladin Steel (Mc)VTOL/HCyc-04 MicroSkimmer
(aka ‘airwalker’, ‘air-raft’, ‘rat-zip’, 'mouse coaster', 'flying beer coaster', 'flyin' four-rings')

“Now instead of us regular-sized folk having to constantly look down to avoid tripping over or stomping on one of the little blighters, we have to watch out for them coming in at eye-level and hitting us in the heads! Twice already I’ve come around a corner and almost had a face-first collision with some air-rat whipping around the corner in the other direction!”

“So this thing’s basically a flying Segway for really small people?”

“Disillusionment: what you think are dozens of softly glowing fireflies rising out of the forest are really the rocket flares from incoming Smallkin shoulder-launched twenty-millimeter micro-missiles.”

I would love to see an artist rendering of this happening it would be epic!!!

[taalismn]

Big snow coming in; hopefully it won't be as bad as predicted, but given what the regions further west have been going thru, I'm afraid not,
Battening hatches, just in case,
Haven't been concentrating on PS products of late, as working on Shemarrian stuff, but hope to get back to more Paladin Steel gear(lord knows I have enough WIPs strung out along).
Any perceived temporary defense shortfall or coverage gap affecting the GNE, therefore, is likely to be covered by the hiring of EShemar mercenaries.

[89er]

I'm currently working on other firearms inspired by several games, a flying saucer made by PS, and if willing, the modular GunLoc 2.0.

[taalismn]

I'm currently working on other firearms inspired by several games, a flying saucer made by PS, and if willing, the modular GunLoc 2.0.

Make that GunLoc 3.0; I'm almost done with GunLoc 2.O, but I've yet to finalize an illo for it.
The flying saucer, though, does intrigue. PS does have a saucer-like two person VTOL inspired by a Canadian design(NOT the infamous one), but larger craft are still not yet on the drawing boards(at least by me).

[abtex]

Big snow coming in; hopefully it won't be as bad as predicted, but given what the regions further west have been going thru, I'm afraid not,
Battening hatches, just in case,

Most likely home reading a book, like his friend.

[taalismn]

Big snow coming in; hopefully it won't be as bad as predicted, but given what the regions further west have been going thru, I'm afraid not,
Battening hatches, just in case,

Most likely home reading a book, like his friend.

After-storm report: Not so bad; waist-deep snow and no place to pile it, but no loss of power or phone service, and we'll be a few days shoveling out. Already got sore muscles; am contemplating explosives for snow removal.

[The Raven]

After-storm report: Not so bad; waist-deep snow and no place to pile it, but no loss of power or phone service, and we'll be a few days shoveling out. Already got sore muscles; am contemplating explosives for snow removal.

There is no problem in this universe that can't be solved with the proper application of high-explosives.

[taalismn]

After-storm report: Not so bad; waist-deep snow and no place to pile it, but no loss of power or phone service, and we'll be a few days shoveling out. Already got sore muscles; am contemplating explosives for snow removal.

There is no problem in this universe that can't be solved with the proper application of high-explosives.

Neighbors have little kids, though. They might object.
Though, watching them sled, climb up the snow drifts(and tunnel INTO them), I had to ask myself(while breathing heavily slumped against my shovel) "when did I quit thinking winter was FUN?"

[kronos]

After-storm report: Not so bad; waist-deep snow and no place to pile it, but no loss of power or phone service, and we'll be a few days shoveling out. Already got sore muscles; am contemplating explosives for snow removal.

There is no problem in this universe that can't be solved with the proper application of high-explosives.

Neighbors have little kids, though. They might object.
Though, watching them sled, climb up the snow drifts(and tunnel INTO them), I had to ask myself(while breathing heavily slumped against my shovel) "when did I quit thinking winter was FUN?"

As soon as you had to start driving in it, shoveling snow.. and worry about missing work due to closed roads?

[taalismn]

[

As soon as you had to start driving in it, shoveling snow.. and worry about missing work due to closed roads?

Oh yeah....that's when...
Looking at missing work whether I want to or not...I've still got a GLACIER in my driveway and my muscles feel like I met the Inquisition(without the Comfy Chair). Ouch. And it's too late to go sledding(road plowed down to ice and the local plow drivers like to make random patrols at night).

[abtex]

Do more artwork.
Organize what I've already done.
Get serious about digital photography.
Weed my book and papers collection.
Get more (paid) work time.
EXERCISE more.
Try to socialize more and work on being less of a snapping turtle.

That's on my to-do list.

I think that's two of them, 'Exercise more', 'Do more artwork' --latest artwork, "the GLACIER talismn".; Three if you take photos of the artwork.

we'll be a few days shoveling out. Already got sore muscles; am contemplating explosives for snow removal.

...I've still got a GLACIER in my driveway and my muscles feel like I met the Inquisition (without the Comfy Chair). Ouch. And it's too late to go sledding (road plowed down to ice

Driving to work or is that Ice skating?

[taalismn]

More like highway creeping...lane reductions combined with cowboy driving after the storm = me developing a nervous tic.
With luck, the snow drifts will cushion any slide-out or crash.

[kronos]

More like highway creeping...lane reductions combined with cowboy driving after the storm = me developing a nervous tic.
With luck, the snow drifts will cushion any slide-out or crash.

Doubt it'll cushion.. from the plows, it gets packed, and mixed with slush and if it got colder after the storm, you're looking at packed, hard snow mixed with ice. That stuff ain't soft.
Although does make nice impromptu additional protection for fortifications.

[taalismn]

More like highway creeping...lane reductions combined with cowboy driving after the storm = me developing a nervous tic.
With luck, the snow drifts will cushion any slide-out or crash.

Doubt it'll cushion.. from the plows, it gets packed, and mixed with slush and if it got colder after the storm, you're looking at packed, hard snow mixed with ice. That stuff ain't soft.
Although does make nice impromptu additional protection for fortifications.

That's coming tonight....freezing rain. They're already closing schools tomorrow.

