Requests. You've got 'em, I'm accepting 'em. GET IT DONE, SOLDIER.
I want to take a moment to thank those of you who took part in the recent VotW special report on WiGEs- the enthusiasm was appreciated (with the exception of the one PMer who asked that in the future I not waste his time on niche units. Noted and ignored.) With the reaction in mind, there will be more specials like this down the road- I can't tell you when, because honestly I have no idea, but if you have ideas for such articles please let me know via PM and I'll give them consideration for sure. It's your column, folks- I just put it all in words. ;)
So, mild spoiler- if you're not up on what's been going on in the 3145 era, you'll be shocked to find out that Clan Nova Cat is no more. If you're like me, you're amazed it took that long for the Combine to get tired of the proverbial weirdo crashing on the couch, but that's for another article. Regardless, the Cats are no more, their warriors decimated and their civilians castrated- within a few decades, nothing will remain of one of Kerensky's Clans but pictures in history books... and a lot of salvaged/traded gear they've built over the years. Among these is a handy little hovertank called the Cizin. Worth taking a look at, wouldn't you agree? (We will either way, so you might as well just get on board with the plan)
The Cizin shares a number of obvious features with another Clan hovercraft, the famous Epona. Where that beast was an Omnitank, however (the first to be published), the Cizin is a conventional unit- intended to operate in combined-arms units, the likes of which we see more and more from the Clans in the post-Jihad era, the Cizin is a master harasser. With the destruction of the Clan that spawned it, the Cizin- named for the Mayan god of death, in a continuation of the Clan love of naming vehicles for deities- is now produced by Luthien Armor Works- it also is built by Clan Sea Fox, because of course it is- the result of a trade many years ago between the two ex-Clans.
At 45 tons, the Cizin fits nicely in a light vehicle bay, as most hovers do. We find a 215 XL engine pushing this cart around at a lovely 10/15 movement curve, which means Cizins are able to happily exploit the flanks of an enemy, while also having the ability to scoot away quickly if trouble arises. This is no doubt a handy thing for the DCMS- upon discovering Davion heavy units, Cizins can simply sneak away before the FedSuns force can react- and if any units end up as stragglers, the Cizin is excellent at isolating and dealing with them. (Pro tip: Pair up Cizins with SM1 Tank Destroyers for an impressive one-two punch at high speeds!)
We've been here before- you don't kill a hovercraft by blasting it apart, you kill it with motive/crit hits. But that's not to say a hover can't be tough anyway- the Cizin packs seven tons of Clan ferro-fibrous armor onto its sleek frame, giving our old Kali Yama a pretty tough test! Two solid hits won't break the 45 points up front, while the flanks hold out a shot thanks to their 25 points. The turret's 21 points holds... barely. The rear has a mere 18 points however, and with the 'fight or flee' nature of a hovertank like this the author wouldn't mind moving a few points from the front to the rear, just in case. Still, this is not an easy tank to beat apart, particularly when one considers the movement modifiers to hit one in the first place. The Cizin, then, becomes an angry terrier- it won't stop coming after you until either it drops or you do.
The teeth on that terrier are to be respected (as my pants leg will attest). Four Clan ER medium lasers are parked in two pairs in the turret. Now, this is a weapon that the Inner Sphere has been subjected to for nearly a century now, its capabilities are a known quantity. But... flat out, the Cizin is packing the equivalent of four large lasers in a turret, moving about at high speeds. That's pretty impressive stuff, period. The heat sinks in the engine are boosted by ten more, which is a whole mess of weight, but the results are a tank that can sting even a heavy Mech with a barrage of lasers from behind and cause major problems. Even if one misses you still force a PSR on your target. The targeting computer assisting those lasers means those shots won't miss often- well played, Cats! A pair of standard SRM-2s sit forward on the vehicle on each side of the large cockpit, sharing a ton of ammo for extra crit-seeking power or inferno barrages, whichever you prefer. Note that the four lasers backed by four SRM tubes is again reminiscent of the Epona Prime.
If it sounds like there's a lot of respect from the author for the Cizin, it's because after a week of testing, this has become the author's new favorite way to make someone miserable with a hovercraft. Cizins backed by a few SM-1s were a joy to use, taking down all manner of targets with ease. So when I mention that the standard Cizin ranks second of the two versions in terms of love from the author... that should say something. The long-range warfare model strips out all of the weapons, replacing the four ER mediums with a single ER large laser. This gives the Cizin a fantastic ranged weapon to snipe at targets with, well away from return fire ranges- and the computer remains to help it out. The removal of the SRMs and eight heat sinks free up room for a new Streak LRM-15 rack, with two tons of ammo. The use of these weapons together should be obvious- don't get close, hang back and cause mayhem from afar. The author found a couple of points of each type of Cizin backed by one point of SM-1s was sick, wrong, and hilarious. How did the Cats get wiped out with this kind of gear in their forces? An ECM suite rounds out this variant nicely.
Fantastic hovercraft here- fast, tougher than expected, well-armed (both versions)... and coming to a FedSuns invasion front near you.
