Splicers In Space(Seedling Space Ships) *Updated*

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

Not really sure if I'll ever use this stuff, but I'm glad to finally be getting something typed out, since Seedlings = Spaceships has been floating around in my head forever, it seems. I haven't put much thought into the numbers or anything, so all of this is coming straight from my brain to the paper(er, screen). Please feel free to point out irregularities, stuff you don't agree with, or anything that's just plain stupid. Thanks, duck-foot, for inspiring me to get off my lazy ass and write these things.

Okay, here's a repost of what I posted last night. Made some slight corrections and changes to the ships, but mostly changed and added more flavor text. Still got to write up the bio-tech devices, enhancements, and Cone fighters. I'll probably get most of that posted this evening. Wish me luck.

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For as long as almost any Splicer can remember, the Seedlings have served as homes to the Resistance. Now, as the enormous subterranean organisms begin to mature into their adult forms, it is hoped that the Seedlings will fulfill their true purpose as a means of escape from the Machine dominated Earth which has become so inhospitable to Mankind. Bio-engineering a living spaceship from scratch is perhaps the single greatest achievement of Splicer bio-technology and it was made possible only because loyal Technojackers stumbled across data files containing extensive information about ancient humans' pre-N.E.X.U.S. journeys into space. Instead of blindly speculating, Engineers and Librarians were gifted with all the pertinent knowledge necessary to make the Sequoias a reality, everything from scientifically precise information detailing the harsh conditions of outer space which would require special bio-tech to overcome, to the escape velocity needed to successfully break away from the Earth's embrace. Even the living ion drives of a Sequoia are based on engineering specs for never constructed but heavily speculated upon space vessels designed long before N.E.X.U.S. was created.

For the past decade, Sequoia Seedlings have begun to reach maturity. Instead of immediately escaping into space, however, the Leaders of the Resistance whose Houses possess one or more Sequoia Seedlings have waited for the perfect opportunity, a set of pre-requisites agreed on very early in the development of the living starships. The first condition has been met, with all surviving Sequoia Seedlings now launch capable. It is hoped that simultaneous launches from multiple points around the globe, with Sequoia spreading into space in all directions, will increase the likelihood that even if the Machine does prove capable of pursuit, some of the vessels will survive to carry enough humans to a new home that the species' continued existance will be assured.

The second condition requires only a little more patience. According to ancient data, now confirmed using specially created optic systems, the bio-tech equivalent of modern day observatories, the Sun will soon be entering a cycle of greatly increased activity. During this time, the Earth will be bombarded with intense solar winds and great flares of radiation. Using a combination of careful observation and espionage, the Resistance has learned the Machine's limited space presence becomes predictably dormant at certain intervals when the solar bombardment grows especially fierce, a measure that protects delicate electronics from damage by the intense radiation. Though detection is a virtual certainty, it is hoped that many Sequoia launches will go unnoticed and that the head start, no matter how small, will give humanity a greater chance to avoid the inevitable Machine response. Despite a lack of space vessels of its own, at least none the Resistance can find, the Machine has at least as much information on space travel as the Resistance has collected, and its vast resources and manufacturing capabilities mean robotic hunters may only be weeks behind.
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The Silo: Sequoia Seedlings do not technically grow into Sequoias. As a Seedling begins to grow, it forms the Silo(aka the Sheath, Trunk, etc). The Silo grows at an incredible rate, spreading its various root systems out to incredible distances. The traditional roots, normally present in plants, absorb nutrients and tap underground acquifers to provide for the Seedling and its inhabitants. Unlike the normal, though super-sized roots found in plants, a root system of heavily bio-engineered worm-like tendrils burrow through the Earth's crust to tap the mantle for unlimited geo-thermal energy and spread out in an extensive network sometimes over a hundred miles in diameter to leech necessary minerals from the surrounding rock and soil.

It is within this sheath that a Sequoia is formed, first becoming an ever growing underground habitat, but eventually maturing into a living starship.

Not only does a Silo provide the required materials for the Sequoia growing within, it serves one final purpose, for it is the barrel from which the starship is fired into space. When the Sequoia is ready to be launched, enormous vats of two normally inert bio-engineered secretions(the defense mechanism of an alien species of a tiny beetle found in some of Gaia's Nature Preserves) are combined deep underground. Together, these substances form a uniquely volatile binary compound that explodes without fail approximately three seconds after formation. So violent is this reaction that it inflicts a ridiculous 1D4x10,000 MD to everything within a radius of approximately five miles, with half damage up to ten miles away, and a quarter damage up to twenth miles. If not for the extreme difficulty and time consuming nature of creating these compounds in useable quantity, they would have provided the Resistance with a powerful weapon against the Machine. The explosion quite adequately propels a Sequoia into space and though the damage done to the ship is sometimes more than its Bio-Force Field can absorb, it is not crippling. Those not cocooned within the protective gel of a bio-stasis pod must be very securely cushioned and restrained to avoid injury in this process.

Besides launching a Sequoia into space in a rather spectacular fashion, the violence of the explosion also totally vaporizes the Silo, destroying any information the Machine could learn from its remains, and hopefully provides a certain amount of cover for the escaping ship. It is hoped that the terrific energies of the explosion will mask fleeing Sequoias from any Machine sensors that happen to be looking their way.

