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

[Imperator Pax]

Still weird they mention a random ass Shipyard that has no capabilities literally within a year of now.
Seriously if your going to take the effort of mentioning a brand new industrial site let alone a shipyard made in the SL years by the Star League mention what it has there. And maybe mention more details on the planet like say the population?

As for how I found out about it was randomly checking the Shipyard page on sarna for totally unrelated reasons.

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maybe they make tramps, or mules, I mean it says shipyards butyou're right its obnoxious to be all like 'hey this is a shipyard' 'what does it make' 'who cares'.

 

[Bofors40mm]

maybe they make tramps, or mules, I mean it says shipyards butyou're right its obnoxious to be all like 'hey this is a shipyard' 'what does it make' 'who cares'.

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Honestly could even be a large repair yard and/or a salvage yard in the modern era or maybe freighters or something. And saying that literally would have required a just a couple more sentences.

Also if your giving random yards to people....the lyrans probably need them the most. Literally could go the remnants of the ruins of Gabriel where salvaged and invested heavily into and now Odessa has a small or moderately sized yard making invaders and unions and one or two other dropship designs along with a repair/maintenance facility or something like that. Would have made a lot more lore sense than random SL made yard that's literally never come up before. Especially because how badly the lyrans need yards

 

[Imperator Pax]

Honestly could even be a large repair yard and/or a salvage yard in the modern era or maybe freighters or something. But saying that literally would have required a just a couple more sentences.

Also if your giving random yards to people....the lyrans probably need them the most. Literally could go the remnants of the ruins of Gabriel where salvaged and invested heavily into and now Odessa has a small or moderately sized yard making invaders and unions and one other dropship design or something like that. Would have made a lot more lore sense than random SL made yard that's literally never come up before.

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Excuse : "Look we totally don't hate the FedSuns, they just took back this shipyard from the combine!"

 

[Bofors40mm]

Excuse : "Look we totally don't hate the FedSuns, they just took back this shipyard from the combine!"

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In the same plot where they just took back New Avalon and a lot of other systems.....
Sigh.
Also if they're need to prove they don't hate any realm they need to give the lyrans a lot of love and plot armor for awhile. Probably the FWL as well so they can retake Thermopolis and New Olympia at the minimum

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara 3.3​

He was less worried about potential security vulnerabilities with this lot. There were just enough in the class to be annoying, but he was confident that letting them see the growing 'mech works wouldn't provide a real danger to the works proper...

... in the sense of having them watched while they were here. They were still going to be minded, but he was more worried about what they might inevitably say to people who didn't attend Sakhara but there was no helping that.

He had made a point of showing them the Shadow Hawk 2F package, which was being loaded up as self contained storage systems designed to be shipped out one unit per mech. Thereby One package going to an existing Shadow Hawk and allowing local techs and engineers to pull the old weapons suite and supplement it with the new additions that comprised the 2F load out. There were in addition to those the extra jump jets ...

It really vexed Henry there wasn't an active production line, but he had had to reiterate to himself that at this stage formal production, rather than producing spare parts would be a distraction. It was a useful commentary on making spare parts, and improvements on what was already in use for the class of cadets.

In the mean time the mechanical arm was tensioning via a rotating bit, the Myomer across the otherwise naked frame of a battlemech that was slowly coming together. "Long range missiles, like what will be eventually fired from this Fusilier allow for indirect fire, and in this case of the two Zeus launchers this machine will eventually carry the opportunity to be significant fires down range." It was effectively a smaller archer, and more importantly as a missile boat cheaper coming off the factory floor than its potential competitors, "The issue is filling the ammunition requirements in the field. The Fusilier is intended to operate in a given tactical niche as part of a battlemech, and broader force," But not intended to attempt to do the job of larger mechs, or for that matter battlemechs with equally specialized roles, "As a design it was built with parts commonality in mind and the same dorwinnion chassis that this was built on, as well as the Nissan 200 engine are used as the basis for the lighter," 40 Ton, "Sentry a design which while carrying a similar suite of Medium Lasers is not ammunition dependent."

The class were sent down to look around from the various vantage points, there were large barriers and safety chains but he didn't expect anyone to try and cross. Most of the tensioning work on the myomer bundles was done with the area clear of people anyway. It allowed for 360 view of the machine.

Because the Sentry was lighter that same fusion engine designed centuries ago by Nissan was capable of pushing the lighter mech faster allowing the Sentry to respond to a changing battlefield, even though he didn't' really envision it as a scout per se. Whether it ended up used as that, well that would be to the end user... unfortunately what the intended end use was versus what soldiers ended up using things for were not one to one.

The decision to fit the Sentry with a Parti-Kill, gods there was some marketing right there, had been in part due to the other thing using the 200 rating Fusion engine forty ton vehicle... in this case the Myrmidons being constructed, and its larger 240 powered Manticore, as well as the Rifleman 4P and the Ranger design.

What he wasn't going to tell the cadets was that the reality of the market meant that sometimes ... well there were irrational forces at work in the market. People had attachments to designs, had preferences for weapons and so on. As it was they were probably going to be fielding three separate models of PPCs on designs but all had Davion suppliers already it wasn't as if they were introducing an entirely new model of PPC to market.

