One Rabid Fox changes the Succession Wars [A Battletech Isekai]

[HunterxReader]

Its worse than that, Crew and pilots are free for the unit. Generating support personnel is 1 BV a person.

Essences are great!

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Ah, no price hike for higher skills, nice. Zorya and Schrek for fire support and Demolisher for a short-range punch, that's a Cluster that could eat up units on its own. The only thing missing are Alacorns for maximum Mech-blender.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Oh hell, I just had a thought. Does the Essence unlock EVERY variant of the vehicles, mechs, etc available to the MC? Or does it unlock based on the year each unit/variant was available per canon?

 

[Imperator Pax]

Oh hell, I just had a thought. Does the Essence unlock EVERY variant of the vehicles, mechs, etc available to the MC? Or does it unlock based on the year each unit/variant was available per canon?

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Everything is available as is the ability to custom build things that are games legal

Also LAM have been buffed, along with the ability to build non canonical tech if you research it
[In that context a hypothetical Naval grade Hyper Assault Gauss or some such]
--
As for the Cluster of Murder

Wolfs Dragoons watching the combine attack Sakhara "WTF is going on down there"

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

I'm now picturing the MC standardizing his heavy tanks on the Devastator/Demolisher III, and rolling out the gauss and arrow IV versions when needed just to be a bastard. On top of using Clan/SLDF upgrades to sneakily give his units a massive advantage.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

I'm now picturing the MC standardizing his heavy tanks on the Devastator/Demolisher III, and rolling out the gauss and arrow IV versions when needed just to be a bastard. On top of using Clan/SLDF upgrades to sneakily give his units a massive advantage.

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Alacorns already exist. 95 tons, 3 gauss rifles. You stop, stand still, let them fuck over whatever is on their shit list that day, and hope its not you.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Honestly the only reason to go with a gauss Demolisher over an Alicorn is how rare the latter is in 3015(?)

The Alicorn is better in every way except price but it would be blatantly obvious the MC is running Lostech if he did. With the Demolisher variants I'd hope they could hide that a bit better while still being combat effective. If the MC goes whole hog though? I will be very, very disappointed if there isn't at least a company of Alicorn back-stopping a horde of Royal/Clan mech as they give someone a VERY bad day.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Honestly the only reason to go with a gauss Demolisher over an Alicorn is how rare the latter is in 3015(?)

The Alicorn is better in every way except price but it would be blatantly obvious the MC is running Lostech if he did. With the Demolisher variants I'd hope they could hide that a bit better while still being combat effective. If the MC goes whole hog though? I will be very, very disappointed if there isn't at least a company of Alicorn back-stopping a horde of Royal/Clan mech as they give someone a VERY bad day.

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Alacorns will show up after Bristol

that is after there is an excuse to publicly demonstrate lostech gauss rifle tanks without people going 'where did those come?'

"They came from Bristol, are you calling me a liar?"

 

[HunterxReader]

Alacorns will show up after Bristol

that is after there is an excuse to publicly demonstrate lostech gauss rifle tanks without people going 'where did those come?'

"They came from Bristol, are you calling me a liar?"

Click to shrink...

"There was a cache on Bristol!?"

"More like a few caves used as a stash. Where else do you think this company/battalion of tanks came from?"

The good thing about the Star League being the galaxy's most prolific squirrels is that you can use any hole in the ground deep enough as an excuse for "finding" units.

 

[Bofors40mm]

"There was a cache on Bristol!?"

"More like a few caves used as a stash. Where else do you think this company/battalion of tanks came from?"

The good thing about the Star League being the galaxy's most prolific squirrels is that you can use any hole in the ground deep enough as an excuse for "finding" units.

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More like a fuckoff huge storage vault with hundreds of vehicles including furys

 

[Imperator Pax]

Yeah, the Bristol vault is canonically compared to a castle brian in size (which I half suspect that Bristol's description out of universe was subject to BIG Future Eighties where the idea was everything space america did was big.)

Also like if Clan Fox wasn't taken, I'd have be tempted to b e jokingly like we're clan Rotatosk or World / Sky Squirrel [and of course here thats sort of thing especially as clan sea fox well sea foxes will actually show up and also they're merchants who else is merchants but that will be after some sharky boys need to die]

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Even if the MC just sticks to stock modern IS or 'discovered' SLDF vehicles, just giving them basic Clan upgrades to something a garrison cluster or sohlama unit would have can and will wreck anything even close to the same tonnage.

