Joker Quest A: Armoury Guardian - GARM V2.0

A dual-mode transformable frame, the A-10346 Armoury Guardian (Designation: GARM) is a heavy-duty quadruped combat chassis. The four-legged design distributes the automaton's weight, with discreet gravimetric suspensors allowing for greater balance and mobility than would otherwise be possible: In its primary operating mode, the GARM ambulates on four limbs, and is surprisingly agile despite its substantial mass.

Additionally, each limb is equipped with caterpillar-treads, allowing for an alternative mode of transit: By lowering the frame and activating on the treads, the GARM has greater speed and a smaller profile, at the cost of reduced agility and a smaller turning radius. In addition, the GARM has a ramjet booster mounted on the back of the chassis, which can be triggered in either form - But, most advisably, in tank mode.

CAPABILITIES:

Designed for area defence, the GARM has substantial front armour, and a wide array of energy/solid munition weaponry, due to the binary nature of its primary defence. While meant to function within the confines of a certain area, the Armoury Guardian has four Essence Accumulators to absorb ambient Essence - Granting it self-repair and replenishment capabilities, when not engaged in combat. (This also means that the GARM's pilot can't harvest Essence while utilizing the combat chassis.)

In addition, it has a small transport capability - A lightly-armoured compartment behind the torso (rear-loading) can contain up to five moderately-sized Players at any one time.

The GARM also features an articulated head - Actually a sophisticated sensor cluster - that moves in time with the pilot: The controlling Player's armour interfaces directly with the chassis, allowing him to direct the GARM like an extension of his own body. Notably, this is also a weakness - If the head is severed or otherwise damaged, the Player is rendered effectively blind unless he opens the cockpit, exposing himself to direct fire.

Furthermore, the GARM's flank and rear armour is notably thinner; In quadruped mode, the Guardian's limbs (Especially the joints) are vulnerable to sustained fire, which can potentially cripple the chassis.

Perhaps to compensate for these issues, the GARM mounts a dual phase Variable Shield Generator on the front torso - When activated, it creates a horizontal field of overlapping hexagons that shuts out either kinetic impact or directed energy. Notably, this field is two-way: The combat chassis can only utilize weaponry of the opposing nature while the shield is active, or risks having his own fire rebound onto him.

(tl;dr - When the Kinetic field is up, you can't use Kinetic weapons. When the Energy field is up, you can't fire your own energy weapons through it.)

The VSG - like the GARM's energy weapons - draws power directly from the GARM's reactor, which slowly regenerates over time. In contrast, the GARM's solid-munition weapons rely on a universal ammunition system: The munitions are fabricated from the GARM's store of base material, which replenishes itself - By expending Essence - when not in use.

SHIELDS: 100% (MODE - KINETIC/ENERGY)
HULL INTEGRITY: 100%
MUNITIONS: 100%
ENERGY: 100%

WEAPONS:

MANIPULATOR ARMS:

The Armoury Guardian's primary weapons are mounted on the chassis's manipulator arms - A pair of fold-out, extendable limbs, ending in steel-shod fists. The GARM utilizes myomer fibre for a wider range of movement: In many ways, the combat chassis is a scaled-up version of Player armour, allowing the pilot to control it in exactly the same way.

Notably, each Manipulator Arm sports retractable talons - Hardened analogue blades mounted on reinforced frames. The pilot can utilize the claws to grab, twist, gouge and otherwise shear through targets, though their bulk makes them inherently clumsy.

ENERGY WEAPONS:

a) INDUCTION BLASTERS (X2)

(ENERGY WEAPON - 5% ENERGY/shot.)

The GARM's primary energy weapons - Mounted in the palm of each articulated 'hand' - the Induction Blasters project a blast of focused electromagnetic force (Visible as a seething sphere of white-cored lightning), effectively shocking and incinerating the target at the same time. Each Induction Blaster is enormously destructive, capable of vaporizing Player armour - Players in the area of effect also suffer electrical side-effects, such as disrupted systems or overloaded sensors.

Induction Blasters generate massive amounts of waste heat: Each one is individually equipped with a field inhibitor, to prevent damaging feedback - But which reduces their performance at close range. There's a brief delay between shots, as the capacitors recharge.

The Induction Blasters can't be utilized when the GARM's claws are in use.

b) DISINTEGRATOR CANNON

(ENERGY WEAPON - 10%/shot, sustained.)