[abtex]

Good luck going to work. If you have too.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel B-500 ‘Maya’ Supersonic Bomber/Transport
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/russia/mjas_m-50.gif
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/m50/m50_schem_01.gif

“I’ve run some freaky missions before, but this?”
“Don’t ask questions. We’re not paid to ask questions. Just fly this bird in, make the pick up, and fly back out and home.”
Truth be told, the pilot was beside himself over the same thing. The whole mission was screwball. Oh, he’d flown the ‘Siberian Express’ run several times before, and it had never been routine(Earth after the Rifts was anything BUT routine at the best of times) but this time had made the previous runs look sedate by comparison.
Up from New Seattle, over the northern colonies, up over Siberia. Approach the Russian warlands from the east and try to avoid the unknowns said to be flying air patrols out of the polar regions. Come in at a previously unvisited location in the middle of nowhere....heavily armed air base with lots of troops, come in in the middle of the night, low-light(almost on instruments entirely) landing. Don’t leave the plane, don’t talk unless spoken to. Hell, even the GNE markings on their Maya had been scrubbed off.
No psychic probes either. Not that that affected passive scans. Which was the only relief about the whole creepy business. The pilot’s danger sense wasn’t going off any more than usual, although his weirdness sense was definitely tingling.
He chanced a glance to the camera on the cargo bay. THAT had been allowed on at least, though it told him little more about their cargo. Twelve identical humanoids, all the same height, all wearing the same all-covering, all-concealing, thick black bodysuits and helmets, all carrying individual environment-packs attached to their helmet respirators, had slowly shuffled aboard, taken their seats in the special couches in the modified passenger cabin, then had locked themselves into restraints, then apparently had all gone to sleep, after their accompanying minder had gone to each of them and activated something on the respirator packs. That minder had then come forward and settled in the sole unoccupied seat in the cockpit.
The only conscious passenger was no more revealing in details, for all that the passenger wore a less restricting, but equally concealing, flightsuit. About all the flightcrew could tell was that the passenger shared the same general height and build as the others in the hold.
Then, once everything had been secured, the converted bomber had been directed down a runway, given an updated flightpath out of Russian airspace, and they’d taken off. Aimed back for North America, gaining altitude, and lighting the afterburners for high speed flight.

It had been some time in midflight, with the flight crew monitoring their instruments but otherwise catnapping while the automatics guided them through a thus far uneventful flight, when the accompanying observer had unbuckled and climbed into the accessway that the transport variant of the aircraft possessed. The flight crew noted the sudden activity but were under strict orders not to communicate with their sole conscious passenger for anything other than a life-or-death situation.
The aircraft hummed and rumbled around the observer as they crawled their way into the cargo hold. The flight-suited figure made its way to the first reclining and motionless body still locked in its couch, and made a check of the respirator and bio-telemetry package accompanying the somnolent passenger.
A respirator mask was unbuckled, and pulled away just far enough to show pale skin and red lips. The minder’s own mask was pulled down, to reveal identical features, and the head bent down to whisper into the open helmet.
<“How are you doing, sister?”>
The lips moved, slowly, languidly from torpor.
<“...are we there yet?...”>
<“No, we are not. But soon.”>
<“...good...the waiting...not so good....”>
<“No, it isn’t. But it will be over soon. This ride is swift and sure.”>
A slow smile graced the lips of the passenger, before the facial muscles again went flaccid.
Satisfied, the observer replaced the mask, and pulled closed her own helmet. A quick check confirmed her sister-clone was again sleeping.
Around them, the supersonic aircraft hummed as it flew between cold blue ley lines flickering below and dancing auroras above, over the dark cold towards warmer sun-kissed southern lands....

The PS B-500 ‘Maya’ is another aircraft that proves that in the supertechnology- and magic-rich world of Rifts Earth, even bad ideas can have a second chance.
Providing more fuel to speculations about links between Greater New England and Russia, the B-500 appears to an adaptation of a pre-Rifts Soviet design, the Myasishchev M-50 ‘Bounder’, a much-touted supersonic bomber design that got as far as the prototype stage before its many design flaws saw its cancellation. Often making the lists of ‘worst aircraft’, the M-50 was much-promoted in the Soviet propaganda press of the time, in order to scare their international rivals, but underpowered engines, excessive drag, and bad aerodynamic design led to the M-50 ultimately being a ‘paper tiger’, trotted out to fly impressively over military parades for the press. The design, aside from a lone prototype moldering at a museum, as well as the bureau responsible for its design, disappeared from the world stage soon afterwards.
Why Paladin Steel would resurrect this design(or at least a derivative of it) remains unknown. Perhaps courting of possible contracts with the Russian nations is behind it, but many analysts suspect an almost perverse love of technical challenge. The idea that the B500 is being used as a ‘mash-up kit’ testbed for various ideas seems proven out by the many options and variants.
In any case, PS engineers have worked to make the old Myasishchev studies workable. In doing so, they have applied many features that were missing from the original M-50, and shoehorned in a number of component-concepts from parallel designs, such as the M-52. The main fuselage has been ‘waspwaisted’, applying the area-rule effect and making supersonic speed possible. Nuclear- and TW-powered plasma thrusters have addressed the engine power problem. Small outboard wing extensions have helped reduce the drag on the outboard jet engines. Megadamage materials have made the airframe both lighter and tougher, better able to handle flight stress. Modern avionics and weaponry improve capabilities and striking power, making the rebuilt bomber a force to be reckoned with.
Similar in size and function to the PS/H18B/CV-B-58(TW) Hustler(appropriately, since the original M-50 was inspired by the rival bomber), the B-500 has seen a similar development into a variety of different forms, including personal transports, strategic recon and scientific investigation, flying boats, VTOL vehicles, and even a transatmospheric/FTL scout ship version.
While the B-500 would seem to be a clear candidate for marketing to the Russian states, only Warlord Kolodenko has expressed any real interest in the design, and then only in the transport variants. Neither Romanov nor Burgasov like strategic weapons nor the expense attached to them, the Sovietski trusts the Americans about as much as the CS trusts Naruni Enterprises, and the Paladins won’t even consider selling to any of the other warlords(Seriyev has tried on several occasions to steal PS secrets to support his own programs, and Alekseyevna, Orloff, and Solokov are rightly regarded as dangerous brutes). However, if the hostilities with the Arzhur from the polar regions continue to mount, and the Arzhur and their allies use more of their heavy assets in attacking Russian interests, long range striking ability may gather interest with the warlord factions PS is willing to do business with.
If and until that happens, PS has done some small business manufacturing and selling the B-500, mainly out-dimension. The GNE Armed Services have acquired a few as part of the Bomber Command and Air Transport units, and the Corps of Exploration uses several of the transport variants.