I'm honestly kinda geeking out imagining those first few DCMS pilots and mechwarriors having a meltdown at what looks like an entire Lostech unit. Also looking for to how the Dragoons react.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Serious question time, I need feedback, do I keep the name Henry Clay for the Protagonist or do I try and find another one.

Also I will probably be posting some of the snippets for my other more periphery centric essence version of this thread, I was going to put up the one more aligned with the Magistracy of Canopus but the more I indulge the idea the more I look at doing the using the Aurigan Reach as a base, a couple of those already posted

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Henry Clay sounds fine, I can't really see cause to complain on the MC's name.

 

[HunterxReader]

Serious question time, I need feedback, do I keep the name Henry Clay for the Protagonist or do I try and find another one.

Also I will probably be posting some of the snippets for my other more periphery centric essence version of this thread, I was going to put up the one more aligned with the Magistracy of Canopus but the more I indulge the idea the more I look at doing the using the Aurigan Reach as a base, a couple of those already posted

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Henry Clay's good enough. If you're talking about the Periphery Warlord ones, the Aurigan one seems better. You're the big fish in one of the smallest ponds, you're in the best place to push for changes (in the Coalition anyway) and derail the Coup, and you have 3-4 immediate neighbors to worry about, which makes it more interesting.

Edit: Huh, did not know the Bristol find is canon. Cool, so you're going to to pad that with new/more Alacorns. Are you gonna slip in some "experimental" QuadVees or OmniVehicles?

 

[Blasterbot]

I mean it makes sense to take over the reach. They are pretty weak and if you can claim the castle Brian you are untouchable by the locals and too hard a target for the periphery neighbors. Also probably a harder target than the cappies would want to fight. They would need to divert a fair sized force to deal with it. Weakening either the fedsun or free world border. If you can get even a bit of trade flowing through with the canopians and Taurians you got the start of a very fun* power block.

 

[Arimai]

Serious question time, I need feedback, do I keep the name Henry Clay for the Protagonist or do I try and find another one.

Also I will probably be posting some of the snippets for my other more periphery centric essence version of this thread, I was going to put up the one more aligned with the Magistracy of Canopus but the more I indulge the idea the more I look at doing the using the Aurigan Reach as a base, a couple of those already posted

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Good enough. But if you plan to eradicate slavery then Cassius Marcellus Clay would be a magnificent name

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Not gonna lie, the moment you mentioned the slavery angle my mind jumped to the Knights of Randis.

I keep imagining the MC going full Deus Vult on all the pirates and slavers in that corner of the periphery!

 

[Imperator Pax]

Oh wow I've posted less of the Aurigan snippets than I thought I did...

I may do that shortly, here, in Sakhara and regarding warhammers a clan version will not show up immediately a succession wars introductory brawler will appear in the form of dropping the PPCs in favor large lasers in their place (along with the smalls) in favor oa second SRM 6 two tons of armor and twenty heat sinks and no machine guns. This actually makes them cheaper than the Davion 6D which I other wise like, but well no minimum range and close support unit... and well yes down the road clan tech version.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Honest question here, with how much BV can swing depending on loadout would it be cheaper for the MC to refit inner sphere mechs with clan equipment for an edge or use clan standard mechs?

Also, any plans for the MC's Aerospace equipment? Dropships and fighters to escort a move his troops and jumpships are going be important given the attention on him.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Honest question here, with how much BV can swing depending on loadout would it be cheaper for the MC to refit inner sphere mechs with clan equipment for an edge or use clan standard mechs?

Also, any plans for the MC's Aerospace equipment? Dropships and fighters to escort a move his troops and jumpships are going be important given the attention on him.

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ASF in the short term is most likely going to be F 77 and Slantbacks which are related designs probably through Vengeances, and really given the 240 usage those will be pretty common in general especially since the Stingray is pretty common anyway

In GWW its Rapiers, Eagles, and Sabres for Gene's ASF complement, and also Wasps, but thats kind of a case 'and now you have fucked up' by that point.

