Best Human Sized Power Armor?

[Alrik Vas]

I don't really think not being fond of vampires is much of a qualifier for anything. It's kind of like saying, "well they breath oxygen, so they could totally send one north to breathe more oxygen."

[say652]

Build a Cyborg Shock Trooper. Silver plate as much as possible. Chemical spray to water spray, bionic fire breath, forearm mini guns with silver or wooden rounds, just basically build a full antivampire borg.

[Q99]

I don't really think not being fond of vampires is much of a qualifier for anything. It's kind of like saying, "well they breath oxygen, so they could totally send one north to breathe more oxygen."

Sorta my point, pretty much no-one minds if their stuff is being used against vampires ^^

Like, you can have Atlantis gear, and it's like, "How dare they use our- oh, it's being used against Vampires? Carry on then."


The Empire of the Sun does have various heroes, some of who are the type to travel around, to help out or to scout out the rest of the world and eventually report back. One goes north and, there you go, reason for armor to be there.

[kaid]

There is something to be said though about killing your opponent when you are 4 miles out of their range. Short range missiles is a pretty huge advantage and not many power armors have them. There are a couple but they tend to be dedicated missile platforms like the samson missile man. I am not sure if I recall any other light flying power armor that has any short range missiles.

That's a fairly limited circumstance.

If it was a war or fighting a foe with big units, I'd want that capability since it's likely to come up, but fighting vampires? Not a big deal, and not a good unit if they do catch you inside or such.

Also, keep in mind we're not at all limited to light flying PA. The Triax X-80 Butterfly has way more small missile capacity and is tougher and has more other guns (though may be a bit big).


Anyway, I'll stand by the Nazca Armor. A lot of defense, good range, and since it's *magic* it doesn't have to rely on silver ammo or the like.

I would fully agree short range missiles is a nice boost but it is not a useful sales feature for anti vampire hunting. For vamp hunting typically you are not going to want to use one of the airborn things like samas simply because they are a bit awkward on the ground where you are going to wind up fighting most vampires. Mostly due to them being able to latch on to your back side and it being difficult to dislodge them due to the huge jet pack.

Honestly if your GM will let you lemurian "power armor" is probably some of the highest end undead fighting equipment you can get. One of the suits is living wood and can shoot wood and is considered magical so it allows you to punch the holy hell out of vampires and stake them. Also it has the advantages of it regenerates automatically over time so its pretty easy to keep tip top shape. Also if you get a lemurian armor get their bio energy weapons as those things are excellent for anti vampire operations.

[Shark_Force]

Well melee gets brought up because to actually finish off a vampire you are going to wind up having to get up into hand to hand. So getting something that is well equipped for that eventuality is useful. The dedicated anti vampire/monster NG power armor is really nice. It gives you a lot of extra attacks of weapons strictly loaded with silver/wood rounds and has stake launchers to finish the deal. Things like the mantis and prophet are nice simply because auto dodge greatly enhances your survival rate while working to stake your target.

against a comatose target, you don't need particularly impressive melee skills to win. unless you're fighting an unreasonably large group of vampires, the rifle i mentioned above should enable you to relatively easily render vampires comatose. the robotic PS of just about any power armour should be more than enough to let you carry plenty of pointy sticks. so just knock them out, then while they're comatose you just move up (possibly throwing another burst occasionally if they look like they're getting up) and then stab them in the heart.

melee defense is important if they do manage to get up close to you, and i'm fine with investing in that. but there's really no need to invest extra in a PA for anti-vampire weapons. frankly, about the best weapon for melee against a vampire is a pointy stick unless they've changed the rules to where you don't have a good chance of just hitting their heart any more (used to be just a called shot iirc).

[Mechghost]

the Naruni Enforcer PA (I think that's what its called) the "Law Enforcement" one, the forearm foam guns can shoot water (gives damage for vamps), the grenade launchers can use anti-vamp grenades, not sure how well the stunner would work (don't have books handy). Good PA IMHO, I've always liked it, as a general purpose PA and because it has lots of non-lethal options you can switch to as needed. The foam attack is great - foam the targets in place then hit them with the grenades or lasers

[13eowulf]

If anti-vampire is what you want, just pick up a WI-SR15 rifle from Merc Ops. Silver rounds are 600cr for a box of 100, damage to vampires is 2D8x10 per single silver bullet, 2D4x100 for a 10 round burst.

[spatulaodoom]

Are we going to assign a height maximum or something for this? I assume a Glitter Boy would be too big but there's a lot of gray area in between.

Funny thing is that the Sampson, being 11ft tall, is almost the same size as a GB.

As far as silver plating, modifications, and repair and re-arming goes, given the area the game is in I'm going to assume facilities are going to be scarce and relatively crude for the most part. I'd suggest getting something that's good right out of the box rather than something you'll have to modify.

