Battlesuit

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Battlesuits are powered exoskeletons used by the forces of the Tau Empire. Their name derives from the term "Her'Ex'Vre", or "Mantle of the Hero".

Role on the Battlefield

Tau Battlesuits are not like Imperial Power Armor in their role. They serve as command platforms for Vre, El, and O level officers as well as heavy mobile weapons platforms, able to swiftly relocate from firing position to firing position while laying down constant barrages of long range firepower. Most of them are outfitted with jetpacks for this purpose.

All battlesuit pilots are veteran soldiers, given the privilege of piloting one after extensive service. Most always accept the honor of piloting these revered rape machines for the greater good, although there are some, more traditional crazies who shun the use of battlesuits, and instead choose to continue to lead fire warriors as front-line field commanders.

Types

XV02 Pilot Battlesuit

An experimental model made for vehicle pilots (obviously) currently undergoing field testing; although it provides less protection than Fire Warrior armor, it compensates by allowing a pilot to interface more effectively with their vehicles, negating the need for multiple crew members. The only one known to exist is in the possession of Shas'la T'au Sha'ng (aka Longstrike), who was selected for his reputation as a peerless Hammerhead pilot.

XV15 Stealthsuit

Little more than modified Fire Warrior Armor, it was outfitted with stealth systems allowing it to infiltrate, jetpacks for mobility, and burstcannons for firepower. Also carries markerlights. These older units are being phased out in favor of the XV25 series.

XV22 Command Suit

Officially part of the Stealthsuit line, this heavier unit is quite expensive to produce, as such it is limited in use to commanders (like Commander Shadowsun and Shas'o Kais). With the right equipment and abilities you can make it go three times faster than a normal Stealth Suit (red paint optional). This was originally built as a prototype design for a next-generation stealthsuit pattern, but finding ways to mass-produce the required components proved more difficult than anticipated. After the Imperium managed to reverse-engineer some of the XV-15 suits recovered from the battlefield, the Tau had to compromise by moving forward with the less advanced but easier to manufacture XV-25 (see below.)

XV25 Stealthsuit

An improvement over the XV15, larger, heavier and better armored while still retaining the maneuverability and subtlety of the XV15 series. Development and deployment of the XV25 was largely due to the fact that the Imperium managed to acquire a functioning sample of the old XV15 stealth suit during the Damocles Crusade, compromising its use as a recon platform.

XV46 Vanguard Void Suit

Basically a Tau Terminator armor, bigger than XV2 series, smaller than XV8 and as heavily armoured as XV88 while still light enough to have jetpacks. It is designed solely for operating in spaceborn situations at (unusually for the Tau) close quarters, which means boarding action and Space Hulk investigating missions. XV46 is highly effective against certain xenos species that are famous for slaughtering terminators like they are nothing. With fuckton of burstcannons, flamers and fusion guns on each of the suits little buggers would find a hard time getting close enough but then there are electroshocks, grav-repulsors, and photon grenades to zap any fuckers lucky enough to break through walls of fire, all triggered automatically. To make Tau version of Space Hulk even less grimdark this suits are even equipped with smart ejection systems which are programmed to deliver the pilot back on the board of his ship if his suit got wrecked. Being both niche equipment and difficult to manufacture critical parts for, XV46s are rarely seen outside of space hulk missions.

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit

The Tau's general-purpose battlesuit that can be outfitted with a dizzying array of weaponry and be built for any occasion. It also comes in with jump jets that allow it to bypass dangerous/impassable terrain and also allows it to quickly shoot at enemies and jump back to safety before the enemy has any time to react.

It's been a good run, shoulder-mounted death cannons.

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

A modified XV8 battlesuit that traded its jump packs for two smart missile systems (or plasma cannons) and twin railguns. They provide Tau infantry anti-armor, and now, anti-air fire support. 6E turned these twin-linked rifles into a single, less potent railrifle. Broadsides can also now carry loads of missiles.

A single 3-man team of Broadsides entrenched in cover is enough to deter all but the heaviest tanks from getting in range of it, lest his warmachine become an overpriced brick of burning cover.