In EWSG its Rapiers, and Wasps for Odin's forces predominantly, and thats probably going to be true for Heron as well.

In the longer term. Here, as well as with Odin and Heron there will probably be a transition to a frontline clan OmniFighter designs more or less once discretion is no longer a necessity. Both here, and in EWSG things like the Jengiz will show up in the 3020s in low key roles obstensibly as a look at this thing we did with the shinies probably Primes for Sakhara and alt B for Alpha Centauri respectively.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Hmmm, the Clan Goth medium Omnifighter looks basically identical to the Gotha ASF, if you don't need to hide the new design the Clan Sulla might be better though. For Dropships I'm guessing you'll stick to upgrading standard Inner Sphere designs?

 

[Imperator Pax]

Hmmm, the Clan Goth medium Omnifighter looks basically identical to the Gotha ASF. Give it double heatsinks and it's damn impressive. For Dropships I'm guessing you'll stick to upgrading standard Inner Sphere designs?

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Clan Titans will show up in pretty much everything...

Isegrim, Aesir and Vanirs will show up in this and Essence.

Outposts will show up down the road, potentially here. Clan Hells Horse has a version. But yeah for the most part the Clan Titan will be the most common clan Dropship the standard dropships will be Inner Sphere versions.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Ohoho, I'm going to enjoy the reactions to the MC pulling a Titan with advanced ASF.

EDIT: Didn't recognize the Vanir , Aesir and Isegrim. ComStar and anyone else who sees those will drop bricks!!!

 

[Imperator Pax]

Ohoho, I'm going to enjoy the reactions to the MC pulling a Titan with advanced ASF.

EDIT: Didn't recognize the Vanir , Aesir and Isegrim. ComStar and anyone else who sees those will drop bricks!!!

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By the time they show up, the Wolf Dragoons in both here and ESWG are going to be going :wtf: (i.e. in EWSG Clan Wolf's Khan starts throwing accusations around for reasons)

It would be worse if Noruffs and Nagasawas show up since those would be named after bloodnames. but Isegrim is the wolf in the fable Reynard the fox Its one of those things where when that scene happens its a case of "you have fucked up."

Like the nearest equivalent is in terms of that is Ghost who walks were Goshiro basically tells the Otomo 'go fuck yourselves' before turning on a Caspar. (which ComStar is helping the Kuritans during that) [and to be clear that is years into the future in story, but there is a pattern of escalation where certain tech only comes out to play because of its war crimes o'clock there is a reason these are the red buttons.]

 

[Bofors40mm]

If your going for pocket warships just get a castrum and be done with it. Sure not the best optimized design ever but in the land of no warships the tankiest dropship ever designed will be king

 

[Imperator Pax]

If your going for pocket warships just get a castrum and be done with it. Sure not the best optimized design ever but in the land of no warships the tankiest dropship ever designed will be king

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Thats probably true but part of the selection thus far is largely thematic

... and I totally forgot the Castrum is a thing

 

[Bofors40mm]

Thats probably true but part of the selection thus far is largely thematic

... and I totally forgot the Castrum is a thing

Click to shrink...

As a dark age pocket warships and a ROS one at that it doesn't get much attention. Honestly I wish the ROS navy despite its limited warship numbers had kicked clanner ass since they clearly are believers in pocket warship spam but alas....

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara 1.6​

This conversation had quickly gotten out of hand. Damage control seemed to be having the opposite of intended effects. "You had to scrap a Star Lord." She repeated.

"We had to," He stopped ran his hand through his hair, and gestured to the star map, but mostly as a distraction from the consideration of how what he had just said must have sounded. "JumpDrives were first theorized as possible before fusion engines became practical. They are a mature technology," in so far as their development had plateaued and there had been no breakthrough in standard drives leading to drives capable of reliably making more than 30ly jumps without damage... and frankly he wouldn't have been surprised if the great houses had decided that was for the best... that was to speculate that maybe the inner sphere all of the inner sphere rulers had decided in the Age of War that jump drives capable of more than thirty light years would risk damaging the status quo. Regardless... "So yes, a Star Lord needed to be recycled, , and a yard needs to be established..."

Incredulity followed.

"Sakhara has Germanium reserves." It wasn't a question. It was part of the reason after all the planet was originally settled.

