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History

     The Mk 1 HAM suit (Hydraulically Assisted Man) was originally designed to allow an individual to do work that would otherwise call for heavy equipment. This, the second model of the suit, is a complete integrated and articulated suit of powered armor (hence the second "A" in the name), using electrical power from a Fusion Reactor Mk 1 to produce magnetohydrodynamic flexion of the joints as compared to the original's use of batteries and hydraulics. It can carry about 500 kilograms of payload while moving; a 'dead lift' of about a ton is possible. While still useful for engineering tasks, the suit's military applications are now emphasized by the Project.

     Even though no hydraulics are incorporated in the Mk 2 suit, the "H" was kept in the name.

     The suit is not commonly issued due to its power and expense; the Project only possesses a few dozen of them. One is in each of the major MARS and Scientific vehicles and one or more is found in each of the major supply bases. There was at least one "flying squad" of eight men frozen with each man outfitted with a HAAM suit. This a specially trained combat group for use in cities and is part of the MARS forces.

Features

Protection

    The suit is sealed against toxic, corrosive and other insidious environmental hazards (including vacuum), has an air recycling system and can remain sealed for up to 24 hours. Radiation shielding is equivalent to 0.5 mm of lead. It can work underwater down to a depth of 350 meters, and can resist temperatures up to 2,000°C. for one hour. The armor (type undisclosed) is equivalent to 34mm of RHA steel; the main weakness is the set of five cooling fins for the reactor, mounted on the back of the suit. The fins are under an armored shroud, with a powerful fan at the top drawing air through louvers; but they can be damaged by explosions (for example). The cooling system is about a thousand times more efficient under water, by the way!

Power Supply

     Damage to the cooling system will decrease the amount of  power the reactor can safely produce; if the fins are entirely destroyed, the reactor can only produce about 5 kilowatts of continuous power, insufficient to allow the HAAM suit to stand up or use weapons. A single Morrow Project vehicle battery is installed; it will allow the suit to operate for roughly 10 minutes (depending on what sort of activities are undertaken) if the cooling system is disabled, or 5 minutes on battery power alone.

     With the power cut off the suit absolutely will not move and all the operator can do is climb out of the top.

Sensors, Control and Communication

     A light-intensification and thermal imaging suite is built in, along with a rear-facing video camera, flash protection, encrypted radio, a medkit and CBR kit, radio direction finder, tactical radio jammer, etc..The suit's radio system is also tied into the computer system. ln the case of something happening to the operator, a MARS-ONE or Scientific-1 vehicle computer can control the suit and have it return to the vehicle irregardless of the state of the operator.

Technically, any computer with the correct software package and security key,

connected to a radio capable of sending an encrypted FSK signal on any of several different radio frequencies, can control a suit.

Armament

     There is a Mk 1 laser mounted in the left arm of the suit. There is a special 20mm select-fire rifle designed for use with the suit; it has an electronic night-vision scope (a slightly-modified Starlight Scope) which feeds directly into the suit's helmet display.

Operations

     The operator's harness inside the suit has to be adjusted to the individual, a task that takes about 10 minutes for a trained operator. The design never progressed to providing fixtures or alternate versions for female users, although anything is possible briefly. Putting the suit on requires 10 minutes work for trained users, 30 minutes or more for untrained.

Performance

     For transport, the dismantled suit and the necessary supplies, tool, etc. are packed into five large cases (2 m by 1 m by 1 meter) weighing 250 kg each.

     There is no internal storage space -- part of the concept is that the operator's harness is molded to his body.

     Max "road" speed, 21 kph; "cross-country" speed, 15 kph; running and walking are only a little less fatiguing than doing so without the suit. Upward and forward jumping is only a little greater than normal human abilities; it's pretty good at taking falls, however - automated routines and internal padding help with surviving falls of up to 15 meters (17 m/sec or 60 kph impact) without injury. Overall density of the suit is about twice that of water -- it cannot swim at all, and in fact sinks at about 7 meters per second.

Game Mechanics

     The skill required to maneuver in and operate these suits is HAAM Pilot (10% base). Melee attacks and parries, DEX rolls, Dodge, Jump, and some other skills (e.g, Tennis, Bowling, Juggling, Sleight of Hand, a lot of Craft and Art skills, etc.) are limited to twice your HAAM Pilot skill. Movement is is reduced by one-quarter until the skill reaches 25%. Weight 905 kg without pilot; armor value 25. STR 42, SIZ 42, damage bonus +4d6.

     The suits fit human males of SIZ 8 to 18, as long as their SIZ is not more than 4 points greater than their STR; they must be adjusted to the specific STR and SIZ of the user, however.

• Unencumbered movement across open ground in combat is 36 meters (18 hexes at our usual map scale). 

• More specifically, the Move minor action lets you go 36 meters.

• You can sprint at twice your current Move rate, but that increases any attacker's chance to hit by 20% (melee attacks only).

• This is the Run major action

     Movement when Loaded, Burdened, and Overloaded is also at a rate 50% more than for un-suited (*kosher") people.

     Armor value 25.