****

Sequoia: Enormous squid-like starships, Sequoias carry within them everything needed to establish a colony on some distant, but hopefully habitable world. Though armed with many powerful bio-weapons and defended by a fleet of powerful space fighters and space capable Host Armors, a Sequoia is not a combat vessel. They are escape pods on a planetary scale, designed to blast into space as fast as possible, and to never look back. If the Machine catches up with a fleeing Sequoia, the likelihood of survival is too small to reasonably calculate, as no one can imagine N.E.X.U.S. would have any compunctions against using nulcear weapons against space-born humanity, since there would be no environement to contaminate and no stray wildlife to harm. As durable as a Sequoia is, it would quickly succumb to the atomic weaponry once employed so liberally by the Machine in its efforts to exterminate Man.

War Mounts, aside from the Cone space fighters, are not typically carried aboard Sequoias. Not only is space at a premium, even in a vessel so large as a Sequoia, but the resources necessary to sustain War Mounts and the personnel needed to oversee the creatures would be wasted on a journey that could take centuries to complete.

Class- Self-Sustaining Habitat/Living Starship
Crew: 1 Outrider pilot, 2 Outrider co-pilots, and a bridge crew of 8 who monitor external and internal conditions, status of the nuclear bio-reactor, bio-stasis pods, etc. 150 Outriders share duty manning weapon emplacements at all times. A Sequoia is not a sentient being, operating automatically as it was designed with little need for human oversight.
Troop Capacity: Up to 18,000(12,000 Host Armor pilots), 600 Space Fighter pilots. Actual numbers are typically much lower, however, as Host Armors not easily or realistically sustainable(Vampiric, Lithovores, & Parasitic) and those not space capable, along with their pilots, are normally put in bio-stasis to conserve resources. This also applies to the majority of non-Host Armor pilots who simply have no discernable use while traveling through space. Typical active troop complement is no more than 2,000, all with space capable Host Armor, many of whom are space fighter pilots.
Non-Combatants: The standard complement of non-combatant personnel varies greatly between individual Sequoias, depending on the tatstes of the leaders of various Houses. The typical Sequoia will have 3D6+6 Engineers and 1D4+2 Libarians active at any given time.
Bio-Stasis Complement: Up to 100,000 people can be safely stored in stasis. War Mounts or bio-tech creatures larger than a full-sized Host Armor do not fit into the stasis pods.
MDC by Location:
-Fighter Nursery[Bow]- 20,000 + 2D6x1,000
-Omega Blaster Batteries[12]- 1,200 + 1D6x100 each
-Super Light Cell Point Defense Bundle[36]- 300 + 1D4x100 each
-*Pseudopod/Ion Emitter[4; Rear]- 20,000 + 2D6x1,000 each
-**Main Body/Habitat- 240,000 + 2D6x10,000
-***Rear/FTL Drive- 120,000 + 1D6x10,000
-****Bio-Force Field- 30,000
*Each pseudopod is a complex organ dedicated to transforming the raw power generated by the massive bio-reactor at the Sequoia's core into propulsive force via ion emission. Each pseudopod destroyed reduces maximum speed and acceleration & deceleration by 25%. Given their complexity and the resources necessary to regrow these organs, damaged pseudopods regenerate at a reduced rate of 1D4x100 MDC per hour and if destroyed require 1D4+2 weeks to regrow. During the growth of a new pseudopod, all other ship components regenerate at 50% their normal rate.
**The Main Body/Habitat regenerates 1D6x1000 MDC per hour. Depleting the MDC of the Main Body/Habitat renders the ship unconscious, reduces life support to a bare minimum, and powers down all weapons. 1D4x10+10% of the ship's habitable compartments will have been ruptured and exposed to vacuum and internal rotation systems will be offline, rendering artificial gravity inoperative. Unopened launch orifices can be blasted through and large holes blown in the ships hide can be used to field space capable defenders, but for the most part the vessel will be helpless. Further reducing the MDC beyond -40,000 kills the ship.
***The Rear/FTL Drive section of a Sequoia regenerates 1D4x1000 MDC per hour. Depleting the MDC of the Rear/FTL Drive will cause the nuclear reactor powering the ship to go critical and initiate a meltdown effect. If this occurs, the entire section will explosively jettison the Main Body/Habitat with enough force that the meltdown will not contaminate it. Unfortunately, this section of a Sequoia cannot be regrown. If it is destroyed, it is forever lost. Small backup reactors within the Main Body/Habitat continue to power minimal life support and bio-stasis pods, but weapon range and damage is reduced by 75%, damage to all components regenerates at 25% of the normal rate, and rotationally maintained artificial gravity ceases to function, while the Bio-Force Field cannot be maintained at all. While a Sequoia in this condition may continue to exist long after such damage, the only hope for those trapped within is rescue by allies or, as unlikely as it seems, alien interference.
****The Bio-Force Field regenerates at a relatively slow rate of 1D4x10+20 MDC per hour. If MDC is depleted, the Bio-Force Field cannot be re-initialized for 24 hours.
Speed:
-Atmospheric Flight- Not Possible. Once launched into space, a Sequoia is only capable of making a controlled descent to the surface of a new planet, and is forever grounded afterwards.
-Trans-Atmospheric Flight- Approximate maximum of Mach 6 before engaging FTL bio-systems.
-FTL Travel- Speed Factor 30, with a maximum acceleration and deceleration of 1 c per hour.
-Range- Effectively Unlimited. Barring catostrophic mishap, a Seedling is capable of sustaining its full crew complement and all bio-tech devices and creatures not currently held in bio-stasis for centuries.
Statistical Data:
-Diameter: 3,000 + 1D6x100 feet tapering down to a very blunt nose cone(Fighter Nursery) approximately 400 + 2D6x10 feet in diameter.
-Length: Main Body/Habitat: 12,000 + 2D6x100 feet, Fighter Nursery: 400 + 3D6x10 feet, Rear/FTL Drive & Metabolization Chamber: 3,000 + 2D4x100 feet, Pseudopods/Ion Emmiters: 2,000 + 1D4x100 feet
-Weight: Approximately 120 million tons fully loaded
-Cargo: Approximately 30 million tons
-Physical Strength: Vast, but inapplicable.
-Production Cycle: 18 month gestation period, plus 100 year growth time. Until fully grown, a Seedling is only capable of providing its various life support functions.
-Operational Lifetime: Theoretically unlimited, so long as it is not allowed to starve.
-Trade Value: Unplanted Seeding: 100 million credits. Once planted and a viable underground habitat or fully mature and space capable starship, they become priceless.
-Bio-Regeneration Rate: Unless otherwise noted, all components regenerate 1D6x100 MDC per hour.
-Horror Factor: 18, but only for those unexpectantly witnessing the matured Seedling, now a Sequoia starship, launch into space.
-Senses & Features: Detailed below.
-Power System/Metabolism: Varies throughout its lifetime. Functionally a Lithovore & Omnivore, but only so long as it continues to grow. Geo-Thermal/Nuclear fueled Thermosynthetic metabolism at full maturity, though it continues to function as a Lithovore & Omnivore for the purposes of recyling internal wastes and introducing new biological material for use by those living within.
-Sleep Requirements: As an artificial organism designed for continuous operation, the Seedling does not require sleep.
Bio-Weapon Systems: Sequoias do not mount projectile weaponry, aside from the Cone fighters themselves. There are several reasons for this measure. Power is generated in great abundance by the nuclear-fueled Thermosynthetic metabolism of a Sequoia, with more than enough left over for energy weapons. Energy weapons can be mounted entirely on the outer hide of the ship, saving space and eliminating the need for internal mechanisms to supply ammo to projectile weapon, which also reduces potential weak points on the hide. Finally, the projectiles would represent an unnecessary and wasteful squandering of precious biological matter that simply cannot be replaced while in the depths of space.
