After recurring high losses in Vitzh units Hai Shi Dao commanders realised they needed a more durable and manueverable battlefield presence to turn the tide of the war in their favour. Goodman Manufacturing, already having proven themselves with the Vortex, had the Scare Face design completed and rolling off the assembly lines in less than three months, far exceeding the expectations of HSD command. Designed to be a medium to long range general combat platform, the Scare Face made a sniper rifle option available to select HSD battalions, thus giving them an unmatched presence on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the target selection software would not support the extreme range of the sniper rifle, thus requiring a manual targetting software patch be added to the operating system.

The designers also perfected the underbody mounting hardpoints to allow a triple proximity grenade weapon to be optionally fitted. In concert with the recoilless rifles, the grenades finally allowed HSD commanders to field effective "anti-Falchion" platoons despite the PRF platform's speed and handling advantages. Best fielded in pairs, the Scare Face gives HSD forces the ability to go toe-to-toe with Decider units.




Let me tell you a little bit of history to explain how significant this VT is. When Steel Battalion: Line of Contact was first released, the only VTs available to the HSD faction for the first week "Hell Week" (Round 1, Turn 1) were Vitzhes and Vortexes, whilst PRF pilots had access to both the Decider and the Falchion...

It was a massacre.

PRF was stomping HSD across all three maps and ended up winning the set by a large margin. This actually setup the eventual win for PRF in Round 1. Anyway, come the start of Week Two and the introduction of the Scare Face, instantly balance was restored if not overturned, and HSD even managed to win one map of the turn. The combined distance effectiveness of the sniper rifle and the Vortex howitzer could not be matched by anything the PRF was currently fielding.

PRF has no first generation VT which can match the Scare Face for distance effectiveness. If strategically placed at the top of hills or across rivers, a Scare Face may snipe at Deciders and Falchions with impunity, often without giving away their location. The sniper rifle can take some time to become proficient with, but in the hands of an experienced player it can decide entire missions. Up close, the Scare Face does suffer from a slow turning efficiency, and cannot match the raw killing power of the Decider 315-TR twin rifle. Against Falchions, the Scare Face does well with its proximity detonation triple grenades and recoilless rifles but is better deployed in pairs to allow teammates to cover one another.