What he was potentially less enthused about was fielding or more correctly having to weigh into the auto cannon debate over which models to field, never mind in the discussion that would eventually come forward for producing 'LosTech' or future tech autocannon systems. In a sense though he had already stuck his toe in that pool, even discounting ASF, and tanks, especially his Demolishers the Alecto carried an Assault Auto Cannon. For all intents and purposes he had endorsed, with the Cataphract, the Imperator-A platform as well and the AC 10 carried by the heavier engined version. He resigned himself that he had to before they left for Christmas break to really commit himself to the Cataphract design's load out in terms of the class ten.


Not at the moment though, today they could deal with the nice and mostly uncontentious topic of medium mechs being outfitted with energy weapons. The Fusilier wasn't intended, nor was the trebuchet to be the center of an engagement line. When the Trebuchets were out of ammo, they were supposed to move around or disengage using their larger engines there were limits to that and it was why the battle company's centurion model dropped the ammunition dependent auto cannon; and that was without discussing historical problems with the feed system.

Justin coughed slightly, looking over a packet for the Sentry "Uh, Henry this says intended market is for militia troops? You mean Draconis March Militia right?"

--

The simulation booted up as a lance of Sentry were supported by the Myrmidons it was a brief animation for the cadets. The simulated challenge of fast moving Combine favored Light BattleMechs were aiming to get close with Jenners rushing forward, and their Thunderstroke launchers being answered by six missile replies from the tanks.

What interrupted the simulated fighting was the freeze frame projection of the machines as they appeared. Nominal cost per unit, not counting sustainment, projected the Jenner at just shy of 3.2M C-Bills. Part of that was the heavier fusion engine driving the 35 ton machine. Thus the Sentry was therefore slower because it used a smaller engine and was five tons heavier.

The difference was the Myrmidons were acting as fire support, part of a PPC battle line yes, but also out there as a nasty surprise once short range missile range was reached. It didn't help that the Combine Mechs often outpaced any infantry support they might have had along with them, and thus the BattleMech force was acting unsupported as was fairly typical of the Company centric battlemech centric doctrine favored by Takashi Kurita's regime.

It still didn't address the question of air power of course. He'd been drafting the notion of exports of 240 engined ASF which could be produced en masse... the historical limitation of mechanized warfare tanks or fighter aircraft across the 20th​ century had been engine manufacturing even as air frames became more complex, and avionics continued to develop.

So far as he was aware the cadets had yet to be given their 'lance weight'. They could probably reasonably intuit what they were going to get though if they were on either end of the extreme though...

There were three simple categories that Coleridge or the Colonel's staff could dump them in for the war game. Heavy Medium Light. That was something of a misnomer. If anyone had an assault mech they were going to be commanding a heavy lance, with up to three actual 'Heavy BattleMechs', and up to two Medium Mechs. For Light or Medium Weight 'Mech pilots they had the chance of either being in command of a light Lance or a medium lance... what Coleridge was unlikely to do was position a Medium 'Mech pilot in charge of a Heavy Lance. The Vice Chancellor might decide to do that... but Henry doubted he would.

Sixteen cadets would be handed a designation... and then they'd go from there. The Vice Chancellor wasn't being particularly up front with how he intended to set them up.

The simulation ended, "The Sentry is a less expensive mech option. It is a medium battlemech a balance of capabilities to forces on the home front. The Myrmidon complements it nicely." He couldn't quote a price at them, or rather he felt he shouldn't because he was the one introducing it to market... and they were just cadets. "Its forty tons and is a simple, fusion powered tank. That makes it five tons heavier and firing two more SRMs than the Combine's Panther BattleMech." A slower light 'mech that had been outpaced by rushing Jenners. In fact the Myrmidon Medium Tank was faster than the Panther, not in the grand scheme of things by much, but it was faster. "As your recent drill demonstrated, being aware of changes in the terrain is critical. A battlemech doesn't make you invincible, a PPC hit is a PPC hit."

A planetary militia couldn't reasonably expect to have a budget to afford whole companies. Realistically there would probably have to be federal or march subsidies for purchases to supplement local nobles riding out from their steadings, but that was the more or less norm across human space.

The costs though were in what it could cost a raiding force. It was true though, that the Panther was a cheaper battlemech than the Jenner... but how the Combine used its BattleMechs was in his opinion reckless both on an individual level, and operationally especially with the emphasis on the company rather than the Battalion.
--
Notes: I am aiming to update Eminence this week, Aurigan renaissance hopefully next week with Kamea and Victoria being somewhat front and center, I'm still working on the dogs of war chapter for EWSG even though I have kicked around ideas of going back and moving it back to where it was in the original outline since it is basically a large wake up call. I'm probably going to bite the bullet on that and do that. Anyway Wednesday just to make my life less complicated will probably be an AH update, I have a lot of those and I'm currently rewriting and overhauling 4714 for Pathfinder... and I have DND tonight and tomorrow.