Super Light Cell Point Defense Bundle[24]- Each of these strategically located and fully articulate weapon nodules are composed of six fully upgraded Super Light Cells clustered around a trio of eyes especially enhanced and armored agaisnt the riggers of space. Each of these point defense bundles is manned by an Outrider who controls it from within the safety of the ship. Defense bundles are treated as personal War Mounts for any Outrider operating them, granting all relevant bonuses in the process. Individual Super Light Cells can be fired, but are almost always tandem fired in volleys.
-Primary Purpose: Defense
-Mega-Damage: 2D10 MD per Super Light Cell(12D10 MD per full 6 Cell volley)
-Maximum Effective Range: Atmosphere: 4,000 feet, Space: 40,000 feet.
-Rate of Fire: Each blast or volley counts as one melee attack. Roll only once per volley. Either all the light beams hit, or the all miss.
-Payload: Effectively Unlimited.
-Bonus: +1 to strike on an aimed shot.
-Special: These bundles make tiny targets compared to such a large vessel. To deliberately strike a bundle an enemy must make a Called Shot with a -3 penalty.
Omega Blaster Battery[12]- Like the defense bundles, these much heavier weapons are standard bio-weapon enhanced to their fullest capacity and arrayed for greater combined firepower. Arranged in a pentagon pattern around the triple eye optic sensor and protected by lightning quick armored shutters to shield the sensitive beam emitters, Omega Blaster Batteries are placed at points across the ship to ensure that at least two of them can converge their fire on any target within range. Each of battery is manned by an Outrider who controls it from within the safety of the ship. Batteries are treated as personal War Mounts for any Outrider operating them, granting all relevant bonuses in the process. Individual Omega Blasters can be fired if a steady rate of fire is desired or they can all be fired in tandem to create devastating waves of destructive energy.
-Primary Purpose: Anti-Robot
-Mega-Damage: 4D8x10 MD per Omega Blaster fired(20D8x10 MD per full volley)
-Beam Radius: 20 foot radius per Omega Blaster fired(100 foot radius per full volley)
-Maximum Effective Range: Atmosphere: 10,000 feet, Space: 100,000 feet.
-Rate of Fire: Each blast or volley counts as one melee attack. Roll only once per volley. Either all the light beams hit, or the all miss.
-Payload: Effectively Unlimited, however each individual Omega Blaster may only be fired twice per melee round.
-Bonus: +2 to strike on an aimed shot, with an additional +1 bonus to strike per Omega Blaster fired.
-Special: These batteries make tiny targets compared to such a large vessel. To deliberately strike a battery an enemy must make a Called Shot with a -3 penalty.
Sensory Organs & Abilities: Scattered across the hide of a Sequoia are hundreds of fully bio-enhanced eyes, more than enough to give the ship's pilots adequate visual data even after suffering damage across the majority it surface. Despite being able to see telescopically(approximately 300,000 miles) throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, the true gem of the Sequoia's sensory systems is its Gravity Node. Visual data simply cannot be relied upon while traveling at FTL speeds, making dangerous collisions impossible to avoid. So advanced is the Gravity Node, that it was not a viable bio-tech device when the Seedlings were first developed. Instead, the Seedlings were created and planted while decades were spent trying to solve the problem of FTL navigation. With the creation of the Gravity Node, a whale-sized gland-like organ that detects even the slightest spacial distortion generated by objects nearly a light year away, the final hurdle to space travel was cleared. Once a Seedling has matured into a space capable Sequoia and an Engineers has added the necessary genetic information to the starship, a Gravity Node will grow into place in 1D4+12 days. A Gravity Node transmits information to the Outrider piloting the Sequoia exactly as if he was using a War Mount with the Radar ability, complete with full bonuses, but impossible to foul and a range of 1 light year.
Biological Defenses: Beyond it's powerful Bio-Force Field and thickly armored hide, a Sequoia starship has a number of bio-enhancements meant to help it cope with the hazards of space and to resist damage is attacked.
-Immune to Cold & Heat: The specially engineered hide of a Sequoia is only capable of transfering heat in one direction; inward. This not only makes it impervious to the bitter cold of deep space, it also makes the vessel totally immune to heat, as it is absorbed to supplement onboard energy. Mega-Damage heat, flame, & plasma only serves to fuel a Sequoia.
-Resistant to Kinetic Energy & Physical Attack: The hide of a Sequoia is normally surprisingly supple, but physical impact aligns crystalline fibers beneath the surface to turn the skin ultra-hard. This reaction effectively halves the damage suffered from any physical attack on a Sequoia.
-Resistant to Energy- The hide's ability to absorb heat, the crystalline fibers responsible for its ability to rapidly harden, and a quirk of the same alien DNA responsible for Bio-Energy weapons combine to allow the Sequoia to refract and absorb a certain amount of harmful energy directed at it. Sequoias are immune to hard radiation of non-mega-damage intensity and suffer only half damage against MD level radiation attack and effects. Laser and ion beam weapons inflict only 50% damage to a Sequoia's hide and particle beam weapon damage is reduced by approximately 33%.
Anatomical & Physiological Features: Just like a Seedling, a Sequoia is engineered to provide for every requirement of those living within it. Water and wastes are recycled, air scrubbed and refreshed, and food provided in several forms by various internal organs that provide edible meat and vegetable matter. In addition to this, however, are features designed specifically for the Sequoia, systems necessary for long term space flight and added survivability.
-Rotating Internal Habitat: Between the outer hide of a Sequoia and its inner habitat is a layer of highly viscous mucus which acts not only as a shock and radiation absorber, but also as a medium for the bio-tech equivalent of artificial gravity. Powerful organic jets that line the outside of the habitat chamber work tirelessly to spin the enormous city-sized section within the mucus layer while the pseudopod ion propulsion system actively prevents counter-rotation of the outer shell. While not a perfect system, it does provide approximately .75 g for those living within, well within margins needed to prevent de-calcification of bone and other detrimental health effects experienced in low gravity environments.
-Bio-Statis Pods: A significant portion of the habitat chamber is dedicated to vast row upon row of special organelles capable of putting living beings into state of suspended animation. When activated a stasis pod secretes a gel-like substance that combines with a pre-administered drug to halt biological and neurological activity. A person placed within such a pod, along with their gear(living armor, bio-weapons, even Host Armor) can be maintained in this state for centuries without ill effect.
-Fighter Nursery: A bio-tech factory of sorts, the huge front compartment of a mature Sequoia can be configured to produce and gestate various War Mounts at their normal rate, but the only practical application of this while in space is to generate the Cone bio-tech space fighter, a War Mount designed specifically for trans-atmoshpheric combat. Each Cone resembles a miniature Sequoia and is piloted by a specially trained Outrider. Each of the nursery's 100 gestation tanks is capable of producing a fully grown Cone fighter every 12 months, though space constraints limit a Sequoia to a maximum of 300 Cone fighters. Up to ten Cone fighters can be launched from special launch orifices at full speed every three seconds. Damage to the Fighter Nursery regenerates 1D4x1000 MDC per hour. If destroyed, the nursery requires 1D4+1 weeks to regenerate. Docked fighters have a 1D4x10% chance of surviving to be salvaged, but those not fully grown are lost.
Hand to Hand Combat: Not applicable. Despite the apparently powerful pseudopods, they are not capable of combat.