Mounted on the GARM's articulated 'head' - Beneath the sensor cluster - the Disintegrator Cannon is a powerful anti-armour weapon that produces a devastatingly intense blast of heat. When activated, the Disintegrator Cannon fires a constant stream of superheated air, capable of melting tanks into sludge: The Disintegrator has ferocious cutting power, and often bisects the targets in the area of effect that aren't immediately incinerated.

This rapidly depletes the GARM's reactor, and has a substantial cooling-off delay after the initial firing.

c) COBALT LASER (X4)

(ENERGY WEAPON - 2%/burst, sustained.)

Similar in design to the Cobalt Booster, the GARM sports four torso-mounted emitters, each one capable of generating multi-directional cutting beams. The laser emitters fire in rapid pulses, extending the operating time before the need to 'cool off', and reducing the effective drain on the reactor.

KINETIC WEAPONS:

a) MASS DRIVERS (X2)

(KINETIC WEAPON - 5%/shot.)

Mounted on the GARM's torso - On either side of the Shield Emitter - Mass Drivers fire stakes of ultradense metal, each one a kinetic kill weapon capable of punching through layered armour. Each Driver can launch up to ten impactors at once, much in the same way as direct-fire missiles.

b) 30MM CHAINGUN (X4)

(KINETIC WEAPON - 1%/burst, sustained.)

Rapid-fire and belt-fed, these weapons are mounted in turreted pairs on the GARM's shoulders: Loaded with explosive shells, the Guardian's chainguns are designed for anti-personnel use - Sustained shots can shatter and fragment Player armour, and chew through soft cover at an appalling rate.

c) FRAGMENTATION LAUNCHER:

(KINETIC WEAPON - 3%/shot.)

This indirect-fire weapon launches 'smart' canisters in an elliptical arc. Upon reaching the optimum height, each warhead detonates, scattering fragmentation bomblets over a wide area.

MISC:

a) GALVANIC EMITTERS:

(ENERGY WEAPON - 8%/Round, sustained.)

A dedicated anti-personnel system, the Galvanic Emitters shroud the Red Comet in a high-voltage shock field. When activated, the surface of the GARM begins to crackle with charge, with visible arcs of seething electricity leaping over the Armoury Guardian's hull. Capable to generating several thousand volts of stun charge, contact with this field is extremely painful, enervating and electrocuting targets in direct contact with the surface.

While intended as more of a defensive measure than an offensive one, the discharge field extends to the Armoury Guardian's manipulator talons, effectively adding to their punch.

b) MULTICORE CONVERTER:

A modification to the GARM's Essence Accumulator system, the Multicore Converter allows the Red Comet to replenish it's munition supply in the middle of combat - Simply by destroying targets. A portion of the released Essence is converted into the Armoury Guardian's multi-purpose munitions, restocking solid ammunition in much the same way the GARM's auto-repair systems function.

c) MYOMER HYPERTROPHY:

Significantly denser -  And with far greater tensile strength - than the standard model, this modified strain of myomer is optimized for use in the Red Comet's combat chassis; Replacing the Armoury Guardian's existing musculature, the Red Comet now has significantly improved performance when it comes to sheer physical strength, increasing the GARM's maximum tonnage capacity, manoeuvrability and destructive capabilities.

Notably, the Red Comet can now *sprint* full-out - In addition, it can leap when in quadruped mode, and land without sustaining catastrophic damage. A side-effect of this improved myomer is that the GARM now generates higher levels of internal heat, which is rarely noticeable unless the combat chassis is forced to operate at maximum capacity for extended periods of time.

d) VARIABLE SHIELD GENERATOR/COBALT SMASHER

(Depletes Shield to 0%)

Potentially the GARM's most destructive weapon, the Cobalt Smasher utilizes the heavy-duty emitter of the Variable Shield Generator - Effectively turning it into a high-power particle beam weapon, unleashing the Generator's pent-up energies in a single apocalyptic blast. Very much a last-ditch measure, this has the side-effect of damaging - Or in some cases, burning-out - the Shield Emitter's charging coils, potentially rendering it unusable until repaired.

The massive discharge of energy can result in system failure, and reduces the Armoury Guardian's capabilities until the reactor can compensate for the extensive power drain. In the event that the Shield Generator continues to function, it requires a substantial period to recharge, leaving the GARM vulnerable while the ray-shield is disabled.