Hybrid PowerArmor

Hybrid Power Armor
Mech Information
Mech Class	PowerArmor
Production Year	Unknown/3067 or prior
Tonnage	>5
Mech Variant	Elemental
Weapons And Stats
Armor	500
Max. Speed	10 Mph/ 16 Km/h
Max. Heat	Unknown
Cool Rate	Unknown
Energy Weapon	1x Laser
Missile Weapon	2x Crossbow Missile (SRMs)
JumpJets	Yes
Ability	None
Mission Appearances
Player/Ally	N/A
Enemy	-

"Hybrid PowerArmor? What is going on here?! Planetary militias don't have PowerAmor!" - Major Natalia

The Hybrid PowerArmor is a variant of the Elemental PowerArmor system. It appears in MechAssault.

Description

Hybrid PowerArmor were modified Elemental BattleArmor suits employed by the Word of Blake forces under Adept Strader on planet Helios in 3067. They are defined by their single missile rack, dual gun arms and unique paint scheme.

Likely to be only an experimental system, the Hybrid PowerArmor was observed to be fundamentally inferior to its Elemental template, suffering from overheating among other defects. In addition, the Hybrid PowerArmor had significantly lighter armor than the Elemental and was found to be incapable of withstanding direct fire from most weapon systems. The only discernible advantage the Hybrid possessed over its template was that the stripped down unit with lighter armaments would require fewer resources to produce. As such, the Hybrid PowerArmor was primarily employed to supplement infantry garrisons and suppress resistance to the World of Blake's occupation of Helios, with the few units that saw combat against BattleMechs, and even other Elementals frequently being quickly obliterated.

The Hybrid PowerArmor fell out of favor following the Word of Blake defeat on Helios with no other models known to have been encountered afterwards, and is possibly now completely defunct.

Gameplay

The Hybrid Power Armor cannot be used by the player in normal gameplay, but if unlocked using mods the armor shows that the missiles are wildly inaccurate, the JumpJets are short and that the armor overheats extremely quickly. This is most likely intended for gameplay balancing reasons, and was achieved by having the Hybrid use the same lower damage and less accurate vehicle weapon sets that are normally used on tanks rather than the weapon sets that are used on 'Mechs.

The Hybrid PowerArmor does not appear in MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, being completely replaced by standard Elementals.

Trivia

• Despite the fact that the HPA has only one shoulder mounted launcher its loadout sports 2x SRMs.
  • Similarly, although the model of the HPA has twin lasers only one laser is used in gameplay.

Gallery

References

1. The Hybrid PowerArmor's tonnage has been assumed to be lighter than an Elemental which weighs in at 5 tons due to the Hybrid possessing a significantly lower armor rating than the Elemental in MechAssault in addition to the reduced weight of having only one missile rack instead of the Elemental's two.
2. Information regarding the Hybrid PowerArmor's stats has been taken verbatim from the MechAssault Prima Games Strategy guide, however because the Hybrid is classified within the enemy vehicle section where tanks and other non-'Mech enemies are listed rather than the 'Mech section as the Elemental is, the Hybrid's information is less detailed and does not include its heat factors.