Adding other palladium races to the Sentinels

[cmdrjones]

The sentinels setting has always intrigued me, but, of course, it was barely fleshed out.
Which alien races, Dbees or groups from all of palladium other settings would be appropriate for races first subjugated by the robotech masters and then conquered and enslaved by the Regent and/or Regis?

I would make the suggestion that most, if not all the aliens dominated by the mechanoids and/or those exploited by the splugorth would be prime candidates to be added to an expanded setting where the Robotech Masters crumbling empire is under siege by the fanatical invid hordes.

[Warshield73]

The mechanoid races are good, I would say the Oni from DB 3, if you want to go really alien you can do the Monro from that same book. I would avoid any race with MDC or psionics. I mean you can add them and then just ignore that part, but I would avoid the psionics or MDC races. I think the Durosk and Lurgess from DB 5 would also be good too. These are something other than human lookalikes and something truly alien to the mix.

[glitterboy2098]

most of the Aliens Unlimited species that don't have innate species-wide super powers would work well. and even the ones that do could probably be used if you tweak them to remove said superpowers.


though i'd avoid the Atorians. but that only because RT already has the Praxians. though the Atorians as the 'evil twins' of the praxians might be interesting. if you go that route you could probably set Praxis up as a 'lost colony' of Atorians or something.


alternately, one idea i've toyed with but never used was to port over the Arkhon from Rifts WB9. with a few tweaks and the invention of some ship stats, they'd make a nasty new threat, good for either an alternative to the haydonites in the post-invid era, or as a new threat for a post-haydonite era.

[ShadowLogan]

Re: MDC races, Psionic and Magic abilities.
I don't see a reason to avoid them per say as MDC races (Spherians, Zentreadi at giant size) are already present, so if the some aspect of their design can justify the MDC rating then I say leave it in. Stone-ish races do exist in Rifts like the Obsedi (WB30) or the Amaki (WB9) or the Shadydor Spherian (WB2/6), so they could in theory fit in. "Giants" even exist, though here most examples probably qualify as "giant" from a human POV, they lack the shear size the Zentreadi at giant-size tend to come out at but they do exist (Dominators and Promethean1s from DB2, Dragons from numerous, or the Adarok from WB2). Though it should be noted there will be hit/miss in terms of printed SDC conversions for a variety of races which might allow them (or use CB1r approach).

The same goes for psychic and magic abilities, they already exist among the Sentinel races (Garudan and Prytonian respectively) so they can exist in Robotech though I can certainly see limiting the scope of both to keep with the flavor of the setting. So I would look at what already exists here and look at what others might work based on this. There are a few ectoplasmic races in Rifts (Amorph WB12/30, to an extent the Dirari from WB30) who might still be usable if you change a bit fo the flavor like their Ectoplasm is actually some type of "gray goo" instead of psionic in nature.

Re: In general
It might also be worth considering how you want to use the races in question. Are they supposed to be allies, new contacts, potential enemies (space pirates, "locals" colonists missed, invaders, etc)? What level of fleshing out do you need for equipment (most races aren't well fleshed out in this regard)? What is the environment you have the events take place (space, non-Earth world on the surface or underwater, did they come to Earth) because that will also impact what races could be used in Robotech. What is the feel/story plot you're going for)

If you're looking for new potential enemies to add:
-Kittani are probably the most fleshed out in terms of equipment (including a few spacecraft) and appear in at least 6 Rifts titles
-Invaders from DB3 could work (they are usable, though you'll have to flesh out stuff as you go but that's a problem even in Rifts)
-Naut'yll from Rifts WB7, though here they are pretty much limited to underwater campaigns I think (and you might be able to have them as invaders on Earth giving someone for the Sea Squad/Navy to deal with)
-most factions in the 3G setting likely have enough detail to be used here (which includes the Invaders, but you also have the Necrol with their bio-tech, or the TGE as they are more hostile expansionist IMHO than the CCW, DB2/5/6 also have random tables to roll on that could be useful)