That's probably why the GM advised against a big robot, no way to recover in the field of it gets messed up. At least a human sized PA can be strapped to the hood of the truck or whatever until you can bring it in to get fixed or scrapped or whatever.

[Q99]

Honestly if your GM will let you lemurian "power armor" is probably some of the highest end undead fighting equipment you can get. One of the suits is living wood and can shoot wood and is considered magical so it allows you to punch the holy hell out of vampires and stake them. Also it has the advantages of it regenerates automatically over time so its pretty easy to keep tip top shape. Also if you get a lemurian armor get their bio energy weapons as those things are excellent for anti vampire operations.

Oh right, the Wood one! I tend to forget that because it's overall one of the worst, but against vampires, it's gold ^^

[Shark_Force]

what makes it good against vampires?

because if it's just the fact that it's made of wood, well, turns out that sticks are also made of wood, and provide for your melee-range anti-vampire damage needs quite handily.

if difficulty to repair is a concern, automatic dodge is amazing. it lets you maintain your offense while still being able to avoid damage. so i recommend you look into getting a PA with automatic dodge, and maybe even a hand-to-hand skill that offers some bonuses to it if you can manage to pull that off. getting a force field (TW or otherwise) installed is also a great idea, but if you don't have anyone to do that, i'd stick with the automatic dodge plan, since there is power armour that will give you that without needing special modifications.

but again, for anti-vampire weapons, handheld options are perfectly fine. you don't need to choose your armour based on available anti-vampire weaponry.

[Q99]

what makes it good against vampires?

because if it's just the fact that it's made of wood, well, turns out that sticks are also made of wood, and provide for your melee-range anti-vampire damage needs quite handily.

Sticks are also notoriously easy to disarm, just use some fire in that direction. Wooden spines that are solid wood will normally deal a good deal more than sticks!

It's anti-vamp that never runs out and isn't going to get disarmed, in a package that heals, has good prowl, and climbing ability. All at 7 feet tall, shorter than any of the heavy ones mentioned.

if difficulty to repair is a concern, automatic dodge is amazing. it lets you maintain your offense while still being able to avoid damage. so i recommend you look into getting a PA with automatic dodge, and maybe even a hand-to-hand skill that offers some bonuses to it if you can manage to pull that off. getting a force field (TW or otherwise) installed is also a great idea, but if you don't have anyone to do that, i'd stick with the automatic dodge plan, since there is power armour that will give you that without needing special modifications.

Chitin bioarmor is nice in being magic, self healy, and having auto-dodge. No wood bonus against vamps, of course.


Though obviously, both bio ones require Lemurian contacts...


--

Autododge is nice, though usually comes with a tradeoff. The available ones with it are just the Prophet, Mantis, some Kittani ones, and some bio-armors. Prophet and Mantis are fairly light armored, Kittani ones are alien made and hard to repair when the repair bill does come, and the bio ones require being a lemurian or lemurian ally.

[Shark_Force]

sticks aren't particularly harder to disarm you of than most other things (if you want to destroy it instantly, you'd better be using MD fire... and MD fire can also damage other things). and vampires don't have any inherent access to fire.

plus, considering you are almost guaranteed to want to leave it embedded inside your enemy at some point, having it not attached to you is actually an advantage. at most, i'd say this is reason to carry more than one stick, which you already wanted to do anyways.

self-healing armour sounds much more useful, but i'd probably recommend the chitin option if it's available... again, your armour being made of wood is not a major advantage. your armour giving you autododge *is* a major advantage (and gives you much higher effective MDC than it might initially appear to).

[Kagashi]

Are we going to assign a height maximum or something for this? I assume a Glitter Boy would be too big but there's a lot of gray area in between.

We both know its a robot anyway.

[Kagashi]

I'm not very familiar with Robot Pilots or Power Armor in Rifts, but I'm helping a friend make a character for our Rifts game. From what the GM's told me, we'll be in the El Paso, South West area, and probably go up against a lot of Vampires.

The GM's hinted that large robots would be a bad idea, so I'm trying to find a human sized suit of Power Armor for my friend. The GM's been pretty free with allowing things so far, so I don't think there will be many restrictions on what he can take. What are some of your favorites? Also, is just taking Robot Pilot OCC the best way to go, or are there better options out there?

I've been thinking about using the Silverhawk Power Armor, but it seems like that would suck once it got damaged.

I recommend playing either an Operator, Techno Wizard, or Psi-Tech in this campaign. Just make sure to take pilot RPA, Combat Elite, WP Heavy, Weapon Systems, and Weapons Engineer skills. That way, you get better bonuses than a standard power armor pilot AND you can fix/modify your own stuff when it gets damaged. You will be playing in a remote part of Rifts Earth...do not set yourself up for failure by not allowing your stuff to be fixed.

