Now here’s my thought for what these guys should ride – and your enthusiasm for the Hussar made me change my original idea and make it a Hussar variant, specifically a Hussarized variant of the attack sled (just as the original Hussar was a variant of the assault sled). I’m not thinking grav-bikes here; I’m thinking MC-130 turboprop, CV-22 tiltrotor, or MH-6 helicopter. This is a specialist vehicle and, by comparison to the heavy Hussar armored recon sled, it’s damned fragile.
Take your basic Anvil Attack Sled (p. 555), add (most) of the Hussar armored reconnaissance sled traits, stealth it up, and give it passenger seats:
Hussar light infiltration sled
Type: Atmospheric Vehicle (Pilot)
Capacity: 1 pilot, 4 passengers
Tech Index: low index and higher
Tech Resources Ob 17
Profile 1
Integrity 5
Control 2D
Signals Automation 5
Sensors Automation 4
Ordnance Vehicular
Vehicular Speed Atmospheric 9
Security none
Structural Tolerances: Surface, H5. Breach, H10. Damaged, V5. Destroyed, V11.Stealthy: +3 Ob to hostile Sensors, Signals, and Observation
(Obstacle Limitation: affects 3 skills, +3 pts; imposes Ob 3, +3 points)
The light infiltration sled is designed to insert covert reconaissance teams – and get them back out again – as well as to conduct reconnaissance on its own, all deep in hostile territory without being detected. Every feature of the vehicle is optimized to reduce its profile to detection devices from the most advanced satellites to the naked eye. Any Sensors, Signals, or Observation test to detect the vehicle, make Contact in a Firefight with a force entirely composed of infiltration sleds, or to perform a Sensor Sweep during a Firefight to “lock on” to one, suffers a +3 Obstacle penalty.HUDIYD: +2D to Observation
(+2D Skill Advantage: +5 points)
A Hussar sled’s onboard automation fuses data from its surveillance array, navigation computer, and flight controls into imagery projected through the Lord-Pilot’s Crucis neural interface into the vision centers of the brain and superimposed over his field of vision. The unofficial but traditional term for this system is “Heads-Up Display In Your Head,” or HUDIYD (“hyou-deed”).
The standard version, available at Low Index, gives a +2D advantage to any Observation rolls.Superior agility: +1D to Control, for total of +2D
(Skill Advantage: second die, +2 pts)
The Hussar light infiltration sled is even more maneuverable than the baseline Attack Sled.
These improvements are already factored into the stats above.Enhanced Signals and Sensors
(+2D to Technological Skill: Signals, +2 points; +1D to Sensors, +1 pt)
The Hussar Sled has an enhanced signals and sensors suite. Most models can be distinguished by prominent whip antennas projecting up and back from the cockpit.
These improvements are already factored into the stats above.Complex
(Trait Limitation: -3 points)
Piloting a Hussar vehicle in low-altitude combat mode with its full reconaissance suite active is simply overwhelming to anyone without years of intensive training. Characters without the Hussar Trained trait may not operate a Hussar sled at all, even if they have a crucis.
Hussar Trained is a new trait not listed in the standard rulebook and is associated with a new lifepath, Lord-Pilot Hussar.Bucephalus Effect
(Double Obstacle Limitation: -5 points)
Each Hussar sled is so complex, and the interface with the pilot’s brain is so intimate, that a individual pilot must acclimate himself or herself to a particular vehicle before flying it. Occasionally a particular Hussar sled will just not “take” to a particular pilot for no clear reason. Lords-Pilot Hussar almost always name their “mounts” and, in candid moments, tend to insist that they have personalities; regular grav sled pilots tend to think Lords-Pilot Hussar are nuts.
To acclimate to a particular Hussar vehicle, a character must have the Hussar Trained trait and make a Pilot test against an Obstacle of 2. Observation, Recon, and Grav Sled-wise are acceptable FoRKs; another Hussar serving as an instructor may Help. Spending less than eight hours on the acclimatization test increases Ob to 3; spending less than one hour increases Ob to 4.
Success on the acclimatization test means that particular character may operate that particular Hussar vehicle normally. Failure means that character suffers a double Obstacle penalty for all tests related to that particular vehicle – including any second attempt at acclimatizing to it! “Sorry, sir, it just doesn’t like you.”NOTE: Availability in Character Burning
A character with the Hussar Trained trait may purchase a Hussar sled in Character Burning for 1 rp. Characters with the Anvil Lord, Hammer Lord, or Forged Lord traits may also purchase Hussar vehicles.
(This is an addition to the rules on p. 112).