Black Market Prospect Mole Power Armor

This is one of the Illustrations appearing in the recent "RIFTS: Black Market" published by Palladiumbooks.
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Not everyone who wishes to hunt for gold wants to throw away their humanity and become a mining borg. For them the best option is the Mole prospecting power armor. Bandito has put all its expertise in designing mining equipment for borgs into the Mole. The Mole is heavily built with powerful robotics and heavy armor in case of cave-ins. Just in case the armor is trapped underground for an extended period of time it is equipped with a rebreather/CO2 scrubber, a water recycler system and a small refrigeration unit for holding food stuffs. Due to the demands of mining, the pilot of the Mole sits at a small control console and the power armor is completely automated. This prevents the pilot from tiring and allows him to work for hours on end without having to come to the surface for a rest break. With the Mole’s weight and purpose built design, the mining armor is slow and ponderous, but then the Mole doesn’t need to sneak up on a vein of gold.
While the Mole is not a combat power armor, most of its mining systems make impressive weapons if an enemy gets close enough to the Mole for them to be effective. One arm, either the right or the left, ends (no hand) in a powerful mining drill, which in turn is surrounded by the four laser emitters of the Mole’s laser cutter, a powerful beam that can cut through stone, steel and worse like the preverbal hot knife through butter. Mounted on the forearm of the mining drill arm is a hydraulic jackhammer that can extend far past the drill bit to batter stone and rock into powder. The opposite arm, left or right, from the mining drill has both the modular forearm and modular hand housings that allow either of them to be swapped out for a variety of mining attachments, the same type of tools used by a prospecting borg (see Rifts® World Book 14: New West™, page 187 for the Mining Borg Attachments). And mounted on the back of this arm (just above the modular housing connection) is a ferro-concrete sprayer, which can be used to spray down streams of ferro-concrete foam which starts to instantly harden (in 1D4 melee rounds) into a strong, M.D.C. structural support for reinforcing the walls and ceiling of a mine to prevent cave-ins. The Mole has everything the prospector could want in a piece of mining equipment.
Model Type: MPPA-02 The Mole Prospecting PA
Class: Prospecting and Mining Powered Armor.
Crew: One.

Speed:
Running: Only 30 mph (48 km) maximum. Cruising speed is a more cautious 15 mph (24 km). Note that the act of running does not tire out its operator thanks to the power armor’s fully automated robotic exoskeleton.
Leaping: The legs of the Mole are designed for strength not leaping, the Mole cannot leap at all.
Flight: Not possible.
Underwater Capabilities: The Mole cannot swim, but can walk along the bottom of the sea or lake bed at about 25% of its normal walking/running speed. Maximum Ocean Depth: One mile (1.6 km).
Statistical Data:
Height: 9 feet (2.7 m) from head to toe.
Width: 7 feet, 6 inches (1.9 m).
Length: 4 feet, 6 inches (1.4 m).
Weight: 2.5 tons.
Cargo: Small area for the pilot's personal items, as well as a weapon bin that has room for one rifle, one pistol, light body armor and a canteen. A two gallon (7.6 L) water cooler and a compact refrigerator is built into the unit.
Power System: Nuclear; average life is 20 years.


Weapon Systems:

1. Mining Drill: In place of one of the Mole’s hands and forearm (buyers choice as to which one) is a huge, powerful drill made for making large holes (a man can fit his head into one of these holes) in rock and metal and drilling away rock.
Primary Purpose: Mining.
Secondary Purpose: Defense.

2. Hydraulic Jackhammer: Mounted on the back of the mining drill is a heavy-duty Jackhammer designed to break rock into small pieces, typically used on rock that has already been drilled in order to clear rock during mining.
Primary Purpose: Mining.
Secondary Purpose: Assault.

3. Cutting Laser: There are four cutting laser emitters mounted equally around the mining drill, the cutting laser is designed to blast and shear through rock and metal via super heating and cutting. While not meant as a weapon, the cutting laser can do a lot of damage at short-range, but it has a hard time hitting any target beyond ten feet (0.3 m).
Primary Purpose: Mining.
Secondary Purpose: Anti-Armor/Anti-Robot.
4. Ferro-Concrete Sprayer: The spray looks a lot like the nozzle of a fire hose, but sprays ferro-concrete foam from a large liquid storage tank on back of the Mole. Used to reinforcing the walls and ceiling of a mine to prevent cave-ins.
Primary Purpose: Mining.
Secondary Purpose: Defense.

5. Handheld Weapons: Energy rifles, rail guns or melee weapons may be carried if desired. Remember that the Mole Prospecting PA can also be fitted with a variety of mining attachments (see Rifts® World Book 14: New West™, page 187 for the Mining Borg Attachments).

Original Illustration already SOLD to

Cheers!