Personal Armored Unit.
Overview[]
The PAU or Personal Armored Unit will be introduced into Tabula Rasa in coming patches, we are led to believe by RGTR.com that they will have different stats and abilities depending on the class of the owner/driver.
A good example of a PAU in the game are the mech units that are dropped when defending control points. Although the usable PAU will not look exactly like these mech units we are expecting that they will be similar.
In patch 1.6 parts of PAUs were seen in major bases like Foreas Base or Irendas Penal Colony. Although not the actual PAU itself, a box encasing the "head" of a certain PAU is present. It is the same model wherever you see it, recently identified as a Grendel.
Deployment 16[]
In Deployment 16, several PAUs were added to Edmund Range, the PVP map, as a bonus for taking over particular Control Points. There are five models in all, including the classic AFS MECH. Any player can activate a mech by stepping on a mech pad, and it lasts until you right-click on the buff icon. Only one user can be in a particular mech; if a base contains two Vulcans and an Angel, then only two Vulcans and an Angel can be deployed from there. Any class can use the mechs, although certain Logos are needed to use the abilities the mech carries (if the mech has Shrapnel, for instance, a specialist can still use it, if he has the Projectile and Area Logos.) Finally, no PAU uses ammunition to fire their weapons or abilities, though all other requirements (beading, targeting, range, etc) remain (the PAUs can even crouch, although it often looks more like a brace than a kneel).
The PAUs, in order of size, are listed below. All abilities are at pump 5 unless otherwise noted. Lower pumps of diverse abilities (such as Cure) are not available.
Angel[]
Role: Support (Healing/Resist, as Biotechnician)
Weapon: Leech gun (slightly improved bead time over original)
Speed: Normal (compared to unarmored AFS soldier)
Abilities: Rot, Cadaver Immolation, Group Resuscitation, Group Resistance
Vulcan[]
Role: Assault (Close-range AoE, as Commando)
Weapon: Siege Grenade Launcher (has exceptional blast radius)
Speed: Slightly below normal (compared to unarmored AFS soldier)
Abilities: Rage (pump 2), Shrapnel Storm, Scourge, Sonic Blast
AFS Mech[]
Role: Assault / Superiority (Mid-range sustained damage, as Ranger)
Weapon: Auto Guns (similar to Series 3 Machine Gun without spin-up time)
Speed: Slow (compared to unarmored AFS soldier), but see Sprint
Abilities: "Sprint" (not the same as Sprint; this gives a temporary rocket-assisted speed boost and recharges quickly; as a result this is the fastest of the "big mechs"), Ground Slam (jump with shockwave on landing), Rockets (fires long-range, high damage rockets at targets; long cooldown, little to no appreciable splash)
Note: The AFS Mech is also usable in the Empire Sector, in the main campaign. It's identical to the Edmund Range version.
Orson[]
Role: Support (Damage mitigation, as Sapper)
Weapon: Electric Polarity Gun (fires two streams, though this is just a visual effect)
Speed: Slow (compared to unarmored AFS soldier)
Abilities: Shield Extender, Turret (Note: only one turret at a time), Rust, Lightning Storm
Grendel[]
Role: Siege / heavy assault (it's a walking wrecking ball)
Weapon: Triple Auto Guns (as AFS MECH only MUCH stronger)
Speed: Very slow ("Glacial" comes to mind)
Abilities: Reflective Shields, Scatterbombs, Rage, Rockets (as AFS MECH, only stronger; may have slower cooldown).
Note: The Grendel is *only* accessible through the center control point in Edmund Range, and only one mech pad is available.
End Event[]
PAU Tokens[]
During the world-ending event, the GMs and Devs handed out stacks of one-use tokens that allowed use of Angel and Vulcan PAU units on any map.