XV104 Riptide Battlesuit - Notable Formations: Firebase Support Cadre - Though an XV104 Riptide Battlesuit is a potent weapon indeed, Earth Caste weapon experts have verified that its kill ratio is optimised when it operates alongside two or more teams of XV88 Broadside Battlesuits. When thus formed into Firebase Support Cadres, a common tactic is for the Broadside Teams to unleash Rail Weapons fire through any armoured transports inbound upon their position, causing the passengers to bail out of their smoking wrecks into the Riptide’s line of fire. It is then that the giant Battlesuit opens up with its primary weapon, nova-charging the system if necessary, to ensure the scattering enemy is reduced to little more than ashen shadows. If the foe comes in a great horde, as with the great Greenskin tribes or the swarms of the Tyranids, this fire discipline is reversed. The Riptide’s primary weapon system will take a great chunk out of the enemy battle line, and the Heavy Rail Rifles then pick off survivors in the manner of snipers -- albeit snipers whose rifles can punch through one side of an Ork Stompa and out the other. When the enemy’s vanguard forces are light yet fast, Broadsides bolster their shoulder-mounted Smart Missile Systems with High-yield Missile Pods and specialist Missile Drones. The resultant missile salvos can destroy light transports and enemy skimmers in a series of chained explosions that consume vehicle and passenger alike. Because of this adaptability, Firebase Support Cadres have proven invaluable regardless of the foe their brethren are facing. It is a commonly held view in the T'au Empire that no matter its numbers, an enemy army forced to approach the Fire Caste on foot is an enemy already beaten. Though it is the offensive punch of the Firebase Support Cadre that has made it such a valued asset, its defensive capabilities are also impressive. Whereas most Battlesuits are nimble enough to level a volley before engaging their Jetpacks and move away to avoid retaliation, Broadsides and Riptides have heavier armour as their primary protection. Conventional missiles and large-calibre bullets rebound from the dense nano-crystalline layers of their outer armour, allowing them to shrug off all but the most punitive of incoming fire. For protection against the heavy-grade lasers and Plasma Weapons of the Imperium’s armies, a Firebase Support Cadre will often employ Shield Drones, whose protective auras can render even Lascannon fire no more deadly than torchlight. The purists of the T'au military maintain that the static tactics of Firebase Support Cadres are suboptimal; a primitive throwback to a less enlightened time where the T'au valued ground taken as well as lives saved. Yet in practice, these cadres are requisitioned on an almost daily basis. Even the famously deft Commander Shadowsun has used them on numerous occasions to achieve her conquests, using the fear the Firebase Support Cadres strike into the foe to manipulate the actions of enemy commanders. In truth, all of the T'au's leaders appreciate the fact there is no foe that the Firebase Support Cadre cannot destroy. Be it an Ork horde, an Adeptus Astartes strike force or towering Tyranid Bio-Titan, it can be brought low by the combination of the most advanced weapon systems the T'au Empire can field. A Firebase Support Cadre typically consists of a single XV104 Riptide Battlesuit supported by two three-man squads of XV88 Broadside Battlesuits.Rapid Insertion Force - It is not the T'au way of war to fight protracted, static battles. Aggressive use of mobility and firepower are key to the success of Fire Warriors. A large part of this success is dependent upon the activities of a cadre's Stealthsuit Teams -- their role is to find the enemy, create diversions and launch surprise attacks, while acting as a rear guard should things go poorly. A Rapid Insertion Force is a specialised formation that strikes suddenly against key enemy units or establishes a perimeter to hold ground until other Fire Caste units arrive, delivering the Mont'ka, or the killing blow, to the foe. In this force, a single Stealth Team leads the way for a more heavily armed force of several Crisis Battlesuit teams (usually three to five). The entire force trains together before a battle, so that they can deliver a swift and effective attack that stuns the enemy, allowing further T'au forces to move forward unmolested. A Rapid Insertion Force will often await deployment in a sub-orbital Manta, whilst the Stealthsuit Team moves in and infiltrates the battlefield, selecting critical targets before triggering their homing beacon. Once the Stealthsuits are in position, the Battlesuits of the Rapid Insertion Force airdrop from altitude and use their Jetpacks to zone in on the Stealthsuit team’s coordinates. Marker Lights will stream around them from the streaking T'au air fleet above, lighting up targets even as the XV8 Crisis Battlesuits descend from the skies -- their impressive arsenal of weapons already blazing away in unison at the greatest threat. Once on the ground, the whole formation then works together with the element of surprise to pin the enemy down and secure the area. Occasionally, an XV104 Riptide Battlesuit is assigned to a Rapid Insertion Force, adding its own tremendous firepower to the sudden Battlesuit onslaught.Retaliation Cadre - The sudden attacks of a Retaliation Cadre have shattered the impetus of countless enemy assaults and torn the heart from supposedly impregnable defences without numbers. Retaliation Cadres consist of a T'au Commander leading three teams of XV8 Crisis Battlesuits, a team of XV88 Broadside Battlesuits, and a team of XV104 Riptide Battlesuits. Held back in a low-flying Manta, a Retaliation Cadre is most commonly used to deliver the final killing blow in either a Mont'ka or Kauyon strike, massing the great strength of elite T'au Battlesuits and applying their prodigious firepower precisely where it is required. Upon deployment, the entire Cadre drops from low altitude, even the Broadside Battlesuits deploying single-drop grav-boosters to cushion their landing as they arrive directly in combat. Even as they fall from above the elite pilots start shooting, stitching volleys of fire into the enemy's ranks and scattering them in terror just moments before the Battlesuits' feet hit the ground.Riptide Wing – The XV104 Riptide Battlesuit is the apex of T'au Battlesuit technology. The prototype has proven to be so successful that the Earth Caste cannot manufacture them quickly enough to meet demand. Although normally deployed singly at a Hunter Cadre level, it was Commander Shadowsun that first ordered the formation of a Riptide Wing -- a formidable trio of XV104s working in conjunction. This tightly knit formation benefits from the ability to network together the Riptides, harmonising their reactor frequencies and Battlesuit AI modules when in close proximity with each other to deploy their massive firearms with ferocious accuracy, while seeing a vastly improved -- and significantly safer -- energy yield from their Nova Reactors. Furthermore, should the perfect opportunity present itself or some all-but-insurmountable threat approaches, the pilots can hand partial fire control to their networked AIs, increasing targeting accuracy and fire rate until a virtual monsoon of lethal energy is unleashed.