Intercosmic News: Cyclone warning!... or is it just a breeze?

We are at war! and the protagonists are Major Hype versus the King of Warbond

Tumbril: Broke...

Tumbril, I bet we all still remember this name from our contemporary galactic history holovids and graphs . A company that rose to notoriety in the UPE and to greatness under the Messer regime. An multi-system spanning weapons and communal vehicles manufacturer. And to no small avail, a prestige object in the arsenal of the Empire until it literally fell from grace and - as a consequence - into having to file for bankruptcy.

... and back again

In the end it remains debateable if both rise and fall of this once grand power house were illdeserved or brought upon itself. What matters today is that Tumbril is back from the dead. And the Necromancer is none other than the imperial economy's enfant terrible, "Mr .Warbond" himself: DevCo Group's CEO Terrence Naban.

Right here, we will unveil the crude realities behind DevCo's uber aggressive take over of similarly troubled Titus Tools and of the long dormant Tumbril brand along with it's unscrupulous marketing campaign, trying to get into your pockets. Or - to call it by a better name: Your wallets and credit reserves.

Undersized, Undergunned, Underperforming, Overprized !

The Cyclone has undergone an indiscriminate testing frenzy since having been publicly revealed and set on a quick Warbond pre-sale, this past weekend. Tumbril itself pre-tested it, of course. The folks at Whitley's gave it a spin and even 'Inforunners' have given it a test ride. Some more hands-on treatment was given to the little whirlwind by reknown gazetters across the UEE by big name reviewers such as 'STL' Engines' and even the 'Noobifier' Tuning Ltd' showed up at the party. They were joined by up and coming sales quide empresario 'Law (of the) West'.

Strangely and despite the early hype at last Friday's sale event which Intercosmic also attended, test results presented by parts of independent reviewers have turned far less favourable than those by the official sources. You probably guessed that Tumbril would hardly say anything negative about it's very own product at launch. Surprisingly enough neither did Whitley's when they cheered about the "best come back" of the last two centuries !"

In turn, STL representatives were in full support with Noobifier reviewers in that what Tumbril had to offer was alright, but is too far from being the promissed game-changer that was foretold. Both review teams stated their disappointment at the unexpectedly small size and capacity of the so called Cyclone and added that the variants shown at the event fall short of the roles they would be expected to perform. Apart from the base CYC variant, a small two-seater with a mere spartan flatbed cargo hold and perhaps the racer version - as also indicated by Law of the West - all other variants are suggested to give them a pass And a hefty one too given a the increamental price tags would buy citizens nothing short of at least a fully equipped Aegis Avenger Titan shuttle up to an Origin 325A star fighter.

Inforunners went as far as ripping the Cyclone apart and scattering into the four winds, mocking the CYC's lack in size. And with underperformance having already been addressed, the able reviewer think tank representatives agreed on the lack luster functionalities and rickety customizeability of the designs itself, when out comparing it to far more thought through purchasing options (measuring up the Cyclone against true star ship variant lines).

"(...) the Cyclone has missed its niche," - Haze of Inforunners

Both introductions of the armed infantry support and the novel anti aircraft editions of Tumbril's newest brainchild felt significantly chicken breasted during the first performance comparisons. The latter even coming close to a robbery given it's exhorbitantly high price tag of 70.000 UEC at 2 AA missiles carried.

The Cyclone - A Jack of all trades or more of a 'sitting inbetween all chairs' ?

(click onthe brochure above to get linked to the Cyclone page and brochure content)

Speed ?
Manouverability ?
All-Terrain excellence ?

All of those are great strengths when it comes to selling points but at a second glance it is right here thatTumbril fails at giving their Cyclone a cutting edge. In fact, we don't even have to take a closer look to verify, the Nox is faster, more manouverable and talking about terrain worthiness - well - its a hover speeder bike. with twice the firepower. What more is there to add?

Noone on the ground or in the skies will feel the sting of the Cyclone. A regular RSI Ursa Rover has twice the firepower. For racing and scouting there already is the Aopoa Nox - and even if potentially slower, the Drake Dragonfly. For transport the Ursa wins again and hands down too. In short: There is nothing that we would need the Cyclone for (at it's price).

Having mentioned the Nox, we should add that this speeder bike only released last month, was sold with the same slogans as the Cyclone this week:

So, our advice - not really surprisingly - is to skip the call for becoming an early adopter and wait until you can purchase a used Tumbril Cyclone of choice next season. They will be widely available at an acceptable price tag then. And that, we at Intercosmic can guarantee! Keep in mind that you cannot even use the Cyclone as an LTI token; CCUs to anything other than ground vehicles are not possible as is being heavily critizised by all reviewers !!! Would we not know it better, it would certainly seem that Mr. Naban has the Empire's largest insurance companies deep down in his bottomless pockets.

Our final veridict: You should pass

To be totally honest, our test results pretty much high-five those of Inforunners ("the worst bang for your buck!"), STL(Younglood) and (The)Noobifier ("wait and buy it ingame" and "if sitting on the fence, buy the base version") in that the Cyclone has most definitely missed its niche,

So, save your Credits; wait for more favourable UEC prices when the little Dust Devil will be in greater supply at lower prices. We are sure this vehicle is going to be fun.

But as things are right now it truely is the worst bang for your buck and only being at the mere entry level of a full array of upcoming offroad and other ground vehicles to come, including hover, wheeled and tracked solutions. If sitting on a fence, better consider a rover or a speeder for the time being..

You will be more satisfied in the long run and think back to this day with a smile on your face, some extra credits in your pocket and having a superior oversight in hindsight, knowing which ground vehicle to go for and which to avoid being a target in.

At a glance: All the important Cyclone related links you may need

⧨ Concept Sale

At a current sale price point of 40 - 70 US Dollars (Warbond included) Cyclones earn hype but a growing number of shaking heads

⧨ Early Lore and Q&A

In case anyone missed it, "Behold the Tumbril" is the earliest lore entry introducing the Cyclone.

The Q&A will traditionally not be out before Wednesday 26th of July. A link will be provided accordingly.

⧨ No LTI CCU Token!

Please note that by latest (post pre-sale, actually) ruling by CIG, ground vehicles such as the Cyclone, Ursa and upcoming Lynx, cannot be used to CCU to hover speeders or star ships !!! Ground vehicles will only CCU between ground vehicles.