Editing Lunar Reckoning 69 (section)

== The Mechs & More ==

* The '''Armored Personnel Unit''' was made from a colony work mech known as the General Purpose Work Suit. Manufactured by Oncari Industries and its subcontractors, and ranging from 8 feet tall for the lightweight APU-02 "Thief" model to 10 feet for the APU-03 "Magus" - the origin of the Blue Magus' moniker via the color of her Modular APU prototype - the APU has grown from an insurgency weapon on Mars, to a support weapon for infantry, into a full-blown infantry replacement. Using a microfusion engine block in the rear and hover jets in the feet, APUs can move at incredibly high speeds during combat. The emergence of the Modular APU has allowed much greater customization of the machine's chassis, and with it, the emergence of Mages.
* '''Chickenwalkers''' are about the size of an APU, but much cheaper. Built in machine shops across the solar system for anyone who can pay, Chickenwalkers are named for their prominent reverse leg joint. A better term would be "walking coffin", fitting both shape and function, as Chickenwalkers can only truly threaten APUs en masse.
* '''ESD Troopers''' - or infantry, put more simply - have lost some currency in an era of APUs, but they can go places no mech can and a well-trained fireteam can outperform an APU, assuming the terrain is favorable. Bearing advanced weaponry and suits of artificial muscle, Troopers use an alternate damage system, making them less effective as they lose more men.
* '''Main Battle Tanks''' and other self-propelled artillery are battlefield terrors. APUs fear them, and rightly so - should their reaction time or speed ever waver, they'll find themselves on the business end of a powerful cannon! Tanks have the heaviest armor of modern combat forces, which many weapons can't even scratch. However, a fast machine can run circles around them, and energy weapons are a true tank-killer.
* '''Sportwalkers''' are primarily a civilian machine, the first to use artificial muscle and one of the Neucom corporation's most successful products. Standing only a little taller than an APU but with a much larger footprint, Sportwalkers have four large, powerful legs, a cockpit 'head', and electrically-powered 'free rollers' under the feet for speed. Today, in addition to sport and hobby uses, the Sportwalker is often used as a guerilla [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle) "technical"] and replacement for more traditional self-propelled artillery among those who cannot afford proper armored fighting vehicles.
* '''Variable Helicopters''' are the modern evolution of the attack helicopter. While they're about the size of a 21st century Apache in their normal form, they have a major addition - deployable legs with massive, electrically-driven tires, allowing them to offer support close to the ground and make incredible landings and strafing runs. Infamous as the "Scourge of the Colonies" during the Colonial Wars, VH units are fairly common in various models both military and insurgent.
* There's more to come, too, including '''Variable Tanks''', '''Linear Pods''', '''Motorcycles''', their siblings '''Guardians''', and the mysterious '''Earth Walker'''.