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-2-2_zps058d54e3.jpg
Type: PS-B-500 ‘Maya’
Class: Supersonic Bomber
Crew: 2, +1-3 additional crew
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 500
Reinforced Crew Compartment 100
Wings(2) 200 each
Engines(4) 100 each
Tail 120
Height: 39 ft
Width: 121 ft
Length: 187 ft
Weight: 440,800 lbs fully loaded
Cargo: Survival packs and survival gear in the crew compartments.
If not carrying ordnance, the bomb bay can hold 44,000 lbs of cargo
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 15 year energy life
Speed:(Ground) Can taxi at 10 MPH
(Flying) 1,280 MPH/Mach 1.83, maximum altitude of 65,600 ft
Market Cost: 32 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Aircraft Systems, plus:
*Ejection Seat/Escape Pods---Each crew member has a folding canopy escape pod with 60 MDC, to protect them against the dangers inherent in ejecting at supersonic speeds. The pods are also buoyant, for landing in water.
*HUD-Head Up Display
*Environmental Protection/Life Support---Pressurized cabin(though crew typically wears pressure suit/EBA for additional protection).
*Long Range Radio----500 mile range
*Long Range Radar---100 mile range
*Radar Detector---Picks up enemy radar emissions and weapons locks

*Radar, w/ Terrain-Following and Look-Down capabilities; effective range of 85 miles.

*ECM----A broad area jamming suite that gives the craft a -6 to be struck by radar-guided weaponry.

*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) on its own, or a +5% if the pilot has a Read Sensory Instruments or Radio: Scramblers skill and devotes a full melee to operating the system(no other attacks/actions are possible).
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.

*EMP Shielding---Extensive use of nonconductive materials, shock barriers, capacitator-sponges, redundant systems, and energy-disipation technology protects the aircraft from the damaging effects of electromagnetic pulse, Triax Lightning Cannon, and other anti-electronics directed energy weaponry.

*Cyberlink Drive System--Allows a pilot with a headjack to ‘jack in’ to the vehicle for more responsive control. This allows the pilot to fly without their hands on the controls, and/or to respond with greater speed to sudden situations.
Bonuses: For anyone with the CyberVehicle Link, the following bonuses apply: +1 to initiative, +1 to strike using the vehicle or vehicle-mount weapons, +1 to Dodge, +1 Action/Attack per Melee, Base Driving skill of 45%, or +10% to existing driving skill. Pilot can also ‘tweak’ the vehicle’s maximum speed by 1% per I.Q. point. Note that the operator can only be controlling the vehicle while doing this....no other relevant actions(can carry on light conversation, or take a quick bite/drink, but can’t disassemble their weapons or whittle a wooden toy) .

Weapons Systems:
1) Bomb Bay---Internal ordnance bay can hold up to 44,000 lbs of bombs, mines, or missiles(rotary launcher)
a) Bombs
*250-lb Bomb----2d4x10 MD to 50 ft blast radius
*500-lb Bomb----4d4x10 MD to 60 ft blast radius
*750-lb Bomb----4d6x10 MD to 65 ft blast radius
*1,000-lb Bomb----1d4x100 MD to 70 ft blast radius
*1,650 lb bomb(1d6x100 MD to 75 ft blast radius)
*2,000-lb Bomb----2d4x100 MD to 80 ft blast radius
b)Mini-Missiles---180
c) Short Range Missiles---- 100
d) Medium Range Missiles---80
e) Long Range Missiles---40
f) Cruise Missiles---20

2) Point Defense Tail Mounted Cannon(1)----Though most supersonic aircraft rely on speed to escape pursuit/attack, and those terrestrial supersonic bombers originally outfitted with tail guns did away with them in an age of missiles, PS, considering the many OTHER threats and Megaversal conditions, retains tail gun systems as a viable defense against missiles and flying threats.
a) 20mm Autocannon(1)
Range: 5,000 ft
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 PS-1) 4d4 MD single rd
1d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d4 MD to 2 ft blast radius
Airbursts are not possible with wooden rounds
(20mm PSX-2)(after 110 PA)
4d6 MD single rd
2d6x10 MD per 5 rd burst
Airburst does 4d6 MD to 6 ft blast radius
(Flare/Chaff rounds)---The 20mm cannons can also be fitted to fire airburst flare/chaff rounds. Damage is reduced, but a burst of ten rounds effectively acts as a single Chaff/Flare bundle for purposes of missile deflection/distraction.
5d6 SDC per shell at ranges of 2,00o ft or less. None beyond that.
3d6x10 SDC per 5 rd burst
1d4 MD per 10 rd burst
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
Rate of Fire: Standard.
Payload: 1,000 rds per gun
Cost: 40,000 credits


b) 23mm Autocannon(1)---The 23mm cannon is a common(or at least well-known to engineers) weapon in old Russia, so PS included a version for possible overseas sales.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD per six-shot burst
(PSX-1)1d6+2 MD per single rd, 6d6+12 MD per six-shot burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 500 rds
Cost: 42,000 credits

c) 25mm Autocannon(1)
Range: (Effective Range)2,000 meters (6,000 ft)
(Maximum Range)(-3 to strike)3,600 meters
Damage:
(MD)(Fragmentation)1d6 MD to 7 ft radius
4d6 MD per 5 rd burst, 10 ft blast radius
2d4 x10 per 10 rd burst, 14 ft blast radius
4d6x10 per 60 rd burst! 22 ft blast radius(takes ALL attacks that melee and is -2 to strike)
(High Explosive) 3d6 MD single shot, 5 ft blast radius
1d4x10 per 5 rd burst, 8 ft blast radius
2d4 x10 per 10 rd burst, 12 ft blast radius
5d6x10 per 60 rd burst! 20 ft blast radius(takes ALL attacks that melee and is -2 to strike)
(Armor Piercing)4d6 MD single shot, no blast radius
2d4x10 per 5 rd burst, 1 ft blast radius
3d4 x10 per 10 rd burst, 2 ft blast radius
6d6x10 per 60 rd burst!, 3 ft blast radius(takes ALL attacks that melee and is -2 to strike)
*Note that beyond the accurate range of 6,000 ft, AP rounds lose some of their effective penetrating power due to diminishing velocity; reduce damage by 20%
Rate of Fire: Rated at 260 Rounds per minute...Can fire single shot, or in bursts of 3-60 rounds per melee
Payload: 300 rds
Cost: 42,000 credits Shells cost 100 (MD Fragmentation) 200 ( MD High Explosive) 350(MD Armor Piercing) credits each

d) Rail Gun
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 3,000 rd drum
Cost: 100,000 credits

e) Laser---Shorter range, but unlimited payload.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 8d6 MD pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 43,000 credits

f) Heavy Laser(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: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited
Cost: 340,000 credits



3) Flare/Chaff Launchers(2)---Standard countermeasure 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: 48 chaff clusters(24 per launcher)


http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-6-2_zpse2be229b.jpg

Variants:
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-4-2_zps4ac53676.jpg
**B500-002---Alternate engine mounting, grouping the four engines into two larger underslung nacelles with more combined protection.
Modifications:
Engine Nacelles(2) 220 each

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-17_zps4190b2c6.jpg
*B500-017---’Speedster’ variant sporting no less than EIGHT plasma thrusters. The B500-017 can hit speeds of Mach 2.2. It is typically used for recon and fast courier missions, with a sensor pallet or cargo pod in place of the bomb bay.

