- Location
- Under your bed
Well the reason I said Hartford Co industries is not because I'm a fan of the cicada they used to produce but rather because of the tank they used to make.
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Aurigan Sentinels (Battle CYOA)
- Thread starter Oshha
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
Formation 3.2
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cordia City, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
29th August 3020
This time when meeting with the local royalty, I was able to wear proper formal clothing. Nothing too fancy, just a standard black and white skirt suit that Moana had purchased last night and arrived early this morning. Meanwhile Moana is wearing her ACM dress uniform, a dark grey tunic and trousers with a high-collared red and white coat accented in gold. As for the two highborn ladies that we are meeting, Lady Kamea Arano and Lady Victoria Espinosa are wearing expensive-looking gowns in the colours of their respective houses.
"Lady Kamea," I greet her, deciding to open this meeting with politeness in lieu of not knowing the proper protocol, "Thank you for coming."
"Of course, General Nora," replies Lady Kamea and I must have made a face at that title because my future liege lady goes on to say, "General is the correct rank for you. In mercenary terms, you will be commanding two to three regiments depending on how you look at aerospace assets, which is enough to reasonably call yourself a general. And in the ACM, the senior colonel of a Founding House guard has the rank of General and your mercenaries will be equivalent to a Founding House guard so it works either way."
"Lady Arano has a point, Liz," adds Moana, "Even if you don't have all the manpower for it yet, you have enough hardware to support multiple regiments and you do plan to do so."
"Fine," I grumble, "I'll call myself a general even though I haven't done anything to deserve the title yet."
"Apart from the fact you made the LosTech find of the century," points out Lady Kamea.
I bite back a retort that Helm will be the LosTech find of the century because there is no reasonable way to explain that knowledge. Either something must have shown on my face or my silence is telling because Lady Kamea apparently takes my lack of response as an agreement.
"If the matter of General Nora's rank is settled, I would like to raise the matter of our own," says Lady Victoria and I leap upon the chance to get the conversation back on track and away from potentially dangerous knowledge.
"I'm planning to put you in my command lance, which will be part of an independent command company based aboard the Myrmidon," I answer, "If things go my way, I intend to have Moana handle the day to day running of the command company as a trained military officer while I handle running the entire unit. As for you two, figuring out what I'll do with you is part of why I asked for this meeting. Since you're too well connected and trained, it would be a waste to just treat you as mere MechWarriors, but I don't know the appropriate way to make use of you."
At that, the other ladies in the room exchange looks and I can't help but wonder if I just made a faux pas. I'm trying to avoid giving offence, but all of this nobility stuff is new to me. Wait, I should probably just tell them that in case I did say something rude.
"Look," I continue before any of the others can say anything, "I'm new to dealing with all of this nobility nonsense, which is part of what I would like your help with. I'm learning to be a MechWarrior and an officer right now, which means that I don't have the time to learn how to be a noble. I would ask Moana for help, but being a countess is a bigger step than being a baronetess. So if I'm not overstepping, I would like to request your help in handling noble business until I've had a chance to learn how to do it myself."
"So you want me to be your steward?" asks Lady Kamea, "Or a secretary?"
"Maybe?" I admit, "I don't know what the proper term is, but I want someone to deal with my noble stuff while I am figuring out how to handle everything else. I figured that you two would be ideal for the job, but I don't know enough to know if that is an appropriate thing for me to ask."
"A formal request would certainly raise eyebrows and cause talk, but doing the job informally shouldn't be a problem," replies Lady Kamea after exchanging another look with Lady Victoria, "And you aren't wrong about either of us being fit for the duty. I'm just surprised that you trust us enough to make the request given you only just met us."
"I'm hitching my wagon to House Arano," I answer with a shrug, "If I can't trust you not to screw me over, then I've made a bad call and I'll pay the price for it. As things stand, I have too much to do and too little experience to do anything myself so I have to delegate and sometimes finding someone suitable to delegate means taking some risks."
"In that case, I shall endeavour to live up to your trust, General Nora," says Lady Kamea.
"Thank you, Lady Kamea," I reply, "So neither of you have a problem acting as my assistants?"
"I do not so long as it remains an unofficial arrangement," answers Lady Kamea.
"The same applies to me," adds Lady Victoria.
"Great," I say, "Since you three are going to be my command lance, I'm going to be relying upon you to help me out. So the first order of business is manpower and finances because the Aurigan Sentinels are sorely lacking in both of those."
"Both of those should be solved in time," says Lady Victoria, "You will have recruits flocking to you from all across the Aurigan Coalition and beyond. Financial matters are less of a certainty, but between the plans to sell the memory core and some of your LosTech, there will be a surge of funding for the unit's warchest. Speaking of which, what are your plans to sell your LosTech? Both my father and Lord Arano are quite interested in what you intend to do and how it will reflect on the Aurigan Coalition."
"I'm planning to sell the lion's share to the NAIS and House Davion," I answer, "Beyond that, the Taurians and Canopians as our Periphery neighbours and then whoever is willing to pay the best price. I'm willing to part with the VTOLs because their fragility combined with their irreplaceability means that their best value comes from selling them. While I am tempted to keep the Padillas for myself, I only have a limited amount of ammunition for them with no way to get more. Even then, I would keep them if it wasn't for the fact that their extralight fusion engines means I can demand a lot of C-Bills for them."