Good luck getting a Phase World PA on Rifts Earth. I dont think any GM worth his salt is going to allow that. It would throw the dynamics of Rifts Earth off having a PA that reach space...plus every tech nation on the planet will be hunting you down to obtain the alien tech.

I am a fan of the Serpent PA because of its auto dodge feature, but since you are out west, something like a Wild Weasel or Sidewinder SAMAS would be readily available and easily repaired. Anything from Northern Gun would work too...they are very common and easy to repair. I wouldnt pick anything too exotic, youll have to defend yourself from thieves and PA snatchers as much as Vampires.

As for weapon systems, I would not gear it specifically for Vampires. Yes they may be a threat, but if you bring a water gun to a dragon fight, you are going to lose. And the chances of going up against a vampire vs everything else are not that great of odds. Pick your PA based on how well it can hold up against any situation, then alter a secondary weapon system geared to vampires. Since you are remote, I recommend something with an infinite payload for the main weapon. That way you are not nickling and diming yourself just to reload. Regardless, investing in a Naruni Forcefield and tying it to the PA main power source is a good investment. It will save you expensive repairs in the long run if the FF takes most of the damage up front.

[flatline]

Anything from Northern Gun would work too...they are very common and easy to repair.

How common can something be if it costs millions of credits in a setting where you're lucky to eek out a thousand or two a month?

--flatline

[say652]

After some trolling, I suggest...
SHOP PALLADIAN STEEL!!

[Q99]

sticks aren't particularly harder to disarm you of than most other things (if you want to destroy it instantly, you'd better be using MD fire... and MD fire can also damage other things). and vampires don't have any inherent access to fire.

Single point of MD area effect, or even a good SDC fire, and all you carry go woosh. And not inherent, but some are pretty smart.

As opposed to, well, the full armor capacity of the suit.

self-healing armour sounds much more useful, but i'd probably recommend the chitin option if it's available... again, your armour being made of wood is not a major advantage. your armour giving you autododge *is* a major advantage (and gives you much higher effective MDC than it might initially appear to).

True enough.

[Kagashi]

Anything from Northern Gun would work too...they are very common and easy to repair.

How common can something be if it costs millions of credits in a setting where you're lucky to eek out a thousand or two a month?

--flatline

Considering we are talking about power armors here, for less than 1 million cr, you can walk away with a brand new Samson. Thats pretty gorram cheap. I think the Terrain Hopper is the only other true Power Armor less than 1 million credits (Not counting exo-suits or SDC suits). Among the different major PA manufacturers, Northern Gun is pretty much accepted everywhere. For example, that means the CS will not immediately attack you if they see you (like they would with stolen CS gear, Kittani, or Naruni gear). This means parts are more readily available and more common to come across in both the open and black markets.

Anyway, if you pick one of the three OCCs I recommended, you can do the repairs yourself and you are not paying labor for some country bumpkin repair man. That saves money too.

[Kagashi]

Oh, I forgot...

Look into the Medieval Power Armor in the Black Vault Sourcebook (p32). Its awesome. It self-regenerates, requires no piloting skill to use, and has some pretty impressive spells (which hurt vampires and everything else). Ive always wanted to use one, but too many GMs are afraid of it. They can potentially fly, make absolutely no sound and have some awesome offensive spells.

[Shark_Force]

sticks aren't particularly harder to disarm you of than most other things (if you want to destroy it instantly, you'd better be using MD fire... and MD fire can also damage other things). and vampires don't have any inherent access to fire.

Single point of MD area effect, or even a good SDC fire, and all you carry go woosh. And not inherent, but some are pretty smart.

As opposed to, well, the full armor capacity of the suit.

so buy a carrying case and keep a few extras. and in any event, AOE damage is assumed to only affect the main body and that's it. otherwise almost anyone not wearing environmental body armour *also* dies from a single point of AOE MD.

[wyrmraker]

There is something to be said though about killing your opponent when you are 4 miles out of their range. Short range missiles is a pretty huge advantage and not many power armors have them. There are a couple but they tend to be dedicated missile platforms like the samson missile man. I am not sure if I recall any other light flying power armor that has any short range missiles.

Only if your GM lets you target ground targets 5 miles away with Radar...

If I were the GM, I certainly wouldn't.

--flatline

There's an important detail I think needs to be mentioned. Northern Gun 2, p. 61:
Features Common to All NG Power Armor:
2. Radar: Can identify and track up to 72 targets simultaneously
at a range of 40 miles (64 km).