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

Now that the War Mount is statted out I've got to write up those bio-enhancements, along with notes for Cone limitations and special effects of existing enhancements. With a specialized new War Mount, I also need to get around to creating a variant Outrider O.C.C. to pilot them.

Credit goes entirely to Slappy for the Omega Overload feature of the Cone, which I, um, borrowed from his most excellent Kamikaze Organic Cruise Missle.

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The Cone
Despite their numerous bio-weapons, the cumbersome Sequoias make poor combat vessels. The answer to this problem is the Cone War Mount, a living fighter craft designed specifically for the environment of space. Extremely fast and maneuverable, a Sequoia can deploy hundreds of these small spacecraft if needed, each and every one capable of laying down a withering hail of laser fire or striking with huge Omega Blaster beams. Each Cone resembles a Sequoia in extreme miniature, from its blunt-nosed reverse tear drop shape to the four ion emitter pseuopods at the rear. Like the Leviathon War Mount designed with underwater combat in mind, the Cone, meant to operate in the vacuum of space, completely encloses its pilot for greatly appreciated extra protection.

Unlike the majority of other War Mounts, most of the Cone's bio-systems come fully enhanced, a fact that strangely enough seems to chagrin some pilots. Though many avenues of bio-customization are limited or cut off all together by this, there are still a great many modification that can be made to individual Cones, some of which are designed solely for this War Mount.


