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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've always like the NG-EX10 Gladius Light Exo-Skeleton suit in the Merc's book. p101. It gives a little boost to PS some decent armor and isn't huge. It can also be tweaked enough to help it provide a little more boost. Especially if you have a TW handy or Operator who can tweak it a little bit.

Another nice light smaller suit is T-21 Terrain Hopper Power Armor. Bit more expensive, but still a great choice.

Where are the rules for tweaking it? What's the best you could make it?

Godslayer wrote:Where are the rules for tweaking it? What's the best you could make it?

I was speaking about the standard RUE rules for Operators and Techno-Wizards. Although what is possible is really be up to the player and GM.

If it was a game I was playing in, I would look at improving speed. Perhaps adding a few built in sensor systems, communication systems and maybe even weapon systems. If I had the money, building in a Naurni based Force Field or TW based Armor of Ithan shield would be a given.

Most of that is by the book. If I got crazy and was a magic or Psi based character and had the money, I would go hog wild on TW Modifications to make me as tough as possible.

The Japanese Stealth Power Armor.
Add in a flight system and badoom! Robotic strength good mdc stealth and a flight system.

Best bang for the buck.

Add in light bionic conversion and japanese hand to hand of choice(Akido?!?!) The Japanese police occ and you have a ready made Mdc onion SuperCop.

Japanese PA are kinda.... hard to find in North America.

Ii think that suggestions should be kept to north american made designs.

My suggestion is the Sampson. Its fast, rugged, has good firepower, fairly common, and best of all, its weapons are easily adaptable to using anti-vampire ammo.

Title was best. Js.

For SOUTH AMERICAN pa the best is the Solar power armor. South America book2.
No stealth though but fast, flies four hundred miles per hour and has an awesome plasma field weapon system.

I have been Gming South America adventures for like a year now and for exotic things including phase tech equippe Mercs, read the Cibola section again Yo.

I'm particularly fond of the one in Juicer Uprising that comes with a true ranged stun weapon.

I really liked the jk series. Kinda what started my numerous failed attempts at creating a decent AI Robot.

Silverhawk Attack ExoSkeleton
MDC
Main body 420 With correspondingly high MDC elsewhere. (I'm not typing the entire thing out to get in trouble)
Speed: Running 70mph
Flying: Mach 2 (Which will out fly most things on the planet. That's 1522mph. The CS SuperSam can do 500mph if memory serves)
Flying: Space Mach 12 which is 9134mph
Altitude, unlimited. Uses contragravity system so it can achieve orbit.
Range: Unlimited. Contragravity system doesn't overheat.
PS of 50
Weapons:
Multi Rifle
HI Laser 2d4X10 Range 10,000ft
Particle beam: 3D6X10 Range 2,000 ft
At short range you can shoot both the above 4d6X10+20md
Grenades: varies with type.
Payload. UNLIMITED With laser or Pbeam. 200 grenades. (yes 200)
Wing mini missles
1D4 or 1D6X10, payload 16
Six Shooters(Gravity guns on each wrist)
5D6 md, 80 bursts each
Force field Disruptor

Stealth Systems like a Predator.

MD Hand to hand combat, with a list of bonuses 8 lines deep.


By and large, that PA is going to do quite well.

Godslayer wrote: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 always liked Terrain Hopper.

Pepsi Jedi wrote:Silverhawk Attack ExoSkeleton
MDC
Main body 420 With correspondingly high MDC elsewhere. (I'm not typing the entire thing out to get in trouble)
Speed: Running 70mph
Flying: Mach 2 (Which will out fly most things on the planet. That's 1522mph. The CS SuperSam can do 500mph if memory serves)
Flying: Space Mach 12 which is 9134mph
Altitude, unlimited. Uses contragravity system so it can achieve orbit.
Range: Unlimited. Contragravity system doesn't overheat.
PS of 50
Weapons:
Multi Rifle
HI Laser 2d4X10 Range 10,000ft
Particle beam: 3D6X10 Range 2,000 ft
At short range you can shoot both the above 4d6X10+20md
Grenades: varies with type.
Payload. UNLIMITED With laser or Pbeam. 200 grenades. (yes 200)
Wing mini missles
1D4 or 1D6X10, payload 16
Six Shooters(Gravity guns on each wrist)
5D6 md, 80 bursts each
Force field Disruptor

Stealth Systems like a Predator.

MD Hand to hand combat, with a list of bonuses 8 lines deep.


By and large, that PA is going to do quite well.

Now we're talking. Love the silverhawk. Now six in the chest of a BattleRam...

What is the Best Human-sized Power Armor?

That depends on a variety of factors that basically come down to: what you want it to do?