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-18_zpsa027bb58.jpg
*B500-018---This variant groups the four engines into ‘over-and-under’ configurations, freeing up wing space for two additional underwing hardpoint modules; typically used to hold AAMs for self-defense. The B500-018 is used for both surface attack and ‘strategic escort’ roles.
a)Mini-Missiles----32 per pod
b)Short Range Missiles--- 18 per pod
c)Medium Range Missiles---- 9 per pod
d)Albatross IIIc SAM/AAM missiles( 75 miles, 2d6x10 MD, +7 to strike, 9 per pod)
e)‘SkyFlash’ ASRAAMM-----A Paladin Steel copy of a Coalition missile, itself believed to be a derivative of pre-Rifts British AAM technology. This missile deploys a spread of a half-dozen sub-munition SRMs to increase the chances of successful interception. The SkyFlash is also called the ‘Split-Fire’ in Britain.
Range: 15 miles
Damage: 6d6 MD per each SRM missile(3d4x10 MD per volley)
Bonuses:+3 to strike
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-6
Payload: 18 MRMs per pod(36 total)

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-20_zps01e7292a.jpg
*B-500-20ALP---Aerial launch platform, intended to carry a small aerospace craft or satellite launch booster on its back, piggyback style, and launch the carried parasite craft at altitude. The B-500-20ALP can carry the mass equivalent of a jet fighter on its back in a special cradle. The bomb bay in the B-500-20ALP can be modified to carry fuel tanks for topping off liquid-fuel jet engines or rocket boosters aboard the embarked smaller craft.


*B-500-022TW----TechnoWizardry-powered version with the following built-on magic abilities:
-Ley Line Flier---Can fly effectively indefinitely on a ley line.
-Impervious to Fire(10 minutes per 5 PPE)
-Impervious to Energy( 5 minutes per 20 PPE)
-Protective Energy Field(50 MDC per 10 PPE, 10 minutes per 10 PPE)
-Leyline Booster(Accelerates the jet up to 50% greater top speed when on a leyline, -10% to pilot skill when engaged)
-TW Fire Control System----Supplements the regular fire extinguisher system, and is often more effective at controlling electrical and chemical fires. Costs 4 PPE per minute/activation.
-Ice Armor---The aircraft can generate a thin layer of highly reflective ice...It cuts speed by 30% and imposes a -1 to Dodge, but renders the aircraft resistant to lasers; lasers do HALF damage. The ice sheath lasts 5 minutes per activation. Can use it up to 4 times per day(or per 20 PPE pumped into the system).
-Levitation---This allows the aircraft to perform like a VTOL fighter, slowing down to hover at 100 ft, and lower itself to a landing, or loft itself off the ground and accelerate into flight.


http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-23_zpsfbe41fc1.jpg
*CL-500-023 ----Passenger liner version of the B-500, with an extended cabin in place of the ordnance bay, and seating for 216 passengers.Due to the greater weight and drag, reduce maximum speed to Mach 1.5.


http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-24_zps902a8361.jpg
*CL-500-024 ----Cargo version of the CL-500-023, with the same larger fuselage, but with a large cargo bay in place of the passenger cabins. Can carry up to 65,000 lbs of palletized cargo, or can also serve as an aerial refueling tanker with trailing in-flight refueling boom. Due to the greater weight and drag, reduce maximum speed to Mach 1.5.

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-25_zps41bfb395.jpg
*B500-025----The adage that ‘with enough power ANYTHING can fly’ has clearly taken hold on Rifts Earth, and is readily evident in the B500-025, an aircraft that could fly only with lavish expenditure of power to push it through the air. Originally based on a scheme to water-launch supersonic bombers from the back of expendable power boats, the B500-025 grafts the aircraft to a pair of outrigger pontoons and a central fully-powered boat hull just as long and massive as the aircraft. The two are joined through the bomber’s converted ordnance bay. Amazingly, the combination CAN fly, albeit with nowhere near the speed and maneuverability of the B-500 by itself(the B500-025 fairly wallows in flight, earning it the nickname of ‘the Lead Duck’) .
In an emergency, the outriggers and the main pontoon can be jettisoned, and the lightened aircraft can operate on its own.
Amazingly enough, PS HAS gotten production orders for this aircraft, mainly from adventurer/explorer groups.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Boat Body 220
Outrigger Floats(2) 90 each
Height:(Combined) 60 ft
Width: 121 ft
Length: (Combined) 192 ft
Weight: (Combined) 880,000 lbs
Cargo: Cargo bay in the boat hull can hold 9,000 lbs of payload, plus an additional 8,000 lbs in the aircraft portion of the combined vehicle.
Powerplant:(Boat Hull) Battery-electric, charged off the B-500’s nuclear powerplant
Speed:(Water) 25 MPH. 95 MPH w/ jet engines engaged
(Flying) 420 MPH, maximum altitude fully loaded/configured of ft.
Market Cost: 38 million credits
Systems of Note:
Weapons Systems:
1)(Optional) Nose/Waist Gun Positions(1-3)
a) Rapid Fire .50 Caliber Machine Gun(typically firing ramjet or explosive rounds). Range is excellent and the basic guns cheap, but the MD munitions cost in the long run.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 2D6 MD per a short burst, 4D6 MD per a long burst, and 1D4x10 MD per a full melee burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 800 rds per gun
Cost: 13,000 credits per pair

b) Rapid-Fire Rail Gun---High initial investment cost, but the kinetic slug ammo’s inexpensive.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6 MD single rd, 1d6x10 MD ten-shot burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 2,000 rd drum per gun
Cost: 60,000 credits

c) Pulse Laser
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 4d6 MD single shot, 1d6x10+10 MD for triple pulse burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited if nuclear-linked
Cost: 30,000 credits

d) Ion Pulser
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 +7 MD per energy burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 100 shot battery. Effectively Unlimited if nuclear-linked
Cost: 60,000 credits

e) TW TK Machine Gun
Range: 4,000 ft(double on ley lines)
Damage: 2d4 MD single shot, 3d6 MD short(5 shot) burst, 5d6 MD long (10 shot) burst, 2d6x10 MD full melee (50 shot) burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited; powering spells must be recast every six months. 200 shot ‘back-up’ PPE clip
Cost: 60,000 credits

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50-27_zps79e8c201.jpg
*B-500-027---Delta-winged version, with a larger delta-wing, more wing area, no tail planes, and the two underwing engines moved to positions flanking the vertical stabilizer. Capable of slightly higher speed.
Modifications:
Wings(2) 250 each
Speed: 1,400 MPH/Mach 1.89

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/M-50LL-11_zps3bb28ae2.jpg
*B-500-031VTOL---Vertical TakeOff and Landing version with the outermost engine pods swivel-mounted and additional thrusters in the underbelly. Can hover and take off and land vertically.