Class- Space Fighter War Mount
Crew: One pilot.
MDC by Location:
-Pilot Compartment/Survival Pod- 150
-*Bio-Weapon Cluster- 270
-**Pseudopod/Ion Emitter[4; Rear]- 180 each
-***Main Body/Cockpit- 520
-****Bio-Force Field- 300
*The Bio-Weapon Cluster is difficult to strike, requiring a Called Shot with a -3 penalty.
**Each pseudopod destroyed reduces maximum speed and combat bonuses by 25%. Pseudopods are small targets, requiring a Called Shot with a -3 penalty to strike.
***Depleting the MDC of the Main Body kills the War Mount.
****The Bio-Force Field regenerates 1D4+2 MDC per minute. If MDC is depleted, the Bio-Force Field cannot be re-initialized for 12 hours.
Speed:
-Atmospheric Flight- Not designed with atmospheric flight in mind. Without the proper control surfaces the War Mount can barely manage an awkward 200 mph in a planetary atmosphere, but handles like a brick.
-Trans-Atmospheric Flight- Approximate maximum of Mach 16, but typical cruising speed is closer to Mach 8.
-FTL Travel- Not possible.
-Range- Effectively Unlimited, but limited by the pilot's life support requirements.
Statistical Data:
-Diameter: 10 feet tapering down to a blunt nose cone(Weapon Battery) approximately 3 feet in diameter.
-Length: Main Body/Cockpit: 24 feet, Pseudopods/Ion Emmiters: 10 feet
-Weight: 12 tons.
-Cargo: None. The pilot compartment just barely has room for the pilot.
-Physical Strength: Supernatural PS of 35 + 1D4.
-Production Cycle: 3 month gestation period, plus 9 month growth time. The War Mount is engineered to be grown with extraordinary speed.
-Operational Lifetime: 1D6+20 years. Shorter than average lifespan is a direct result of the forced maturation.
-Trade Value: 36 million credits for a healthy, undamaged unit.
-Bio-Regeneration Rate: 2D6+3 MDC per melee round for the main body and 1D4+2 MDC per melee round for all other locations. A destroyed Bio-Weapon Cluster regenerates in 6D6+40 hours, while Pseudopod/Ion Emitters regenerate in 4D6+12 days. The bodily fluids of the War Mount are designed to instantly harden into a cement-like clot on contact with the vacuum of space, sealing hull breaches in 1D4 seconds.
-Horror Factor: 16 against humans outside the Resistance, but none against the Machine.
-Senses & Features: Detailed below.
-Feeding: The War Mount uses a scaled down version of a Sequoia's nuclear-fueled Thermosynthetic bio-reactor. Upon maturation, the War Mount's bio-reactor is stocked with enough fuel to power it for approximately 10 years. Fuel is not expended while the War Mount is kept dormant in its storage cradle aboard a Sequoia.
-Sleep Requirements: As an artificial organism designed for continuous operation if necessary, the War Mount does not require sleep, but its pilot does.
Other Data: An unmanned Cone is nearly the equivalent to a brain dead human, as the War Mount has been engineered with no more intelligence than the average cucumber. It was not known what instincts a space faring creature would need or should have, so it was given none, except for a reflexive homing sense.
-Alignment: Do vegetable have alignments?
-War Mount Attributes: IQ: N/A, ME: N/A, MA: N/A, PS: 36-39(Supernatural), PP: 18+1D6, PE: 20+1D6, Spd: See above.
-Number of Attacks: None on its own, but the War Mount adds an additional four to those of its pilot.
-Combat Bonuses(In addtion to possible attribute bonuses): +2 initiative, +5 strike with ranged weapons, +2 strike with pseudopods, +8 dodge(+2 if stationary before being attacked), Immune to poison, disease, and Horror Factor. Totally immune to any sort of mind control or mental influence, regardless of source. Radar provides the following additional bonuses when applicable: +1 melee attack, +1 initiative, +1 strike, parry, & dodge.
Bio-Weapon Cluster- Each War Mount is equipped with a single forward facing bio-weapon cluster composed of an Omega Blaster ringed by six Super Light Cells and six advanced eyes, all of which have been enhanced to the maximum possible extent. Due to the power distribution method employed by the War Mount, the Super Light Cells cannot be individually fired, requiring them to be fired in full volleys of six Cells. Super Light Cells and the Omega Blaster cannot be fired in tandem without further bio-enhancement.
-Primary Purpose: Attack/Defense
-Mega-Damage: 12D10 MD per full 6 Cell volley or 4D8x10 MD per Omega Blast.
-Beam Radius: 20 foot radius per Omega Blast.
-Maximum Effective Range: Super Light Cell(Atmosphere: 4,000 feet, Space: 40,000 feet), Omega Blaster(Atmosphere: 10,000 feet, Space: 100,000 feet).
-Rate of Fire: Each blast or volley counts as one melee attack. Roll only once per volley. Either all the beams hit or they all miss.
-Payload: Effectively Unlimited, however the Omega Blaster may only be fired twice per melee round.
-Bonuses: Super Light Cells(+1 to strike on an aimed shot), Omega Blaster(+3 to strike on an aimed shot).
Sensory System & Organs: The War Mount features the standard Bio-Comm as well as an array of additional and enhanced senses, though it lacks many of those present in War Mounts designed for terrestrial use.
-Homing Sense: Without a pilot in control, the only action this War Mount is able to undertake is to proceed at full possible speed to its Sequoia mothership. If without a pilot and out of visual range of the mothership, the War Mount must either be put into a dormant state or it will self-destruct by entering bio-meltdown phase in 24 hours.
-Radar: As per the standard bio-enhancement, but it should be noted that the lack of atmosphere in the vacuum of space dramatically increases the range of the radar ability, up to approximately 6,000 miles.
-Vision: Besides the six integral eyes built into the forward facing bio-weapon cluster, an additional 12 eyes are located at various points on the War Mount's hide, all capable of viewing infrared, ultraviolet, and thermal emissions as well as telescopic magnification with a zoom range of approximately 100,000 miles.
-High Intensity Light Cell Relay: Bio-Comms have always been extremely limited by their range, a handicap felt more than ever in the vastness of space. Using a specially engineered Light Cell connected to a Bio-Comm, transmissions can be sent up to 1,000 miles to a similar relay device before the beam becomes too attenuated for the receiving Bio-Comm to decipher. This allows the War Mount to more easily communicate with its fellows in space and with its Sequoia mothership.
Biological Defenses:
-Immune to Cold & Heat: The War Mount is impervious to cold and heat of even mege-damage intensity(super napalm, MD plasma, etc).
-Resistant to Kinetic Energy & Physical Attack: The War Mount suffers only half damage from physical attacks of all kinds.
-Resistant to Energy- Another carry over from the Sequoias they are modeled after, Cone space fighter are immune to hard radiation of non-mega-damage intensity & suffer only half damage from MD level radiation, suffer half damage from laser & ion beam weapons, and particle beam weapon damage is reduced by 33%.
Anatomical & Physiological Features: The War Mount has three noteable features of considerable importance.
-Pilot Compartment/Survival Pod: From within this egg-like chamber the pilot controls the War Mount, but it also serves as an escape vehicle in emergency situations. On command or when fatal damage has been sustained, the pod is explosively ejected through the entry orifice located at the rear of the War Mount between the four pseudopods. This pod has no means of self-propulsion, but it contains the entirety of the War Mount's life support systems, a Bio-Comm, and its matte black surface has been designed to fluoresce brightly when viewed through the eyes of any bio-tech vision system.
-Articulated Pseudopods: While these tentacle-like ion drives are locked into position most of the time, they possess great physical strength and are surprisingly dexterous in certain situations. If an opponent has approached within grappling range and cannot be targeted by ranged weapons, it can be attacked by swatting with the pseudopods or using the razor sharp bone protrusion that tips each one to stab. All four pseudopods can attack simultaneously without using extra melee attack, combining their damage to great effect. Alternatively, the pseudopods may be used to latch onto the hide of the War Mount's Sequoia mothership or even the hulls of enemy vessels.
-Omega Overload: Nearly identical to the systems engineered for use in the Kamikaze organic cruise missles, this attack of last resort creates a fatal chain reaction within the Omega Blaster's energy cells. The process requires six seconds and cannot be reversed or shut down once it has been initiated. After initiation, the War Mount will detonate in exactly 60 seconds or upon impact while traveling at or beyond 100 mph. The detonation inflicts 1D4x1,000 MD to everything within a 1,000 foot blast radius. If the pilot chooses to eject in the survival pod before detonation, the War Mount can be pointed at a target fired on a straight trajectory at maximum possible speed, like an unguided rocket.
Hand(Tentacle?) to Hand Combat: Pseudopod Lash: 6D6 MD, Pseudopod Stab: 7D6 MD