More open to use, but not as fleshed out as above (and not mentioned)
-numerous races in WB30 (multiple plant races)
-Lizard Men (WB6, though here they use Kittani equipment)
-a race of sentient spiders in DB5 or 6 I forget which and the name at the moment
-Shemmarians (own SB)
-Dolphin/Whales (WB7, IIRC there is another alien Whale in SB4 IIRC)
-Octopus/Squid races (WB21 and the Zebuloid in DB5 or 6 forget which at the moment)
-psyimbotes (sp?) from WB12 could make for an interesting body snatcher or alien infiltration campaign
-WB8s Random Oni generator AND/OR DB2's random Alien race generator (with a bit on homeworld) might also be useful

[Marcethus]

Aliens Unlimited is a great source for races to fit in with the Sentinel races. Just modify the backstory to fit the RT universe and how they got suckered by the Masters into using Protoculture then explain how they became involved with the Sentinels.

[Warshield73]

alternately, one idea i've toyed with but never used was to port over the Arkhon from Rifts WB9. with a few tweaks and the invention of some ship stats, they'd make a nasty new threat, good for either an alternative to the haydonites in the post-invid era, or as a new threat for a post-haydonite era.

I think this is one of the best ones. I would limit any psionics to just the espers but yeah crank out some ship stats (we know they use a fold system similar to Robotech anyway) and you have an interesting faction. I forget which one but one of the RIfters has an alien race from near the earth that is planning to destroy the earth because the coming of the rifts is wrecking the entire region they might be good too.

Re: MDC races, Psionic and Magic abilities.
I don't see a reason to avoid them per say as MDC races (Spherians, Zentreadi at giant size) are already present, so if the some aspect of their design can justify the MDC rating then I say leave it in. Stone-ish races do exist in Rifts like the Obsedi (WB30) or the Amaki (WB9) or the Shadydor Spherian (WB2/6), so they could in theory fit in. "Giants" even exist, though here most examples probably qualify as "giant" from a human POV, they lack the shear size the Zentreadi at giant-size tend to come out at but they do exist (Dominators and Promethean1s from DB2, Dragons from numerous, or the Adarok from WB2). Though it should be noted there will be hit/miss in terms of printed SDC conversions for a variety of races which might allow them (or use CB1r approach).

The same goes for psychic and magic abilities, they already exist among the Sentinel races (Garudan and Prytonian respectively) so they can exist in Robotech though I can certainly see limiting the scope of both to keep with the flavor of the setting. So I would look at what already exists here and look at what others might work based on this. There are a few ectoplasmic races in Rifts (Amorph WB12/30, to an extent the Dirari from WB30) who might still be usable if you change a bit fo the flavor like their Ectoplasm is actually some type of "gray goo" instead of psionic in nature.

I said to avoid those things because to include them would mean you are not really playing Robotech anymore. The Garudan, spherians, and perytonians are all unique within the setting and there powers, especially magic and psionic, are far more limited than anything you have in Rifts. Robotech, at its core, is just guys in robot vehicles blowing up other robot vehicles. Throwing in a giant rock monster for them to fight or some regular alien race is nothing big but if your fighting Slugorth slavers and altarans with all the magic your not playing Robotch anymore, you've just ported Robotech forces into Rifts which is cool but seemed different then what the OP was asking.

Re: In general
It might also be worth considering how you want to use the races in question. Are they supposed to be allies, new contacts, potential enemies (space pirates, "locals" colonists missed, invaders, etc)? What level of fleshing out do you need for equipment (most races aren't well fleshed out in this regard)? What is the environment you have the events take place (space, non-Earth world on the surface or underwater, did they come to Earth) because that will also impact what races could be used in Robotech. What is the feel/story plot you're going for)

If you're looking for new potential enemies to add:
-Kittani are probably the most fleshed out in terms of equipment (including a few spacecraft) and appear in at least 6 Rifts titles
-Invaders from DB3 could work (they are usable, though you'll have to flesh out stuff as you go but that's a problem even in Rifts)
-Naut'yll from Rifts WB7, though here they are pretty much limited to underwater campaigns I think (and you might be able to have them as invaders on Earth giving someone for the Sea Squad/Navy to deal with)
-most factions in the 3G setting likely have enough detail to be used here (which includes the Invaders, but you also have the Necrol with their bio-tech, or the TGE as they are more hostile expansionist IMHO than the CCW, DB2/5/6 also have random tables to roll on that could be useful)

