PPR-24 Soldat

The **PPR-24 Soldat** (**ППР-24 Солдат**, literally **Soldier**) was a combat Battloid used by the EBSIS.

## Background

The Eurasian Bloc of Soviet Independent States' desire to remain independent of the United Earth Government presented a number of issues, not the least of which was their access to Robotechnology weapons. While they had inherited legacy weapons from locally-stationed UEDF units following their formation, those supplies were limited and furthermore could not be easily replaced. Furthermore, the closest thing the EBSIS had to an indigenous Battloid design, the T-99 Surgut, was already considered to be lacking and facing technological obsolescence.

In order to fulfil this requirement, EBSIS engineers devised the PPR-24 Soldat (Пехота Поддержка Робот, literally 'Infantry Support Robot'). From the outset, the Battloid was deigned to fulfil a number of requirements. It needed to be built entirely with components available within the EBSIS, to be easily mass-produced and easy to use so that it could be widely issued. The design met all of these requirements, resulting in a relatively simple but capable combat Battloid. Furthermore, due to its light weight, the Soldat could be air-dropped, allowing the EBSIS to easily deploy the design across its territories and in offensive actions if needs be.

The Soldat entered service with EBSIS airborne units and then proliferated to other frontline combat units. They were employed to replace legacy UEDF designs as well as Surguts, both of which were then relegated to second-line units. Soldats saw action against Malcontent groups in Eastern and Central Asia, as well as in Africa during the EBSIS' efforts to 'reclaim' those regions. Against the often ad-hoc forces that they faced, the Battloids performed well. The Soldat also saw use in the brush wars of the 2020s, including the EBSIS' ambitious campaigns of territorial expansion into Africa and Asia, facing off with a variety of designs ranging from civil war-era tanks to surplus UEDF Mecha. While those campaigns achieved mixed results at best, the issues lay more with the EBSIS' leadership and over-ambition than any flaw with the Battloid itself. Despite this, the Soldat remained in production right up until the Invid Invasion, and would be the most produced mecha built by any non-UEG human nation.

Like the rest of the EBSIS' forces, the Soldat saw little action during the Second Robotech War outside of some isolated skirmishes. In those encounters, the design proved to be lacking compared to the Robotech Masters' Bioroids and Assault Dropships, mirroring the performance of their Southern Cross counterparts. In the aftermath, they became the spearhead of the EBSIS' renewed drive towards territorial expansion. In late 2030, airborne the Soldats were the first EBSIS ground forces to see action against the fragmented Southern Cross forces in Western Europe. The majority of the existing Soldats would then be destroyed along with the rest of the EBSIS in the Invid Invasion mere months later.

Some Soldats survived, and were employed by EBSIS remanent forces and other resistance groups during the Invid occupation. While their large size and ground-based mobility made them hard to conceal, at the same time the rugged design and ease of maintenance proved to be a boon during the conflict.

## Capabilities

The Soldat was designed from the outset to be a comparatively simple combat Battloid that could be easily mass-produced while still maintaining combat effectiveness. The design was humanoid, and was clearly influenced by the T-99 Surgut, featuring fully articulated arms and hands (as opposed to the designs of the UEDF Destroids). While the Soldat somewhat resembled the HADS-10 Kraken aquatic power armour, there was no connection between the two and they were very different machines - especially given that the Soldat was four times as tall as the Kraken.

As a part of the production requirements, the Soldat needed to be built entirely with components manufactured within the EBSIS. As a result, the Soldat made use of components salvaged from Zentraedi Mecha taken from the numerous wrecked ships spread across the EBSIS' territories. This included the KR-T66 Protoculture reactor (A modified version of the Esebellian reactor used in the Tactical Battle Pod), as well as elements of the armour and structural components. These shortcuts helped ensure uninterrupted production, although they could also also lead to uneven quality depending on the individual production run and the source of the components. Other components, such as the electronics and weapons, were entirely locally designed and built. As a result, the Soldat was relatively easy to maintain and operate.

The Soldat possessed fair ground mobility due to its frame, which was boosted by the presence of jump jets in the lower legs. Furthermore, the Soldat could also be airdropped from a suitably sized transport, a capacity lacked by the older UEDF Destroids. However, it was still considerably slower than the Southern Cross' Battloids.

Like the Destroids, the Soldat's pilot sat in an armoured cockpit located in the torso. The cockpit was fully sealed and featured an independent life support system and NBC protection. Primary sensors came in the form of a short-range battlefield radar system, backed up by a multi-functional optical targeting system that included a variety of visual options, as well as infra-red and laser detectors. Missile-armed variants also included a designated laser designator for weapons targeting. All models had a short-range battlefield radio and video system; the command models also featured long-range communications systems.