[NMI]

Me like. Seems good.

[taalismn]

I love it!

All Speed to the Greening of the Galaxy!

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

I'm glad you guys like what I've made so far. Can anyone else think of any already existing enhancements that should be added to my list to create "space capable" Host Armor? Or that needed to be created?

****

Available Bio-Enhancements for the Cone War Mount:
-Biological Defenses:
-Bio-Force Field: Though the default Cone Bio-Force Field is already 300 MDC, the force field of this War Mount can be further enhanced to a maximum of 600 MDC. Bio-E Cost: 5 per additional 20 MDC.
-Chameleon Skin: As per normal. Bio-E Cost: 20 points.
-Increased MDC: As per normal, but the increased weight does not penalize the War Mount. Bio-E Cost: 10 points per +40/+10 MDC up to a maximum of +440 MDC.
-Reinforced Exoskeleton: As per normal, though only MDC is increased, not damage or bonuses. Bio-E Cost: 5 points.
-Resistance to Electricity: As per normal. Bio-E Cost: 10 points.
-Stealth Field: As per normal. Bio-E Cost: 50 points.
Anatomical & Physiological Features:
-Enhanced Operational Lifetime: As per normal. Bio-E Cost: 3 points per five years added to its overall lifespan.
-Enhanced Speed Factor: Greatly magnify the base speed of the War Mount. Bio-E Cost: 10 points per additional +1 Mach factor added to maximum War Mount speed, up to a maximum of +8 Mach.
-Floating Air Bladder: The War Mount grows gills capable of extracting oxygen from water and can tolerate ocean depths down to 6,000ft. Bio-E Cost: 10 points.
Flight Appendages:
-Organic Thrusters: The thrusters bring a badly needed level of control to the War Mount's atmospheric flight ability. Atmospheric speed is increased to 800 mph and the War Mount's combat bonuses are only reduced by 50%. Bio-E Cost: 35 points for the initial thrusters. Speed can be further enhanced by spending Bio-E, +20 mph per 10 points.

****

"Space Capable" Bio-Enhancements: The following bio-enhancements are required for a Host Armor to be considered "space capable". Without these enhancements a Host Armor will not be cleared to operate outside of its Sequoia mothership and will most likely be put into bio-stasis along with its pilot.
-Biological Defenses: Regeneration: Super, Resistance to Cold, Resistance to Heat, Resistance to Radiation
-Anatomical & Physiological Features: Independent Oxygen Supply(At least 8 hours)
-Enhanced Arms & Hands: Grapnel Claw, Suction Cups & Gripping Hairs
-Flight Appendages: Bio-Rocket Thrusters

****

Independent Oxygen Supply: A Host Armor with this enhancement has a number of small fluid filled vacuoles distributed within its body. The fluid can be easily saturated with great quantities of oxygen and carbon dioxide. When the Host Armor is in an environment without any sort of available air, such as outer space, the Host Armor is able to automatically extract the oxygen stored within these vacuoles to supplement its own standard re-breather & filtration system. As carbon dioxide is produced, it is carefully filtered out and stored in de-oxygenated vacuoles so as not to impair the efficiency of the Host Armor's life support system. In an oxygenated environment, the Host Armor can purge carbon dioxide saturated vacuoles and replenish their oxygen supply at a rate of 1 hour capacity per five minutes.
-Bio-E Cost: 5 points per 2 hours of oxygen storage capacity, up to a maximum of 16 hours.