More open to use, but not as fleshed out as above (and not mentioned)
-numerous races in WB30 (multiple plant races)
-Lizard Men (WB6, though here they use Kittani equipment)
-a race of sentient spiders in DB5 or 6 I forget which and the name at the moment
-Shemmarians (own SB)
-Dolphin/Whales (WB7, IIRC there is another alien Whale in SB4 IIRC)
-Octopus/Squid races (WB21 and the Zebuloid in DB5 or 6 forget which at the moment)
-psyimbotes (sp?) from WB12 could make for an interesting body snatcher or alien infiltration campaign
-WB8s Random Oni generator AND/OR DB2's random Alien race generator (with a bit on homeworld) might also be useful

Depending on how much Rifts you want in your Robotech any of these can be interesting.
Again, nothing wrong with putting Rifts into Robotech just a question of how much you want.

[Marcethus]

alternately, one idea i've toyed with but never used was to port over the Arkhon from Rifts WB9. with a few tweaks and the invention of some ship stats, they'd make a nasty new threat, good for either an alternative to the haydonites in the post-invid era, or as a new threat for a post-haydonite era.

I think this is one of the best ones. I would limit any psionics to just the espers but yeah crank out some ship stats (we know they use a fold system similar to Robotech anyway) and you have an interesting faction. I forget which one but one of the RIfters has an alien race from near the earth that is planning to destroy the earth because the coming of the rifts is wrecking the entire region they might be good too.

The Arkhons would really fit well into RT. With their fold drive and the addition of ship stats you would be good to go. One good question would be are they a member of the Sentinels or are they an independent race that is a threat to the Sentinel Alliance.

[Warshield73]

alternately, one idea i've toyed with but never used was to port over the Arkhon from Rifts WB9. with a few tweaks and the invention of some ship stats, they'd make a nasty new threat, good for either an alternative to the haydonites in the post-invid era, or as a new threat for a post-haydonite era.

I think this is one of the best ones. I would limit any psionics to just the espers but yeah crank out some ship stats (we know they use a fold system similar to Robotech anyway) and you have an interesting faction. I forget which one but one of the RIfters has an alien race from near the earth that is planning to destroy the earth because the coming of the rifts is wrecking the entire region they might be good too.

The Arkhons would really fit well into RT. With their fold drive and the addition of ship stats you would be good to go. One good question would be are they a member of the Sentinels or are they an independent race that is a threat to the Sentinel Alliance.

Why not both? There are different houses within the Arkhons, some could be Sentinels, others could be conquered by Invid, others really hostile.

[Marcethus]

alternately, one idea i've toyed with but never used was to port over the Arkhon from Rifts WB9. with a few tweaks and the invention of some ship stats, they'd make a nasty new threat, good for either an alternative to the haydonites in the post-invid era, or as a new threat for a post-haydonite era.

I think this is one of the best ones. I would limit any psionics to just the espers but yeah crank out some ship stats (we know they use a fold system similar to Robotech anyway) and you have an interesting faction. I forget which one but one of the RIfters has an alien race from near the earth that is planning to destroy the earth because the coming of the rifts is wrecking the entire region they might be good too.

The Arkhons would really fit well into RT. With their fold drive and the addition of ship stats you would be good to go. One good question would be are they a member of the Sentinels or are they an independent race that is a threat to the Sentinel Alliance.

Why not both? There are different houses within the Arkhons, some could be Sentinels, others could be conquered by Invid, others really hostile.

Very true. That would be an interesting way to use them.

[cmdrjones]

Hey guys, all great replies, thank you!
But to clarify, I'm thinking of creating a kind of "local group" galactic cluster that has the same history as the background of the Robotech masters, which was essentially #1 a time of robotech master expansion into space with many rival races, #2 establishment of a merchant trading empire, #3 a stagnant period #4 Zors discovery of the Invid #5 the unlocking of the secrets of protoculture #6 the combination of protoculture with robotechnology and the upgrading of the zentraedi from workers to warrior clones on an industrial scale. #7 conquests and subjugations of many many races (this is where I start porting in new aliens) to their will. #8 the defoliation of Optera. #9 the invade go nuts, the Masters find out that the flower of life won't grow anywehere... oops. Zor dies and the invid begin tearing the Masters empire to shreds....
#10 I think this is where the divisive war begins where various client and servant races of the masters begin rebelling and bad things mount....