 

[Syrasar]

Long range missiles, like what will be eventually fired from this Fusilier

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are you sure about the name?
the only Fusilier i can find on Sarna is Battle armor and not a mech

 

[Bofors40mm]

are you sure about the name?
the only Fusilier i can find on Sarna is Battle armor and not a mech

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It's a new design that I designed just for this story. Ditto.the introtech sentry among several other designs such as the longsword and alecto

 

[HunterxReader]

Sakhara 3.3​

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​

I don't know which one the DC will hate more, the anti-Combine lights Wolfhound, or the Sentry which is basically the Panther but tougher, more mobile and versatile, as well having the perks being ammo independent. The Panther's can lean on heat management, combat Quirks and price, but even that last one is offset by the multi-use 200 FE that's prevalent in the Sun's mediums and the piloting and logistical Quirks that come with being a Sentry/Watchman mech.

 

[Bofors40mm]

honestly the sentry is one finely balanced mech for almost any unit in the 3rd SW and will probably do horrible horrible things to panthers. Not quite as good as a wolfhound vs the jenner or other fast lights since its slower than the wolfhound but hey the combine in this era can't build jenners. And the Antares will semi well fill that niche as its basically a wolfhound sans its large laser/firestarter combo. Also those better quirks for combat aren't that liable to help too much when the opposition is faster and much better armed (and armored) up close.

And yes imperator pax given its a calvary mech with max jumping distance for its size i expect someone to use the sentry as a scout mech if they don't have a proper scout mech and in most instances it should do decently in those circumstances.

Also I'm curious why no hunchback production as a option yet though given its modability

 

[HunterxReader]

True, a Panther's going to lose a stand-off duel because the Sentry can dictate the range and flit in out of combat to manage its heat and survive with its armor and lack of an ammo bomb. A mugging might work with its accuracy and the crit-seeking SRMs ,but if it doesn't get lucky early those MLs and the Sentry's specs and weight means it'll likely lose a brawl as well.

I mean, it's not like a 5/8/5 jumper wouldn't fit in a recon lance in the Suns. The AFFS uses a lot of Valkyries already, since Corean keeps churning them out.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Also I'm curious why no hunchback production as a option yet though given its modability

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I think the issue is that he would need a license for the Hunchback, and I think the company that owns it and hands those out is based in the Combine. I think.

 

[Imperator Pax]

I think the issue is that he would need a license for the Hunchback, and I think the company that owns it and hands those out is based in the Combine. I think.

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I mean I think the other option is Marik space, but again slightly less problematic issue of interstellar economic discussion over territorial state lines. ITs much easier at this time period to work strictly within the FedSuns, and then to the Commonwealth and then probably Marik, followed by the much more difficult cappies, and then the Combine.

 

[Bofors40mm]

I think the issue is that he would need a license for the Hunchback, and I think the company that owns it and hands those out is based in the Combine. I think.

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I think Kali Yama owns the license at this point. And we know they later on sold a license to the Lyrans in fact to 2 separate companies. Arguably CMW might have it at the present since they apparently make introtech hunchbacks. Albeit hunchback 4 somethings since no details are given on which variants are made.
Maybe a trade for the Antares license for it? Or maybe something else.
Up to Imperator Pax if he wants to do that or not.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Spoiler: Upgraded Sentry

Upgraded Sentry
Mass: 40 tons
Chassis: Endo Steel Biped
Power Plant: 200 Fusion
Cruising Speed: 54 kph
Maximum Speed: 86.4 kph
Armor: Light Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 ER PPC
4 ER Medium Laser
1 Small Pulse Laser
1 Flamer
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3056
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-E-D
Cost: 3,756,527 C-bills
Type: Upgraded Sentry
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 40
Battle Value: 1,412

Equipment		Mass
Internal Structure	Endo Steel	2
Engine	200 Fusion	8.5
Walking MP:	5
Running MP:	8
Jumping MP:	5
Double Heat Sink:	11 [22]	1
Gyro:		2
Cockpit:		3
Armor Factor (Light Ferro):	135	8

	Internal Structure	Armor Value
Head	3	9
Center Torso	12	18
Center Torso (rear)		6
R/L Torso	10	15
R/L Torso (rear)		5
R/L Arm	6	12
R/L Leg	10	19

Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder. Upper, Lower, Hand
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder. Upper, Lower, Hand

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
Jump Jet	LL	1	0.5
Jump Jet	CT	1	0.5
ER Medium Laser	CT	1	1
Jump Jet	RT	1	0.5
Double Heat Sink	RT	3	1
ER Medium Laser	RT	1	1
Flamer	LA	1	1
Jump Jet	LT	1	0.5
Double Heat Sink	LT	3	1
2 ER Medium Laser	LT	2	2
Jump Jet	RL	1	0.5
Small Pulse Laser	HD	1	1
Double Heat Sink	RA	3	1
ER PPC	RA	3	7

the likely final form of the sentry pre jihad era tech being a thing. sans fluff (for now anyways) since its basically my take on the sentry with better tech. As a designers note if Light Ferro-Fibrous is not available to get armor back up to par pulling the 11th heatsink is needed and in its place a ER small laser(likely replacing the Small Pulse Laser in the head which will instead be in the right arm) and a half ton of now standard armor is added. Overall cost increase is 635,250 c-bills for a increase of 258 BV which is decent value for money as far as upgrades for mechs go.
For a price comparison to a couple clanner designs you can buy 6.43 per madcat or 3.92 per Stormcrow.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara 3.4​

It wasn't a surprise that as Cadet Leader that despite piloting an Orion, that was a heavy mech, Alexandria had been 'awarded' a Heavy Lance to command. Justin had been slotted a 'Medium Lance' that included a Black Jack and a Rifleman. That was probably to Justin's detriment... since it made him more of a target. The presence of the AA 'Mechs would mean taking them out would reduce the threats to his air power.

