Alright, folks. We've got a genuine mystery on our hands here.This post isn't meant to mock or disparage anyone, but more to document the hilarious roller coaster that is centered around this piece of equipment right here. Now, to fully document this, lets go back to the first place that this piece of equipment was featured on a model. First was the N2 Magister Knights. As you can see, this piece of equipment was classified as a Panzerfaust. There was peace in the Hyperpower. But everything changed when the Aquila Guard was resculpted. For those of you at home, we know that the Aquila Guard does not have a Panzerfaust on any of his profiles. So... what is this strange piece of equipment? Was it a mistake? Is the Aquila getting a Panzerfaust added to its profile? We looked desperately to Corvus Belli for answers, but received none. Next, came the Clausewitz Uhlans. As you can see, this is a much larger version of the equipment in question, befitting of a large PanO TAG. It might have a similar appearance to the N2 Magister Panzerfaust, but this particular item is probably the Feuerbach. While a Panzerfaust is Disposable(2), the Feuerbach is not, so the extra ammo storage on the opposite shoulder makes sense. This is fine, since shoulder mounted launchers are cool and sci-fi. Again, this still leaves the Aquila as a mystery, but at least there is some abstract consistency between the Magister Knights and the Uhlan. Shoulder-mounted explosive weapons. There was still a chance that the Aquila could get a Panzerfaust "upgrade." That was clearly not CB's plan. With the release of the resculpted N3 Magister Knights. It was clear that the Panzerfaust would no longer be shoulder mounted. This was met with quite a bit of backlash from the community. The Panzerfaust is now canonically a more lo-tech design, as seen below. The shoulder-mounted device is no longer sculpted on the new Magister Knights. Around this time, a theory was crafted to explain the Aquila Guard's shoulder gear. Maybe it was an additional sensor/sighting device that could grant the Aquila Guard his MSV3. Until now, many people have accepted this as truth. This brings us to now. We have just received a 3D render of the new Varuna Starter. Featured in this box, is a Kamau Sniper. There's our old friend, the shoulder gear! Unfortunately for us, this model does not have a Panzerfaust. This model does not have a Feurebach. This model does not have MSV3! So, what is it? Honestly, I wonder if we'll ever find out the true purpose of this shoulder gear. Maybe it will remain a mystery forever! Again, this is not my attempt to discredit the company. I honestly have found this whole saga to be hilarious, and I hope we can all laugh at the absurdity together. Hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have! This is Your Friendly Neighborhood Locust, signing off. Edit: I forgot to include Major Lunah in this post. She also appears to have part of this device on her shoulder, but she also has a visor on her forehead. I remember when she was first released, it was implied that since Major Lunah is a mercenary, she salvaged that piece of PanO armor. Still, I feel it is important to include in the post.
Kamua is MSV 2, I guess now it's an MSV gear. Aquilla uses MSV3. It could also optionally be some sort of shoulder mount that houses a variety of gear.
I've never seen so many complaints about something so insignificant. Why can't multiple different pieces of equipment be shoulder mounted? why does it matter? why can't we accept the design for what it is? what you listed here look distinctly different. the OLD magister knight shoulder piece and the feuerbach look similar, but the feuerbach is bigger. as is expected. it is not disposable. The Aquila piece and the Kamau pieces also look similar. but hey hey, they both have a type of MSV..... wow.....
I personally don't have a problem with any of these. I just find it particularly funny. Also, the N3 Nisse Sniper does not have the device, but has MSV2.
Major Lunah has it. This would appear to indicate that it's just a sensor/targeting package, not specific to either EXP ammunition or MSV. ...Except for the fact that she also looks as though the gear on her head could be a visor. So perhaps once again, she was slated for a piece of wargear and ended up not receiving it? At this point, I suspect it's just a housing module or a variety of equipment. Targeting for the Uhlan's Fuerbach. Input for the Aquila's MSV3 (the only MSV3 model in the game who wears his visor, instead of having it incorporated directly into his/her physiology.) Ultimately I do like the look of it.
Maybe the low temperatures of Svlarheima don't allow a sensitive targeting system to exist on the outside of the armor? maybe the coat gets in the way.
the Aquila doesn't need his coat for warmth, he can afford to cut corners, err, shoulders in this case
At this point the amount of fucks I give is less than or equal to zero. I really liked the micro panzerfausts of the Second Edition (N2 and N3 just sound stupid) on the Magisters. That they lost it for tubular nonsense is so Ariadna, it's boring. Not sure what is going on with the sculptor's approval, but someone greenlit those designs at some stage......and totally dropped the ball on the Uhlans pose. Best just to ignore the equipment. Just consider it part of the design and leave it at that now.
Just realized that the Kamau also has an extra bit of sculpting around the left two "eyes." Very cool, and probably represents the MSV.
Yeah, I was just looking at that. The lenses themselves are different, and there's also a raised armor plate around the eyes themselves. That's a new design for MSV2... I quite like it. It's subtle, but it makes me take back the idea that this starter was a copy + paste. I agree with @FatherKnowsBest though, I don't think it's worth it to look for consistency in the equipment.
Yeah, it's just a "random sci fi greeble" by that point. A pity, but it can't be helped. As a minor point, if I'll ever get back to MO and get the Magisters, I'm getting the older ones. The new ones suck big time.
I think they were going for a targeting device of some kind. It's not really intuitive though (at least compared to our real day range finders) and it sharing the same shape and location of the old PanO Panzerfaust is confusing. So, like Stiopa, I see it as some random greeble now. Also, yeah, whoever is sculpting PanO has a thing for boot knives. Guess they forgot you can put a knife anywhere on a belt, the chest, or off a shoulder. I'm going to chock that one up to CAD laziness (we have it already so we're going to re-use it to death).
When this came up a couple days ago @eciu had me convinced the Aquila had the Panzerfaust sculpted on it. Which was weird since I faintly remembered that was not the case. Turns out I made the mistake to look at the models to revise my opinion and that was the mistake. Should have taken a look at the dossiers again. The old Magisters and the Uhlan have larger holes in the tubes that also are grey. The Aquila doesn't have tubes but red dots, which means those aren't the same micro missile tubes the old Magisters had (despite looking very similar). So the Aquila definitely does not have a Panzerfaust sculpted on him and never had (although I can definitely see why people would think that, happened to myself after all). This still leaves the "targeting device" on the shoulder up for debate. Infinity doesn't really do cross troop accessories that don't mean anything. Faintly can remember there has been official word from CB years ago this is in fact some sort of targeting device as mentioned earlier in this thread. Not sure if CB will ever come forward with an explanation, so here are three, take your pick: "We just thought it was cool so it's in the design." "We originally wanted it do be a distinct piece of equipment but it never got any rules/dropped during testing." "Oh yeah, wait for it, that is getting rules in a future update we've been prepping for since a couple years!"