[taalismn]

Given how the original sketches for the Sentinels showed a very oddball assortment, including some outright insectoid types, some of the bug-types from Aliens Unlimited would fit right in.

[Warshield73]

Hey guys, all great replies, thank you!
But to clarify, I'm thinking of creating a kind of "local group" galactic cluster that has the same history as the background of the Robotech masters, which was essentially #1 a time of robotech master expansion into space with many rival races, #2 establishment of a merchant trading empire, #3 a stagnant period #4 Zors discovery of the Invid #5 the unlocking of the secrets of protoculture #6 the combination of protoculture with robotechnology and the upgrading of the zentraedi from workers to warrior clones on an industrial scale. #7 conquests and subjugations of many many races (this is where I start porting in new aliens) to their will. #8 the defoliation of Optera. #9 the invade go nuts, the Masters find out that the flower of life won't grow anywehere... oops. Zor dies and the invid begin tearing the Masters empire to shreds....
#10 I think this is where the divisive war begins where various client and servant races of the masters begin rebelling and bad things mount....

I was trying to work on something similar many years ago even posting about it here

Tirolian Star CLuster

In that thread Jaymz gave a link to his Robotech Appendices which has a metric crap-ton of ideas for something like this and most of the links seem to still work.

[cmdrjones]

Hey guys, all great replies, thank you!
But to clarify, I'm thinking of creating a kind of "local group" galactic cluster that has the same history as the background of the Robotech masters, which was essentially #1 a time of robotech master expansion into space with many rival races, #2 establishment of a merchant trading empire, #3 a stagnant period #4 Zors discovery of the Invid #5 the unlocking of the secrets of protoculture #6 the combination of protoculture with robotechnology and the upgrading of the zentraedi from workers to warrior clones on an industrial scale. #7 conquests and subjugations of many many races (this is where I start porting in new aliens) to their will. #8 the defoliation of Optera. #9 the invade go nuts, the Masters find out that the flower of life won't grow anywehere... oops. Zor dies and the invid begin tearing the Masters empire to shreds....
#10 I think this is where the divisive war begins where various client and servant races of the masters begin rebelling and bad things mount....

I was trying to work on something similar many years ago even posting about it here

Tirolian Star CLuster

In that thread Jaymz gave a link to his Robotech Appendices which has a metric crap-ton of ideas for something like this and most of the links seem to still work.

Very informative! Thank you.
This may annoy some people, but I plan to steal liberally from a lot of other palldium products, especially those races that have a Robotech "feel" to them and thus make a sentinels campaign feel much more like a galaxy spanning crusade than a season long arc in a star trek show.

[ShadowLogan]

Depending on how much Rifts you want in your Robotech any of these can be interesting.
Again, nothing wrong with putting Rifts into Robotech just a question of how much you want.

I agree its going to come down to how much Rifts (or whatever other PB setting) you want in your Robotech campaign, which could vary from campaign to campaign. But that is going to be highly subjective.

While I agree porting some Rifts (or other) races that are MDC/magical/psionic can dilute the setting, but it would be odd I think for those known examples to be the only ones (aside from Invid/Invid-Experiments and Tirolian who have psionics, as it isn't just the Sentinel Races in RAW) so I would likely allow some psionics and (justifiable level) MDC races, never been a fan of the magic in the setting so can see it being more limited. Psycics I think are going to come down to how "developed" you want to allow psychics to be compared to other settings (I could certainly see a case to allow self/passive powers as opposed to the more flashy external powers like TK or Bio-Manipulation or Psi-Sword).

Any yeah there are certainly some things that I wouldn't bring in, because at that point one might as well just go play Rifts. For example, I'd likely allow the Kittani in as a Space Pirate Faction but not likely bring in other aspects of the Splugorth. I might bring in monsters/animals for alien worlds to be "fleshed out", but likely also have to consider other natives to to keep it believable (ex. Garudans homeworld might have Land Rays from Rifts WB12, but not the Blood Hawks in the same book).