"I'm going back and forth on whether or not to sell some of the other tanks. I'm keeping all of the 'Mechs and ASFs because of how rare they are these days, but tanks are more replaceable even if today's machines aren't as good as the ones I found. I'm definitely keeping the Manticores, but everything else is up for debate and I want to see what I want to use in my combined arms battalions. Beyond that, I'm willing to sell some of the spare LosTech components that we found. I'll want to keep some for my own usage of course, but I would rather sell LosTech that we can't replace to get funding to set up production for a reliable supply of military hardware."
"I will make sure to relay that to my father," says Lady Victoria, "While I can't speak for him, I do believe that he won't have any objections to your plans. I will warn you that he will likely want to work with you on the sales to get some political or diplomatic benefits for the coalition."
"I will be happy to oblige him on that," I tell her, hoping that I'm not committing myself to anything too onerous.
"As for manpower, I can look at what sort of contacts my family can draw upon," says Lady Kamea, "While it wouldn't be proper to draw upon active ACM members, we do know plenty of retired ACM personnel along with a few trustworthy mercenaries. Beyond that, we should get plenty of MechWarriors and ASF pilots from the nobility and the commoners will provide tankers and infantry."
"Training and skills will be a concern," notes Moana, "I know that some families like my own provide training for their non-heirs and that should be enough for the MechWarriors, but ASF training is rare. As for the rest, it depends on how trained we want them. Filling out the ranks should be an easy task if we only use basic training, but if we want properly trained tank crews and infantry, then things will be harder."
"We'll see what recruits present themselves to us and go from there," I say, "If we're lucky, we'll get enough trained personnel to fill out our ranks. If we don't, then we'll see what we do have to work with and figure things out from there. The only other concern is that recruitment might need to wait until some of the LosTech sales are made given the precarious financial situation."
"If needed, my father can give you a zero interest loan until you get your C-Bills," offers Lady Kamea, "It wouldn't do to have your endeavour collapse or even just be delayed due to your unfortunate if temporary financial situation."
"I appreciate the offer even if I would not take it for obvious reasons," I reply, "Now, I think that covers what I had planned. Do you have anything you would like to raise with me?"
"My father has compiled a list of spare 'Mech parts that the Aurigan Royal Guard and the House Arano Guard are missing," says Lady Kamea, "As you discussed with him, he would like to see if you can produce those parts aboard the Myrmidon to improve the strength of the ACM."
"As long as I get credit for supplying the parts," I tell her, "I'm not bothered about not getting paid for it, but I do want to have local families knowing that they have me to thank for their 'Mechs being restored to fighting shape."
"Of course," replies Lady Kamea without missing a beat, "Just let me or Victoria handle speaking to them. You are a little…vulgar to be dealing with them directly."
"Vulgar?" I repeat, not sure how to react to that or if I am being insulted or not.
"If I may, General," says Lady Victoria, "Your knowledge is the bare minimum when it comes to proper etiquette for high society. While completely understandable given your background and circumstances and something that my house and Kamea's are willing to overlook, there are many amongst the aristocracy that won't care for your situation. They will just take offence at unintentional insults on your part, which will be counterproductive for your desired goal of developing goodwill. Until you are able to learn the proper protocol for dealing with such individuals, it is best that any interactions are done by proxy."
"Okay, that makes sense," I say because it is the truth and it isn't the sort of truth that I'm going to get offended by, "I'll put handling those interactions under your duties if you don't mind being my proxies."
"There are no objections on our end," replies Lady Kamea and Lady Victoria nods her own agreement.
"Great," I say, "In that case, let's talk about what 'Mechs you'll be riding in."
At that, both young ladies visibly perk up and I don't bother with trying not to grin at the sight.
I wasn't originally planning for this conversation to take up the whole update, but here we are. I was planning something of a time-skip, but I want Elizabeth and Kamea's first interaction to be on-screen not off-screen. None that is out of the way, I do plan to summarise the reminder of the year in the next update or two so we can begin the fourth arc of the story at the beginning of 3021 when Elizabeth embarks on her first mission.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
29th August 3020
This time when meeting with the local royalty, I was able to wear proper formal clothing. Nothing too fancy, just a standard black and white skirt suit that Moana had purchased last night and arrived early this morning. Meanwhile Moana is wearing her ACM dress uniform, a dark grey tunic and trousers with a high-collared red and white coat accented in gold. As for the two highborn ladies that we are meeting, Lady Kamea Arano and Lady Victoria Espinosa are wearing expensive-looking gowns in the colours of their respective houses.
"Lady Kamea," I greet her, deciding to open this meeting with politeness in lieu of not knowing the proper protocol, "Thank you for coming."
"Of course, General Nora," replies Lady Kamea and I must have made a face at that title because my future liege lady goes on to say, "General is the correct rank for you. In mercenary terms, you will be commanding two to three regiments depending on how you look at aerospace assets, which is enough to reasonably call yourself a general. And in the ACM, the senior colonel of a Founding House guard has the rank of General and your mercenaries will be equivalent to a Founding House guard so it works either way."
"Lady Arano has a point, Liz," adds Moana, "Even if you don't have all the manpower for it yet, you have enough hardware to support multiple regiments and you do plan to do so."
"Fine," I grumble, "I'll call myself a general even though I haven't done anything to deserve the title yet."