Which means that yes, with those RAW stats, the GM should let me target ground targets at 1/8 my maximum radar range. If the GM doesn't. there'd better be a darn good reason for it. And claiming that it's only good for aerial targets isn't appropriate, since the rule doesn't differentiate between the ground and air (I disagree with the rule personally, but Palladium is well known for cutting corners), and even if the GM IS allowing for the difference between ground and air, 1/8 the NG PA's maximum radar range should fall well inside of surface to surface detection.

Conversely, it also means that an enemy with a similar system can see the character with their own sensor array.

[Kagashi]

There is something to be said though about killing your opponent when you are 4 miles out of their range. Short range missiles is a pretty huge advantage and not many power armors have them. There are a couple but they tend to be dedicated missile platforms like the samson missile man. I am not sure if I recall any other light flying power armor that has any short range missiles.

Only if your GM lets you target ground targets 5 miles away with Radar...

If I were the GM, I certainly wouldn't.

--flatline

There's an important detail I think needs to be mentioned. Northern Gun 2, p. 61:
Features Common to All NG Power Armor:
2. Radar: Can identify and track up to 72 targets simultaneously
at a range of 40 miles (64 km).

Which means that yes, with those RAW stats, the GM should let me target ground targets at 1/8 my maximum radar range. If the GM doesn't. there'd better be a darn good reason for it. And claiming that it's only good for aerial targets isn't appropriate, since the rule doesn't differentiate between the ground and air (I disagree with the rule personally, but Palladium is well known for cutting corners), and even if the GM IS allowing for the difference between ground and air, 1/8 the NG PA's maximum radar range should fall well inside of surface to surface detection.

Conversely, it also means that an enemy with a similar system can see the character with their own sensor array.

He can prolly use the RAW from page 41 in GMG which states that in open flat land, radars only detects flying objects and people as low as 50 feet. So at 49 feet and below, good luck getting a lock with radar at all.

[flatline]

Do you let nightvision see through walls? After all, RAW gives it a range and doesn't say anything about being blocked by walls...

[say652]

I would say yes heat signatures are visible through walls up to max range.

[wyrmraker]

Nightvision doesn't see through walls. It uses the infrared spectrum to see in the dark. Thermal scopes see actual heat, which is not infrared light.

[Q99]

Only if it's paper thin walls. If you see heat, then, well, walls have heat!

[wyrmraker]

Only if it's paper thin walls. If you see heat, then, well, walls have heat!

That actually depends on the thermal scope (look in Juicer Uprising for those), the walls, and the weather (if a building is heated and the exterior is cold, it's quite difficult to get a positive reading on a target through a wall if the building is heated).

[flatline]

You guys missed my point. Just because RAW says something, it doesn't mean you have to play it that way if it contradicts how things really should work.

[flatline]

Thermal scopes see actual heat, which is not infrared light.

No, they don't. "Heat" is nowhere on the EM spectrum. Thermal scopes see black body radiation emitted from objects and the vast majority of black body radiation in the temperature range you typically run into in human compatible environments is, in fact, IR (or lower).

So if I'm standing behind a pane of glass, your thermal imager won't see me unless the glass is one of the rare kinds that transmits IR rather than absorbing it.

[eliakon]

You guys missed my point. Just because RAW says something, it doesn't mean you have to play it that way if it contradicts how things really should work.

Well yes that is why Rule 0 exists. If you don't like something you are free to change it at your table to something you like better.

That of course doesn't change how the RAW is. Which is usually the default for discussions since not everyone uses the same house rules but everyone does have the same RAW to work with.

[Kagashi]

You guys missed my point. Just because RAW says something, it doesn't mean you have to play it that way if it contradicts how things really should work.

Well yes that is why Rule 0 exists. If you don't like something you are free to change it at your table to something you like better.

That of course doesn't change how the RAW is. Which is usually the default for discussions since not everyone uses the same house rules but everyone does have the same RAW to work with.

This has nothing to do with the Rule 0 cop out. All flatline is saying is, RAW only tells us the range of night vision. As the name implies...it allows you to see at night as you would normally during the day, at the RAW range listed...however, just as day vision works, if you stand 3 feet in front of a wall, you will never see through the wall to the max range listed. Gromek can see a mouse at 2 miles away...but not if that mouse is behind the wall...

Same with radar. All radar is, is a pulse hitting an object and being sent back to the receiver to create an electronic picture (which is similar to what your MK I eye ball does, only in the visible light spectrum). Using a radar on the ground, and trying to break out a ground object is like standing in front of that wall. The pulse eventually hits something and is returned well before the max range is obtained. This is why Palladium says even in an open field, you will never see anything on radar lower than 50 feet, regardless of range. Even if you were in the air looking down on the open field, the pulse hits the target and paints a green dot on the screen for you to see...problem is, its painting a green dot on the screen for all the grass, rocks, sand, trees, and entire earth too, creating nothing but a giant green screen, especially if the target isnt moving.