... and there was also the possibility Coleridge had considered that and specifically provided those mechs... or that there had been yet other reasons. It was hard to guess the vice chancellor's motives especially with the term rapidly approaching its end.

The other students looked over their rosters. This was going to be a large engagement. Their simulated battalion was going to be a test of whether or not they could also operate as a battalion together. It might not have seemed like it was that much of a difference going from large company to a large battalion given the inflated numbers were computers that could be ordered to do things, but only doing the exercise would prove that hypothesis.

Two dozen mechs, a dozen asf, twenty eighty ton tanks. The cadets would have a slight numerical advantage still, but they had all known that... and realistically the twelve stingrays meant the cadets real numerical advantage might be larger on the battlefield.

The map the vice Chancellor had chosen though was emblematic of Sakhara's terrain. Wide open spaces, and a river crossing, with sandy dunes, but also some large hills and the river valley. Officially the map was eighty odd square miles of exercise space, but in practice it was going to be smaller than that. There were terrain features that both sides would most likely avoid.

He spied the brown haired enforcer pilot squirm nervously as she studied the map. Her and Valkyrie pilot naturally also commanding a light lance had Don Juan's attention as he made clear he wanted them to scout a sector, recklessly forward of the Cadet's side of the river. On the other hand they were going to have to cross the river at some point and the two light lances would be the better optimized to get across faster.

If that was actually what they did, and then his Medium lance crossed that would be mech company over the water... it would be twelve mechs... but it wouldn't be a lance of cadets over. Alexandria was clearly weighing whether she should try and cross immediately leading with her heavy lance from the front or if that was a risk of disorganzing the battalion, and would be too aggressive of a move.

Given even the realistically limited area of operations she would probably be better off crossing first in his opinion. It would have insured she was over by the time real contact was made. They knew what his troops would be compiled of and it was very unlikely that even if he was at the edge of his deployment zone that he could catch them crossing the river.

That was the disadvantage to assault weight tanks. He also couldn't be sure where they would cross, so even if he could find somewhere on the map overlooking their crossing... or more accurately the RAC tankers found a vantage to perch and shoot down into the river crossing it would be a very very brief window.

He mentally calculated that the move from the red circle of his deployment zone to the river and the blue of the cadets deployment zone said it was possible... and it might be an opportunity. They would have to see ... there was always the possibility that there might be some other factor that was added to the simulation... maybe inclement weather?

Justin had gotten up to talk with the pilots that comprised his usual lance mates. In theory that turned a lance into a square company.
--
No sand storms, no sudden rain storms. They hadn't been able to get across the space in time to direct effective fire into the river crossing. Alexandria had dispersed her forces perhaps a little further apart than she probably should have ... or maybe he was meta gaming in recognition that the pretend war map only allowed for so many places.

That was the other difference. Theoretically there was nothing stopping him from issuing orders to his troops in the field. That was probably unfair to Lex who had to be in a simulation of her Orion's cockpit, but it was part of the simulation.

The Shreks had been able to take pot shots at some of the crossing mechs, but then disengaged rolling backwards over the hills as a pursuit had started from faster mechs who had crossed earlier... which had chosen to pursue despite that being reckless. Maybe it had been too much to hope for that the lesson they would take from teh Sentry Myrmidon vs Combine light company was not to recklessly over extend.

A shrek firing on a light mech's center torso, and hitting could tear through the protective armor quickly. The star of tanks hadn't been alone either... and unlike the cadets the entire OpFor were living breathing people and that started to show pretty quickly versus the computer pilots. It was true that MechWarrior Board piloting the Antares had little to do in that opening engagement as the Alecto and Sentry pilots had joined Bobby Mitchell in a supplementing PPC line.

The pursuing cadet had realized their mistake too late as the lance disintegrated under the baker's dozen of PPC firing units... a lot of thirty three particle projector cannons. The lack of damage and the lack of ammunition expended was the more important sign.

The lack of ammunition expenditures did last... as the other two lances of his second company came in to open up on another cadet's lance from the north east. His 2nd​ Company had more new mechs, mechs that the cadets had only limited experience with... so encountering designs like the Longsword in action was a surprise, backed up by the two Rifleman -P well it was the same output of damage and coming from North of their original heading.

Losses, and and intermittent contact resulted in an attempt to stabilize the front, but that merely compounded the original problem of her initial deployment overlooking too wide of a front ... at least in the sense of a pure BattleMech force with limitted scouting elements.

Hit and fade attacks from the Medium BattleMech company's mixed Centurion and Trebuchets followed, and when they were chased the SLDF pilots faded back into the desert. Over protests Alexandria did managed to force an end to attempts at pursuit and she managed to get her forces over the river.

In that time though it had allowed the tankers to reposition and resume taking long range shots at units out in the open with their backs to the river. The Star's tankers could easily reverse an drop back behind the cover the hill they were firing from if they needed to and could withdraw to their fellow RAC tankers fighting positions if they had been chased.