*B-500-037----Space-capable hypersonic aerospace version.
Modifications:
Main Body +300 MDC
Armor of Ithan Forcefield 250 MDC
Possibly Laser-Resistant Armor(Lasers would do HALF damage)
Speed:
(Flying) Orbital Boost Phase: Mach 6
(Space) Mach 8

*B-500-038---- FTL Scoutship version, fitted with a CG local space(replacing the plasma thrusters) and FTL drive. It’s arguable whether this is really a B-500 variant, as its internal structure has been radically revamped for space travel. The B-500-038 also adds a trio of nose-mounted laser cannons and two overwing hardpoints(similar to the B500-018s’). The payload bay can be used to hold ordnance, sensor pallets, or additional cabin space(for up to 8 additional passengers with some degree of comfort).
Modifications:
Main Body +300 MDC
Forcefield 1,200 MDC
Possibly Laser-Resistant Armor(Lasers would do HALF damage)
Speed:
(Flying) Orbital Boost Phase: Mach 6
(Space) Mach 8
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.8% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
Systems of Note:
-Military grade aerospace sensor suite---Range of roughly 240,000 miles and can pick up FTL drive wakes at 10 light years.
Weapons Systems:(additional)
1) Nose-Mounted Laser Cannons(3)
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 3 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 3 miles in atmosphere, 300 miles in space)
Damage: 2d4x10 MD single blast, 4d6x10 MD for all three cannons firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Overwing Hardpints(2)---Rather than mounted under the wings, these hardpoint pods are mounted ABOVE, affording the external stores some additional protection during atmospheric re-entries. Each hardpoint can hold ONE of the following:
a)Mini-Missiles----32 per pod
b)Short Range Missiles--- 18 per pod
c)Medium Range Missiles---- 9 per pod
d)Albatross IIIc SAM/AAM missiles( 75 miles, 2d6x10 MD, +7 to strike, 9 per pod)
e)‘SkyFlash’ ASRAAMM-----A Paladin Steel copy of a Coalition missile, itself believed to be a derivative of pre-Rifts British AAM technology. This missile deploys a spread of a half-dozen sub-munition SRMs to increase the chances of successful interception. The SkyFlash is also called the ‘Split-Fire’ in Britain.
Range: 15 miles
Damage: 6d6 MD per each SRM missile(3d4x10 MD per volley)
Bonuses:+3 to strike
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-6
Payload: 18 MRMs per pod(36 total)

[abtex]

Paladin Steel B-500 ‘Maya’ Supersonic Bomber/Transport
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/russia/mjas_m-50.gif
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/m50/m50_schem_01.gif

Nice, wide range of aircraft.
Did I cause this?

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel B-500 ‘Maya’ Supersonic Bomber/Transport
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/russia/mjas_m-50.gif
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/m50/m50_schem_01.gif

Nice, wide range of aircraft.
Did I cause this?

Yes, you did, you corrupter of minds.

Actually, looking at a larger copy of the piicture for the B500-017, I can see it really has TEN engines...there are two mounted on its tail. Oh well, I'm not ramping up the speed, though that might be reserved for a TW super-engined version(maybe a supplement of MORE variants, to use the rest of the images of various M-50 variants I got off the Top Secret Projects forums). Still, there's only so fast you can go before the aerodynamics have to change and you get a wholly different aircraft.

[abtex]

Paladin Steel B-500 ‘Maya’ Supersonic Bomber/Transport
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/russia/mjas_m-50.gif
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/m50/m50_schem_01.gif

Nice, wide range of aircraft.
Did I cause this?

Yes, you did, you corrupter of minds.

My little corrupt-en idea, about would these work with a B-58.
What happens to it, when you get it hold of it.

Actually, looking at a larger copy of the piicture for the B500-017, I can see it really has TEN engines...there are two mounted on its tail. Oh well, I'm not ramping up the speed, though that might be reserved for a TW super-engined version (maybe a supplement of MORE variants, to use the rest of the images of various M-50 variants I got off the Top Secret Projects forums). Still, there's only so fast you can go before the aerodynamics have to change and you get a wholly different aircraft.

Extra 'engines' could also be oversized weapon pods or there like.
More planes are coming? OK.

[ZINO]

Paladin Steel B-500 ‘Maya’ Supersonic Bomber/Transport
http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/russia/mjas_m-50.gif
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/m50/m50_schem_01.gif

taalismn again I take off my hat to you love the work you done
it another master piece
even if you don't reply
rifter material KS should be look at your work man !!! keep up the awesome work I am humble by your work even If you don't reply back taalismn
you rock man

[taalismn]

Extra 'engines' could also be oversized weapon pods or there like.
More planes are coming? OK.

More likely they could serve as auxiliary powerplants/power units for running extra electronics. A lot of the bigger passenger jets have what look like small jet engines concealed in the tails. In fact they're APUs for running the various powered hydraulics and avionics.

But while I don't immediately have any other M-50 variants ready to mind, depending on perceived success of the platform, yes, variants such as EW aircraft and the like could be based on the same airframe. Wouldn't that be a strange legacy for a bird that in reality tanked because its designers didn't take a look at the aerodynamics data coming from the West(or their own wind tunnel tests)

[89er]

I have a few ideas for power armor transport and robot transport:

+Dockroach: Large transport for several power armors, maybe hover. Useful for field repairs and medical evac. Could include combat cyborgs.

+Broadbow Robot Transport: One per robot, more of a flying crane to lift the robot to the field and take it off.

Subject to change, feedback would be appreciated.

