Rotor Infantry

One of the common problems faced by the military and security forces of the Cosmic Era is that hypertech and arcanotech equipment is expensive, and there isn't the surplus of available manpower (in terms of clones, volunteers, convicts, and droids) to simply rely on the age old tactic of the relentless human wave. Stop gaps are appearing, bridging the divide between high end military equipment, and low end security and infantry gear. The pocket tank is perhaps the most infamous of these designs. The Rotor Assisted infantryman is an attempt to create air mobile infantry who are not tied to large and expensive VTOL and helocraft, even more expensive hover pods, or the cost and extensive training required for the use of jet packs, or flight capable power armors.

What is Rotor Assist

Rotor Assist is a fancy phrase for a quad rotor drone that is large enough to carry an infantryman under it. These drones have harnesses under them, and the trooper has a wrist mounted control system that allows them to access the drone, organize pick up, drop off, destination, evasion, and so forth.

Need a lift? Bozzboys are fairly fast, and the ability of the drone to hover or move vertically with ease, makes them agile in the urban megaplexes across the Cosmic Era. An entire squadron of rotor assist drones cost as much as a single jet pack, and the cost of a flight capable light power armor is close to the cost of equipping an entire infantry battalion with said drones.

The High Cost of Rotor Assist

Rotor Assist infantry are expensive in a different way. The drones are in no way military equipment, and have no weapon mounts, no sophisticated electronics wizardy, no armor, and no stealth systems. The men they carry are limited in the amount of gear they can equip, meaning most bozzboys are in light body armor, and armed with SMGs, pistols, and other light weaponry. Women in the buzz club can often carry a bit more gear, but most gangbangers, terrorists, and such can determine that female from male troopers, and tend to make the macho women with automatic rifles and assault guns their first targets.

The real danger, the real drawback, is that when you come buzzing in on a drop, the assholes on the ground know that the drone is mostly ferroplastic and synthetic metal, and you damage it, the buzzboy is coming down. Shoot out on rotor, and you come down kinda rough. Two, you come down fast and hard. Anything that can hit three probably took out the power core in the middle and you fall like a stone and a 200 kg drone lands right on top of you. Splat. You're a bloody greasy smear on the ground.

Equipment Load-Outs

Basic - light body armor, medium weapon like carbine or SMG, side arm like pistol or a brace of grenades

Heavy support I - light body armor, grenade launcher

Heavy Support II - light body armor, assault rifle with under/over grenade launcher

Sniper - long sniper rifle, rifle support bag, no other gear.

Elite - encounter suit, laser carbine

HQ - light body armor, communications backpack, commander's helmet

Use

Rotor Assist Infantry is a poor man's jetpack, a pauper's jump infantry. They can do the same job, but they cant take much of a hit, and they dont pack much of a punch. In a game setting, buzzboys are quick support for low tech security forces, either for or against the PCs. In urban settings, they can do vertical insertions through skylights and open spaces that helocraft cant approach, and unlike rocket equipped units, they can move in and out of an area without causing scorch marks, secondary fires, or scaring the local lowlifes for a quarter mile in every direction.