Alexandria made the decision to mass for an open field advance, but again that meant putting the remaining cadets into order and in this case marching up country. It wasn't a major terrain differential but it was enough to slightly obscfuscate sightlines against the red sands of Sakhara... and that was when the PPCs had started opening up on the Cadets various missile carriers and also Justin's subordinate rifleman... and its miserable seven and a half tons of protective battleplate.

It certainly didn't hurt that the clan's place a premium on ranged combat even if... most of them disdained the tank, and it seemed like Hells Horse was the only one in any sense at that ... at times.

He sighed, and glanced to the vice chancellor, qued the mike, "Striker, Primary."

A dozen ASF fusion signatures simulated entering the battlefield and navigating for an attack run... but the primary target was the Orion commanding the battalion, as a secondary target there was an assault mech still on the field too, but the Demolishers were waiting fro the cadets to coming into range of their fighting positions as the shreks fell back behind them.

Don Juan at least would make it into auto cannon range. Two other cadets lead their lances against the Battle Company and acquitted themselves well, especially since by the time they retired from the field the Centurions and Trebuchets had expended their ammo and the cadets were prepared to confront that. The battle company suffered significant losses, but the heavier mechs acquitted themselves well since the Fusiliers suffered a similar issue as their fellow fifty tonners. For the latter weights consolidation had followed as the Alecto had entered assault auto cannon range allowing the surviving lighter machines to arrange on one wing closing a western path as the second star of tanks entered the fray.

It didn't have time to become a rout. Mostly because the AI was too simple for that... and well sixty SRMs from the intact Star, coupled with the deafening roar of twenty assault autocannons belching lead, metaphorically, mechs hastily dissolved before anyone could get out of the box.

Coleridge grumbled, "It was too soon to expect them to manage crossing a river at their sizes, we should have had them fight here instead of the canyon," referring to the previous engagement during the week. Fighting the cadets in the canyon though arguably would have been worse since he would have arguably had less issues using the airpower, or his tanks... especially given the jump capabilities of some of the mechs... but again as with here. It was the surprise and the effectiveness of the tanks, especially for their cost which was the factor operationally.

"And to be fair Colonel most actions wouldn't be this aggressive or concentrated," He was obligated to point out.

"True, but quite frankly you're not one to say such things are you Mister Fox?" The vice chancellor replied "We have one more term to get them as ready for the real world as we can. I'll leave the class to you then"

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

I think the school of hard knocks these cadets are going throws going to give them a much higher survival percentage once they actually get into combat. The fact they're having the arrogance beaten out of them as they impress their instructors is saying good thing about their potential.

 

[Conrad527]

What are the specs for the Fusiliers again?

 

[Bofors40mm]

What are the specs for the Fusiliers again?

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https://forum.questionablequesting....-battletech-isekai.22250/page-11#post-7333752
Its literally in the extras tab

 

[Conrad527]

https://forum.questionablequesting....-battletech-isekai.22250/page-11#post-7333752
Its literally in the extras tab

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Thanks mate!

 

[HunterxReader]

Wow, they really ran into those assault tanks. Well, Don Juan's contingent ran into them and Alexandria, as always, got dragged into his nonsense, reinforcing them to try and salvage the situation by preventing a good chunk of their forces from being eaten by PPC rain and AC/20s. And they were doing so well before.

I suppose the Blackjacks and LRM Carriers couldn't exactly try for motive hits safely, being forced into the river crossing means they probably didn't have the time nor the space for it while watching out against air support.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara 3.5​

He drummed his fingers on the lectern looking at them all. Almost the entire back row were fidgeting, most of the front row students were the opposite, rigidly sitting in place "An Orion costs a little shy of 6.7M C-Bills." Assuming you could find one and it wasn't marked up due to the factors at market, but disregarding that, "A Shrek costs 3.8M, A Stingray costs just under 3 Million," Again barring mark up due to limited supply, but this wasn't a discourse on market economics, supply and demand effecting prices.

Alexandria schooled her features at the opening of the lecture as his fingers tapped.

He continued, "The Shrek does one thing and," [That is] "it provides long range fire support very well. Veteran tankers can use the Shrek's gun to maintain accurate and continuous fire across open terrain. If every shot from a Shrek is on target the ppcs will burn through nearly two tons of standard battleplate per shot." That should have been well established. "Then there is what an hundred eighty five millimeter assault auto cannon does at close range."

A video replay showed Don Juan's charge into the range of a demolisher's guns.

40 pips of digital representation ... more than he had normally on his center torso ... flashed red and signified blasting into his internal structure.... and realistically in a real fight shredding the machine's fusion engine.... but in all likelihood Diaz's decision to commit to the attack had been born out of not having any other options beyond maybe surrendering by that point.

"You should have all been given the after action reports. You'll see the damage break downs and the expenses incurred, I believe you all have pen and paper homework to contend with as well. You're dismissed."

There was an immediate shuffling and most of the cadets fled with their papers.

"You couldn't reasonably have expected to know the enemy commander that early." Lex protested.