"Apart from the fact you made the LosTech find of the century," points out Lady Kamea.
I bite back a retort that Helm will be the LosTech find of the century because there is no reasonable way to explain that knowledge. Either something must have shown on my face or my silence is telling because Lady Kamea apparently takes my lack of response as an agreement.
"If the matter of General Nora's rank is settled, I would like to raise the matter of our own," says Lady Victoria and I leap upon the chance to get the conversation back on track and away from potentially dangerous knowledge.
"I'm planning to put you in my command lance, which will be part of an independent command company based aboard the Myrmidon," I answer, "If things go my way, I intend to have Moana handle the day to day running of the command company as a trained military officer while I handle running the entire unit. As for you two, figuring out what I'll do with you is part of why I asked for this meeting. Since you're too well connected and trained, it would be a waste to just treat you as mere MechWarriors, but I don't know the appropriate way to make use of you."
At that, the other ladies in the room exchange looks and I can't help but wonder if I just made a faux pas. I'm trying to avoid giving offence, but all of this nobility stuff is new to me. Wait, I should probably just tell them that in case I did say something rude.
"Look," I continue before any of the others can say anything, "I'm new to dealing with all of this nobility nonsense, which is part of what I would like your help with. I'm learning to be a MechWarrior and an officer right now, which means that I don't have the time to learn how to be a noble. I would ask Moana for help, but being a countess is a bigger step than being a baronetess. So if I'm not overstepping, I would like to request your help in handling noble business until I've had a chance to learn how to do it myself."
"So you want me to be your steward?" asks Lady Kamea, "Or a secretary?"
"Maybe?" I admit, "I don't know what the proper term is, but I want someone to deal with my noble stuff while I am figuring out how to handle everything else. I figured that you two would be ideal for the job, but I don't know enough to know if that is an appropriate thing for me to ask."
"A formal request would certainly raise eyebrows and cause talk, but doing the job informally shouldn't be a problem," replies Lady Kamea after exchanging another look with Lady Victoria, "And you aren't wrong about either of us being fit for the duty. I'm just surprised that you trust us enough to make the request given you only just met us."
"I'm hitching my wagon to House Arano," I answer with a shrug, "If I can't trust you not to screw me over, then I've made a bad call and I'll pay the price for it. As things stand, I have too much to do and too little experience to do anything myself so I have to delegate and sometimes finding someone suitable to delegate means taking some risks."
"In that case, I shall endeavour to live up to your trust, General Nora," says Lady Kamea.
"Thank you, Lady Kamea," I reply, "So neither of you have a problem acting as my assistants?"
"I do not so long as it remains an unofficial arrangement," answers Lady Kamea.
"The same applies to me," adds Lady Victoria.
"Great," I say, "Since you three are going to be my command lance, I'm going to be relying upon you to help me out. So the first order of business is manpower and finances because the Aurigan Sentinels are sorely lacking in both of those."
"Both of those should be solved in time," says Lady Victoria, "You will have recruits flocking to you from all across the Aurigan Coalition and beyond. Financial matters are less of a certainty, but between the plans to sell the memory core and some of your LosTech, there will be a surge of funding for the unit's warchest. Speaking of which, what are your plans to sell your LosTech? Both my father and Lord Arano are quite interested in what you intend to do and how it will reflect on the Aurigan Coalition."
"I'm planning to sell the lion's share to the NAIS and House Davion," I answer, "Beyond that, the Taurians and Canopians as our Periphery neighbours and then whoever is willing to pay the best price. I'm willing to part with the VTOLs because their fragility combined with their irreplaceability means that their best value comes from selling them. While I am tempted to keep the Padillas for myself, I only have a limited amount of ammunition for them with no way to get more. Even then, I would keep them if it wasn't for the fact that their extralight fusion engines means I can demand a lot of C-Bills for them."
"I'm going back and forth on whether or not to sell some of the other tanks. I'm keeping all of the 'Mechs and ASFs because of how rare they are these days, but tanks are more replaceable even if today's machines aren't as good as the ones I found. I'm definitely keeping the Manticores, but everything else is up for debate and I want to see what I want to use in my combined arms battalions. Beyond that, I'm willing to sell some of the spare LosTech components that we found. I'll want to keep some for my own usage of course, but I would rather sell LosTech that we can't replace to get funding to set up production for a reliable supply of military hardware."
"I will make sure to relay that to my father," says Lady Victoria, "While I can't speak for him, I do believe that he won't have any objections to your plans. I will warn you that he will likely want to work with you on the sales to get some political or diplomatic benefits for the coalition."
"I will be happy to oblige him on that," I tell her, hoping that I'm not committing myself to anything too onerous.
"As for manpower, I can look at what sort of contacts my family can draw upon," says Lady Kamea, "While it wouldn't be proper to draw upon active ACM members, we do know plenty of retired ACM personnel along with a few trustworthy mercenaries. Beyond that, we should get plenty of MechWarriors and ASF pilots from the nobility and the commoners will provide tankers and infantry."
"Training and skills will be a concern," notes Moana, "I know that some families like my own provide training for their non-heirs and that should be enough for the MechWarriors, but ASF training is rare. As for the rest, it depends on how trained we want them. Filling out the ranks should be an easy task if we only use basic training, but if we want properly trained tank crews and infantry, then things will be harder."