Resistance to Radiation: Standard Host Armor is unaffected by even high levels of background radiation and shields its pilot from such dangers as well. In space, however, there are a number of naturally occuring phenomena that produce intense levels of hard radiation that could prove hazardous to even the bio-engineered Host Armor. This enhancement employs a number of methods to render a Host Armor and its pilot all but impervious to radiation. The only exceptions to this protection are directed energy weapons which use specifically harmful forms of radiation. These weapons, such as x-ray lasers, microwave & ion beams, etc, inflict only half damage to the Host Armor. Particle beam weapons are also partially blocked, though not so thoroughly, reducing damage by 33%(round up).
-Bio-E Cost: 15 points.

Grapnel Claw: Housed within a forearm of the Host Armor is a tough cord of sinew attached to a small triple-bladed pincer claw that is fully recessed within the arm. When powerful muscles within the arm are contracted, the claw is launched at a target at high speed, spooling out the sinew in an instant. Not intended for combat use, this enhancement does not damage its target. Instead, on a successful strike, the claw grips its target tightly, requiring a Splicer PS of 30 or higher to dislodge it. Once the claw is attached to a target, the Host Armor pilot can reel it in automatically at a rate of 10 feet per second or jerk on the sinew to pull a target forward more quickly.
-MDC of the Claw & Sinew: The gripping claw is not intended for combat and only has 10 MDC. The sinew line is very thin but quite durable, possessing 5 MDC per 10 feet. The sinew can support approximately 3,000 lbs under full gravity before breaking. If destroyed, the claw regrows in 2D4+2 hours. Severed sinew regrows at a rate of 2D6+20 feet per hour.
-Rate of Fire: Launching the claw uses one melee attack. The sinew line is reeled in at a rate of about 30 feet per melee action.
-Bonus: +1 strike.
-Bio-E Cost: None inititally. A Serrated Whip can be transformed into a Grapnel Line with 100 feet of sinew without cost. Each additional 20 feet of sinew, up to a maximum of 300 feet, costs an additional 1 point.
-Prerequisite: Serrated Whip

Bio-Rocket Thrusters: A Host Armor with the Bio-Rocket Thruster enhancement grows a pair of small fluid sacs, one on each side of its back. Each sac produces a separate chemical that is normally inert, but when the two are combined within the Host Armor they react violently. The resultant gases are directed by internal ducts and released through four small articulated exhaust ports, one per shoulder and thigh, to provide impressive speed and maneuvering ability in outer space with more limited propulsion in terrestrial environments.
-Flight Ability: 200 mph. In an atmosphere, gravity greatly reduces this enhancement's efficacy, lowering speed by 50% and limiting altitude to approximately 15,000 feet.
-Underwater: May be used underwater with a speed penalty of 75%.
-Bonuses: Space(+3 initiative, +2 strike, +3 dodge, and +2 roll with impact in flight), Atmosphere(+1 initiative, +1 strike, +2 dodge, and +1 roll with impact in flight)
-MDC: Each lightly armored Reactant Sac has 2D6x10+20 MDC and each of the four Exhaust Ports has 1D6x10+10 MDC.
-Payload: The Reactant Sacs hold enough fuel for six hours of uninterrupted flight and replenish themselves at a rate of 1 hour's worth of fuel per 4 hours.
-Bio-E Cost: 35 points. Speed can be increased by +20 mph per 10 Bio-E points, up to a maximum of 400 mph. Reactant Sac capacity may be increased by 50% by spending an additional 20 Bio-E. Reactant replenishment rate may be doubled by spending an additional 20 Bio-E.
-Prerequisite: None. If Organic Thrusters or Functional Wings were previously possessed by the Host Armor, they must be abandoned in order to use this enhancement. Engineers are typically able to "recycle" up to 50% of the Bio-E spent on the abandoned enhancements, which can be applied only to Bio-Rocket Thrusters.

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

Added a description of the life support functions to the Anatomical Features section of the Cone War Mount listed above. I've also got a few new bio-enhancements specifically for the Cone. I'm trying to come up with a good name for my Cone pilots. So far I'm leaning towards Void Rider. Any suggestions?

****************

New Cone War Mount Bio-Enhancements:

Bio-Rocket Thrusters(Survival Pod Variant): Near exact replicas of the Bio-Rocket Thrusters available to Host Armor for space operations, this enhancement is not actually intended for use with the Cone War Mount, but instead for its survival pod. If the pilot is forced to abandon the War Mount, with this enhancement he is not left totally to the mercy of fate and retains some measure of control.
-Flight Ability: 200 mph. In an atmosphere, gravity greatly reduces this enhancement's efficacy, lowering speed by 50% and limiting altitude to approximately 15,000 feet.
-Underwater: May be used underwater with a speed penalty of 75%.
-Bonuses: Space(+3 initiative, +3 dodge), Atmosphere(+1 initiative, +2 dodge)
-MDC: Reactant Sacs are enclosed fully within the survival pod and each of the six Exhaust Ports has 1D4x10+20 MDC.
-Payload: The Reactant Sacs hold enough fuel for six hours of uninterrupted flight and replenish themselves at a rate of 1 hour's worth of fuel per 4 hours.
-Bio-E Cost: 25 points. Speed can be increased by +20 mph per 10 Bio-E points, up to a maximum of 400 mph. Reactant Sac capacity may be increased by 50% by spending an additional 20 Bio-E. Reactant replenishment rate may be doubled by spending an additional 20 Bio-E.
-Prerequisite: None.