Some Power Armor designs are better than others at certain things:
-a Flying Titan PA can carry SRMs, not many (flying/non-flying) power armor can do that IINM, but it is also light on armor and a strong punch in a sustainable way (ie guns, though it can be rectified). So what type of weapons do you want and or need (if fighting vampires your going to need the proper tools)?
-A few Kittani Power Armor designs are so maneuverable they have Auto-Dodge (put a pilot with high PP and additional auto-dodge bonuses...), which is rare for Power Armor. None of them can fly, but they have fairly decent running speeds. So from a maneuverability standpoint how maneuverable to you want to go and in what way (flight capable?). Baseline AD in the few PA that have them aren't very high, so w/o PP and additional AD bonuses, you might be better off with a non-AD capable PA.
-combat style. Some power armor have different combat styles. Which can influence how well a given suit will perform. Take it out of its element, and you'll have problems.
-Techno-Wizardry/magic. Can your pilot use these features? (allows for customization, but there are a few TW PAs out there).
-how exotic do you want to go? Human-NA, Human-Rifts Earth, D-Bee/Alien, Phaseworld, etc?

For the most part, Robot/PowerArmor Pilot OCCs don't offer any bonus over other classes that simply pick up the necessary skills (Pilot Robot & PA, RC: Elite). The one obvious advantage is you don't have to spend the skills to get them, so depending on what the player wants the character to be able to do skill wise, it may or may not be the best choice. Glitterboy Pilot OCC is one exception (it only applies when piloting Glitterboys), the Psi-Tech (in Psycape WB12 IIRC) is another that can provide better bonuses to a pilot over the skills.

South America 2 has two good ones, the Empire of the Sun's Nazca armor, which incorporates magic. This gives it some self-repair ability, ability to hurt things vulnerable to magic, and is unusual in being HtH focused. This is pretty useful against Vampires, as one may imagine.

The Megaversal Legion's Counterstrike armor, which is a flier that has an inertia shield that helps block physical attacks, is another good one, it has all kinds of firepower. It does have the disadvantage of being plotwise tied to a specific group too.

Though, hm, are were looking for *human* human sized? A lot of the highest end ones- these two, the Silverhawk, the Kittani Serpent (with it's cool auto-dodge), etc.- are about 10 feet tall or even more.

Stealth pa from japan.
Turn your light borg in to a robot swat officer.

Given the location most likely models will come from NG, or bandito.
CS SF samas is good but you would wind up spending allot in missiles.
To far from anzo to be likely to have access to the jackrabbit PA from there.

Samson is not a bad model, NG and no CS flack.

Chipenwell makes a anti vampire PA that is cheep.

The problem with fighting vampires is that can be hard to seal the deal. I do not know of any official PA that has the ability to do that on its own.

If you want something for fighting vampires specifically, I'd suggest the Demon Slayer power armor from Northern Gun book 2 (page 83-88).
You've got twin automated mini-gun arms, that are designed to be able to fire wooden or silver rounds and gain attacks of their own. Dual silvered vibro-swords. Hydraulic silver stake impaler melee weapon. Wooden stake holder/launcher.
It's not super heavily armored, but it has some nice combat bonuses and would be reasonably useful against normal targets.

The Firefighter power armor from the same book is noted as being able to fight vampires as well due to the big ole water cannon.

Columbia battery pa and vampire gear, I also recommend a Juicer enhancement.
Vamps are way way tougher in melee than you think.

say652 wrote:Vamps are way way tougher in melee than you think.

One reason I recommend the Nazca, it's quite well suited for the role.

say652 wrote:Columbia battery pa and vampire gear, I also recommend a Juicer enhancement.
Vamps are way way tougher in melee than you think.

Where do I read about Juicer enhancements?

Godslayer wrote:Where do I read about Juicer enhancements?

Juicer Uprising has the best variety. Though juicers are rarely power armor users, so I'd skip it.

The Warlock Marine PA is a great choice.
Though I am particularly fond of The Defender (J.A.P.E. II) from Juicer Uprising. (Less fond of the changes made to it in NG2)

However my choice for a 'Blank Canvas' PA for upgrading over time is the Flying Titan.
It is one of the few PAs that allows you to equip SRMs instead of just Minis, and has wing mounted lasers (minimal damage, but still), and relatively cheap as far as flying PAs go.
But after some simple upgrades, like a pair of FIWS, a Naruni Force Field, and a weapon link to power energy weapons or light railguns, you are off to the races, so to speak.

Godslayer wrote:

say652 wrote:Columbia battery pa and vampire gear, I also recommend a Juicer enhancement.
Vamps are way way tougher in melee than you think.

Where do I read about Juicer enhancements?

