Samana Battle Armor
===Overview===
The Samana is a medium quad battle armor design that was developed in the years after Clan Goliath Scorpion founded the Escorpión Imperio. With its impressive speed and deadly anti-personnel loadout, it is primarily used to engage conventional infantry. The name "Samana" comes from an ancient Babylonian demon of old-Earth legend that bore a scorpion's tail.
Among the Hansa it was called a different name: The Stalking Death.
===Capabilities===
Weakened as they were, the Goliath Scorpions needed only a few months in 3080 to conquer the territory that would become the Escorpion Imperio. However, it still took decades for the Scorpion genetics program to take root and start producing replacement Trueborn warriors in quantity. In the meantime every remaining trueborn Mechwarrior, Elemental, and Aerospace pilot was a critically precious resource. As time passed, sheer necessity forced the Scorpions to reevaluate long-held Clan prejudices against "older" warriors (which is to say, anyone past their mid-30's).
The Samana was developed as a result of these changing attitudes. It provides a useful posting for Elementals who can still serve, but are no longer at their physical peak due to injury or age. Scorpion engineers had to think creatively in order to squeeze the bulk of an Elemental warrior into a medium quad battlesuit. The Samana doesn't have a cockpit in the traditional sense. Instead, the pilot is tightly enclosed within the main body of the unit itself. Movement of the suit is accomplished though a combination of heads-up displays, a rudimentary neural link, and control inputs located at the hands and feet. The pilot is also able to turn their head to look out the backup vision ports. Other than this, the pilot is basically immobile once sealed in. Piloting a Samana for an extended time can be a taxing experience, even for a seasoned Elemental. Larger, roomier designs were considered, but the medium classification was selected so that Samana points could be easily transported by the Imperio's limited number of non-Omni battle armor carriers (such as the Svantovit).
Essentially, the Samana combines the roles of IFV, infantryman, and small Protomech into a single package. With their twin Micro Pulse Lasers a point of Samana suits can make short work of a foot company. These weapons are also reasonably effective against armored targets. A one-shot SRM-3 provides a burst of firepower when ambushing vehicles or Mechs at close range.
The Samana's armor protection is strong, being equivalent to that of an Elemental. With its 54 kph top speed and nimble mobility the Samana can easily control the flow of an engagement. It can also keep up with tanks and Mechs. Due to its speed, protection, and extreme anti-infantry firepower the Samana often acts as a substitute for armored units in battlezones where intense vehicular combat is not necessarily expected.
===History===
In the years prior to the Hanseatic Crusade nearly every Hansa world was raising dozens of new infantry regiments in anticipation of a war with the Imperio. After all, not every battle in a war involves giant machines blasting away at each other. In any warzone there may be dozens of smaller engagements occurring at any given time, and many of these battles will involve infantry exclusively. While the Scorpions had abandoned their Protomech program they still needed a weapon geared toward those kinds of small-unit engagements. The Samana was the unit that filled this void.
During the Crusade the Samana was a terror to the Hansa infantryman. It was fast, nimble, utterly silent, and hard to kill. It could navigate urban environments or the darkest forests with ease, or even travel underwater when necessary. A point of Samana suits could appear without warning, slaughter scores of men in moments, and then withdraw before anything could be done. Of course, the Scorpions still lost a significant number of suits, particularly in situations where the Hansa were prepared with Inferno ammunition. However, by then the damage had been done, and the Hansa were calling the Samana "The Stalking Death." When the war concluded many Elementals who would have been discarded by other Clans had secured great honor piloting these suits.
Type: Samana
Manufacturer: Factory Complex XJ-11
Primary Factory: Unknown
Introduction year: 3098
Tech Base: Clan (Standard)
Tech Rating: F/X-X-E-D
Chassis Type: Quad
Weight Class: Medium
Maximum Weight: 1,000 kg
Battle Value: 483
Cost: 2,812,500
Swarm/Leg Attack/Mechanized/AP: No/No/No/No
Equipment Slots Mass
Chassis: 250 kg
Motive System:
Ground MP: 5 120 kg
Jump MP: 0 0 kg
Manipulators:
Left Arm: None 0 kg
Right Arm: None 0 kg
Armor: Standard (Basic) 0 250 kg
Armor Value: 11 (Trooper)
Slots
Weapons and Equipment Location (Capacity) Mass
Micro Pulse Laser Body 1 160 kg
Micro Pulse Laser Body 1 160 kg
SRM 3 (OS) Body 2 60 kg