"Yes," He replied, "And that helps certainly..." He shut up... don't bring up asteroid mining, he got the feeling people wouldn't get it, and the hole was probably deep enough.

The star map showed the standard jump route from Sakhara to New Avalon. Seven Jumps.

From Sakhara to Bettendorf, then to Allerton, from there to DeWitt, Kestrel, to Kirklin, Coloma, and New Avalon. One hundred sixty four light years. Just under two months; roughly 51 days. It would have honestly been easier, and shorter loop basing from Robinson but it didn't matter.

There was a pause, and then something approaching understanding, "So what you are proposing are," She paused "subsidies?"

"No."

The incredulity returned "No?"

"No. The shipyard can be completed I think within the year. What I am proposing is Davion first right to ships at public sale."

There was a look, "Public sale?"

"Yes, yes," He trailed off, "At full capacity a shipyard of tonnage and with sufficient Germanium should produce two maybe three a year. There are limits to machinery, and next year I only expect to produce a single Star Lord but that's mostly a breaking in process of the yard... So thus I expect to be able to bring the yard online, replace the ship I had to scrap, and then produce for market, and move from there."

There was a pause, and she went for the simplest question "And in return?"

"In return I need support to procure the experts to handle other industrial projects. I need transit and construction privileges on Bettendorf and Franklin as well. Its also why I needed to talk to Corean Enterprises about BattleMech lines. I'd like an introduction to New Valencia's Blackwell corporation.. and I also want legal rights and properties on Bristol." Bristol was five jumps from New Avalon, "Where among other things I'd like to eventually build a second shipyard."

"A second?" The Field Marshal looked faint.

"My understanding of the Federated Suns most immediate economic problem is the lack of tonnage by merchant shipping. I do not wish to deploy voidships to foreign ports of call, but I accept that is idealistic and impractical. In short I have the resources and organizational ability to expand shipping but I need ground based partners for security." Which was only partially true. "I also accept that part of the feudal contract is the expectation of future military engagement."

--
It was the sort of thing which could never be allowed get out. In fact it took a great deal of restraint not to insist they leave immediately for New Avalon to discuss final terms in writing with the First Prince.

The nail had been hit on the head.

No successor state had the jumpship capacity to meet actual demand. Assuming this wasn't youthful exaggeration it was the sort of delivery that would have yielded whole planets, never mind minor land hold concessions... forget being a minor noble for military aid a shipyard in the modern era would significantly change the balance of power. Given house Davion first bid on ships at market promised to expand the Federated Suns fleet of expressly military ships and would further reduce the need to impress merchant shipping.

... well more than necessary...

It could not be permitted to escape... but it was also far beyond her remit, and boundaries. If she had been anyone else other than a loyal daughter of House Davion any other duchess she'd have been bartering to have her own personal domain enriched by this deal.

... but Yvonne Davion was loyal to the dynasty, and the state. It was important the shipyard remained outside of the scope of conversation with the duke of Robinson until the matter was concluded. It didn't escape her that Bristol probably had some other value to it, but that was something they could ferret out later.

Sakhara to Bristol was seven jumps.

162 light years. 51 Days.

Unlike the route to New Avalon though it passed through Robinson where there was already a jump route from Sakhara running.

Sakhara to Bettendorf. That explained his desire to secure rights to the system from Sakhara it was the first stop and last stop in the chains going and coming respectively. From Bettendorf the next world in the route to Bristol was of course Franklin, and then Robinson. Presumably he expected to be able to work out some arrangement personally with Lord Aaron. From Robinson the second leg of the journey entailed jumping to Blandinsville, Cholame then Batavia.

Bristol to New Avalon was five jumps. Frist to Batavia then to Markesan, from there to Chebanse and then to odell before the final Jump to the capital of the Federated Suns. He had also hinted that he could bring forward other merchant support which almost certainly insured a trade revival, and had the potential to be economically lucrative for both the Draconis and Crucis Marches.

She couldn't afford to send this via HPG. No. Far too frequently ComStar had acted against the interests of the Great Houses despite their protests of neutrality... too frequently also did it seem as if messages sent via ComStar did their contents end up in the hands of the Draconis Combine. More than that, it was paramount that it not reach other nobles of the Federated Suns... she could only imagine what Michael Hasek or a few others might react to the prospect of a New Avalon vassal being able to offer the dukes of New Avalon such directly. He would most certainly throw a tantrum... like the spoiled entitled little manchild he was.