He dipped his pen into the corner of the page, "You pilot an Orion, even if it wasn't a reasonable intuit to hit your machine out of the sixteen lances present was the machine on that alone, there were few other priority targets. In fact of those targets it was the machines on the outside capable of reasonably targeting air craft effectively that were suppressed or destroyed first... by my Particle projector cannon equipped units." Whether those had been Shreks or BattleMech units. "You were in the center of the formation, you were putting off significant electronic signatures, you were a valid target." He reached over and handed over a folded paper.

"This is-" It was an alternate configuration,

"That's what Coleridge asked," He frowned, "or I should say he asked, what I would have picked if I wanted to make sure you couldn't win." As much as he liked having air power on call, as much as it was a force multiplier he could have dropped the 12 sixty ton ASF, "You needed an experience with what airpower used correctly in this its use is to suppress or head hunt enemy commands. So given the choice I opted to provide that, other than dividing half of my formation into a Striker Regiments recon force and building a hussar formation to ride down." Because Coleridge would have allowed him to field a dozen longswords, which would have made up some of the difference for reduced armor component as well.

... and it would have been wholly unfair to deploy along dragoon lines with so few assaults in the opposite ranges, that would have just emphasized the Lyran idea that assaults were to hammer the opposition into the ground.

What the proposal did was focus on Longswords, which wasn't to say those were prefect. Yes the jump capabilities provided additional mobility but they were line of sight directed energy weapon machines, which fit them in a specialist niche. They were also not significantly cheaper than an Orion's nominal price.

... admittedly he expected that would mean less if he could sell them in volume, but they weren't there yet. For the moment given the course work the Academy expected the cadets to finish in their final year it was better to emphasize the lesser logistical burden the Longsword provided.

He plucked the paper back, "Neither Coleridge nor I wanted to steam roll the cadets, you can learn lessons by losing, but being brutally overmatched isn't typically helpful. You wouldn't have gained as much fighting a formation rolled out meant to rip and tear through the Sword of Light's ranks." He commented.

She viewed the comment as unnecessary. She'd been irritated at being hit during the exercise but that had largely left, the wind was out of her sails, because it had been a mistake to complain about it... and only Henry's comparatively ignorance, or just unwillingness to act on that mistake was saving her from significant embarrseement. The last comment was just a reminder that Clay was willing to bait and kill Combine elites across an open field because he knew they would rush at him if given the opportunity.
--
Yvonne Davion had the report in her metaphorical back pocket. The cadets had been predictably blind sided by losing leadership to a sudden air strike. That would have worked on most people, because twelve aircraft suddenly appearing was not a common occurrence. Two three air craft would have been one thing, not twelve. It was a wake up call, but they needed to understand about managing large combat units, both on the field, and off of it.

She had other priorities. Most of the cadets were being groomed already fro leadership roles, they wouldn't have been in this class if they hadn't, they wouldn't have been at this school... but some were more likely to see front line fighting first, and others would be needed elsewhere. Where her priorities did lay was still related to the cadet's unpleasant wake up call. There were hundreds of fusion engines sitting in a warehouse waiting to be installed in the chassis for aircraft, tanks, and battlemechs that shared the design

"There isn't anything wrong with the air frame of the Centurion," Henry remarked, glancing at the man in coveralls.

"Ah yes thats right," The air tech drawled, "None wrong with the frame, we took some of the original Centurions and pulled the guns and the guts of the avionics out. We swapped those old maxwells for Magna Mark 2s that we had and they bluntly they talk better with the Instatrak we put in. Nothing really changed with the Pitban 240, we work with those all the time."

All of that, and the rest of the man's explanation for the centurion were all perfectly reasonable. There was the tiny nagging issue of finding, or more correctly recruiting and training the pilots and aircrew for aircraft that was to be the problem of the AFFS High Command, both to find funding for recruitment and for training.

"And your heavier aircraft?"

"Outside of the 77, and F 90," Henry paused fighting back a yawn, "There are the Enyo, and Wildcat using the same engine. They have different mission profiles, and we're reasonably confident that production of the Enyo could supersede the heavier Stuka across the Combine border. We have plans for Nissan and 210 engine aircraft, but again engine production remains the principle bottleneck so its in that order after the 240."

... and of course Yvonne understood that was what made Sakhara very important looking forward, because there were so few ASF manufacturers in the Federated Suns the ability to locally produce the aircraft engines, and the body of the aircraft insured they were entering a very select club even among industrial concerns in the Federated Suns... or really anywhere in the wider Inner Sphere.

She wouldn't have been surprised if given the numbers of aircraft currently patrolling the skeletal masses that were taking shape in orbit if Clay's inheritance hadn't somehow included more eighty ton aircraft than he had possibly inherited BattleMechs. That seemed ridiculous to most people, but as the shipyards were taking shape, admittedly that did relieve her concerns about the security around Sakhara. It would probably elicit complaints from Michael Hasek-Davion but not ones that either the Field Marshal of the Draconis March or the First Prince would take seriously especially in the face of a shipyard being present in the system.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Does some quick head math. From what I recall off the top of my head there's very few ASF production sites in this period in the inner Sphere/periphery. Less than 30 all told of which pre Sakhara the suns have literally 3. New Avalon, Panpour, and Axton.

