[b]EDIT: The stats below are rough drafts: Please use the final versions on the Burning Empires wiki.
I’ve been musing about additional variants of the Hussar besides the light, stealthy Hussar and these two finally gelled in my mind:
Hammer Hussar (Armored Reconaissance Aerospace Strikecraft, ARAS)
Type: Intrasystem Vehicle (Pilot and Helm both required)
Capacity: 2 crew (Hussar-pilot and gunner)
Tech Index: Low index and higher
Tech Resources: Ob 21
Profile: 2
Integrity: 7
Control: -
Signals: Automation 5
Sensors: Automation 5
Ordnance: Artillery (1), Vehicular (1)
Vehicular Speed: Space 6
Security: none
Structural Tolerances: Surface, H8. Breach, V1. Damaged, V6. Destroyed, V13.Enhanced Performance
The Hammer Hussar – nicknamed “H2” by its pilots – is a stealthier, faster, and more agile version of the standard Hammer Assault shuttle.
Technological Traits: -1 to Profile, equivalent to reducing enemy Skill Advantage: Sensors from 3D to 2D, +2 pts; -1 Ob to Control, +2 pts; +1 to Speed, +2 pts (6 points)
(These changes are already reflected in the stats above).Enhanced Signals and Sensors
The H2 has a superior surveillance suite compared to standard Assault Shuttles.
Technological Traits: +2D to Signals Automation, +2 pts; +1D to Sensors Automation, +1 pt (+3 points)
(These changes are already reflected in the stats above).Artillery Platform
While the H2’s primary mission is to pinpoint targets for the rest of the fleet, it can also attack them with its own onboard artillery-scale weapons.
Note that it also retains one vehicular ordnance mount, not merely secondary weaponry, and thus can use two shot opportunities in a single volley.
Technological Traits: Remove one Vehicular ordnance mount, -2 pts, and replace with Artillery, +3 pts (+1 pt)Just You and Me, Kid
Unlike atmospheric Hussars, the H2 is so extraordinarily complex that it carries a second crew member. This back-seater’s normal job is to operate the onboard artillery systems, although he also has controls for the vehicular-scale weapons as well. Unless the second crewmember is himself Hussar Trained, he may not pilot the craft, operate Sensors or Signals, or perform any other functions besides firing weapons.
Each crewmember may wear ballistic armor or Anvil, carry a sidearm (i.e. a close combat category weapon), and stow a survival kit or similar briefcase-sized object. There is no room for any additional cargo, a third crewmember, or passengers.
Technological Traits: Categorical Limitation: no passengers or cargo, -1 pt; beneficial Categorical Limitation x 2: Complex and Bucephalus Effect do not apply to firing weapons, +2 pts (+1 pt)Common Hussar Traits: Eye of Ahmilahk: +2D to Observation (+5 pts); Complex: Trait Limitation (-3 points); Bucephalus Effect: Double Obstacle Limitation (-5 points).
Availability during character burning: Hammer Hussars are specialized space-to-surface vehicles only found in the forces of a Forged Lord, piloted by Hussars who have cross-trained in both Anvil and Hammer. A character who has the Hussar Trained trait, has taken the Lord-Pilot Hammer lifepath, starts play with a two-point allied Relationship (see pg. 116) with a back-seater with the Artillery skill, and starts play with a Relationship (either allied or problematic) with a Forged Lord character may buy a Hammer Hussar for two rps as AIR (advanced/illegal/restricted) equipment. A character who has the Forged Lord trait and who has a two-point allied relationship with at least one pilot with the qualifications listed above may also buy a Hammer Hussar for two rps as AIR.
based on the Hammer Assault Shuttle (pg. 556)
High Index Hussar
Resources Obstacle: 5 pts
High Index onlyNot many worlds preserve the Hussar tradition; even fewer worlds retain High Index technology; and only a handful of planets possess both. Apply the following additional traits to a Hussar vehicle – Armored Recon, Covert Infiltration, or Hammer – built with the full capacities of such a world:
Index 5 Eye of Ahmilahk
The High Index version of the “heads-up display in your head” gives +3D to Observation.
Technogical Trait: Increase Skill Advantage: Observation from 2D to 3D (+2 points)Enhanced Stealth
Superior sensor-defeating construction gives High Index versions of the Hussar GARS, GCIS, and ARAS a Profile one less than their Low Index counterparts.
Technogical Trait: Decrease Profile by one, equivalent to reducing enemy Skill Advantage: Sensors by 1D (+2 points)Ghost in the Machine
While Hussar vehicles with Low Index computers mainly express any “personality” they may have by rejecting new pilots, High Index Hussars have an advanced autopilot that, while not sentient, can fly the vehicle itself, be helped by a human pilot, or give the pilot a helping die – even with the initial acclimatization test required by the Bucephalos Effect trait!
The Autopilot counts as having the Pilot skill at 3D.
Technological Trait: Automation, base cost 2 pts; 3D skill, +3 pts (+5 points)Maintenance Nightmare
Such sophisticated systems are notoriously difficult to maintain. Any attempt to use the Repair, Armorer, or Fusion Dynamics skills on any of a High Index Hussar’s systems are at +1 Obstacle.
Technological Trait: Obstacle, base cost -1 pt; applies to two additional skills, -2 pts; Ob 1, -1 pt (-4 points)Availability in character burning: Any character on a High Index world who is eligible to buy a Hussar vehicle may upgrade it to High Index for one rp (which is simply the usual High Index exchange rate of 1 resource point = 5 tech trait points).