Also, the Ultra Crazy is a suitable mega juicer knockoff plus psionics and holygeez level healing. Since crazies get an autododge as well....
I would recommend a Delphi or Hyperion for a power armor pilot juicer.
The pheaton has better machine bonuses but the hyperion is a lil bit quicker or the psionics of the delphi make them superior imho.

I like getting something modest and TWing the hell out of it myself. Makes for great shcok and awe when you kick the SAMA behind with a chipwell suit

Probably depends what you want it to do although silverhawk is very much on the high end of the capability spectrum for power armor. Downside is difficult to repair/reequip as it would be considered alien tech unless you have a three galaxies operator to maintain it.

For standard power armor I am a big fan of things like the aurora blazer/terrain hopper. The former is the NG's entry into the light power armor fast hoppers and its really very nice. Good amount of armor/high mobility/high speed and the universal power connector means swapping out weaponry is fast and easy for any kind of hand held energy weapon and all of this for a pretty modest cost.


The prophet from NG2 is also very nice good speed/good armor/advanced optics and gives auto dodge all at a very reasonable cost and from a open market manufacturer.

Northern Gun has the Demon Hunter. It's not as overall powerful as some, but it's loaded with anti-vampire weaponry.

kaid wrote:The prophet from NG2 is also very nice good speed/good armor/advanced optics and gives auto dodge all at a very reasonable cost and from a open market manufacturer.

The NG Mantis from the same book gives auto-dodge too, while being more melee-focused.



--
Of course, Northern Gun suits lack the protection or firepower of some of the alien or really advanced models, but as mentioned, there's advantages to having an open market manufacturer.

Q99 wrote:Northern Gun has the Demon Hunter. It's not as overall powerful as some, but it's loaded with anti-vampire weaponry.

kaid wrote:The prophet from NG2 is also very nice good speed/good armor/advanced optics and gives auto dodge all at a very reasonable cost and from a open market manufacturer.

The NG Mantis from the same book gives auto-dodge too, while being more melee-focused.



--
Of course, Northern Gun suits lack the protection or firepower of some of the alien or really advanced models, but as mentioned, there's advantages to having an open market manufacturer.

Doesnt the Vampire Sourcebook have what is essentially a Fire Fighter PA that uses water to decimate vampires?

And there is a Chipwell Anti-Vamp PA in Merc Ops if I recall.

Then again if you have the Arnzo silver Chainsaw & Grenade Launcher combo weapon any PA is an anti-vampire PA....

13eowulf wrote:

Q99 wrote:Northern Gun has the Demon Hunter. It's not as overall powerful as some, but it's loaded with anti-vampire weaponry.

kaid wrote:The prophet from NG2 is also very nice good speed/good armor/advanced optics and gives auto dodge all at a very reasonable cost and from a open market manufacturer.

The NG Mantis from the same book gives auto-dodge too, while being more melee-focused.



--
Of course, Northern Gun suits lack the protection or firepower of some of the alien or really advanced models, but as mentioned, there's advantages to having an open market manufacturer.

Doesnt the Vampire Sourcebook have what is essentially a Fire Fighter PA that uses water to decimate vampires?

And there is a Chipwell Anti-Vamp PA in Merc Ops if I recall.

Then again if you have the Arnzo silver Chainsaw & Grenade Launcher combo weapon any PA is an anti-vampire PA....

Yes and I believe that is reprinted in NG2 as well. It is very good if you want to focus on vampire hunting. Also the mantis is a pretty good option if you are monster hunting coat the blades with silver its a highly melee oriented auto dodging rapidly bouncing mech.

If you've got an accommodating GM, take a look at Host Armor from Splicers. Even a moderate amount of Bio-E can create armor that is extremely competitive with anything available in NA.

Also, check out the demon armor from Mercenaries. It might make you crazy and evil, but it'll get the job done.

flatline wrote:If you've got an accommodating GM, take a look at Host Armor from Splicers. Even a moderate amount of Bio-E can create armor that is extremely competitive with anything available in NA.

They are quite powerful, but take more number-crunching to design.


Though as an alternative to that, there's Lemurian Bioarmor, which has a variety of nice models (including flying ones with autododge, or tough melee tanks), is magic and thus better against vampires, and, nicely, even has a reason to be in Mexico, the Lemurians hate vampires and have been assisting vampire hunters.

Chitin or Crustacian armor are both good choices.

Flying titan is cheap. Get an NG 404 with silver rounds and a stake driver gauntlet.

Alrik Vas wrote:Flying titan is cheap. Get an NG 404 with silver rounds and a stake driver gauntlet.

The 404 requires SNPS 30 to operate, the flying titan has augmented PS 24, that is a terrible idea.

I think when talking 'best,' we need to go beyond 'cheap.'