Now, there are look down, shoot down radars that exist, and ground mapping radars that exist IRL, utilizing computer technology breaking out changes from one sweep to another, but I have yet to see Palladium stat one out. Until that happens, all radars work the standard way and according to the blanket game mechanic, you can never see anything under 50 feet in optimal conditions.

To get this thread back on topic, mini-missiles that you have to visually acquire targets with, would be a better weapon system for this proposed power armor.

[Jorick]

You guys missed my point. Just because RAW says something, it doesn't mean you have to play it that way if it contradicts how things really should work.

Well yes that is why Rule 0 exists. If you don't like something you are free to change it at your table to something you like better.

That of course doesn't change how the RAW is. Which is usually the default for discussions since not everyone uses the same house rules but everyone does have the same RAW to work with.

This has nothing to do with the Rule 0 cop out. All flatline is saying is, RAW only tells us the range of night vision. As the name implies...it allows you to see at night as you would normally during the day, at the RAW range listed...however, just as day vision works, if you stand 3 feet in front of a wall, you will never see through the wall to the max range listed. Gromek can see a mouse at 2 miles away...but not if that mouse is behind the wall...

Same with radar. All radar is, is a pulse hitting an object and being sent back to the receiver to create an electronic picture (which is similar to what your MK I eye ball does, only in the visible light spectrum). Using a radar on the ground, and trying to break out a ground object is like standing in front of that wall. The pulse eventually hits something and is returned well before the max range is obtained. This is why Palladium says even in an open field, you will never see anything on radar lower than 50 feet, regardless of range. Even if you were in the air looking down on the open field, the pulse hits the target and paints a green dot on the screen for you to see...problem is, its painting a green dot on the screen for all the grass, rocks, sand, trees, and entire earth too, creating nothing but a giant green screen, especially if the target isnt moving.

Now, there are look down, shoot down radars that exist, and ground mapping radars that exist IRL, utilizing computer technology breaking out changes from one sweep to another, but I have yet to see Palladium stat one out. Until that happens, all radars work the standard way and according to the blanket game mechanic, you can never see anything under 50 feet in optimal conditions.

To get this thread back on topic, mini-missiles that you have to visually acquire targets with, would be a better weapon system for this proposed power armor.

I prefer to get a bit more sci-fi with the "radar" in game. Radar can be taken to mean any number of active and passive systems that detect radio or other EM waves passively (like an eye) or actively (basically your traditional send out a signal and wait for return thing). Radar can include more than traditional "radio wavelength" to include things used today like Lidar, etc. At the very least, we can assume a more complicated set of information than a simple ground based dish antenna radar ping system from the movies.

If we can map archaeological dig sites many feet under solid ground, and we can track multiple targets over time, over a broad spectrum, even today, then we can translate that into some future tech that allows us to find moving targets in forests (for instance).

It's not just green dots anymore, even in real life. And even when it is green dots, what matters is that the object is moving, and that it reflects the wave differently than the surrounding environment. Metal is much more reflective than air. The reason we can map things underground (a little) is that some substances reflect the waves differently than other substances (though all the substances have a significant effect on the wave). A little trial and error and we start to understand what specific substances "look like" when hit by a specific wavelength.

Everything may look fuzzy on the screen, but it is conceivable that a power armor moving through trees will produce an image when "pinged" a lot by multiple waves over time. There are no doubt limitations, and I wouldn't let players just see through everything always, or even see a power armor moving through heavy forest. But I wouldn't let someone shoot multiple mini-missiles through those trees without them hitting trees either.

I think if the missile can get to you, you should be able to track it via radar, regardless of altitude or surrounding shrubbery. If you're in a small room, and you're a wolfen quatorian, and someone is trying to sneak up on you from behind, your "radar" gives you a good picture of that person behind you. If you have a full suite of other sensors, covering a large range of the spectrum, you should be able to see through a lot of things, and this information should be processable by your targeting computer in conjunction with all the other information, thus letting you attack those things (shooting through SDC wall accurately, for instance, the missile exploding only after breaching the wall, or perhaps even painting a target for a smart missile that can maneuver around a wall/find some way on its own to get to the painted target--which I think even today we're developing, or have to some extent, the tech for).