"We'll see what recruits present themselves to us and go from there," I say, "If we're lucky, we'll get enough trained personnel to fill out our ranks. If we don't, then we'll see what we do have to work with and figure things out from there. The only other concern is that recruitment might need to wait until some of the LosTech sales are made given the precarious financial situation."
"If needed, my father can give you a zero interest loan until you get your C-Bills," offers Lady Kamea, "It wouldn't do to have your endeavour collapse or even just be delayed due to your unfortunate if temporary financial situation."
"I appreciate the offer even if I would not take it for obvious reasons," I reply, "Now, I think that covers what I had planned. Do you have anything you would like to raise with me?"
"My father has compiled a list of spare 'Mech parts that the Aurigan Royal Guard and the House Arano Guard are missing," says Lady Kamea, "As you discussed with him, he would like to see if you can produce those parts aboard the Myrmidon to improve the strength of the ACM."
"As long as I get credit for supplying the parts," I tell her, "I'm not bothered about not getting paid for it, but I do want to have local families knowing that they have me to thank for their 'Mechs being restored to fighting shape."
"Of course," replies Lady Kamea without missing a beat, "Just let me or Victoria handle speaking to them. You are a little…vulgar to be dealing with them directly."
"Vulgar?" I repeat, not sure how to react to that or if I am being insulted or not.
"If I may, General," says Lady Victoria, "Your knowledge is the bare minimum when it comes to proper etiquette for high society. While completely understandable given your background and circumstances and something that my house and Kamea's are willing to overlook, there are many amongst the aristocracy that won't care for your situation. They will just take offence at unintentional insults on your part, which will be counterproductive for your desired goal of developing goodwill. Until you are able to learn the proper protocol for dealing with such individuals, it is best that any interactions are done by proxy."
"Okay, that makes sense," I say because it is the truth and it isn't the sort of truth that I'm going to get offended by, "I'll put handling those interactions under your duties if you don't mind being my proxies."
"There are no objections on our end," replies Lady Kamea and Lady Victoria nods her own agreement.
"Great," I say, "In that case, let's talk about what 'Mechs you'll be riding in."
At that, both young ladies visibly perk up and I don't bother with trying not to grin at the sight.
***
I wasn't originally planning for this conversation to take up the whole update, but here we are. I was planning something of a time-skip, but I want Elizabeth and Kamea's first interaction to be on-screen not off-screen. None that is out of the way, I do plan to summarise the reminder of the year in the next update or two so we can begin the fourth arc of the story at the beginning of 3021 when Elizabeth embarks on her first mission.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
Thank you for the update!
This when Nora goes for the Argo?
Does she know about the map hidden in the computers of the ship?
This when Nora goes for the Argo?
Does she know about the map hidden in the computers of the ship?
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yes and yes.
Formation 3.3
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cordia City, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
30th December 3020
The intensity of the year didn't let up for the last few months of it. Putting together multiple military regiments from not quite scratch turned out to be as involved and draining as I feared it would be. Especially since I was selling LosTech and acquiring a noble title at the same time.
Thank God that I was able to put my newfound nobility on the backburner. My new landholding used to belong to House Arano so I was able to just keep the existing system for running it in place for now. I might have to take an active hand at some undetermined point in the future, but for now I would be able to play the absent landholder and just collect the more than a hundred thousand C-Bills that my taxes were granting me.
And let me tell you, that amount of money left me with mixed feelings for various reasons. For starters, I feel bad about collecting that much money whilst doing nothing to deserve it. On the one hand, that is how the neo-feudal system works and technically speaking, I am up to my eyes dealing with the stuff that earnt me the landholding. But on the other hand there was the matter of just how much I was collecting from my landholding.
It was a massive amount of money compared to my previous circumstances. I had gone from being lucky to make less than a thousand C-Bills a month to just effortlessly bringing over a hundred thousand. That should be massive for someone like me except I had suddenly found myself trying to pay for multiple military regiments and a literal freaking WarShip. Especially since I lacked an existing logistical network to supply it and was putting together the necessary behind the scenes support from square one.
So a hundred thousand C-Bills a month really didn't seem like that much when the Aurigan Sentinels were costing double-digit millions in the same timeframe. Hopefully that number will lower in time as the fresh unit settles into a status quo as most of the costs come from having to fill a massive amount of demand that has effectively sprung out of thin air. While the mercenary life means that the unexpected can always happen, the expenses should settle down into something more reasonable.
At least the manpower issue has been resolved. As predicted, we had more than enough bodies to fill the ranks and the primary issue in that department was finding people with proper training and expertise. Using the personnel from Dad's expedition as a foundation to build upon had left me with a mostly experienced core.
In terms of ship crews, I had two extremes thanks to having plenty of veteran JumpShip crews while barely having any experienced DropShip crews. Dropper crews don't grow on trees and with more than half a dozen DropShips to crew, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end of it. On paper, I have full crews for all of my ships as the new year is about to roll around the corner, but the truth is that some of the DropShips are a little too green with some members of their crews being little more than glorified apprentices.
A few more months of on the job training should deal with that, but until then I would have to be careful with how I used my DropShips. And then we have the Tomb-Maker aka the White Elephant. Somedays it feels like half of my expenses go towards keeping that WarShip running and if I didn't have High Lord Arano and Lord Espinosa actively helping me, I doubt I would have a chance of crewing it. Even now, the McKenna-class Battleship just spends its days in orbit over Coromodir with a green crew and full hangar bays that draw from a mixture of my Aurigan Sentinels and the units of the ACM in-system.