They are almost as well armored as a Terminator, but thanks to the bulk of their weapons and portable generators needed to charge them, Broadsides are one of the few battlesuits to lack jetpacks.

XV9 Hazard Battlesuit

Unlike most Tau battlesuits, the XV9 is designed solely for fast and hard close-range engagements rather than having the option of going either close and long or being cloaked while engaging the enemy up-close, which is quite odd since this is a bit of deviation from traditional T'au combat doctrine. XV9 series suits are noticeably tougher than any battlesuit available, can carry absurdly powerful weaponry due to their increased power output, and along with the standard jump packs, comes in by default with vectored retro-thrusters that allows them to escape close combat if they're ever charged. It should be noted that the number 9 is a significant number to the Tau given that they count in a nonary numeral system (numbers 0 to 8), as opposed to humanity's decimal system, meaning the XV9 is literally is cranked up to 11.

"So this is the power of the Nova Reactor... Not bad, not bad at all..."

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit

A new, extra-large battlesuit (at twice the size of the XV8) that resembles the bastard offspring of a Gundam (specifically the ZZ Gundam, what with its xboxhueg build, optional missile system and destructive but stupidly risky energy weapon) and a Metal Gear that will be making its first appearance in the 6th edition codex. Arguably more of a vehicle than a suit of armor, the Riptide's primary weapon can be either a heavy burst cannon or an ion accelerator (with twin smart missile systems, fusion blasters or plasma rifles as backup weapons), while its defensive prowess is supplemented by a portable shield generator. All of these can be made significantly more powerful if the prototype Nova Reactor built into the suit is used to charge the weapon or shield; however, doing so runs the risk of overloading the generator, releasing deadly radiation that can injure or kill the pilot.

While incredibly powerful, Riptide's prime drawback is that the materials used to manufacture it are rare. Thus, their numbers remain fairly small within the Tau Empire's forces. Not that you'd know since every god damn Tau list has them flying out of their asses.

Widely cheesetastic rapetactic with this fella is to model it to be as low as possible (like crouching foward) and put it behind piece of very big cover, like bastion. It moves out during move phase, overloads nova and blasts nearby enemies into oblivion, then jet boosts back behind the bastion during assault phase to block enemy LoS.

XV107 R'varna Battlesuit

Essentially a Riptide (made by Forge World of all folk) that threw mobility away for more armour and two exceedingly huge pulse submunition cannons (think plasma cluster bomb) for the purpose of fucking everything up for the enemy. Its Nova Reactor also grants some unusual properties like a turn with Fleet, an EM shockwave that hits everyone around it, or double-firing weapons, but is no less risky to use. It's essentially the Broadside battlesuit to the Riptide's Crisis battlesuit

The fluff behind this involves an Earth Caste engineer from sept Ke'lshan who managed to go behind the Ethereals' backs by building something so huge, expensive (even in in-universe terms), and lethal when he was supposed to make more stealthsuits. One Tyranid swarm later, however, he revealed this behemoth as it helped curb-stomp all of the things and save the sept.

One interesting note of mention is that in the early days of the R'varna's conception, well before it was officially announced, there was indeed a rumor floating around that Forgeworld was actually designing a new Stealth suit. This was before 6th ed Tau were even released, so it makes sense that nobody even knew about the Riptide aside from the weeks preceding the new codex, but what is interesting is that, given the fluff behind the R'varna, it's almost as though Forgeworld chuckled at the rumors and used those as a basis for their fluff, going so far as to craft the rumors of a stealth suit into the XV107's fundamental history. The more you know~

And unlike plenty of other things in lore it is as big a rape machine on the table as it is in the fluff. With the ability to shoot out two pie plates a turn at AP 4 and S6, and overcharged makes it four plates, the thing turns marines to ceramic shards, tyranids to garden mulch, and orks to fertilizer. Especially since against MC's and vehicles each model takes 3 hits at +2S, let that sink in. All in all considered to be horribly, horribly, horribly broken by non Tau. And by Tau players using it to still be the most brokenly rapetastic thing since fish of--*BLAM* HERETIC!