Original Samson PA railgun

[jburkett]

Hello All, Is the rail gun for the original Samson power armor a hand held gun or is it integrated into the forearm of the armor. The reason I ask is because the image in RUE looks like some gun-type weapon is built into the left forearm. The later Samson MKII(?) has a hand held railgun (I believe). I am assuming the hand held railgun can be easily slung over the shoulder or set aside in some other way to free up the arms for wrist blade strikes, forearm mini-missile launches, etc. Thanks!

[jaymz]

Hand Held. What you see on the arm is the rocket launcher.

[Shorty Lickens]

Can anybody tell me where to find a large sketch of the original Samson?

I been thru a bunch of books and only see the little photo in the RMB page 212.

[jaymz]

That's the only one. There is a Missile Samson in one of the Northern Gun books though.

[ShadowLogan]

Can anybody tell me where to find a large sketch of the original Samson?

I been thru a bunch of books and only see the little photo in the RMB page 212.

Rifts UE, pg106. Its one of the images in the color insert sections. It might also be one of the two units depicted in the Robot/Power Armor Pilot OCC in RUE.

[Shorty Lickens]

Can anybody tell me where to find a large sketch of the original Samson?

I been thru a bunch of books and only see the little photo in the RMB page 212.

Rifts UE, pg106. Its one of the images in the color insert sections. It might also be one of the two units depicted in the Robot/Power Armor Pilot OCC in RUE.

AHHHHH THERE WE GO!

[jburkett]

Can anybody tell me where to find a large sketch of the original Samson?

I been thru a bunch of books and only see the little photo in the RMB page 212.

Rifts UE, pg106. Its one of the images in the color insert sections. It might also be one of the two units depicted in the Robot/Power Armor Pilot OCC in RUE.

AHHHHH THERE WE GO!

I think that the Power Armor featured on the cover of WB27 (Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp) may also be the original Samson.

[ShadowLogan]

Can anybody tell me where to find a large sketch of the original Samson?

I been thru a bunch of books and only see the little photo in the RMB page 212.

Rifts UE, pg106. Its one of the images in the color insert sections. It might also be one of the two units depicted in the Robot/Power Armor Pilot OCC in RUE.

AHHHHH THERE WE GO!

I think that the Power Armor featured on the cover of WB27 (Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp) may also be the original Samson.

unless the woman on the cover is way shorter than normal, that can't be the Samson (which is 11ft tall, and the woman appears to be approx 25% the height of the unit so 4ft). Which Dinosaur type are they fighting? If they are Tigerclaw Raptors they are the same size range as human (which can give the illusion of the suit being 11ft tall, but since its squatting its actually bigger). So it might be a giant 'bot that looks like the Samson.

[Blue_Lion]

The Samson always had mini-missile launchers built in to each for arms.
A rail gun would not have a gas cloud. the weapon shown on the for arm on page 212 of Rifts RPG has a gas cloud around the projectile launch, so is clearly not a rail gun. Page 106 is identified as the ng-X9 Samson so it is the orginal Samson.

As to the cover of adventures of dinosaur ground view cam art(perspective seams to be. While the woman in the for ground only comes up to the knee the man behind the PA head is equal to the waist line. None of the depicted humanoid shapes are standing up straight. The man is leaning his whole body back and shooting, the robot is hunched over from the impact. (issues with scale and artistic lenience do seam to be present. art not always being the best representation of how things are suppose to be.) While the head may be similar as the Samson depicted on page 106 and it has claws extending from the left hand knuckle, it also has heaver looking armor on its arms and different shoulder armor protrusions than the other Samson pictures. So it may be a Samson or some other robot.

[StormSeeker]

I think that the Power Armor featured on the cover of WB27 (Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp) may also be the original Samson.

unless the woman on the cover is way shorter than normal, that can't be the Samson (which is 11ft tall, and the woman appears to be approx 25% the height of the unit so 4ft). Which Dinosaur type are they fighting? If they are Tigerclaw Raptors they are the same size range as human (which can give the illusion of the suit being 11ft tall, but since its squatting its actually bigger). So it might be a giant 'bot that looks like the Samson.

I've got a pretty strong hunch that the Sampson was originally intended to be a robot 20' tall or so. At least by the artist. Then the stats cut it down to 11' power armor.
Which has always bugged me. If a normal size human were to get in that, they'd shatter their bones when the Sampson's joints moved. KS later said somewhere that the pilot is actually in a sitting position in the Sampson's chest and his hands are in the shoulders.

[ShadowLogan]

I don't know what the Samson was originally intended to be, but at 11' it falls in the realm of power armor by Palladium's size classification. The Glitterboy is similarly sized to the Samson and it is considered a power armor (or robot vehicle as it is in that overlap zone), the Kittani have several suits of power armor (Serpent, Raptor) that have articulation features that don't work for humanoid. This really pushes Power Armor into at least two categories based on size, the "wearable" type and the "piloted" type (this type is more of a mini-robot vehicle).