[Warshield73]

Hey guys, all great replies, thank you!
But to clarify, I'm thinking of creating a kind of "local group" galactic cluster that has the same history as the background of the Robotech masters, which was essentially #1 a time of robotech master expansion into space with many rival races, #2 establishment of a merchant trading empire, #3 a stagnant period #4 Zors discovery of the Invid #5 the unlocking of the secrets of protoculture #6 the combination of protoculture with robotechnology and the upgrading of the zentraedi from workers to warrior clones on an industrial scale. #7 conquests and subjugations of many many races (this is where I start porting in new aliens) to their will. #8 the defoliation of Optera. #9 the invade go nuts, the Masters find out that the flower of life won't grow anywehere... oops. Zor dies and the invid begin tearing the Masters empire to shreds....
#10 I think this is where the divisive war begins where various client and servant races of the masters begin rebelling and bad things mount....

I was trying to work on something similar many years ago even posting about it here

Tirolian Star CLuster

In that thread Jaymz gave a link to his Robotech Appendices which has a metric crap-ton of ideas for something like this and most of the links seem to still work.

Very informative! Thank you.
This may annoy some people, but I plan to steal liberally from a lot of other palldium products, especially those races that have a Robotech "feel" to them and thus make a sentinels campaign feel much more like a galaxy spanning crusade than a season long arc in a star trek show.

If you can find the Myrmidon Press Rifts Manhunter It has lots of good species to populate a galactic cluster and they are on a good power level with most of the 2e species of robotech.

Depending on how much Rifts you want in your Robotech any of these can be interesting.
Again, nothing wrong with putting Rifts into Robotech just a question of how much you want.

I agree its going to come down to how much Rifts (or whatever other PB setting) you want in your Robotech campaign, which could vary from campaign to campaign. But that is going to be highly subjective.

While I agree porting some Rifts (or other) races that are MDC/magical/psionic can dilute the setting, but it would be odd I think for those known examples to be the only ones (aside from Invid/Invid-Experiments and Tirolian who have psionics, as it isn't just the Sentinel Races in RAW) so I would likely allow some psionics and (justifiable level) MDC races, never been a fan of the magic in the setting so can see it being more limited. Psycics I think are going to come down to how "developed" you want to allow psychics to be compared to other settings (I could certainly see a case to allow self/passive powers as opposed to the more flashy external powers like TK or Bio-Manipulation or Psi-Sword).

Any yeah there are certainly some things that I wouldn't bring in, because at that point one might as well just go play Rifts. For example, I'd likely allow the Kittani in as a Space Pirate Faction but not likely bring in other aspects of the Splugorth. I might bring in monsters/animals for alien worlds to be "fleshed out", but likely also have to consider other natives to to keep it believable (ex. Garudans homeworld might have Land Rays from Rifts WB12, but not the Blood Hawks in the same book).

I'm glad you said this because I had been thinking along the same lines with my post and I didn't realize how unclear I was. I think it is OK to have certain powers for certain species but I would seriously nerf them to fit into 2e Robotech. ANY species with psionics should be brought down to at or below the garudans, any MDC race should be at or below the Spherians and I really would avoid magic and supernatural creatures like the plague.

If you are looking for regular animals, like non-supernatural creatures to populate with Aliens Unlimited and AU Galaxy Guide has several as well as DB6: The Three Galaxies.

I am curious how you are going to do this like are you going to mix the new races in with the old or are you going to have zones like this area is the Robtech species and this area has the Manhunter ones, and all the AU species are over here.

Also, are you still using the Robotech bad guys at all? I mean is the Regent still alive or did the Regis come back to this area after his death or do you have Invid brains and stage 4 or 5 invid running various groups? Masters and Zentraedi holdouts? Lots of things you could do with this time period.

Good luck on this

[cmdrjones]

Hey guys, all great replies, thank you!
But to clarify, I'm thinking of creating a kind of "local group" galactic cluster that has the same history as the background of the Robotech masters, which was essentially #1 a time of robotech master expansion into space with many rival races, #2 establishment of a merchant trading empire, #3 a stagnant period #4 Zors discovery of the Invid #5 the unlocking of the secrets of protoculture #6 the combination of protoculture with robotechnology and the upgrading of the zentraedi from workers to warrior clones on an industrial scale. #7 conquests and subjugations of many many races (this is where I start porting in new aliens) to their will. #8 the defoliation of Optera. #9 the invade go nuts, the Masters find out that the flower of life won't grow anywehere... oops. Zor dies and the invid begin tearing the Masters empire to shreds....
#10 I think this is where the divisive war begins where various client and servant races of the masters begin rebelling and bad things mount....

