Machine Animation
The hero can control the movement of anything mechanical. It is as if the hero were a combination remote-control panel and power source. The machines can only perform those functions for which they were designed. While under the influence of the Power, the affected machines can function even in the absence of a normal power supply, such as would be provided by an electric cord, wound spring, or miniature nuclear generator. The only new function the hero can give a machine is limited ground movement. Affected Machines can travel at -2CS Power rank land speed by sliding or rocking along the ground. If the machine already incorporates a means of propulsion (wheels, tracks, table legs), it can travel at Power rank speed.
The Power can affect any single machine within range of the Power. If the hero attempts to control several machines simultaneously, the Range decreases -1CS for each additional Machine the hero is controlling. For example, a hero with Gd(10) Machine Animation can control a single machine 10 areas away, 2 machines 5 areas away, 3 machines within his area, or 4 machines if he is touching all of them at once (an interesting Agility FEAT, I suppose).
The Power is primarily intended to control normally non-sentient devices, which are considered to have a Psyche of 0. If the hero tries to gain control of a Robot or the mechanical part of a Cyborg, greater effort is needed. It becomes a contest of wills, as the hero's Power tries to overcome the target's Psyche. The Psyche in question is either that of the Robotic brain or the living mind of a Cyborg; if the Cyborg incorporates both living and mechanical minds, only the Psyche of the mechanical mind is used to determine the difficulty of the FEAT. The latter determines what Intensity FEAT is required.
Example: A Pr rank of Machine Animation could seize control of a Dreadnought's Fb Psyche with a green FEAT and Ultron-11's Pr Psyche with a yellow FEAT, but couldn't begin to touch Jocasta's Gd Psyche. Attempting to wrest control of the Iron Man armor would require a red FEAT if either Tony Stark or Jim Rhodes were wearing it at the time but would automatically succeed if the armor were, say, hanging in a closet somewhere. To protect against such interference, High Technology types would need to develop circuitry that would give the equivalent of a desired Psyche rank to the machine.
Optional Powers include Communication with Cybernetics, Communication with Non-Living Matter (limited to machines only), and Matter Animation.
Range: Column B.