[kaid]

Well melee gets brought up because to actually finish off a vampire you are going to wind up having to get up into hand to hand. So getting something that is well equipped for that eventuality is useful. The dedicated anti vampire/monster NG power armor is really nice. It gives you a lot of extra attacks of weapons strictly loaded with silver/wood rounds and has stake launchers to finish the deal. Things like the mantis and prophet are nice simply because auto dodge greatly enhances your survival rate while working to stake your target.

against a comatose target, you don't need particularly impressive melee skills to win. unless you're fighting an unreasonably large group of vampires, the rifle i mentioned above should enable you to relatively easily render vampires comatose. the robotic PS of just about any power armour should be more than enough to let you carry plenty of pointy sticks. so just knock them out, then while they're comatose you just move up (possibly throwing another burst occasionally if they look like they're getting up) and then stab them in the heart.

melee defense is important if they do manage to get up close to you, and i'm fine with investing in that. but there's really no need to invest extra in a PA for anti-vampire weapons. frankly, about the best weapon for melee against a vampire is a pointy stick unless they've changed the rules to where you don't have a good chance of just hitting their heart any more (used to be just a called shot iirc).

one thing about using ranged weapons vs vampires is I have never had particularly good luck staking one at any range even with the wood fletchette rail gun rounds. In my game experiences it usually winds up with bit of a wrestling match. The rail guns are good for knocking them down for a second or two but they don't stay down unless you get super lucky and get a sliver in their heart. Otherwise they are hopping backup in the next round or two so its difficult to close the gap long enough to stake and bake them without at least some hand to hand.

[kaid]

Honestly if your GM will let you lemurian "power armor" is probably some of the highest end undead fighting equipment you can get. One of the suits is living wood and can shoot wood and is considered magical so it allows you to punch the holy hell out of vampires and stake them. Also it has the advantages of it regenerates automatically over time so its pretty easy to keep tip top shape. Also if you get a lemurian armor get their bio energy weapons as those things are excellent for anti vampire operations.

Oh right, the Wood one! I tend to forget that because it's overall one of the worst, but against vampires, it's gold ^^

Yup its lack luster compared to the other suits except for the weird edge cases where you are going against things vulnerable to wood like vamps in which case its damn tough to beat if you can get one. Also because its one of the lower end suits its the one you are more likely to have easier time gaining access to them if you have interactions with lemurians or jungle elves.

[kaid]

what makes it good against vampires?

because if it's just the fact that it's made of wood, well, turns out that sticks are also made of wood, and provide for your melee-range anti-vampire damage needs quite handily.

Sticks are also notoriously easy to disarm, just use some fire in that direction. Wooden spines that are solid wood will normally deal a good deal more than sticks!

It's anti-vamp that never runs out and isn't going to get disarmed, in a package that heals, has good prowl, and climbing ability. All at 7 feet tall, shorter than any of the heavy ones mentioned.

if difficulty to repair is a concern, automatic dodge is amazing. it lets you maintain your offense while still being able to avoid damage. so i recommend you look into getting a PA with automatic dodge, and maybe even a hand-to-hand skill that offers some bonuses to it if you can manage to pull that off. getting a force field (TW or otherwise) installed is also a great idea, but if you don't have anyone to do that, i'd stick with the automatic dodge plan, since there is power armour that will give you that without needing special modifications.

Chitin bioarmor is nice in being magic, self healy, and having auto-dodge. No wood bonus against vamps, of course.


Though obviously, both bio ones require Lemurian contacts...


--

Autododge is nice, though usually comes with a tradeoff. The available ones with it are just the Prophet, Mantis, some Kittani ones, and some bio-armors. Prophet and Mantis are fairly light armored, Kittani ones are alien made and hard to repair when the repair bill does come, and the bio ones require being a lemurian or lemurian ally.

Well the jungle elves also have a version of it that is pretty similar to what the lemurians use so potentially available in trade if you have the right empathy skills to use them just from sources native to the americas. Also with the 10,000 lemurians being active with the vampire hunters in mexico its getting much easier to gain that contact with lemurians.


The wood armor is nice vs vampires because basically every attack it has does double damage vs vamps. I believe it has wood stake shooters built in so you have effectively unlimited amounts of wooden stakes that can also be used at a range. All the lemurian armor is really good vs vampires especially if they use the bio energy weapons but the wood one has the easiest time to at will setup the perma kill stake and bake situation. Magic damage of the other ones is great and the bio energy weapons rip vampires up but you still need to stake them to fully immobilize and then do the decapitation fire routine.

All the lemurian equipment is pretty well suited for long term anti vampire operations in the wilderness so you really can't go wrong with any of it.

[kaid]

Anything from Northern Gun would work too...they are very common and easy to repair.

How common can something be if it costs millions of credits in a setting where you're lucky to eek out a thousand or two a month?

--flatline

Considering we are talking about power armors here, for less than 1 million cr, you can walk away with a brand new Samson. Thats pretty gorram cheap. I think the Terrain Hopper is the only other true Power Armor less than 1 million credits (Not counting exo-suits or SDC suits). Among the different major PA manufacturers, Northern Gun is pretty much accepted everywhere. For example, that means the CS will not immediately attack you if they see you (like they would with stolen CS gear, Kittani, or Naruni gear). This means parts are more readily available and more common to come across in both the open and black markets.

