S-Mart Goliath

      In the years preceeding the cataclysm, power armor was one of the cutting edges of battlefield technology. As a cutting edge field constant changes in prerequisites were presented to design firms designing new suits of power armor. There were so many changes in the prerequisites to suit designs, that many smaller companies in the business fell into bankrupcy from the costs of designing and redesigning new suits without any production orders. At the beginning of the 2080s the United States Army was looking for a good general purpose suit of combat power armor to support infantry soldiers on the field of open battle - a fairly basic requirement that many companies jumped to try to fulfill. One of those proposed was from a tiny Japanese firm called Oradaka. This suit was fairly well armored, featured a reasonable running speed, and was proposed to carry a decent array of weaponry. Then enter the beaureaucrats.

      Soon after the prototype's completion in 2083, the US Army extended its competition date to 2084 to allow for ArmaTech's submission to be sufficiently tested and debugged. Furthermore the US Army added a few new requirements at that time. The suit would have to be small enough to be able to easily duck into doorways for urban combat, and it would have to have the capability of flight. Oradaka's design could not fly and at 9' in height and 6' wide made it simply too large to fit into doorways. These new requirements completely obliterated Oradaka's chances of winning the contract and led the company spiralling down the path of bankrupcy. At the time that the company was liquidated the designs and toolings for the Oradaka design, known only by a number then, were sold to Ichto Robotics Corporation. (Ichto would eventually make use of the original design, modifying it extensively, and calling it the IPA-50 Grenadier! See pg. 150-152 of RIFTS World Book 8: Japan for details.)

      Meanwhile, though Oradaka's design never competed against the ArmaTech submission, that would later succeed beyond anyone's wild expectations as the SAMAS, the design schematics submitted to the US Army were analyzed and eventually discarded - or sort of. Instead of being tossed away, the schematics were instead filed away in a little known government facility known then as "Project Archive". When Salt Lake City would be destroyed by a Mexican ICBM a few years later - the archive facility and all knowledge of the Oradaka design would pass forgotten into history.

      Fast forward a few hundred years, past the rediscovery of Project Archive by Ace Ripley, the founding of Desert Star, the CS Invasion, the subsequent liberation - on into the founding of S-Mart. After the liberation and the founding of S-Mart, King Ripley sought to begin a powerful military capable of defending his new Kingdom. (This new military force would later come to be known as the N.O.M.A.D. Military.) To arm his new army, he financed his new company S-Mart in the development of several pre-cataclysm military vehicles - including power armor. One of which, by pure chance, would be the old Oradaka design called now the S-Mart Goliath.

      While S-Mart would also come to produce the ArmaTech SAMAS in limited numbers, the Goliath was slotted to fulfill a slightly different role in the N.O.M.A.D. Military. It was relatively slow moving, more heavily armored than a SAMAS, and was ultimately capable of carrying more weaponry - thus it fell into a role of infantry support. Ironically the very role it was designed for in the first place. For this purpose no less than 400 Goliaths were delivered to the N.O.M.A.D. Military from 114 to 116PA. In June of 116PA the Goliath was placed on the open market for sale.

      Since this time the Goliath has cornered the North American market, previously dominated by the Northern Gun Samson. Mercenary companies and several small kingdoms have been purchasing anywhere from one to dozens of them at a time. Tolkeen acquired 250 of them in 117PA, where they served with great distinction throughout the Sorcerer's Revenge campaign. A small free city in northern Colorado acquired twenty of these suits and used them in a titanic battle against a Wooly Dragon that had been terrorizing their city for years. As of February 2nd of 118PA, the Imperial Kyatashiro Army is considering a contract to purchase in the neighborhood of 1,000 of these suits for the infantry support role. All in all the Goliath promises to be one of S-Mart's best selling suits on the market yet today.

Model Type: Goliath-A.
Class: Heavy Infantry Support Power Armor.
Crew: 1.
M.D.C. by Location:
    *Head - 100.
    Arms (2) - 100 each.
    Legs (2) - 200 each.
    HPL-4A Heavy Pulse Laser Rifle - 75.
    *MML-1 Mini-Missile Launcher (Left Forearm) - 30.
    *MRL-1 Micro-Rocket Launchers (2; Concealed behind knee plates) - 50 each.
    *GL-2 Grenade Launcher (Right Forearm) - 40.
    *GL-2 Ammo Drum (1; Exterior of right forearm) - 30.
    BFP-3 Backblast Flechette Packs (2; Back) - 40 each.
    **Main Body - 310.

* These designated areas of the armor are small and difficult targets to hit, so therefore may only be struck with a penalty of -3 to strike.
** Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the armor down completely, making it useless.

Performance:
Maximum Running Speed: 60 mph; Note that the act of running does tire out it's operator, but at 10% the usual fatigue rate.
Leaping: The powerful robot legs can leap 20' high or across.
Maximum Flying Speed: Not Possible.
Maximum Swimming Speed: 4 mph using typical swimming type motions, or the unit may run along the bottom of a body of water at half it's normal running speed.
Maximum Safe Diving Depth: The unit is safe from the water tight seal being ruptured up to 900' in depth.