For all that the Tomb-Maker is mine on paper, right now it is more the property of the Aurigan Coalition in truth.
In terms of aerospace pilots, I wasn't able to tap much potential. Being an ASF pilot has always been as intensive and hard as being a MechWarrior if not more so without the glamour and glory of being a MechWarrior, thus making the pool of trained personnel scarce. On top of that, the TDF has recently begun its reforms to its aerospace arm under Thomas Calderon, forcing me to compete with the Taurians for the hirable ASF pilots in the region.
I managed to find enough bodies for all of my ASFs, but the experience pool isn't pretty. A full half of my pilot roster are green-rated and of the rest, I can count those who stand out on one hand with the pair of elite pilots that Dad hired and a trio of veterans that I was able to find. Two of them were Feddies that the Bulls refused to even consider touching while the third was a Canopian lady who has a past with the Concordat. I promptly shoved all of those experienced pilots into a single squadron and gave them my Royal Stukas to fly.
The MechWarrior situation is both better and worse. On the one hand, I have slightly more elite and veteran 'Mech pilots than I do fighter pilots, but on the other hand, more than two thirds of my MechWarriors are rated as green. Thanks to drawing upon the Aurigan nobility for political ties and local loyalty, I have plenty of trained, but inexperienced warriors. I refused to take anyone who couldn't pass competency tests, but at the same time, I am drawing upon spare second sons and daughters as anyone with actual experience is already serving in the ACM.
Things aren't much better when it comes to the infantry and tankers. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find any veteran tank crews interested in working for me. I had enough trained professionals to fill out just over a company's worth, but beyond that, I was picking up hopefuls off the street and giving them some basic in-house training. The infantry situation was probably the area where my recruitment efforts had fared the best.
I had Rosabella's Vixens as a small, but effective commando formation and I had shuffled the veteran marines off to lead a company of marines to protect the Tomb-Maker and the JumpShips. It was very much a mix of veterans and fresh recruits, but hopefully time and experience will raise the latter towards the level of the former. On the ground, the situation is better with one squad of regulars for every squad of new recruits out of bootcamp.
The overall circumstances aren't ideal with most of the unit being green, but hopefully numbers and heavy tonnage will compensate for skill until my Aurigan Sentinels can get some proper experience on the battlefield. I doubt I'll be facing any true peers in either the Reach or the Frontier for the foreseeable future.
At least the officer situation is going well. Moana has the Myrmidon's complement under her command, which consists of my command company of 'Mechs and a squadron of Sparrowhawks. Rosabella has an independent command consisting of her old unit that answers directly to me while Soyna and Vance have each been given their own combined arms battalion to command.
Between my own efforts and House Arano's contacts, I've been able to find enough experienced officers to fill out all of the senior leadership positions. I even snagged one Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery to run one of my regiments though that one was due to the generosity of High Lord Arano rather than any actual work on my part. As for other people of interest, I managed to snag Michael Markham of Markham's Marauders. I wasn't able to justify giving him a regimental command, but I did fold him and the rest of the Markham's Marauders into one of my combined arms battalions and give Markham command of it.
While I recognised a bunch of names and faces from their ranks thanks to my otherworldly knowledge, the one that really stuck out to me was Yang Virtanen. A 'Mech Tech after my own heart, it didn't take long before I decided to promote him to Chief 'Mech Tech of the entire Aurigan Sentinels and not just due to name recognition. The real life man is every bit the genius that his game self is, something he proved when I worked with him to upgrade my Atlas, Solus Prime, with LosTech.
A gauss rifle with two tons of ammo to replace the assault autocannon and its two tons of ammo for some additional long-ranged firepower with the head heat sink being removed to free up the tonnage. Then we removed the right torso heat sink and downgraded the LRM/20 to an LRM/15 to make weight savings for an upgraded targeting-tracking system to assist the gauss rifle and a Guardian ECM for extra defensibility. Thankfully reality cleaved closer to the HBS game over the tabletop so we were able to stick the Guardian ECM in the torso in addition to the pair of medium lasers that were already there.
I wanted to stick some jump jets in there to get the mobility of a Highlander, but that would mean a mixture of dropping the SRMs, downgrading the LRMs again, removing the advanced TTS computer or, worst of all, reducing the armour. In the end, I wasn't willing to make any of those compromises and settled for just filling up the last half-ton of free space with some extra LRMs, leaving the total number of them in the Solus Prime at three hundred.
In the end, I 'just' had to settle for an Atlas with a gauss rifle and ECM.
All in all, I can't complain. The Aurigan Sentinels are definitely a green unit, but that's what you get when you throw together a trio of regiments out of thin air. Time will take off the rough edges and hopefully things will be a different matter in a year or two. And I really hope that they will be different in a good way because it is in a year that High Lord Arano and his wife die in an accident and Lord Espinosa launches his coup.
Nope, not going to think about that. Things are different because I've made them different. Lord Espinosa isn't going to launch his coup, not when there is a battleship in orbit around Coromodir and the Aurigan Coalition just received formal recognition from every known major power in the last few months.