I mean, the Flying Titan isn't bad at all for what it is, but even if we limited things to 'American available flying power armors that don't use alien or otherwise hard to repair tech' there is a number of stronger options.

Fine, a 202

And if they're looking for silly then go Silverhawk, it's the.obvious choice.

The thing that makes the Flying Titan awesome is that it can carry Short Range missiles instead of just Mini-Missiles.......

eliakon wrote:The thing that makes the Flying Titan awesome is that it can carry Short Range missiles instead of just Mini-Missiles.......

Which is nice, but it's not the only one that can do so (maybe the only flying or so small, but Triax has missile armed armors), and besides, that's a limited use system, and there's a lot more to PA than missiles.

Also keep in mind you get NG-Samson powered armor in addition to one other of choice. You also start with a light AND heavy mdc body armor as well. The samson is 11 feet tall. It has knuckle blades, I suggest you get them silver plated. The mini missile launcher is kind of pointless only has two shots. Maybe replace it with a forearm plasma gun (as used by full conversion borgs). The light rail gun it comes with is OK as well.

I really like the terrain hopper as well but it needs upgrades to be combat ready. You can silver plate the hands to hurt vampires. You can also add forearm lasers as per triax book.

For the light body armor get a naruni light force field, you can later mount it on your power armor. For the heavy body armor I would go with crusader armor.

If your really lucky your group will have an operator to enhance your armors.

Q99 wrote:

eliakon wrote:The thing that makes the Flying Titan awesome is that it can carry Short Range missiles instead of just Mini-Missiles.......

Which is nice, but it's not the only one that can do so (maybe the only flying or so small, but Triax has missile armed armors), and besides, that's a limited use system, and there's a lot more to PA than missiles.

For vamps, fairly useless.

Against other power armor, they're a.killer.

Alrik Vas wrote:For vamps, fairly useless.

Against other power armor, they're a.killer.

Sure, but mini-missiles are pretty good PA killers too, and those can come on ones with more armor.

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.

Partial conversion or light conversion borg+Silver plated Juicer Vibro Spike armor....

kaid wrote: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

Well on a flying unit targeting larger things like tanks/apc/robot vehicles you could easily have clear line of sight given the optics most power armor has to ground targets without even needing radar. It all depends on terrain but 5 miles is not that extreme for pure optical targeting unless you are in pretty thick tree cover and something something like the flying titan has the advantage of shooting down at something which is much easier to do than ground to ground fire at those ranges.

dunno why everyone is getting so excited about anti-vampire weaponry on the PA.

take WP rifle.

get some silver rounds and a heavy calibre rifle (see the WP rifle section in RUE). specifically, an option that can take a larger magazine (50 rounds, or even a 100-round drum) would be a good idea as well. should have all the range you need for vampire hunting too.

deal 2d6x10+6 (is the damage from silver weapons doubled? if so make that 4d6x10+12) damage on a short burst of 3 rounds, which is likely enough to one-shot a vampire into the negatives last i checked. there's your anti-vampire weapon. between that and a pointy stick to keep them from regenerating, i think you've got your main needs covered.

now stop spending time on silly PA-mounted weapon options and pick a PA that provides more important benefits, like mobility, camera-based visibility (so that you can't be hypnotised), and protection. auto-dodge is a nice bonus, i recommend one of those NG suits that people mentioned with automatic dodge, and consider finding a way to integrate a force field in the future.

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.

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.

What about just silverplating on any power armor??

kaid wrote: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.

Q99 wrote:

kaid wrote: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 agree that the SRMs are a highly specific, specialized perk.
The question with the Nazca Armor is if you are willing to put up with the slight issues it has (like only being useable six times per day, with each use for a maximum of 2 hours, or the fact that it has a limited life span, or the fact that either you need to be working for the Nazcans or you don't mind using something stolen from a group of gods....)
If I wanted magical armor I might ask if the TW PA from the RMB was available.......that suit is SWANKY.

eliakon wrote:I agree that the SRMs are a highly specific, specialized perk.
The question with the Nazca Armor is if you are willing to put up with the slight issues it has (like only being useable six times per day, with each use for a maximum of 2 hours, or the fact that it has a limited life span, or the fact that either you need to be working for the Nazcans or you don't mind using something stolen from a group of gods....)
If I wanted magical armor I might ask if the TW PA from the RMB was available.......that suit is SWANKY.

How often does one get into more than six fights per day, especially ones lasting that long? Even unenergized, it's still fairly strong, and the energization effectively gives it some self-repair.

And sure, it has a 'limited' life span, but over a decade.

The Empire of the Sun isn't fond of vampires, so it'd be pretty reasonable for a hero to take a suit north to fight Vamps, pass it on to a friend when they're mortally wounded outside of it, or whatever.