Despite the Empire's facade that it will never associate with anything that is not 100% human, this has not stopped them from "Acquiring" (Read: Bribing/Stealing) certain technologies from the lands of Cenabrum. After all, Cenabrum has created building machines and powerful mech suits for everyday life, and it wouldn't take the Imperial Engineers much effort to convert some of this suits meant for construction into weapons of war.

The Imperial Armored Corps is only open to soldiers who join the military as a career. After serving their 4 required years they may choose to join the Armored Corps as a new recruit, and while the Empire has tanks and artillery most soldiers want to be a Mech pilot. The earliest Imperial Mechs were designed for one purpose, protect infantry as they moved forward. At this time the idea of mounting weapons onto construction robots seemed a foolish venture, as the robots were slow and unable to sustain constant weight loads for multiple days at a time.

This changed however with the introduction of the Predator MK I mech. A demolition suit was stripped of its leg platform and mounted on a rejected tread system normally used for tanks. The suit was then equipped with a large shield, two M134 vulcan miniguns and following the success of the MK I, the newer models were equipped with White Phosphorus mortar launchers fitted to the back.

Capable of moving 20mph cross country, and 35mph on roads the MK II Predator Mech has served the Empire well in border patrol and in the worst case scenario, riot control.

There are some design flaws however that relegate the Predator to use only by the gutsiest of pilots. The armor is thick, but still vulnerable to conventional anti-tank weapons and unlike a tank, its very easy to guess where the pilot is behind the armor. Losing the pilot is bad enough, but since the mech's most advanced systems surround the pilot they too are destroyed and are difficult to replace.

The second, more dangerous issue is the HUD integration system. In order to make the man and machine a true fighting force, many pilots allow their brains to be altered by cybernetics so they may full integrate with the machine.

Aside from the severe mental strain this causes on the pilot, if the machine takes damage, the pilot can personally feel the damage as well. While the HUD-I is a wonderful system, the strain it puts on pilots pulls many off the line after prolonged use.

Done by Omny87