Kamea's parents might still die though. I'll mention getting JumpShips checked out to her or try to push for it myself. I don't know what good it will do, but we do have the memory core and JumpShips are the lifeblood of the interstellar trade that is vital to the Coalition. It might work and I don't see what it costs me to try.
So after writing this update and half of the next one, I realised that I could have written this as less of a direct summary and more Elizabeth conversing with someone else and explaining things to them. Alas, I decided not to go back and revise this update as I deem it good enough and would rather work on progressing the story. I will be having the next chapter as a conversation between Elizabeth and Kamea rather than just a direct summary like this update.
Anyway, Elizabeth has been fortunate enough to find enough bodies to fill out her ranks, but their experience is lacking. I can't recall exactly how the skill level compares to the Rimward Sentinels of my previous story, but the Aurigan Sentinels of this story are going to be significantly greener. Something I hope to make plot relevant even if it is something that will be resolved in time.
Just as this update has covered the military side of things, the next update will be covering the financial and industrial side of things.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
30th December 3020
The intensity of the year didn't let up for the last few months of it. Putting together multiple military regiments from not quite scratch turned out to be as involved and draining as I feared it would be. Especially since I was selling LosTech and acquiring a noble title at the same time.
Thank God that I was able to put my newfound nobility on the backburner. My new landholding used to belong to House Arano so I was able to just keep the existing system for running it in place for now. I might have to take an active hand at some undetermined point in the future, but for now I would be able to play the absent landholder and just collect the more than a hundred thousand C-Bills that my taxes were granting me.
And let me tell you, that amount of money left me with mixed feelings for various reasons. For starters, I feel bad about collecting that much money whilst doing nothing to deserve it. On the one hand, that is how the neo-feudal system works and technically speaking, I am up to my eyes dealing with the stuff that earnt me the landholding. But on the other hand there was the matter of just how much I was collecting from my landholding.
It was a massive amount of money compared to my previous circumstances. I had gone from being lucky to make less than a thousand C-Bills a month to just effortlessly bringing over a hundred thousand. That should be massive for someone like me except I had suddenly found myself trying to pay for multiple military regiments and a literal freaking WarShip. Especially since I lacked an existing logistical network to supply it and was putting together the necessary behind the scenes support from square one.
So a hundred thousand C-Bills a month really didn't seem like that much when the Aurigan Sentinels were costing double-digit millions in the same timeframe. Hopefully that number will lower in time as the fresh unit settles into a status quo as most of the costs come from having to fill a massive amount of demand that has effectively sprung out of thin air. While the mercenary life means that the unexpected can always happen, the expenses should settle down into something more reasonable.
At least the manpower issue has been resolved. As predicted, we had more than enough bodies to fill the ranks and the primary issue in that department was finding people with proper training and expertise. Using the personnel from Dad's expedition as a foundation to build upon had left me with a mostly experienced core.
In terms of ship crews, I had two extremes thanks to having plenty of veteran JumpShip crews while barely having any experienced DropShip crews. Dropper crews don't grow on trees and with more than half a dozen DropShips to crew, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end of it. On paper, I have full crews for all of my ships as the new year is about to roll around the corner, but the truth is that some of the DropShips are a little too green with some members of their crews being little more than glorified apprentices.
A few more months of on the job training should deal with that, but until then I would have to be careful with how I used my DropShips. And then we have the Tomb-Maker aka the White Elephant. Somedays it feels like half of my expenses go towards keeping that WarShip running and if I didn't have High Lord Arano and Lord Espinosa actively helping me, I doubt I would have a chance of crewing it. Even now, the McKenna-class Battleship just spends its days in orbit over Coromodir with a green crew and full hangar bays that draw from a mixture of my Aurigan Sentinels and the units of the ACM in-system.
For all that the Tomb-Maker is mine on paper, right now it is more the property of the Aurigan Coalition in truth.
In terms of aerospace pilots, I wasn't able to tap much potential. Being an ASF pilot has always been as intensive and hard as being a MechWarrior if not more so without the glamour and glory of being a MechWarrior, thus making the pool of trained personnel scarce. On top of that, the TDF has recently begun its reforms to its aerospace arm under Thomas Calderon, forcing me to compete with the Taurians for the hirable ASF pilots in the region.
I managed to find enough bodies for all of my ASFs, but the experience pool isn't pretty. A full half of my pilot roster are green-rated and of the rest, I can count those who stand out on one hand with the pair of elite pilots that Dad hired and a trio of veterans that I was able to find. Two of them were Feddies that the Bulls refused to even consider touching while the third was a Canopian lady who has a past with the Concordat. I promptly shoved all of those experienced pilots into a single squadron and gave them my Royal Stukas to fly.
The MechWarrior situation is both better and worse. On the one hand, I have slightly more elite and veteran 'Mech pilots than I do fighter pilots, but on the other hand, more than two thirds of my MechWarriors are rated as green. Thanks to drawing upon the Aurigan nobility for political ties and local loyalty, I have plenty of trained, but inexperienced warriors. I refused to take anyone who couldn't pass competency tests, but at the same time, I am drawing upon spare second sons and daughters as anyone with actual experience is already serving in the ACM.
Things aren't much better when it comes to the infantry and tankers. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find any veteran tank crews interested in working for me. I had enough trained professionals to fill out just over a company's worth, but beyond that, I was picking up hopefuls off the street and giving them some basic in-house training. The infantry situation was probably the area where my recruitment efforts had fared the best.