I was trying to work on something similar many years ago even posting about it here

Tirolian Star CLuster

In that thread Jaymz gave a link to his Robotech Appendices which has a metric crap-ton of ideas for something like this and most of the links seem to still work.

Very informative! Thank you.
This may annoy some people, but I plan to steal liberally from a lot of other palldium products, especially those races that have a Robotech "feel" to them and thus make a sentinels campaign feel much more like a galaxy spanning crusade than a season long arc in a star trek show.

If you can find the Myrmidon Press Rifts Manhunter It has lots of good species to populate a galactic cluster and they are on a good power level with most of the 2e species of robotech.

Depending on how much Rifts you want in your Robotech any of these can be interesting.
Again, nothing wrong with putting Rifts into Robotech just a question of how much you want.

I agree its going to come down to how much Rifts (or whatever other PB setting) you want in your Robotech campaign, which could vary from campaign to campaign. But that is going to be highly subjective.

While I agree porting some Rifts (or other) races that are MDC/magical/psionic can dilute the setting, but it would be odd I think for those known examples to be the only ones (aside from Invid/Invid-Experiments and Tirolian who have psionics, as it isn't just the Sentinel Races in RAW) so I would likely allow some psionics and (justifiable level) MDC races, never been a fan of the magic in the setting so can see it being more limited. Psycics I think are going to come down to how "developed" you want to allow psychics to be compared to other settings (I could certainly see a case to allow self/passive powers as opposed to the more flashy external powers like TK or Bio-Manipulation or Psi-Sword).

Any yeah there are certainly some things that I wouldn't bring in, because at that point one might as well just go play Rifts. For example, I'd likely allow the Kittani in as a Space Pirate Faction but not likely bring in other aspects of the Splugorth. I might bring in monsters/animals for alien worlds to be "fleshed out", but likely also have to consider other natives to to keep it believable (ex. Garudans homeworld might have Land Rays from Rifts WB12, but not the Blood Hawks in the same book).

I'm glad you said this because I had been thinking along the same lines with my post and I didn't realize how unclear I was. I think it is OK to have certain powers for certain species but I would seriously nerf them to fit into 2e Robotech. ANY species with psionics should be brought down to at or below the garudans, any MDC race should be at or below the Spherians and I really would avoid magic and supernatural creatures like the plague.

If you are looking for regular animals, like non-supernatural creatures to populate with Aliens Unlimited and AU Galaxy Guide has several as well as DB6: The Three Galaxies.

I am curious how you are going to do this like are you going to mix the new races in with the old or are you going to have zones like this area is the Robtech species and this area has the Manhunter ones, and all the AU species are over here.

Also, are you still using the Robotech bad guys at all? I mean is the Regent still alive or did the Regis come back to this area after his death or do you have Invid brains and stage 4 or 5 invid running various groups? Masters and Zentraedi holdouts? Lots of things you could do with this time period.

Good luck on this

I'm going to mix them in, hopefully in a way that will simply seem organic to the setting. Especially since the source material is about 40 years old, even some palladium players may not be familiar with the original sentinels. The plan is to have a vast mercantile empire of Robotech masters clients, satraps, puppets, and client states all being ravaged by a devastating invid invasion that leaves them cut off from their sources of robotechnology and protection by the Masters at best and utterly conquered if not genocided at worst....
So, you could see a planer of Fingertooth carpet baggers next to a system full of T'zee, Darclons, or even the tarantuloids all suffering from invid occupation to one degree or another when the REF arrives and hooks up with the Sentinels to drive out the Regent and save the galaxy.

[cmdrjones]

Oh and the Regent should be the main bad guy, but with so many MORE races around and the masters empire on par, size wise with the TGE or CCW, it would be implausible NOT for there to be Zentraedi and Tirolian holdouts.