[taalismn]

Paladin Steel CILA-series Cybernetic Intelligence Life Assistant Cyberhumanoid Android

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img326_zpsfa0731d8.jpg

Undermerchant Jose Cormorro screamed to his assistant “Come on, Atlas! Move it!”
The robo-Coyle refused to budge from his position by the door, his plastic fur and flesh torn and scorched in several places, revealing the gleaming plasteel and artificial musculature underneath. “No, Sir! You Must Go! I Will Cover Your Escape!”
“BULL$#!+! You’re coming with me, NOW! That’s an ORDER!”
The Coyle-droid raised the pistol it had acquired somewhere along their hurried way through the bunker tunnels.
“I Must Refuse, Sir. Protection Protocols Have Been Initiated. The Enemy Are Machines. No Sentient Life Is At Stake Except Your Own. Your Safety Takes Precedence Over My Own. I Am Expendable. You Are Not. I Will Cover Your Escape.”
Just then, the door at the end of the hallway crumpled under the assault of the alien robot that shouldered it aside. Atlas stood into the hallway opening and immediately put two shots from the handgun into the other machine’s vision slit, sending it crashing down, but another similar machine immediately crowded in behind it, raising a weapon of its own.
“Go!”
Undermerchant Cormorro cursed as he dove behind the closing armored hatchway, as heavy caliber slugs tore through the air. The last he saw of his loyal Life Assistant android secretary was the artificial Coyle being torn apart piecemeal under a storm of automatic weapons fire, even as it steadfastly traded shots in return.



“I know they’re androids and they’re not really supposed to be sentient, but I like to take the girls out of the office and down to the coast every now and then; I think they genuinely enjoy running along the beach, not just go through preprogrammed response routines. I just get that vibe from them that they like occasionally doing something other than crunching numbers and filing reports in a corner of the basement all week.”

“I know that you’re annoyed with the humans, R’nath, but taking it out on the lookalike automatons they’ve staffed our wing of the hotel with isn’t going to help things....I think we get charged for damage to the facilities...”

A cousin of the VK-2 ‘Vikky’ vampire-slayer series, the androids of the CILA series are arguably some of the most advanced creations of Paladin Steel on Rifts Earth, and for that reason their existence has been kept largely secret. Although it’s been easy enough to produce lifelike cyberhumanoid bodies for several decades now, it was only fairly recently that PS has been able to produce a comprehensive and compact neural and near-neural intelligence system, and that only through painstaking study of recovered records and assistance from extradimensional technology exchanges. The recent development of what has been dubbed ‘biochip’ technology has opened up new product potential in ‘smart’ systems and advanced computing, making more reliable and advanced artificial intelligence systems possible.
Despite rumors of killer androids and ‘skinjob’ assassins, the CILA-series androids have NOT been programmed or configured for such functions. When they have been programmed for combat, it is typically for self-defense, or in the defense of others. Combat roles are handled by more specialized robot types, such as the VK-2 or the blatantly obvious Spartoi series.
The CILA line clearly has parallels in the Triax domestic robot lines. Although apparently more advanced and readily more durable in many respects than their German rivals, the PS CILAs are competitively priced, for many of the same reasons(PS being able to bring the price of MD robot constructs down thanks to their massive existing investment in industrial plant and mass production facilities), as well as to shut out their foreign competitors. While PS has similar lease agreements as the Germans do, CILAs more often than not do not need to be returned to the company to be recharged, but can recharge off commercial power grids, speeding turnaround times and return to service. A typical PS CILA service contract carries stipulations for regular maintenance, inspections, and stiff penalties(and even contract cancellation and repossession of the CILA) if the androids are abused, tampered with, or misused(as in they’re being used for something other than the agreed-upon services).
CILAs are configured, like the VK-2 series, to resemble normal humanoids, A variety of humanoid species are emulated(though humans remain the most common), with the exception of those who have registered a desire NOT to be so imitated(D’norr and orcs for instance, have expressed their displeasure at the prospect of being copied by a machine, while Dwarfs object to any machine attempting to look like a REAL Dwarf, but have no objections to obvious automatons or industrial robots with Dwarf-like characteristics). CILAs are usually configured to resemble attractive examples of a species, but can often be distinguished by some ‘off’ detail, such as seams and obvious cyberporting in the limbs, unusual hair color, or distinctively different eyes(however, given the proliferation of similar-appearing cyber-implants, cyberhumanoid bodies, and even some forms of bio-augmentation, this isn’t always a clear give away of who is or isn’t a CILA-style artificial intelligence).
Standard CILAs are built on a cyberhumanoid cyborg frame, usually with less overall durability, baseline stats, and without a large range of the military- or rogue-grade equipment that cyborgs tend to have. Commercial CILAs also tend to be battery-powered rather than nuclear powercell-equipped, both to save cost and to prevent abuse. Military service CILAs tend to have performance and durability values closer to high performance cyberhumanoid cyborgs and have a more potent array of subsystems. Because they are designed to closely emulate living beings, they can make use of regular equipment and clothing available to their intended function and situation.
CILAs are usually employed as administrative and technical assistants, medical technicians, and service providers. In the military services they are frequently employed as communications, engineering, and vehicular support, managing subsystems. Though such might seem expensive, creating a million-plus credit android for the purpose of filling a clerical or support position, PS points to the advantages the AIs possess; the ability to work long hours, steadfast(programmed) loyalty, perfect memories, among them. In the commercial sector they are often employed in multi-species settings because they provide ready service, are immune to chemical and biological contaminants, and do not exude chemical/biological/psionic emanations that some lifeforms may find offensive(or appetizing). It is thus not unusual to find CILAs operating around embassies and multi-species resorts, where they provide generally inoffensive service.
The downsides of CILAs tend to be a certain stiffness of thought and lack of creativity, at least among those fresh from the factory. While they may be excellent and efficient at carrying out technical tasks and functions, many CILAs have trouble thinking ‘outside the box’ as it were and coming up with wholly new solutions. A CILA can crunch numbers and write computer code all day and all night or paint a detailed mosaic copy, but has trouble coming up with a wholly original creation or out-of-context solution to a problem. CILAs may also have problems picking up on subtle context-based social nuances, such as changing slang or social fads(in some cases leading to cases of errant literalness). In other cases they may act inappropriately for a situation(laughing out of context, or going undressed when and where inappropriate). One group of CILAs, accidentally programmed to address their organic superiors as ‘master’, ignited a minor firestorm with a sentients’ rights group until the problem was corrected and ruffled feathers soothed.
Ever mindful of the potential for abuse, PS employs carefully-vetted software technicians and cyberpsychologists to update their CILAs to keep abreast of changes in fashion and society. Product security is taken seriously at PS, and safeguarding both client and product(and by extension company reputation) has priority to avoid any sort of ‘robot berserker’ or ‘robot dupe’ tarnishing the name of the CILA line. Of course, when reports surface of PS-made robots going berserk and harming people. PS maintains its own corps of specialists (Cyberpsychologists and the equivalent of the Manhunter universe’s ‘TRASHmen’, only equipped with PS-made equivalent gear) to hunt down and neutralize the malfunctioning ‘roids.


