XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit
The XV-8 Crisis Suit is the main battlesuit of the the Tau Empire.
Seen in every campaign the Tau have been involved in, the XV-8 Crisis suit is piloted only by those who have reached the rank of Shas'ui, but is ubiquitous enough that it is commonly used by many commanders in the Tau Empire as well.
The suit itself is highly customisable, capable of carrying a wide variety of weapon load-outs, and specialist equipment, including rare signature systems
Tactical Properties
Just Dropping In
Tau Battlesuits all have the ability to Deep-Strike into the battlefield (Except for Broadside & R'Varna Suits as they lack Jet-Packs) however Crisis Suits make the best use of this ability as they have the greatest level of tactical variety given their wide choice in Weaponry & Support Systems, meaning as long as you have a properly prepped Crisis Suit held back in reserves you can adapt to anything your opponent throws at you.
Jump-Shoot-Jump
Jet packs man, just, Fucking Jet-Packs
Crisis Suit Variants
XV-8 "Crisis" Suit
The basic suit. Nothing in the galaxy quite like it.
XV-81 "Crisis" Suit
A bulkier variant of the Crisis Suit, it has an integrated Smart Missile System, but this system also cost it a bit of customization. That said, however, these missiles are handy in granting the Tau ranged bombardment (as if that was ever something needed for the Tau).
XV-84 "Crisis" Suit
This variant gets integrated Target Locks and Networked Markerlights. These suits are basically meant to be targeters for their teams using these systems to aid with the assaults.
XV-89 "Crisis" Suit
Fluffwise, this is meant to be really bulky and hard to move around in, eventually being scrapped for the Iridium armor. The issue with this is that crunchwise, it's essentially identical to the basic Crisis Suit save for a slightly curvier head and Pauldrons.
XV-8-05 "Enforcer" Suit
It's not very different than the basic Crisis Suit with the only real difference between them being some flashier bitz and articulated fingers on one hand. Normally piloted by Battlefield commanders, it has more space to carry Weaponry & Support systems.
XV-8-02 "Iridium" Suit
A rare prototype of an advanced defensive system, the "Iridium" suit is made using an experimental iridium alloy granting it greater defensive properties than the normal Crisis suits. This variant of the XV-8 is rarely seen on the battlefield, and more commonly given to a commander's bodyguards to aide them in their task.
XV-8-06 "Coldstar" Suit
No rules or images for this suit exists, it is only mentioned in the fluff. It should be designed for fight in a void enviroment and should carry a whole lot of unique support and weapon sistems.
Weapon and System Combinations
Fire Crisis
A Combination of 2 Flamers and a Vectored Retro Thrusters system, this combination allows you to throw down 2 templates before darting away in the Assault phase, this combination will keep you up close and personal with the enemies infantry, while the Vectored Retro Thrusters allow you a chance to escape from a melee, even at Initiative 2. A whole squad of three XV8 with this configuration is able to dish out a genuine HELL on the battlefleet, eating hordes like there's no tomorrow, and even terminators wouldn't charge them lightheartedly.
Field of Fire
A Combination of 3 suits, with all of them having 2 Burst Cannons and a Target Locks, this combination allows you to have a group of 3 Crisis suits threaten 3 separate enemy units at the same time with 8 S:5, AP5 R18 shots each.
Tank Wrecker
A combination of a Crisis Suit Shas'vre, with 2 Fusion Blasters, and an Onager Gauntlet, this combination spells doom for any light Vehicle with 2 Hull Points, and stands a decent chance of dealing with Vehicles with 3 Hull points in one turn. You can exchange the Onager Gauntlet for a Velocity Tracker to make a short-range Anti-Air unit that can force your opponents Air Transports to take the long way around or risk dealing with this.
Commander Dakka
Take a Crisis Suit Commander (using up one of your few HQ slots) and outfit him with 3 Burst Cannons and an Extra Multi-Tracker (You can, they've got 4 slots), if you're feeling fancy, add in a "Neuro-Web System Jammer" just for shits and giggles, each turn you'll be putting out as many shots as an overcharged Heavy Burst Cannon, even if they are weaker, without the risk of 'gets hot', at BS 5 and you'll usually be close enough to an opponents unit to make the best use of the NWSJ as they move in closer to try and put the hurt on "Commander Dakka". Add the Drone-controller and two drones at your own discretion. If you really want to make your enemy cry, you can even put the commander in a squad of gun drones for a grand total of 36 R18 S5 AP5 shots at BS 5 per turn on a highly mobile and sufficiently tough unit.
(How? At my Math you've got 12 TL Pulse Carbines (so Technically 12 shots), you can only fire 2 Burst Cannons with the Commander if you don't take the Extra Multi-Tracker (For 8 shots), and if you want the drones to fire at BS 5 you need to take a Drone controller instead of the extra Multi-Tracker, so you've only got a total of 20 Shots, 24 if you don't take the Drone Controller)