I had Rosabella's Vixens as a small, but effective commando formation and I had shuffled the veteran marines off to lead a company of marines to protect the Tomb-Maker and the JumpShips. It was very much a mix of veterans and fresh recruits, but hopefully time and experience will raise the latter towards the level of the former. On the ground, the situation is better with one squad of regulars for every squad of new recruits out of bootcamp.
The overall circumstances aren't ideal with most of the unit being green, but hopefully numbers and heavy tonnage will compensate for skill until my Aurigan Sentinels can get some proper experience on the battlefield. I doubt I'll be facing any true peers in either the Reach or the Frontier for the foreseeable future.
At least the officer situation is going well. Moana has the Myrmidon's complement under her command, which consists of my command company of 'Mechs and a squadron of Sparrowhawks. Rosabella has an independent command consisting of her old unit that answers directly to me while Soyna and Vance have each been given their own combined arms battalion to command.
Between my own efforts and House Arano's contacts, I've been able to find enough experienced officers to fill out all of the senior leadership positions. I even snagged one Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery to run one of my regiments though that one was due to the generosity of High Lord Arano rather than any actual work on my part. As for other people of interest, I managed to snag Michael Markham of Markham's Marauders. I wasn't able to justify giving him a regimental command, but I did fold him and the rest of the Markham's Marauders into one of my combined arms battalions and give Markham command of it.
While I recognised a bunch of names and faces from their ranks thanks to my otherworldly knowledge, the one that really stuck out to me was Yang Virtanen. A 'Mech Tech after my own heart, it didn't take long before I decided to promote him to Chief 'Mech Tech of the entire Aurigan Sentinels and not just due to name recognition. The real life man is every bit the genius that his game self is, something he proved when I worked with him to upgrade my Atlas, Solus Prime, with LosTech.
A gauss rifle with two tons of ammo to replace the assault autocannon and its two tons of ammo for some additional long-ranged firepower with the head heat sink being removed to free up the tonnage. Then we removed the right torso heat sink and downgraded the LRM/20 to an LRM/15 to make weight savings for an upgraded targeting-tracking system to assist the gauss rifle and a Guardian ECM for extra defensibility. Thankfully reality cleaved closer to the HBS game over the tabletop so we were able to stick the Guardian ECM in the torso in addition to the pair of medium lasers that were already there.
I wanted to stick some jump jets in there to get the mobility of a Highlander, but that would mean a mixture of dropping the SRMs, downgrading the LRMs again, removing the advanced TTS computer or, worst of all, reducing the armour. In the end, I wasn't willing to make any of those compromises and settled for just filling up the last half-ton of free space with some extra LRMs, leaving the total number of them in the Solus Prime at three hundred.
In the end, I 'just' had to settle for an Atlas with a gauss rifle and ECM.
All in all, I can't complain. The Aurigan Sentinels are definitely a green unit, but that's what you get when you throw together a trio of regiments out of thin air. Time will take off the rough edges and hopefully things will be a different matter in a year or two. And I really hope that they will be different in a good way because it is in a year that High Lord Arano and his wife die in an accident and Lord Espinosa launches his coup.
Nope, not going to think about that. Things are different because I've made them different. Lord Espinosa isn't going to launch his coup, not when there is a battleship in orbit around Coromodir and the Aurigan Coalition just received formal recognition from every known major power in the last few months.
Kamea's parents might still die though. I'll mention getting JumpShips checked out to her or try to push for it myself. I don't know what good it will do, but we do have the memory core and JumpShips are the lifeblood of the interstellar trade that is vital to the Coalition. It might work and I don't see what it costs me to try.
***
So after writing this update and half of the next one, I realised that I could have written this as less of a direct summary and more Elizabeth conversing with someone else and explaining things to them. Alas, I decided not to go back and revise this update as I deem it good enough and would rather work on progressing the story. I will be having the next chapter as a conversation between Elizabeth and Kamea rather than just a direct summary like this update.
Anyway, Elizabeth has been fortunate enough to find enough bodies to fill out her ranks, but their experience is lacking. I can't recall exactly how the skill level compares to the Rimward Sentinels of my previous story, but the Aurigan Sentinels of this story are going to be significantly greener. Something I hope to make plot relevant even if it is something that will be resolved in time.
Just as this update has covered the military side of things, the next update will be covering the financial and industrial side of things.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
Hmm, tempting Murphy here, but about the only way I can see this causing problems is if the Jumpship was sabotaged but by one of the other Founding Houses to curtail their power bloc.
Formation 3.4
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cordia City, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
30th December 3020
"What are you currently working on?" inquires Kamea, causing me to look up from my work.
"I just received the latest reply from Brandon O'Leary about the Merlin licence," I reply as my future liege lady slash de facto personal assistant glances over at the screen of my computer, "We're finally making some headway."
"You've agreed on what you are going to do?" asks Kamea.
Since I acquired a not so small fortune after some rather successful LosTech sales, I made the decision to reach out to Mountain Wolf BattleMechs about setting up a Merlin factory here in the Reach. Something which has proven more time-consuming then I would have liked, but also going better than I feared it might.
"We're settling on a joint-venture," I say, "It isn't entirely what either of us want, but it is a compromise that we can both live with. And it does get the Coalition some native 'Mech production, which was the ultimate goal."