Ian would need to enfeef his latest vassal as a duke within the crucis march proper, and soon, and before any of his other vassals started to consider marriage prospects. This outing of hers was quickly developing an excessive volume of mission creep. While she had expected to investigate a recent addition to the Federated Suns nobility she had not expected this degree of potential strategic shift... but it would be after the new year before she could hope to bring this in person to the First Prince, and that assumed that Ian would even be on New Avalon by the time she returned given the number of jumps, and the time it would take.

But this whole affair was turning into some sort of depraved Lyran comedy.
--
With only a few days remaining in the month... they had only November as the last full month of classes. As the heiress to the duchy of kestrel she was expected to be a competent mechwarrior, there were expectations that went beyond simply descent from officers of the SLDF who had chosen to side with house Davion against the rampant warmongering and ambitions of House Kurita seeking to usurp the Star League and rule over it.

That was more idealistic than reality. More than anything though she was expected to be a leader, and effective commander rather than the sort of leader who would fight on the front. Planetary rulers needed to be able to delegate those actions to people with the right skill set... but she still needed to be able to make the correct decisions, and more important be obeyed when she issued orders.

Was it her failure? Or the blockheads in the unit? Had they actually been meant to fail? The egotistical posturing of her classmates with one another had been a problem, before, but it had been building into a crescendo as the end of the year approached. To that end...

Alexandria Cunningham looked at the skirmishers from the medium battle company. They didn't look that different. The refits with new weapons made some changes, the old medium lasers had been replaced with matching models to the trebuchets. Magna Mk II Medium Lasers, Magna Mk 3 Large laser, Zeus LRM 15 launcher. A launcher that she knew wasn't intended to remain in a fight, the same idea behind the Trebuchets...

... and hopefully the next time they went up against the unit in the simulator her classmates would know expect the fight turning into a melee slugging match once the missiles were expended.

"I really do not understand why mounting medium lasers in the rear was ever a thing." He muttered to the technician as the wind blew sand in all their faces. She heard something about turrets over the wind, but couldn't make it out, nor any more of the conversation until the wind subsided. She watched as he jammed his hands into his pockets and walked in front of the class. "This is familiarization just in case anyone didn't follow the instructions to read the packet." He remarked looking past her to a few of the other cadets in the following rows. "These are a variation of the CN9AL, but they make some changes from the standard AL," From behind him the older instructor squinted slightly, probably in mild disapproval, "that you fought previously. The Zeus launcher is a fifteen shot model, its the same model as on the Trebuchet. More missiles per shot, since we were pulling one phostech we went ahead and pulled the forward mounted one and replaced them both with forward directed Magna Mark two medium lasers."

Nothing she hadn't already read of course.

The idea was that the other mechs in the unit would cover one another.

Something that should have been obvious to everyone when they'd come out of the simulation.

Missiles, and large lasers at distance to soften and close in. Two groups of six rather than three lances, but there was nothing stopping them from acting in that capacity. If anything that was a noteworthy distinction. It took more effort to direct six mechs than four. The company commander and his second in command were evenly splitting their force, and it meant that three trebuchets could fire from each side.

One of the cadets raised his hands, and there was a side bar about weapons. It boiled down to why not the AH with its assault auto cannon. Survivability. Trying to force a Zeus launcher on the AH would require reducing armor down to 7.5 tons of battle plate. That had been deemed unacceptable.

"For true close range suppression I expect that the company can rely on the Devastators."

Another hand went up "What's a Devastator?" A cadet with a pronounced New Avalon accent asked.

"Otherwise known as the Demolisher Mark III Heavy tank, two 185mm Chem Jet Assault class auto cannons, 240 Fusion engine," He ticked off an arsenal of other weapons... that could largely be summarized as standing in front of the assault vehicle was suicidal. It seemed to have been designed with the intention of kill anything stupid enough to get close. "The same for PPCs, Schrek ppc carriers are available, same engine as the Devastator."