The ‘Pygmalion Report’

The doctor looked around at the assembled staff, quietly astonished and pleased by the disparate elements that had gathered in response to this case. Some of them people who normally would have nothing to do with each other, now all drawn together by a common interest. The doctor noted several cybersurgeons, several biomancers, a technowizard, a well-reputationed genetic medicine expert, a cyberpsychologist, and several software programmers among the gathered ensemble.
“Ah-hem! Can we get started? I presume you are all here on behalf of a most INTERESTING case that’s come up?”
Seeing the nods and looks of knowing, as well as a few looks of suffering impatience, the doctor forged ahead. “Many of you are familiar with people wanting to become machines, people forced to become machines, people transforming through means technological and biological into other things, and even supernatural things transforming, and being transformed, into people. Well, we have a rather unique case before us here-”
The doctor gestured at the form laying sheet-covered on an operating table in the center of the room, multiple tubes and wires snaking under the sheet from various apparatus around the room, none of them life support gear. Gold-irised eyes, framed by locks of purple hair gazed unblinkingly into the bright overhead lights.
“Well, it seems this doll wants to become a real flesh and blood girl...”

While most CILAs are regarded as being fairly clever, but not truly sentient, pieces of hardware, Paladin Steel does acknowledge that it is easy to see them as something more. Given that many buyers/leasers come to treat their CILAs almost as real people*(or very well-loved pets), PS neither encourages nor discourages such behavior(the company figures that clients will be less inclined to abuse the androids).
However, Paladin Steel carefully scrutinizes all performance reports of its A.I. and android systems, and have noted some interesting(both disturbing and intriguing) trends. On average, one in every three hundred CILAs displays aberrant behavior not explainable by programming error. These aberrations are carefully studied, after software malfunction or malicious hacking has been ruled out, with regards to possible ethical issues.
The new generations of AIs made possible with the newer technologies have raised some controversial issues with PS, the GNE, and the Alliance, all of which have an antislavery stance and constitutions that vow to protect the freedoms and liberties of sentients. But if industry is producing arguably sentient beings for use as an effectively indentured workforce, doesn’t that constitute slavery? PS’s own corporate ethicists have been tied in knots and up in arms over the implications. Thus far, Paladin Steel is trying cases on an individual basis. If a machine is deemed truly sentient, it is accorded citizen rights and counseling similar to d-bee refugees entering the GNE populace. Of course, while such citizenship entails that PS and clients must begin paying the newly acknowledged intelligence commensurate wages for their work and give them the vote, the AIs must also pay taxes and accept other civil responsibilities(such as jury duty!). For these reasons, some of the wilier sentient A.I.s find it easier to keep acting like dumb machines(putting a new spin on the idea of ‘illegal aliens’ or ‘undocumented workers’).
In the case of the CILAs, some of the detected anomalies are the result of TW tinkering(using magic to entrap an entity, transfer a mind, or magically conjure up a true intelligence), or(unbeknownst to the GNE) Ecotroz or Ghost Rider Shemarrian infiltration. However, a few cases ARE genuine spontaneous ‘mutation’ of the biochip systems into what could be considered neural intelligence equivalents.


CILAs and the New Shemarrians

http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/taalismn/img327_zps01e2f03e.jpg

Paladin Steel’s growing AI systems lines would seem a sure avenue for the Ecotroz and Ghost Rider Shemarrians of the Shemarrian Nation to infiltrate both the company and Greater New England. Indeed, like ARCHIE-3 before the Shemarrian Civil War, the EShemar have managed ti get operatives(or rather ‘turn’ operatives) inside the GNE in this manner. However, the cyber-infiltration isn’t as widespread or successful as one might think. The Ecotroz manner of ‘Awakening’ double agents by implanting a psi-essence and additional programming into an android runs the risk of being detected by others who can sense the ‘living’ aura around what should be a psi-cold piece of machinery(there’s also the risk attendant with the Ecotroz-essence fragment’s occasional need to sleep, something a true machine wouldn’t need to do). Given that on Rifts Earth, psionic powers are MUCH more prevalent in the population, and natives have reason to be wary of possessing entities(especially, in the case of machinery, the destructive tectonic entities) and shapeshifters, psychic infiltration is a riskier proposition. The largely software-based Ghost Rider Tribe has had somewhat better success rewriting android/gynoid programming to turn commercial hardware into double-agents, but even that runs the risk of being discovered during thorough routine diagnostics(and again, PS is scrupulous about their security).
So far, the few times the Shemarrian incursions have been discovered, they’ve been passed off as ‘aberrations’ or mutations of the biochip systems. PS is looking at the supposed causes, with an eye towards corrective measures in future products, and formulating policy towards spontaneously-arising sentient machinery, and the infiltrators have been allowed to continue on their way(though watched carefully, which defeats their effectiveness as Shemarrian intelligence assets).
On higher levels of authority, however, PS and GNE authorities, mindful of their past experiences with the Trelvi, Smallkin, and other ‘invisible populations’ existing within the GNE, know that SOMETHING is up and they are proceeding with caution. It wouldn’t surprise them to learn that the Shemarrians are spying on them(after all, the GNE spies on their own allies as well, as a matter of course).


(* This has led to sometimes tragicomic misunderstandings on occasion, such as when suspected corporate espionage raiders broke into an office complex made off with an executive assistant CILA. The office immediately reported the incident as a ‘kidnapping’, whereas the local security and police, after a full-force turnout to find the would-be hostage-takers, would rather have had the crime reported as ‘theft of office equipment’.)


The following stats are for a baseline human-based CILA chassis.

Type: PS-CILA-02
Class: Semi-Autonomous Android, Cybernetic Intelligence Life Assistant
Crew: None; Robot- or Neural-Intelligence
MDC/Armor by Location:
(@ denotes standard military-service CILAs)
Main Body 50 (@100)
Head 25 (@50)
Arms(2) 30(@45) each
Hands(2) 20(@25) each
Legs(2) 35 (@45) each
Feet(2) 10(@16) each
Height: 5-7 ft
Width: 1.2-3 ft
Length: 8-18 inches
Weight: 160-300 lbs
Cargo: Unless fitted with concealed compartments, only what can carried in the arms or strapped to the body.
Powerplant:
-Battery---Most commercial service CILAs are equipped with a rechargeable battery system that affords them 60-80 hours of activity between recharging. An e-clip can give them an additional 1 hour of activity, a long e-clip 90 minutes, and an e-canister four hours.
-MicroCell Nuclear----Military service CILAs tend to be equipped with higher-end micro-nuclear power systems with 2-10 year energy lives.
-TW Powercell---Some CILAs have been fitted with TW power systems, such as Ghanam-style power crystals or 1-10 year energy life PPE generators. Such models may also recharge at leylines, leyline nexi, or dimensional pyramids.