Anyway, if you pick one of the three OCCs I recommended, you can do the repairs yourself and you are not paying labor for some country bumpkin repair man. That saves money too.

NG2 actually has a pretty sizable amount of options sub 1 million CR and even more if you are willing to go with the long duration battery powered or more likely solid oxide engines. The solid ox engines are pretty dang nice for power armor for the ones that can have it each fuel load is probably half a year of normal operation fuel wise for a power armor. Even when used full tilt its still like a month and a half or two months of 24/7 usage.

[Shark_Force]

Well melee gets brought up because to actually finish off a vampire you are going to wind up having to get up into hand to hand. So getting something that is well equipped for that eventuality is useful. The dedicated anti vampire/monster NG power armor is really nice. It gives you a lot of extra attacks of weapons strictly loaded with silver/wood rounds and has stake launchers to finish the deal. Things like the mantis and prophet are nice simply because auto dodge greatly enhances your survival rate while working to stake your target.

against a comatose target, you don't need particularly impressive melee skills to win. unless you're fighting an unreasonably large group of vampires, the rifle i mentioned above should enable you to relatively easily render vampires comatose. the robotic PS of just about any power armour should be more than enough to let you carry plenty of pointy sticks. so just knock them out, then while they're comatose you just move up (possibly throwing another burst occasionally if they look like they're getting up) and then stab them in the heart.

melee defense is important if they do manage to get up close to you, and i'm fine with investing in that. but there's really no need to invest extra in a PA for anti-vampire weapons. frankly, about the best weapon for melee against a vampire is a pointy stick unless they've changed the rules to where you don't have a good chance of just hitting their heart any more (used to be just a called shot iirc).

one thing about using ranged weapons vs vampires is I have never had particularly good luck staking one at any range even with the wood fletchette rail gun rounds. In my game experiences it usually winds up with bit of a wrestling match. The rail guns are good for knocking them down for a second or two but they don't stay down unless you get super lucky and get a sliver in their heart. Otherwise they are hopping backup in the next round or two so its difficult to close the gap long enough to stake and bake them without at least some hand to hand.

you're not staking them at range. you're putting them so far under that you have time to get up close and stake them in melee before they get back up. unless the update changed things, a typical vampire has 2d4x10 HP, average 50. a 3-round burst from a high-powered rifle will do 2d6x10+6 damage, average 76, *base* (i seem to recall silver bullets dealing double to vampires, so make that 4d6x10+12, average 152, if true). now, vampires regenerate quickly. but if you put them ~100 HP below 0, and are wearing a decently mobile suit of power armour, you should be able to close range before they get back up no problem. even if the damage is not doubled or the HP is higher, they regenerate something like 2d6 per round. that's fast.. if they get away, they'll be right back to not having a scratch in under an hour, probably under half an hour, even. but if you can put them under by a large amount, you will have time to get there and stake them well before they get back up, whether your bullet lodged in their heart or not.

and if you're really concerned, shoot them while they're down to put them further under.

[say652]

Supernatural strength and their natural abilities make H2H with vampires not recommended.

[Dog_O_War]

The Flying Titan is my personal favorite, and it's the closest to human-size AND it's still a flying PA (better bonuses with RC:E).

If you're looking to clock some gear as well, use a Bandit Bigbore shotgun; it knocks vamps down, you can use it one-handed, and you can load it with silver rounds, which means it also does damage to vampires.

Also get a silvered Naruni Ripper vibro-claw; best damage you're gonna get without a ton of magic.

And you definitely want a flying PA; one or two vampires won't be able to weigh you down, so if you're in some real trouble, you can always go fly into a lake or something.

[Tor]

What's RC:E?

[Dog_O_War]

What's RC:E?

Robot Combat: Elite.

[Crow Splat]

the Naruni Enforcer PA (I think that's what its called) the "Law Enforcement" one, the forearm foam guns can shoot water (gives damage for vamps), the grenade launchers can use anti-vamp grenades, not sure how well the stunner would work (don't have books handy). Good PA IMHO, I've always liked it, as a general purpose PA and because it has lots of non-lethal options you can switch to as needed. The foam attack is great - foam the targets in place then hit them with the grenades or lasers

The most appealing aspect of this PA for me is the gravity field sensor system. There are lots of ways to effectively blind other sensor systems with magic or other means but this one is the most bomb proof one I know of.

Against vamps it would be most useful for seeing in the dark and detecting hidden entrances to vampire lairs. A solid choice in my book.

[Kagashi]

If you want flight and auto dodge, and your GM is letting you pick anything, check out cyclones from Robotech. Course you will have to figure out the whole lack of Protoculture as fuel issue, but you can not only fly, but have auto dodge.