The PPR-24 was protected by a composite armor made up of titanium, composites and recycled "space metal" from Zentraedi mecha. The composite portions served as an energy absorbing deformation area on the backside of the armor panels. This armor was attached to the space metal and titanium frame of the robot itself. This armor was very light in weight, which helped keep the overall weight down. This armor was sufficient to stop all small arms and heavy infantry weapons fire, provided good resistance to light mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the Zentraedi 22.3mm HE autocannon round, and fair resistance to medium mecha-mounted weaponry, such as the GU-11's 55mm APFSDS round.

Furthermore, the PPR-24 could optionally be equipped with advanced explosive reactive armor (ERA) blocks to help defend against missile attacks.

## Weapons and Equipment

* **PE/G-6 Plasma Ejector:** Head-mounted. Fires self-sustaining plasma globes at a rate of 300 globes per minute. The weapons sustained rate of fire is around 17 three globe pulses per minute. In a rapid fire configuration, the weapon can fire the complete stored energy reserve of 150 three globe pulses over the course of two minutes. After 600 meters, the globe ceases to self-sustain and blooms.

* **AKG-047 Gun Pod:** Hand-held. Fires 57mm high-explosive rounds at 900 rounds per minute. The drum magazine at the rear of the pod carried 200 rounds. The weapon featured integral targeting sights tied to the Mecha's fire control system. Though this drum could be changed in the field by the pilot without leaving the cockpit, it was a fiddly process requiring a great deal of fine control input.

* (Optional) **KBT Missile Pod:** Contains seven **толстый** ("**Tolstyy**") anti-tank missiles for use against surface armoured targets.

## Variants

* **PPR-24:** Base model.
* **PPR-24K:** Command model with enhanced communications equipment.
* **PPR-24T:** Heavy combat model with Reactive Armour.
* **PPR-24TK:** Command version of the PPR-24T.
* **PPR-24PT:** Further refined version of PPR-24T featuring KBT missile pod.

## Game Statistics

* **Required Rank:** 1

* **Designation:** PPR-24

* **Stats**
	+ **Armour – Mecha:** 2
	+ **Structure – Mecha:** 2
	+ **Hardware Points**: 3
	+ **Speed** – **Running:** 75 kph / 120m / 12 Ground Units
	+ **Speed** – **Jumping:** 100 kph / 160m / 16 Ground Units

### Weapons

* **PE/G-6 Plasma Ejector:** The Plasma Ejector is a powerful weapon that fires globes of plasma energy. However, the weapon is limited to only Short Range before the globes use coherency. It ignores 1 point of Armour. [P1][H]

* **AKG-047 Gun Pod:** The AKG-047 is a powerful automatic handheld weapon which fires 57 mm exploding rounds with a high rate of fire and velocity at Medium range. [B1][E][H]

* **Punch:** The Soldat has strong hands, made from durable alloys. They may make Melee Attacks without penalty. These Attacks inflict 5x Light-Class damage.

### Features

* **Indexing Hands:** The Soldat has fully functioning hands that can pick up objects. They have a sensitivity of .5 kg.

* **Airdroppable:** The Soldat may be air-dropped out of a suitably large aircraft.

### Options

* **Explosive Reactive Armour:** The Soldat can be optionally fitted with Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) blocks to reduce the damage from missile attacks. A Soldat fitted with ERA adds +1 Armour against Missile attacks.

* **KBT Missile Pod:** The Soldat may optionally be fitted with a missile pod containing seven missiles for use against surface targets. These weapons may only be used with an equipment suite. [H]

### Equipment Suites

* **Heavy Burst:** The Gun Pod may be used to fire a Long Burst of fire. At Short Range, the heavy burst causes increased effect, but risks depleting the weapon's ammunition. When all the uses of this Skill have been used, the AKG-047 is considered to be out of ammunition and cannot be used until reloaded. [P1]
	+ **Uses:** 2
	+ **Skill:** 2 + Ignore 1 point of Target's armour at Short range

* **Hard Burn:** The Plasma Ejector can temporarily increase its rate of fire, increasing its armour penetration at the cost of rapidly depleting its power reserve. Use this ability at up to short range. When all uses of this equipment suite have been used, the Plasma Ejector is out of ammunition and cannot be used until recharged. [P2]
	+ **Uses:** 2
	+ **Skill:** 2 + Ignore 2 points of Target's Armour

* **Mini-Missiles:** The Soldat can optionally be fitted with a pod for seven light missiles for use against surface targets. They can be used up to Medium range. Destroying the Missile Pod disables this equipment suite. [B3]
	+ **Uses:** 2
	+ **Skill:** 3

## Notes

* Design Notes
* Image Gallery