A fanfiction of The Mech Touch. Follow Bolt as he tries his best to be a Mech Designer in a place where Mech dominate war and blood is spent easier than coin.
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So, this post is going to be me half reasoning out things in text and half me defining how it works in the setting.
3rd rate mechs are the cheapest of the cheap. They take pilots from D-A rank. D rank pilots frequently get stuck in something called frontline mechs, which are the real cheap stuff that's barely a mech. A good expert rate mech is about 10-100X as expensive as a baseline mech and can fight off 100 people. (Assume this is on average.)
2nd rate mechs take C-A rank pilots. One mech costs about the same as an expert mech from 3rd rate. They're typically capable of functioning in land and space and are good at two things. A pinnacle standard mech is the equivalent of a 3rd rate expert. That's pinnacle. The reason 3rd rate mechs still exist is because a 2nd rate is pretty expensive to run. If you don't have backing you're going to run out of resources. This is why 3rd rates get pirates and have a thriving mercenary / freelancer economy.
1st rate mechs have a similar jump. They're far, far more mobile, which makes them a lot more dangerous. A 1st rate mech can basically do everything they want. While on paper they can match 100 v 1 2nd rates, they're simply too mobile for that to matter that much. They can literally leave orbit if they want to. They're again extremely expensive, and furthermore they need B rank pilots by standard. C rank pilots can just barely squeak by if they work hard, and require specific mechs.
No, what defines a 1st rate nation vs a 3rd rate? Officially it's the number of systems. 3rd rate needs to claim at least 50 systems. 2nd is 1000. 1st 10,000. Unofficially that doesn't matter at all. A nation that lays claim to 1000 stars with nothing in them doesn't matter. A lot of nations claim a lot more territory than matters. What really matters is exotics. If a nation claims a good exotic planet they basically rule the immediate area. Most of the good exotics are restricted to the nation their in. This is where a lot of the exorbitant costs come around. Getting the stuff if you aren't the main government gets a significant markup.
This brings us to the MTA and CFA. They're the ones getting the big money from the exotics, and how they're funding everything ultimately. Aside from the other 1st rate nations, the MTA and CFA have a stranglehold on the best stuff. This very technically means that there's another tier that they're in. MTA mechs are above 1st rate mechs. They're also not fielded frequently because they require so much money that it's more efficient to do practically anything else. Something similar goes for the CFA warships. They're capable of outright glassing planets but firing their weapons is again costly.
Which is why you won't see First Rate and the Big Two out there unless there's something big. Fielding their forces is both a statement and a serious cost. Sending them out to the boonies and having them do things requires both time and expenses. They frequently use specialized exotics that have to be replaced as well. So if a First Rate mech gets damaged enough out in the Rim, it actually needs stuff from the center of the galaxy to be repaired. And they will get damaged. The disparity between a 1st and 3rd rate is enormous, but the Golden BB rule still applies. One good hit from a 3rd rate can damage a 1st rate. Hell, just running the mech is frequently enough to need some maintenance. Like our military planes and the like, mechs require work done after every time they sortie. It's not much if they aren't in combat, but it adds up.
Another thing, on paper the 1st rate states and Big 2 are fairly big and united. This is patently untrue. They have factions and infighting. Some if it is pretty vicious. The MTA and CFA manage to rule because they're relatively united and aren't being pushed. The second something seriously forces them to stress themselves, fracture points are going to form. The many years of relative peace have caused everyone to ossify and form internal factions.
Finally, there's this big thing about 1st rates being really big and really impossible for a 3rd rate to beat. The thing of it is, the 1st rates are significantly outnumbered by the rest of humanity. That big 10,000 number? That's peanuts. It's one big nation with a lot of resources surrounded by a lot more small fries. If they ever got together then the numbers would tell.
Of course a lot of people know that, so it's in the best interest of the guys up top that people stay fractured. Which admittedly isn't hard to arrange. They just have to be relatively hands off and let human nature do the work for the most part. Most people are content with the status quo or are too busy settling generational grudges. Frankly, even peaceful states are fine because in a few generations some dipstick decides to stir the pot somehow. Planets are still big to people after all. If you have say, like 3 planets with 1 billion people, you're going to get some sort of conflict.
-On designers and pilots -
One thing that really separates the levels of states is the fact that the upper level states make it a point to brain drain the lower level states. Journeymen are encouraged heavily to migrate up. Not all of them do, but the most ambitious certainly will. Something similar goes for pilots. Experts who want to advance will frequently take a sort of contract of sorts. They move up to the next level and can return if there's something needed from their home.
The lower level states naturally take steps to mitigate that, but the almighty $$ tells here.
There is a small equalizing factor though. Since it's cheaper to go to war, the 3rd rate states do so far more often than higher levels. This means they get better experts and more Journeyman. Their experts frequently stall out at expert, but they're outright better all round, and their Journeymen Designers have cut their teeth on actual competition instead of curated contests. This has significant meaning.