Physical Attributes: Equal to I.Q.1d6+10 , PS. 16, PP. 18, SPD. 58. P.B. 13-16 .
Speed: (Running) 40 MPH
(Leaping) Typically can only leap 3 ft up, 6 ft across, +30% with a running start.
(Flying) Not possible without a jet pack or vehicle.
(Space) Not needing to breath, most CILAs can operate in a vacuum, but CANNOT fly in space without the use of EVA gear.
(Underwater) Most CILAs are waterproofed and can handle depths of down to 800 ft, but most are limited to walking along the bottom at 5 MPH, unless specially programmed and equipped for swimming.

Market Cost: 480,000 credits for a baseline commercial service CILA. Military CILAs may cost upwards of 700,000 credits.

Systems of Note:
*Standard Robot Optical and Audio

*Passive Nightvision

*Basic Olfactory Senses(Smoke Detector)---Can distinguish between basic floral scents, rancid sweat, sewer/swamp, and basic perfumes, for example.

*Close Proximity Motion Detector---50 ft range, using sensors built into the skin. This gives a +1 to dodge(especially useful for avoiding colliding with other beings).

*Tunable Vocal Sound Synthesizer---The CILA’s voice can be set to a monotone robotic intonation or tuned to a pleasant, entirely natural-sounding, voice, depending on client preference.

*Gyro-Compass and Clock-Calendar

*Headjacks/Data-porting---CILAs typically have multiple dataports for diagnostics, maintenance, and controlling accessory systems visible behind the ears, on the neck and spine, at the wrists, and/or on the hips, covered with false-flesh plugs.

*False Flesh Covering----CILAs are covered in a soft covering of false flesh, skin, and hair/fur that is warm and pliable to the touch, but which would not pass close inspection as real flesh and blood. If the android takes more than 10 MDC of damage, the fake skinning will be torn/burnt away, revealing the artificial musculature and skeleton underneath.

Weapons Systems: None. Military service CILAs typically do not get built-in weaponry either(though they may be issued service weapons if their programming and function allows it).

Hand to Hand Combat:
Unless programmed for combat/self defense/body guard duties, CILAs have NO combat abilities, and are limited to simply dodging and parrying attacks directed at their person
Actions per Melee: 5
Bonuses to Dodge and Parry as per engineered P.P. stat


Programming:
The CILA intelligence gets a baseline program from either the General Nonmilitary or Military programs, plus two additional programs. As per baseline Palladium robot rules, onboard memory may be expanded at extra cost and two additional programs added.
Neural Intelligence A.I.s get the baseline program, plus THREE additional programs, plus the ability to get expanded memory for two additional programs added.

ALL CILAs get the equivalent of the basic Human Emulation routine as part of their baseline Life Assistant core programming. Thanks to the biochip technology, this does NOT cost any additional skill slots.

Commercial service CILAs typically have selections from the following:
-Any of the Domestic programs
-’Pirated’ versions of Triax Domestic Robot programs are also available.

Military service CILAs can choose from the following:
-Mechanical
-Military, Communications: Basic
-Military, Communications: Specialized
-Military, Communications: Language Program, Other
-Military, Intelligence
-Military, Naval Aquatic
-Military, Pilot, Ground
-Military, Pilot, Air
-Military, Pilot, Water
-Military, Support
-Technical: Computers


-Optional: The biochip technology used in the CILAs may ‘mutate’ into the capability range of neural intelligence systems, though not to same degree as the canon-listed systems. If the GM so decides that a CILA has ‘awakened’ in such a manner, then the CILA can now select two elective/Secondary skills at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience.


Options:
The baseline CILA is amenable to modification, with most options taking the form of tweaking performance, adding minor upgrades, altering appearance( ‘anatomically VERY correct’ is a popular option with many commercial service CILAs, adding P.B. stat), and building in extra sensors.
In general, use the same rules and available options for Cyberhumanoid Cyborgs with regards to CILAs.


Variants:
*PS-CILA-02L(ight)----The first and most readily available variants do away with the MD construction and use less durable SDC materials instead, resulting in savings in both weight and cost, albeit at the expense of durability.
A typical PS-CILA-02L(ight) model will have the following changes:
SDC By Location:
(Armor Rating of 14)
Main Body 100
Head 50
Arms(2) 45 each
Hands(2) 25 each
Legs(2) 45 each
Feet(2) 16 each
Weight: Reduce overall weight by 25%
Cost: Reduce overall price by 30%

Custom Models
CILAs are typically equipped and customized after-market to fill a specific role. A few examples follow:
-Executive Assistant CILAs may be equipped with deployable holo-projectors, wireless modem systems, high-gain audio/visual perceptors, and confidential-access databanks with anti-tampering(i.e. self-destruct) protocols.

-Courier CILAs max out on speed and piloting skills. In addition they may have vehicle links and enhanced perception. To carry confidential information, they may be fitted with secret compartments and secured access databanks(often with ‘suicide wipe’ protocols that destroy the CPU if tampered with).

-Entertainer CILAs may have multimode vocalizers and variable skin markings/glow implants. A few may even incorporate cyberdisguises for multiple roles.

-Seaside Resort/Aquatic Instruction CILAs can be modified for greater water resistance, variable buoyancy systems, and mini-sonar.

-Food Preparation Service CILAs will have built-in food temperature probes and molecular analyzers.

-Computer Services CILAs often incorporate multiple wireless modem systems, hardline hookups, and secured CPUs with heavy firewall protection.

-Medical Assistance CILAs will be modified with biosystem monitors, secured drug dispenser systems, and chemical sprayer systems modified to dispense antisepsis agents.

-Firefighting and Rescue CILAs can have enhanced senses, armor, performance, and integrated chemical sprayer/fire extinguisher systems.

-Security Service CILAs(prison guards, night watchmen, etc.) will have surveillance recorders, enhanced senses, upgraded armor and performance specs, and the rare integrated weapons system; tazer contacts in the hands, chemical sprayer system built into the skin, and a restraint tape dispenser.

-Bodyguards---Dedicated bodyguard models are the ones that use military-grade chassises and are most likely to possess maxed-out performance stats and built-in weaponry.