Which given that was also an eighty ton tank suggested that as with the fifty ton mechs the two tank models were paired together to make up for their range brackets. The Schreks focused on targets at range, and anything that did get close would face itself with perhaps two or three Devastors. That meant missile support didn't need to be continuous, the BattleMechs could supply it at the start of the battle allowing the slower tanks to maneuver into position.

She felt stupid raising her hand, but all the others were doing, thankfully he didn't compound it by calling her Lady Lex from the front of the assembly, "Alexandria?"

"Will we be facing combat vehicles in the exercise?"

"These ones as opposing forces no. I have plans to run drills using house hold troops to simulate larger troop exercises but that simulation is still being evaluated. These units will not be involved here."

... oh lovely another exercise for them to make fools of themselves in... just what she wanted to hear... but it did tell her to expect facing armored vehicles in the exercise, which was realistic. BattleMechs were best answered by other Mechs, but the bulk of armies were older less expensive weapons, infantry and vehicles powered by internal combustion engines with ballistic weapons were the norm across the inner sphere and the periphery.
They were moving through the exercise field. This was strictly a maneuver exercise. All weapons were safe and they were relying strictly on moving and commanding, She was dictating who was supposed to go where without actually firing weapons.

The dozen fifty tonners were doing the same separately but she had no diea how well they were doing in comparison.

She knew that if this was an endurance course that they'd be at a disadvantage. She had identified that on realization of just how limited their ammunition load outs were... the problem was that in an exercise... they would have to last long enough for the enemy to run out of missiles without suffering critical damage on their side.

"You're doing fine." The voice from the seventy ton mech remarked. "We're still sitting ahead of par time." She ignored the rest of the pep talk. She didn't need it, and pressed the talk on her radio set before ordering Justin to scout ahead.

Across the sands in the Davion command post Field Marshal Davion leaned over the console, as they watched a Blackjack jump forward "How are they doing?"

"The cadets are," The officer stumbled consulted his map, " are just coming up on waypoint Charlie Ma'am. They're about seventy percent through the course, there have been no major issues."

"Not them, the Rabid Foxes. The house guard?" She continued to make sure she was clear about who she was talking too.

"Oh they should be coming into the final loop in another five ten minutes they should be back with us."

"Not terribly surprising there Field Marshal," Colonel Coleridge remarked trying to remain in polite good graces of the MI2 Director.

"What's not surprising colonel?"

"Just that well obviously," He waffled, but he ultimately did have a point. "A man has to learn to ride somewhere, yes?" That made sense. Teenagers did not just murder their way through elite Combine MechWarriors without having learned the MechWarrior trade somewhere, while perhaps not as effective as their master there was no questioning that they were professional soldiers and well acquainted with the machines they had.

So why did she still view the Corean interests with suspicion... because its all too good to be true her subconscious replied. Everything seemed to have the potential to go so right for the Federated Suns, for House Davion, and that worried her... but if all of this was real... well her golden goose musings remained.
--
Notes: One should look at what all takes a Pitban 240 Fusion engine. Also I will be putting up the more Periphery (Aurigan/Rimward) centric Essence fic tomorrow probably along with probably also my Battletech misc thread as well.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Well the awesome takes that engine no? And the Merlin.

 

[HunterxReader]

Yeah, 240 and 200 (Watchmen, Enforcers, Annihilators!) engines are some of my favorites due how varied the tonnage they use, from medium to assault class. For introtech mechs, 240 usually means 6/9 40-tons (Heavy scouts, though most of the canon loadouts usually leave much to be desired for mediums, I'm looking at you Clint and Liberator, but you're cool Vulcan), 4/6 60-tons (The rare dodos known as average heavy speed for 60-tons, Merlins and Riflemen), and 3/5 80-tonners (Hello Awesome, Challenger). But if we're talking about Pitban specifically... Huh, yeah that's a lot. I'm guessing we're gonna see Manticores and Rhinos in your Cluster later, that's a lot of LRMs and PPCs.

Edit: 2 Jumpship yards... I hope you're "calling" some more of your "retinue", especially fighter pilots, because I suspect raids by pirates, "pirates" and Dracs are about to become more frequent and suspiciouslly more armed around that part of Fed space, and you might be about to rule an entire March in that area considering how much you're contributing to one of the foundations of interstellar economy and military.

Edit 2: Ah, missed the Spider.