Orbital Launch Rockets: A Cone War Mount in the atmosphere of a planet, where its biological ion drive barely functions, does not have the power to return to orbit on its own. Though the ability to do so would be largely useless while running from the Machine in deep space, it is not inconceivable that the War Mount will one day be used to regularly travel between a new home planet and space. This enhancement grows eight of the Reactant Sacs used in the Bio-Rocket Thruster Host Armor enhancement within the body of the War Mount. When a pilot desires to enter planetary orbit, the War Mount is brought to its maximum atmospheric altitude of 35,000 feet and all Reactant Sacs are fully engaged, providing a very short-lived but incredible burst of speed of approximately 18,000 mph, more than enough to horizontally enter orbit. Exhaust gases are expelled from organic thruster ports at the inside base of each pseudopod.
-Flight Ability: 18,000 mph in an atmosphere. Double speed if used in space.
-Bonuses: None. While the bio-rockets are firing the War Mount must maintain a fairly straight trajectory so as not to become unstable.
-MDC: Reactant Sacs are stored entirely within the body of the War Mount.
-Payload: The potency of reactants used in this enhancement is much greater than that used in the Bio-Rocket Thrusters. A full payload burns for approximately six minutes and requires four hours per minute of fuel replensished. Reactant payload cannot be used in increments, but must instead all be expended in one session.
-Bio-E Cost: 35 points. This enhancement cannot be further modified.
-Prerequisite: Organic Thrusters(an add-on, does not replace the thrusters).

Bio-Weapon Amplification Lens: A single enormous dome of transparent flesh grows over the entire bio-weapon cluster of the Cone War Mount, resembling a contact lens worn by ancient humans. This lens is the only weapon upgrade available to the War Mount, but it is a powerful one. The Amplification Lens focuses the energy beams generated by bio-weapon cluster's Super Light Cells & Omega Blast, doubling their damage and increasing range by half.
-MDC of the Amplification Lens: 2D6x10+100
-Penalty: The manner used to magnify the Omega Blaster's power reduces the beam radius by 10 feet and lowers its bonus to strike by -1. The Amplification Lens appears simple, but it is actually a highly complex marvel of bio-engineering. Due to its advanced nature, damage to the lens regenerates at half the speed of other components and if destroyed requires twice as long to regrow.
-Bio-E Cost: 100 points!

[taalismn]

Excellent....I knew I passed up that deal on tulips for a reason!

[LostOne]

I like what you've done here, except for one thing.

The amount of acceleration you'd experience sitting on a small nuclear detonation and having that propel you like a gun into orbit, without additional force, would be far more than humans could survive, which is why NASA uses sustained burn over time (and is still approaching the limits of blackout and health problems, which is why astronauts have to be in such good shape).

Even suspended in the gel like you have them, their internal organs are going to shift around (Newton's law says your internal organs are going to end up in your feet, or whatever part of your body is aimed at the ground, because they won't want to move as quickly as the sudden ship acceleration). I don't think it would work that well, at the very least people are going to have some major internal damage.

I think it would be better to design the sequoias so they have MDC chambers capable of holding pressurized fluids, and give them the capability/biological process to fill those chambers with pure oxygen and hydrogen (different chambers) like used in earth rockets. Since the chambers are MDC, there should be no problem with filling it until the gases are so pressurized they turn liquid and keep filling it to capacity. This would also make them capable of landing on a foreign planet and after enough time has passed, refueling themselves to take off again.

[Jesterzzn]

First, these are great. Wish I had the time and attention span to contribute stuff like this.

Now the nitpick (sorry)...

New Cone War Mount Bio-Enhancements:

[size=100]Bio-Rocket Thrusters(Survival Pod Variant): Near exact replicas of the Bio-Rocket Thrusters available to Host Armor for space operations, this enhancement is not actually intended for use with the Cone War Mount, but instead for its survival pod. If the pilot is forced to abandon the War Mount, with this enhancement he is not left totally to the mercy of fate and retains some measure of control.
-Flight Ability: 200 mph. In an atmosphere, gravity greatly reduces this enhancement's efficacy, lowering speed by 50% and limiting altitude to approximately 15,000 feet.
-Underwater: May be used underwater with a speed penalty of 75%.
-Bonuses: Space(+3 initiative, +3 dodge), Atmosphere(+1 initiative, +2 dodge)
-MDC: Reactant Sacs are enclosed fully within the survival pod and each of the six Exhaust Ports has 1D4x10+20 MDC.
-Payload: The Reactant Sacs hold enough fuel for six hours of uninterrupted flight and replenish themselves at a rate of 1 hour's worth of fuel per 4 hours.
-Bio-E Cost: 25 points. Speed can be increased by +20 mph per 10 Bio-E points, up to a maximum of 400 mph. Reactant Sac capacity may be increased by 50% by spending an additional 20 Bio-E. Reactant replenishment rate may be doubled by spending an additional 20 Bio-E.
-Prerequisite: None.

Would 200mph be fast enough for something not intended for use in an atmosphere to maintain a 15k foot ceiling?

I think I might ask phal...But its not like its a big nit.

[Aramanthus]

There is a show called "Alien Planet" it's been shown on the "Science channel". In there one of the alien lifeforms had the ability to fly with a sort of naturally bio jet. It fed on creatures on the ground. Drained their liquids from their prey. We might want to consider something like that for our splicers materials.