[Tor]

I don't suppose there are any explanations on how to use electricity or gas or nuclear instead of protoculture in Robotech?

[Shark_Force]

there were in the old conversion book iirc.

i'd be inclined to take away the automatic dodge from cyclones without protoculture personally. it's a primary ingredient in giving better reflexes to mecha pilots in the setting.

[Jorick]

I don't suppose there are any explanations on how to use electricity or gas or nuclear instead of protoculture in Robotech?

It's impossible according to Robotech canon. The protoculture is a necessary element of the mecha. However...the other anime's upon which Robotech is based, or to which it is related, don't use protoculture, and use nuclear fusion (not fission) instead. Also, the protoculture apparently works like a long term heat generating "cell" which makes it similar to, perhaps, the miniature nuclear (who knows what exactly) power sources found in Rifts.

[Jorick]

there were in the old conversion book iirc.

i'd be inclined to take away the automatic dodge from cyclones without protoculture personally. it's a primary ingredient in giving better reflexes to mecha pilots in the setting.

Wow. Yes. I have that. -two attacks and -half dodge bonus for nuclear or tw conversion (doesnt mention auto dodge...but that makes sense too). Also, weapon systems with finite ammo must be replaced. On the plus side, lots of MDC can be added (100-300 for mechs depending on size, +50 MDC for a cyclone).

[glitterboy2098]

I don't suppose there are any explanations on how to use electricity or gas or nuclear instead of protoculture in Robotech?

It's impossible according to Robotech canon. The protoculture is a necessary element of the mecha. However...the other anime's upon which Robotech is based, or to which it is related, don't use protoculture, and use nuclear fusion (not fission) instead. Also, the protoculture apparently works like a long term heat generating "cell" which makes it similar to, perhaps, the miniature nuclear (who knows what exactly) power sources found in Rifts.

not true. the macross and master's period human mecha use SLMF fusion, not protoculture. in the RPG, like the show, protoculture provides no mystical benefit, it's just a fuel. the only advantage it gives in the RPG is longer operational time between refueling (a VF-1 can go for a week on a couple hundred gallons of SLMH. and Alpha can go a month on only about 2 gallons of PC.)

and going by the dialog in the show, protoculture is molecule extracted from the reproductive spores of the flower of life. not a heat source or battery.

[Jorick]

I don't suppose there are any explanations on how to use electricity or gas or nuclear instead of protoculture in Robotech?

It's impossible according to Robotech canon. The protoculture is a necessary element of the mecha. However...the other anime's upon which Robotech is based, or to which it is related, don't use protoculture, and use nuclear fusion (not fission) instead. Also, the protoculture apparently works like a long term heat generating "cell" which makes it similar to, perhaps, the miniature nuclear (who knows what exactly) power sources found in Rifts.

not true. the macross and master's period human mecha use SLMF fusion, not protoculture. in the RPG, like the show, protoculture provides no mystical benefit, it's just a fuel. the only advantage it gives in the RPG is longer operational time between refueling (a VF-1 can go for a week on a couple hundred gallons of SLMH. and Alpha can go a month on only about 2 gallons of PC.)

and going by the dialog in the show, protoculture is molecule extracted from the reproductive spores of the flower of life. not a heat source or battery.

Macross is what I referred to as "the other animes upon which Robotech is based." Macross is not Robotech. Protoculture does not exist in Macross. It is a binding agent of the otherwise and previously unrelated series which became Robotech (which is an American series combining three separate Japanese Animes, of which Macross is one).

In Robotech, protoculture is central, and not replaceable. It is the element which allows for the tech which is called Robotech. This is reflected also in the original Conversion book (as was pointed out by Shark Force).

Whatever benefit protoculture gives, aside from being necessary for the technology, is not expressed at all in the show. The way it works is not expressed. It just is, and it is, as far as we can tell, one with the everything that makes veritechs possible. However, the "heat generation" thing I mentioned is some deep nerd stuff others have gleaned from other sources (like a novel or comic book) supported, apparently, by the (American) series' creator.

Your mileage may vary. I tried to illustrate, much as you seem to be trying to do, that there doesn't seem to be much necessary difference between protoculture and the power sources in Rifts.

[glitterboy2098]

not talking about SDF:macross.

i said the macross saga.

macross saga is the first part of robotech. with rick and roy and such.
masters saga is the 2nd part, with Dana and zor and the like.

and HG is the ones that went with the fusion bit for those two generations. when they junked all the old products and established the unified canon prior to the release of Shadow Chronicles, they got rid of protoculture being required for mecha. about the only thing it's still required for is to power fold drives. no mystical element, no psuedo-psionic man-machine link, no performance enhancement.

it's just an exotic alien fuel now.