And as the designer of it I will say that the Enyo isn't really a replacement for the stuka, thunderbird or chippewa W-10. More like a supplement to them since every military in the 3rd SW are eternally short on ASFs period let alone solid strike birds.

Also is it me or is it weird that ASFs that regularly go hypersonic and through reentry and the void are cheaper than mechs.

Oh and on another note it occurs to me Sakhara is literally the only system in the IS other than Terra and maybe capella where tanks, mechs, ASFs, and jumpships are made albeit those 2 also make dropships as well.

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Does some quick head math. From what I recall off the top of my head there's very few ASF production sites in this peirod in the inner Sphere/periphery. Less than 30 all told of which pre Sakhara the suns have literally 3. New Avalon, Panpour, and Axton.

And as the designer of it I will say that the Enyo isn't really a replacement for the stuka, thunderbird or chippewa W-10. More like a supplement to them since every military in the 3rd SW are eternally short on ASFs period let alone solid strike birds.

Also is it me or is it weird that ASFs that regularly go hypersonic and through reentry and the void are cheaper than mechs.

Oh and on another note it occurs to me Sakhara is literally the only system in the IS other than Terra and maybe capella where tanks, mechs, ASFs, and jumpships are made albeit those 2 also make dropships as well.

Click to shrink...

I think there's a system in the Concordat that manufactures a little of everything, Taurus or Sterope, but that's literally the only other place I can remember with that broad of build capacity. The ASF price vs mechs I've always just put down to the myomer, gyro and such making mech just that little bit more complicated.

 

[Bofors40mm]

I think there's a system in the Concordat that manufactures a little of everything, Taurus or Sterope, but that's literally the only other place I can remember with that broad of build capacity. The ASF price vs mechs I've always just put down to the myomer, gyro and such making mech just that little bit more complicated.

Click to shrink...

The taurian planets (and i say that purally for a reason simce i think new Vandenberg is also on that list)don't make jumpships otherwise you'd be correct.
And yes I get why the ASF prices are lower in the lore/build rules. It's just that I think they probably shouldn't be.

edit:
my take on a sensible modernized cataphract

Spoiler

Cataphract CTF-3X
Mass: 70 tons
Chassis: Earthwerk CTF
Power Plant: GM 280 Fusion Engine
Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph
Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph
Armor: Kallon Unity Weave Ferro-Fibrous
Armament:
1 Mydron Excel LB-X autocannon/10 LB
1 Johnston High Speed ER PPC
6 Intek Medium Lasers
1 ChisComp 39P Small Pulse Laser

Communication System: CommuTech Multi-Channel 10
Targeting & Tracking System: BlazeFire SightLock
Introduction Year: 3050
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-D-D
Cost: 7,443,053 C-bills

Type: Cataphract
Role: Brawler
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 70
Battle Value: 1,735

Equipment		Mass
Internal Structure		7
Engine	280 Fusion	16
Walking MP:	4
Running MP:	6
Jumping MP:
Double Heat Sink:	10 [20]
Gyro:		3
Cockpit:		3
Armor Factor (Ferro):	215	12

	Internal Structure	Armor Value
Head	3	9
Center Torso	22	32
Center Torso (rear)		10
R/L Torso	15	23
R/L Torso (rear)		7
R/L Arm	11	22
R/L Leg	15	30

Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper, Lower
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper, Lower, Hand

Weapons and Ammo	Location	Critical	Tonnage
ECM Suite	CT	2	1.5
LB 10-X AC	RT	6	11
Medium Laser	RT	1	1
CASE	RT	1	0.5
LB 10-X Cluster Ammo (10)	RT	1	1
LB 10-X AC Ammo (10)	RT	1	1
Medium Laser	LA	1	1
Small Pulse Laser	HD	1	1
3 Medium Lasers	LT	3	3
Medium Laser	RA	1	1
ER PPC	RA	3	7

Quirks: Protected Actuators

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

Always good to remind the mech jocks that there are heavy and even medium weight aerospace wings out that there that can very merrily wreck their shit if given the opportunity. Just as picking a fight with the wrong tank will see your fancy walker cored like a damn apple.

Turns out, combat in the modern field is a complex and dangerous place. Who would have thunk it?

 

[Bofors40mm]

a stray thought about the bristol lostech site. its described as nearly being castle brian in size. which to me screams put a factory in it. a huge hardened site deep underground that you know can tank nukes that other than stored vehicles is basically empty.....those don't come cheap normally.

 

[Blasterbot]

a stray thought about the bristol lostech site. its described as nearly being castle brian in size. which to me screams put a factory in it. a hardened site deep underground that you know can tank nukes that other than stored vehicles is basically empty.....those don't come cheap normally.

Click to shrink...

It's literally free real estate. who can pass that up?

 

[Bofors40mm]

It's literally free real estate. who can pass that up?

Click to shrink...

Free hardened to eat nukes and live real estate at that

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara 3.6​

The same 210 engine that powered the slower of the two cataphract versions also powered the down tech-ed Night Hawk, which was good enough to justify just refitting one of those into an intro-tech Wolf Hound... and for basically the same reasons as creating the Wolf Hound in the first place... having a machine that could effectively combat Panthers, and Jenners. When the time came it would be easy to slot an ER large laser, and DHS in, but that was in the longer term, and for now what they had would be good enough.