[Grazzik]

I don't play RT, but love the overall concept. No different than populating a galactic cluster in Three Galaxies / Phase World. Great suggestions above by others.

To avoid the "Rifts feel", change names, shapes and drop/add powers as you see fit - don't feel bound to species writeups, use them as inspiration. If your players are astute enough to realize that the "Cargalions" are very much like Splugorth Slavers or Octomen... you might want to play on their meta gaming as they won't be expecting the Cargalion to be able to walk through walls... teaches them a lesson never to second guess their GM

[ShadowLogan]

@Warshield73
I agree certain powers and such are more viable than others. But by my count in an incomplete Rifts/Palladium Library there are at-least 500 races/rccs (some are from both RT editions and include caste variants) aside from baseline human more if you want to count the straight up monsters and other beasts that might also be usable here. Now off the top of my head I couldn't tell the breakdown in terms of powers for all of them (or even list all of their names), or how they all might be "modified" to fit into Robotech setting (and I might make them fit differently than you or the OP). That's a lot of races to consider and their abilities, so I'm focused more on the broad strokes to the idea at this stage, if one wants to discuss using X race specifically that is something different. Personally, IF I port something, I'd prefer to simply change the flavor rather than something specific(s) if nothing else for simplicity, otherwise I might as well just not port them and simply roll on one of the random tables (with some results possibly being disallowed and causing a re-roll) and (maybe) pluck random equipment to help flesh them out (or make my own).

Of the 10 known races (Human, Tirolian, Zentreadi, Invid, 5-Sentinel Races, Haydonites):
-1 out of 10 races uses magic, so it should be rare and likely is going to be limited (especially if doing a 1E setting)
-3 out of 10 races are psychic, and this ignores Invid Genetic Experiments. I think the psychic power level should be kept to Minor, and certain powers disallowed. Major and Master psychics if they are brought in at all should be rare
-3 out of 10 races are MDC (haydonite, giant Zentreadi, Spherians), and this ignores Invid Genetic Experiments. But as I said, if MDC is ported over it should be justifiable ("sentient" tech, size, materials, or evolutionary adaption to their environment that results in MDC) simply because they are MDC doesn't cut it (and that assumes no SDC conversion is available, and one doesn't want to use the CB1r generic conversion). Though I will admit at least with size, it should be giant though when "giant" status kicks in I'm not sure as most "giants" while "giant" aren't of the same caliber as RT's giants.

No I don't play at the moment, and when I did I had to do the GMing for Robotech (I also found I'm not a big fan of doing "recreations" of the series). Though the last/first time I did a crossover (with M2), in 1E RT, there was a big "flavor" gap (in stats) so I'm less inclined to do something like this per say without doing more work before hand, which I am not inclined to do at the moment. I do think the basic idea can work, its just a matter of making sure things are balanced (hard part) and redoing flavor (this is the easy part).

As for how I would do it using the Rifts/PW/PF races (sorry I don't have much investment in the HU line) are going to come down to how they are to be used:
-Space Pirates, races that could be plugged in here would need to have fleshed out equipment to do this and could appear anywhere (even Earth given the dialogue). Both the Kittani, TGE and Invaders from Rifts/PW would seem to fit this bill with a few flavor modifications.
-most I'd suspect are on the Mid/Outter/Unknown Rim of the Tirolian Empire, with Core worlds represented by the established races (using a Star Wars analogy for "geography"), though Earth is likely in the Unknown regions. Here you could put a lot of the less fleshed out races (in terms of homegrown gear). It's unlikely every world here was affiliated with the Masters or Invid, remember the Zentreadi still seem to be warring with someone so they could be dealing with independents to
-I've considered having the Naut'yll invade Earth, but without space ships they'd have to use an exotic method (as the Invid have), but don't like the use of the exotic method of travel per say
-I might also consider space refugees fleeing their star system (or advanced scouts) and coming to Earth (or Colony system), but that gets into time period and such (Invid might just shoot them down to) as a way to diversify (and during an Invid Occupation campaign it opens up to some possibilities)
-could also use them as stand-ins for non-Invid adversaries the UEEF seems to have encountered (mentioned/suggested in AotSC resource)