Statistical Data:
Height: 9'.
Length: 4'.
Width: 6'.
Weight: 701 Lb. fully loaded, not including the weight of the pilot. (Maximum pilot height is 6'8".)
Physical Strength: Equal to a P.S. of 35.
Cargo: A storage locker inside contains enough space for a survival kit, a side arm, a hand held radio, and a few energy clips.
Power System: Nuclear; Average energy life of 5 years.
Market Cost: 1.1 million credits for a fully loaded Goliath. Only fair market availability, due to high demand, and due to the N.O.M.A.D. Military requiring replacements, upgrades, and repairs. Northern Gun has secretly purchased three of these suits from the Black Market for study and a possible knock-off.

Weapon Systems

1. S-Mart HPL-4A Heavy Pulse Laser: This heavy pulse laser is the standard issue weapon for the Goliath. It's capabilities are good at standard ranged combat ranges but beyond that it is a poor competetor against weapons like the C-40R or even the TX-500 Borg Rail Gun. As this suit is designed to support infantry, providing heavy firepower and armored protection, however, this is not altogether that important.
Primary Purpose: Anti-Personnel.
Secondary Purpose: Assault.
Mega-Damage: 3D6+2 M.D. for a single pulse blast or 1D6x10 M.D. for a three round pulse.
Rate of Fire: Standard; Aimed, Burst, or Wild.
Maximum Effective Range: 2,000'
Payload: Effectively unlimited, thanks to the nuclear power supply.

2. S-Mart MML-1 4 Pack Forearm Mini-Missile Launcher: The left forearm bears a bulky looking four slot mini-missile launcher for dealing with heavily armored adversaries or to eliminate fortified positions pinning down the unit the suit is assigned to.
Primary Purpose: Anti-Armor.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Installation.
Mega-Damage: Varies with missile type. Typical loads are a pair of armor piercing mini-missiles and a pair of plasma mini-missiles.
Blast Radius: Varies with missile type.
Rate of Fire: The missiles may be fired individually or in volleys of 2, 3, or 4 at a time.
Maximum Effective Range: Varies, but typically about 1 mile.
Payload: 4.

3. S-Mart MRL-1 12 Pack Knee Micro-Rocket Launchers (2): A portion of the knee plating is designed to lift up to reveal a 12 pack Micro-Rocket Launcher, meant to deal with heavily armored adversaries and to saturate groups of armored infantry with high explosive knock-down power. Note that unlike the Micro-Missiles of Naruni Enterprises these are unguided rockets that fly straight forward into a target.
Primary Purpose: Anti-Armor.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Personnel.
Mega-Damage: 4D6 M.D. per rocket.
Blast Radius: 3' for one rocket, add 1 1/2' to this blast radius per additional rocket fired in a volley. Thus a volley of 12 rockets will have a blast radius of 19 1/2'.
Rate of Fire: The rockets may be fired individually or in volleys of 4, 8, or 12 at a time.
Maximum Effective Range: 1,500'.
Payload: 12 per launcher, for a total of 24 micro-rockets.

4. S-Mart GL-2 40 mm Forearm Grenade Launcher: The right forearm bears a high velocity semi-automatic grenade launcher for lobbing grenades over long distances to soften resistance before the infantry unit the suit is assigned to can arrive on scene.
Primary Purpose: Assault.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Personnel.
Mega-Damage: Varies with grenade type. The typical load carried though is fragmentation. For details on the effect of 40 mm fragmentation grenades, please see RIFTS Mercenaries pg. 105.
Rate of Fire: Standard.
Maximum Effective Range: 1,800'.
Payload: A forearm mounted drum of 20 grenades supplies the weapon with ammunition.

5. S-Mart BFP-3 Backfire Flechette Packs (2): These back mounted weapons are designed to cover the rear of the unit the power armor is assigned to by unleashing a hellacious rear fire attack, capable of shredding men wearing many types of contemporary body armor. What it is essentially is a controlled flechette firing pack that fires a cone of five flechette shells spreading out to cover a one hundred and twenty degree cone of fire out to the maximum range of the weapon system. Note, however, the two packs CANNOT fire simultaniously without throwing the power armor forward onto it's face.
Primary Purpose: Defense.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Personnel.
Mega-Damage: 1D4x10 M.D.
Rate of Fire: Equal to the users combined hand to hand attacks.
Maximum Effective Range: 60'.
Payload: Each pack contains enough flechette rounds to fire 6 times.