He did find it amusing that the Night Hawk had already had the easy to maintain quirk, just like the Wolf Hound... but the Star League era Night Hawk's weapons hardly entered into anything other than the long term planning.

The truth was he was hoping for Haakon to get a positive first response from Mountain Wolf. It was true he'd given the captain dispensation in the vein of money but he was still anxious for a response. There were a number of other designs which would use other engines, but things he didn't expect to be able o produce any time soon... and the truth was he wanted to be able to protect or insulate any 'lostech' production on Bristol further away from the Combine front, even if he intended to employ a similar strategy of large volumes of Aerospace fighters to defend the original Fury factory site's massive underground complex.

A complex he intended to brazenly lie about and bring back online just as soon as he could get there and do that.

... but he needed to get the shipyard up and running first so that was his priority ahead of even BattleMech production. As he had told Yvonne he expected the yard itself to be done, if not by the end of the year, then early in 3016, certainly by the time the cadets graduated. That didn't account for the time to have the hull segments cut, or building a drive. That would take time, and to make sure everything worked but he was confident that they'd have a star lord actually built here next year... and he was anxious about that.

He didn't expect though that the yard would actually be constructing its first Star Lord prior to his departure, or even his return from the New Avalon holidays, and thus not before the start of the new turn... but once it did. Well, there would be other things that would need to be dealt with.

Henry stretched and got up to the carafe of coffee. There just wasn't room on the table for it, and if it knocked over it would have been all over the papers.

It was purely personnel preference that mechs on the lighter end of the spectrum didn't appeal to him, he couldn't help it... it just struck him as a better idea to have a fast ground vehicle with some firepower do the scouting outside of narrow specialty roles... but there was a market of Light Mechs that had grown up around the conditions of the succession war as well as what had been left as a result of the Star League era.

Hence why he had tables, and tables of what parts went into domestic production of light mechs identified and what cross compatibility existed. It was one more thing to consider as he waited for a response from Haakon, and as he considered how to shape his outreach towards New Valencia's Blackwell Industries.

Other than that though, were the 160 rating Fusion engines manufactured on New Avalon, and what all could be done with them. Then there was the review of what could be done with the 340 rated Fusion Engines since a request from New Avalon had ... well New Avalon in the sense it was Hanse Davion asking on behalf of the First Prince... been tendered to 'look into it'. He was pretty sure that had been written before they had left but that it was just being slipped in now.
--
"So what's the deal with New Avalon?"

He moved off the safety railing, and glanced over to Justin, "What do you mean? We'll get on the transports from there its a simple series of hand offs." It would be exactly like the previous outing... in so far as transit went. Of course when Justin graduated he'd be looking at a much longer, much more boring trip to his first duty station... on Spica... but so far as the trip to New Avalon went, "You won't be missing any class," He replied matter of factly.

Justin snorted. "Your priorities are always the best." The older cadet observed, but the conversation did turn to the issue of what the jump circuit to New Avalon represented... being able to leave for the festivities without a series of transit and stop times at the residences of other feudatories. In earlier times that had been one of the major factors which had contributed to the development of Neo Feudalism across the inner sphere not just within the Federated Suns. With JumpShips constrained in use having stop overs that could last weeks was simply part of society. In the normal face of an invite they might have needed to leave Sakhara early enough to arrive at Kestrel and then move as part of a larger group towards the capital of the Federated Suns, and that would have entailed being hosted at the ducal residence, and so on and so forth.

The Circuit now that it was confirmably in place though presented another matter. Justin's father would already be on New Avalon, as would Justin's younger brother who was also apparently something of a hotshot mech pilot as well, and was being groomed for an early command role... which somewhat jived with what Henry loosely remembered of the canon books. It had also made his way around that the Duchess of Victoria's son... or one of her sons was classmates as well to Justin's brother and similarly slated for rank and post in the Davion elites.

That was how things were, after all the posting on Spica whatever else was going on was not with some second rate unit. Still, Henry felt the need to exercise caution on Justin's behalf... "Anyway," he remarked, "Mymomer as a component should be easy to produce, the weapons can be produced... its the fusion engines and the mech's chassis which are really the thing that's such a pain in the ass." Henry continued... and shortages of engines were what had resulted in such desperation moves as pulling fusion engines of the correct weight out of tanks in order to put them in 'mechs over the course of the succession wars, "but the shipyards up there, well the yard itself will be -"

"Do you really not get that being able to do any of that is freaking amazing?" Justin cut him off, and the outburst drew a series of looks out from the battalion's worth of techs in the mech bay assembling Cataphract Heavy BattleMechs. "Fuck, sorry, no go on."

The truth was in terms of components they would assemble the hulls in pieces and fit them together. That would e what took the longest time. They'd make the germanium core and check its integrity but building the rest o the ship was time consuming part given they had Germanium available. That alleviated a major strategic resource for Jump Drive production, but that was harder to make sound as simple as it was for Justin's sake.

 

[Bofors40mm]

not sure the gauss rifles would be available for the furys but.....even if not they're a solid command tank and i'm sure you could put a PPC and some LRMs in its place for the time being.
'