04. March 2017

Intercosmic News: Stormy days - is the Hurricane for you?

Can a fighter described by its engineers as a pure "glass cannon" live up to the hype ?

Blast from the past...

Anvil's revival of the late Second Tevarin War era Hurricane (by Casse Aerospace) has surely hit Star Citizens across the Empire like a whirlwind.

The A4A Hurricane, packs a deadly punch of 6 KBAR 11-Series Broadsword cannons (two gimbaled on the Size 4 nose hardpoints and four on the Size 3 turret slots) and four FSKI Ignite missiles for the Size 3 missile bay hardpoints into its slim fuselage.

This powerful armament, as stated by its engineers, allegedly compensates for the many shortcommings of the seemingly onesided warbird design of days past.

Capable of blasting its way through nearly anything, the Hurricane lacks armor- if it is even to be called such - and is sold as a purist's bare bone space craft of choice for the advanced combat pilot.

Gargantuan firepower at the expense of speed, armor, shields

During a recent visit at Anvil Aerospace's Nova Kiew production plant on Terra, Intercosmic Incorporated delegation members were able to attend test flights with the new model of the A4A, as well as taking part in a tour of the assembly line.

Along the presentation it became apparent that the Hurricane still seems to be stuck up to its knees within the Tevarin War, the craft being issued to customers without a big enough powerplant (AMRS OverDrive, non-upgradeable) or a respectively sufficient shield size to fend off modern Vandu'ul energy weapons.

Anvil Management further confirmed prolonged high speed propulsion similarly suffering under this apparent underpowered setup. Thus, during engagements, Hurricane pilots will be most busy avoiding enemy fire and always having to look out for keeping enemy interceptors off their tail but lacking the speed , armor and energy supply to getting to exposed or staying within the fight the longer it takes.

The greatest compromise bringing the aged Tevarin War design back to the drawing board and making it a low cost base for a high prized gunslinger, however, was made along the choice of armament. The Hurricane's aggressively focused balistic armament is not a coincidence. Truth is, that it will not be able to feed energy weapons through a dogfight.

Just a click away - the Hurricane Fieldbook

Intercosmic withdraws support for rush-manufactured heavy attack gunship

Anvil Aerospace Hurricane by starcitizenart on Sketchfab

Having taken over Casse Aerospace's portfolio, Anvil Aerospace seems eager to advertize it's newest addition to the assembly line as a heavy fighter - even "dogfighter", as portruted by some sources close to the Anvil board of management.

The craft that journalists and organizations in the field of shipping we were able to inspect, however, was rather an attack gunship without real dogfighting capabilities and lacking the needed speed to keep itself clear of a fight gone south.

Observation has it that once a Hurricane pilot has decided to enter a battle, the the odds are to win quickly - or, since it cannot run - if it doesn't manage to take out its oponent first hand - to likely perish.

As such, the craft is suitable as a surprise attacker but hardly as a defender or true dogfighter. Its use is undisputed, however as a private craft for our members. For most company missions, apart from fast response attack runs, it might be just too overspecialized for incorporating Anvil's Hurricane into our standing fleet roster.