Jovian Chronicles - Mercurian Exo's (and other craft)

[Noir]

GEAL-01 Hercules
General Purpose Exo-Armor

Height: 15.4 m
Weight: 29.7 tons
Control System: Linear Frame
Armor Factor: 14

Weapon Systems
1 x Massdriver Rifle (not shown)
(other weapons optional)

Special Equipment
Survival Pod
Booster Unit (Optional)

 

Overview
The Hercules is the first Mercurian Exo-Armor. It is a light exo-armor clearly derived from the Explorer and/or Defender (much like the CEGA's Wyvern exo-armor) and was designed for Mercurian Merchant Guild to use with their commercial fleet.

The Guild had two primary requirements for the design of the Exo-Armor; it needed to be able to assist with the loading and unloading of cargo and it also needed to be able to protect their merchant ships from pirate attacks.

In order to assist with the transfer of cargo, the Exo-armor needed to be nimble in space and operate in a peaceful, non-threatening fashion. That led to an Exo-Armor with no integrated weapons. Instead, it was decided that any armament would be held in the hand actuators and could therefore be disengaged and left on the ship when operating in a peaceful capacity.

The standard armament of the Hercules is an accurate and and dependable massdriver rifle. This not only allows the option of different ammunition, but also allows to Hercules to store additional clips on the skirt plates, much like the CEGA's Wyvern exo-armor, with each clip carrying enough ammunition for 10 bursts. Though the reliance on a single projectile weapon can limit operational range, the Hercules carries an additional clip of standard ammunition and one of armor piercing round, giving it a total of 30 bursts, which is more than suitable.

Having been designed for use in space, the Hercules is quite fast and maneuverable with excellent acceleration. In standard configuration though it carries a relatively small amount of reaction mass to save on weight, which was deemed suitable since the unit was designed to operate close to Guild vessels which could support it. To increase range the Hercules can be outfitted with a booster unit sporting larger tanks of reaction mass while providing enough additional thrust to compensate for the added weight with no appreciable loss in speed or maneuverability.

As a light exo-armor, the Hercules sports slightly more torso armor than the standard Pathfinder (mainly to protect relatively few exo-armor pilots Mercury has) while possessing slightly better speed due to its reduced armament. The reduction in armament is the primary weakness of the standard Hercules, as it lacks the extra punch of medium or heavy missiles, which is partially compensated for by the armor piercing ammo, as well as suffering from a lack of close combat weapons. The Hercules seems to work well enough for it's intended role though, as its primary adversary is pirate aerospace fighters. Guild vessels are now beginning to carry pairs of this exo-armor for mercantile and defensive use.

 

Variants
At the moment, aside from the few units equipped with the aforementioned booster unit, the only variants of the Hercules are those equipped with different, hand held weapons. These alternate weapons include things such as a rarely seen beam cannon powered by a 10 shot capacitor and the even more rare 'missile rifle'.

 

  Below: The Hercules (hand held weapon not shown)

Service History
The Hercules has seen combat against pirates and illegal scavengers who primarily used small ships and aerospace fighter, and has proven itself a relatively sound design

 

GEAL-01 Hercules (Standard)

Spoiler

 

GEAL-01 Hercules (Standard)

Piloting - MV: -3, Ground Move: 9, Flight Move: 21, Tonnage: 29.7

Sensors - Range: 7, Comm: 1,000 km, Structure: 5K, Location: Head

Hydraulics - Standard, Structure: 8K

Armor & Structure
Head --- Armor: 2K, Structure: 1K
Torso -- Armor: 4K, Structure: 4K
R. Arm - Armor: 2K, Structure: 2K
L. Arm - Armor: 2K, Structure: 2K
R. Leg - Armor: 2K, Structure: 3K
L. Leg - Armor: 2K, Structure: 3K

Additive Systems - Escape Pod, Space Protection

Weapons

Railgun - Accuracy: +1, Range: 8, Damage: 3K, Ammo: *, Structure: 3K, Location: R. Arm, Special: Machinefire: BV 3

*Ammo: Railgun - Shots: 20, Location: R. Arm/Torso, Special: Standard

*Ammo: Railgun - Shots: 10, Location: Torso, Special: Armor Piercing

Right Hand - Accuracy: +1, Range: Melee, Damage: 1K, Ammo: N/A, Structure: 1K, Location: R. Hand, Special: Quick, Handy

Left Hand - Accuracy: +1,  Range: Melee, Damage: 1K, Ammo: N/A, Structure: 1K, Location: L. Hand, Special: Quick, Handy