This is a sort of open secret that most people in the know don't advertise, and is actually a source of considerable worry by some people. Functionally it's a working system. Practically it builds resentment.
3rd rate mechs are the cheapest of the cheap. They take pilots from D-A rank. D rank pilots frequently get stuck in something called frontline mechs, which are the real cheap stuff that's barely a mech. A good expert rate mech is about 10-100X as expensive as a baseline mech and can fight off 100 people. (Assume this is on average.)
2nd rate mechs take C-A rank pilots. One mech costs about the same as an expert mech from 3rd rate. They're typically capable of functioning in land and space and are good at two things. A pinnacle standard mech is the equivalent of a 3rd rate expert. That's pinnacle. The reason 3rd rate mechs still exist is because a 2nd rate is pretty expensive to run. If you don't have backing you're going to run out of resources. This is why 3rd rates get pirates and have a thriving mercenary / freelancer economy.
1st rate mechs have a similar jump. They're far, far more mobile, which makes them a lot more dangerous. A 1st rate mech can basically do everything they want. While on paper they can match 100 v 1 2nd rates, they're simply too mobile for that to matter that much. They can literally leave orbit if they want to. They're again extremely expensive, and furthermore they need B rank pilots by standard. C rank pilots can just barely squeak by if they work hard, and require specific mechs.
No, what defines a 1st rate nation vs a 3rd rate? Officially it's the number of systems. 3rd rate needs to claim at least 50 systems. 2nd is 1000. 1st 10,000. Unofficially that doesn't matter at all. A nation that lays claim to 1000 stars with nothing in them doesn't matter. A lot of nations claim a lot more territory than matters. What really matters is exotics. If a nation claims a good exotic planet they basically rule the immediate area. Most of the good exotics are restricted to the nation their in. This is where a lot of the exorbitant costs come around. Getting the stuff if you aren't the main government gets a significant markup.
This brings us to the MTA and CFA. They're the ones getting the big money from the exotics, and how they're funding everything ultimately. Aside from the other 1st rate nations, the MTA and CFA have a stranglehold on the best stuff. This very technically means that there's another tier that they're in. MTA mechs are above 1st rate mechs. They're also not fielded frequently because they require so much money that it's more efficient to do practically anything else. Something similar goes for the CFA warships. They're capable of outright glassing planets but firing their weapons is again costly.
Which is why you won't see First Rate and the Big Two out there unless there's something big. Fielding their forces is both a statement and a serious cost. Sending them out to the boonies and having them do things requires both time and expenses. They frequently use specialized exotics that have to be replaced as well. So if a First Rate mech gets damaged enough out in the Rim, it actually needs stuff from the center of the galaxy to be repaired. And they will get damaged. The disparity between a 1st and 3rd rate is enormous, but the Golden BB rule still applies. One good hit from a 3rd rate can damage a 1st rate. Hell, just running the mech is frequently enough to need some maintenance. Like our military planes and the like, mechs require work done after every time they sortie. It's not much if they aren't in combat, but it adds up.
Another thing, on paper the 1st rate states and Big 2 are fairly big and united. This is patently untrue. They have factions and infighting. Some if it is pretty vicious. The MTA and CFA manage to rule because they're relatively united and aren't being pushed. The second something seriously forces them to stress themselves, fracture points are going to form. The many years of relative peace have caused everyone to ossify and form internal factions.
Finally, there's this big thing about 1st rates being really big and really impossible for a 3rd rate to beat. The thing of it is, the 1st rates are significantly outnumbered by the rest of humanity. That big 10,000 number? That's peanuts. It's one big nation with a lot of resources surrounded by a lot more small fries. If they ever got together then the numbers would tell.
Of course a lot of people know that, so it's in the best interest of the guys up top that people stay fractured. Which admittedly isn't hard to arrange. They just have to be relatively hands off and let human nature do the work for the most part. Most people are content with the status quo or are too busy settling generational grudges. Frankly, even peaceful states are fine because in a few generations some dipstick decides to stir the pot somehow. Planets are still big to people after all. If you have say, like 3 planets with 1 billion people, you're going to get some sort of conflict.
-On designers and pilots -
One thing that really separates the levels of states is the fact that the upper level states make it a point to brain drain the lower level states. Journeymen are encouraged heavily to migrate up. Not all of them do, but the most ambitious certainly will. Something similar goes for pilots. Experts who want to advance will frequently take a sort of contract of sorts. They move up to the next level and can return if there's something needed from their home.
The lower level states naturally take steps to mitigate that, but the almighty $$ tells here.
There is a small equalizing factor though. Since it's cheaper to go to war, the 3rd rate states do so far more often than higher levels. This means they get better experts and more Journeyman. Their experts frequently stall out at expert, but they're outright better all round, and their Journeymen Designers have cut their teeth on actual competition instead of curated contests. This has significant meaning.
This is a sort of open secret that most people in the know don't advertise, and is actually a source of considerable worry by some people. Functionally it's a working system. Practically it builds resentment.
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