[glitterboy2098]

i've generally assumed that the Sampson had a pilot set up similar to the landmates of Appleseed.

[Shorty Lickens]

i've generally assumed that the Sampson had a pilot set up similar to the landmates of Appleseed.

I like to use Appleseed as the standard of heavy P.A. in Rifts.

[kaid]

I think that the Power Armor featured on the cover of WB27 (Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp) may also be the original Samson.

unless the woman on the cover is way shorter than normal, that can't be the Samson (which is 11ft tall, and the woman appears to be approx 25% the height of the unit so 4ft). Which Dinosaur type are they fighting? If they are Tigerclaw Raptors they are the same size range as human (which can give the illusion of the suit being 11ft tall, but since its squatting its actually bigger). So it might be a giant 'bot that looks like the Samson.

I've got a pretty strong hunch that the Sampson was originally intended to be a robot 20' tall or so. At least by the artist. Then the stats cut it down to 11' power armor.
Which has always bugged me. If a normal size human were to get in that, they'd shatter their bones when the Sampson's joints moved. KS later said somewhere that the pilot is actually in a sitting position in the Sampson's chest and his hands are in the shoulders.

I think it probably winds up working a lot more like the armor in avatar. Your legs arms are mostly in the chest cavity working pedals arm levers. Its way to big of armor even at 11 feet to wear it like a normal body armor.

[kaid]

I don't know what the Samson was originally intended to be, but at 11' it falls in the realm of power armor by Palladium's size classification. The Glitterboy is similarly sized to the Samson and it is considered a power armor (or robot vehicle as it is in that overlap zone), the Kittani have several suits of power armor (Serpent, Raptor) that have articulation features that don't work for humanoid. This really pushes Power Armor into at least two categories based on size, the "wearable" type and the "piloted" type (this type is more of a mini-robot vehicle).

Like the ultimax as well there there are clearly powered armor suits and some inbetween class that generally gets classified as power armor but seems more piloted like a robot vehicle. Those generally are the bigger ones in the 10-15 foot range. One interesting thing is the triax jaeger basically seems piloted in a similar fashion to the samson I believe is considered a robot vehicle.

[jaymz]

Just take a look in the first Triax/NGR book to see how many of these would likely be "worn/piloted". There is an image of how the Jager is "worn/piloted" in there. I assume that is how the vast majority of Power Armours are handled due to the size disparity between the armour and it's pilot.

[jaymz]

https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-a ... 1e16b.jpeg

[StormSeeker]

Does anyone know what Palladium's process is? Is the description based on the artwork, or artwork based on description? Does the artist get the stats first, or are they added afterwards?

Some of the artwork is absolutely fantastic, I love it, but it drives me nuts to see power armor (and some of the robots) where there's no way a human could fit inside it, or move any of the joints without breaking their own arms and legs. Even if it doesn't get published, every artist should include (or at least consider) a cutaway of the pilot inside, and also how they get in and out.

Someone needs to explain to writers how shotguns and grenade launchers work too. It's not double barrel and pump-action. [yes, I know they exist, but they're also absurd and unnecessarily heavy and unwieldy. No military would ever consider using one in combat] Your underbarrel-accessory grenade launcher needs it's own barrel and a magazine, tube or otherwise. And it sure as $%^& doesn't hold 12 grenades unless they're in a drum

For that matter, a 12 gauge shotgun shell is .73 caliber. You're not firing it from a .60cal nor a 15mm

/end rant

[glitterboy2098]

as i understand it, most of it is "the writer writes, then the artist is given a very bare bones description of the items and asked to make art"
the exception usually being when the artist is also being the writer, or the occasions when Kevin S. himself draws up something based on an artists 'slush pile' of submissions that aren't tied to specific projects. the later usually being more common with critters, demons, aliens/Dbees, and so on.

and generally it isn't the writers who screw up the designs for weapons, stats wise a lot of those weapons actually have what you describe. but the artists don't get the stats, just a quickie description "heavy laser rifle with underslung shotgun" for example. they generally don't know the actual stats like payloads. and most of the time they are going 'rule of cool' for visual stylings, rather than "rule of real mechanics"

[StormSeeker]

an artists 'slush pile' of submissions that aren't tied to specific projects.

I'd love to see a book of previously unpublished Rifts art. More takes, angles, situations, by the original artists. Maybe one picture, ever, of a Samson PA with the railgun.
I love Larry MacDougall's headhunter back in the original main book, and some of Kevin Long's full color paintings are just breathtaking.

[glitterboy2098]

you mean the image of the Mk.III art from the recent NG book?
https://img04.deviantart.net/c6c7/i/201 ... 7zl4z7.jpg

[StormSeeker]

you mean the image of the Mk.III art from the recent NG book?
https://img04.deviantart.net/c6c7/i/201 ... 7zl4z7.jpg

No, I meant the original mk 1.
But I do particularly love how that image shows how the gun is stored across the shoulders when not in use. Many props to the artist for including that detail.