6. Systems of Note: This unit incorporates all the usual environmental features found in power armor including environmental protection, environmental control, air filtration, an independant 6 hour supply of air, heat and radiation shielding. Note however that this suit does NOT incorporate a radar system.
    1. H.U.D. Wideband Interface: This system is one of the most common systems used throughout post-cataclysm Earth in power armor. Instead of relying upon human vision it operates using a wide angle lense camera to take in the scene. Built into the helmet it often sits directly in front of the pilot's face, concealed behind a curved LCD screen. With this model a full one hundred and twenty degree field of vision is attained AND it has no ill effects on the power armor operative. This system provides full integration of all systems in a comprehensive H.U.D. (Heads Up Display). Unlike the common systems found elsewhere, this type is joined with a more advanced targeting computer that allows up to two weapons to be trained on a target at once. The audio level in the H.U.D. Wideband Interface is advanced beyond normal human hearing, becoming only slightly less sensitive than the cybernetic "Amplified Hearing".
    2. Anti-Dazzle Protection: This is essentially nothing more than a polarized film on the sensors that react to the ambient light. Thus if a bright flash occurs in the face of the Goliath, the lense turns nearly black for an instant, and then quickly changes back to normal - protecting the operator from being dazzled.
    3. Infrared Optics: This system allows the user to see the heat emanating from an object. It can be set to be white hot or black hot, depending on operating status. If in combat black hot would be best to avoid being blinded by explosions and similar. While in passive mode, outside of combat, white hot would be best, so as things like body heat would better stand out. The range of this system is 2,000'.
    4. Nightvision Optics: This system uses the ambient light from starlight, moonlight and similar to allow a sort of green-tinged vision beyond normal visual ranges for a human. The range of this system is 2,000'.
    5. Macrovision Optics: These optics are essentially like a microscope, capable of magnifying objects hundreds of times, from a distance of 6'. This is a useful system for analyzing clues in the field, such as tracks, spent shell casings and similar.
    6. Telescopic Optics: These are exactly as they sound, telescopic optics that enhance the image of far away objects. At a range of 6,000' an object appears only 100' away, as an example. The range of this system is 6,000' effectively - but it can enhance the image of objects further away yet still, they just are not quite so well detailed.
    7. Thermal Imaging Optics: This is very similar to the Infrared Optics in the sense that it detects heat, but unlike the imprecise nature of the infrared optics, this measures the heat signature precisely displaying them in colorful shades of reds, yellows, greens and blues with various degrees of heat. The thermal imaging optics are also far more sensitive than the infrared optics, actually allowing them to see heat through walls of structures at certain distances. The range of this system is 2,000', but it can only see heat through an obstacle such as a brick wall from 100'.
    8. Military Radio & Scrambler: This is the same radio equipment, bolt for bolt, microchip for microchip, as the system found on the USA-G10 Glitterboy. The broadcast range is a modest 50 miles. By resetting the radio transmitter inside the armor to an elevated position, however, the same transmitter can achieve a fairly consistent 500 mile range using atmospheric bounce. Atmospheric anomalys can extend this range still further or can completely disable the radio system within a set radius, it just depends on the circumstances. The scrambler system allows the radio signals to be scrambled to all those not equipped with the correct scrambling codes.
    9. I.F.F. Transponder System: This system transmits data such as alpha-numeric designation code, course, mission, base of operations, and unit, via radio signal, to other similarly equipped military stations, vehicles, and power armor suits that have been programmed with the correct access codes. This allows a friendly N.O.M.A.D. soldier in an S-Mart Assassin, overflying a squad of Goliaths, to quickly determine who these individuals are. This also allows field commanders to keep far better track of their military assets. A further feature of this system is that it functions well as a distress beacon. A note towards the safety of I.F.F. - is that the codes are very difficult to break. Since the N.O.M.A.D. Military periodically changes their I.F.F. safety codes - attempts to crack the codes that have taken weeks of supercomputer analysis - are for naught. Those Goliaths that are sold DO include this system but it is programmed as a civilian system, readily read by N.O.M.A.D. Military programmed I.F.F. transponders.
    10. Improvements Available: The Goliath's basic layout is far from overextended in fact there remains a GREAT deal of room for improvement in terms of the number of systems that can be carried. Remaining system requirement slots are as follows, the first number is internal, second is external. Head 17.5/30, Left Arm 5/30, Right Arm 0/10, Left Leg 20/40, Right Leg 20/40, and Main Body 45/30.

7. Hand to Hand Combat Abilities: In addition to Power Armor Basic or Elite pilot training, the Goliath enjoys the following bonuses;

+2 to strike with ranged weapon systems.

Punch: 1D6 M.D.
Power Punch: 2D6 M.D.
Kick: 1D6 M.D.
Leap Kick: 2D6 M.D.
Body Flip/Throw: 1D6+3 M.D.
Body Block/Tackle: 1D6+3 M.D.



      The picture used above is available courtesy of R. Talsorian's "Cyberpunk 2020®" as seen in the source book Maximum Metal. In the source book it is seen as the Arasaka Standard B, a power armor unit produced by a Japanese based company. This is by no means an attempt to steal the hard working efforts of R. Talsorian Inc's authors or artists, but merely used here as a means of utilizing interesting designs from their source materials, inside of Palladium Books' RIFTS. The image was edited to fit the Goliath as described on April 5, 2005 using Windows Paint and Print Shop Photo Pro 2.0.




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