"Father and Uncle Santiago will certainly be pleased to hear that," says Kamea, "Why did you choose the Merlin anyway?"
"A variety of reasons," I answer, "The 'Mech itself is a solid design. A decent mix of long range and short range firepower, a solid amount of armour for protection while its average speed combined with its jump jets give good mobility. It doesn't have the heat sinks to spam full alphas while also jumping, but it can jump while firing some of its armament or it can dish out full alphas without jumping. Nothing special or amazing, but it is a solid and versatile 'Mech.
"That's just the 'Mech itself. The Merlin is the first design to be put into production in over a century and means something beyond just bragging rights. We want to build a 'Mech factory from scratch rather and O'Leary is one of the only people to have done that since the Third Succession War began. And the Merlin is a fairly easy 'Mech to make and it is primarily put together from off the shelf parts rather than specialty pieces. Not to mention that the Merlin is a Periphery 'Mech and not an Inner Sphere one."
"I think I get it," says Kamea, "Because they have already done what we are trying to do, it makes more sense to reach out to them rather than another corporation who hasn't done it."
"O'Leary has the expertise, but he lacks the funding to make another factory," I say, "He spent most of his family fortune on getting the Merlin into production and even with the last decade, he is still mustering up the funds for a second factory. It turns out that being a military equipment producer in the Alliance doesn't pay that well, even if you make 'Mechs."
"If that is the case, what was the hold up then?" inquires Kamea.
"I wanted to just pay for a licence and have the factory be under Nora Engineering," I explain with a shrug, "He wanted a new factory under Mountain Wolf BattleMechs. And we've just-"
"Settled for joint ownership," interrupts Kamea, "So you've said already. I take it you have the funding for that?"
"You know I've made a Behemoth's worth of riches," I point out, "And even with all that I've been spending, I've made sure to hold back enough for this very endeavour."
In terms of financial security, my situation has completely flipped around as my various sales came through and firmly secured me a position of stability on the financial front. First of all is the Star League memory core full of engineering data that we've been selling to everyone. And I do mean everyone as High Lord Arano publicly announced that we had the memory core and copies of it were for sale.
Of course, there were several problems with the regional HPG when he did this, but even ComStar wasn't able to stop it. Or at least they weren't able to destroy the memory core before an improvised pony express saw Protector Calderon informed of the news and after that, the cat was well and truly out of the bag.
I'm fairly certain that I've made more C-Bills from selling the memory core than my LosTech even if I am splitting the proceeds of the former with House Arano and House Espinosa. What I found pales before the true find of the century hidden away on Helm, but nobody apart from myself and Moana know that. All of the major players just see the greatest LosTech prize for sale and they want a piece of that.
The Successor Lords, the Canopians, the Taurians and even relatively minor players such as major interstellar corporations or Leaguer provinces all want a copy of the memory core and they are willing to pay top C-Bill for it. Even months later, sales of memory core are still ongoing even if they are dying down in both numbers and the amount of money exchanging hands.
And then there is my actual LosTech sales. While it took until early October for me to actually receive the C-Bills as I only got paid when a Davion task force showed up to collect the loot, the First Prince was more than willing to pay a not so small fortune for intact LosTech samples for the NAIS. I sold him most of my Nightshades, Cyranos, Padillas and Lightning hovercraft alongside some assorted LosTech components in exchange for roughly one and a half billion C-Bills.
And that was just House Davion. The Taurians snapped up the remaining vehicles on sale, though in that case the price got a little abnormal as the Bulls paid in heavy 'Mechs rather than plain old C-Bills. The last lance of Padilla Heavy Artillery Tank were traded for a lance of MAD-3R Marauders fresh from the Taurus Territorial Industries' factory on Taurus. A similar deal was cut with the VTOLs and Lightnings, the Protector decided it was cheaper to continue paying for the Concordat's semi-active heavy 'Mech factories to be more active than normal so I will be receiving a demi-company of Thunderbolts and Warhammers each. The only downside is that all of the 'Mechs will only be arriving partway into the next year and while I doubt House Calderon will stiff me, it remains a possibility.
Frankly, it isn't the best deal in terms of raw financial value, but all of those are some excellent 'Mechs. So I get some quality warmachines and goodwill while the Bulls get to save a small fortune in C-Bills and acquire more functional LosTech for their research efforts. Considering that the Taurians were the neighbour most likely to invade the Reach, the goodwill won't hurt at all. Especially since I just sold twice as many LosTech machines to the hated House Davion. The Bulls always get irrational when the Federated Suns is involved.
The remaining LosTech sales that I made were assorted components to the Canopians, Capellans, Leaguers and even individuals further afield like those from the Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine. By the time that I called an end to the sales in November, I had a pretty major fortune with enough C-Bills to sustain the Aurigan Sentinels for the foreseeable future as I easily had enough to keep the unit afloat for a few years.
Not that I have been limiting my spending to just my mercenary unit or the attempt to get a Merlin factory. I've invested in Ragnarok Engineering and Pinard Protectorates Limited as two promising companies and while I don't have controlling stocks in either one by a long shot, I do have enough that my say has meaningful weight in both companies. The former is the corporation behind the Sleipnir and Vargr APC Tanks and while those vehicles aren't special beyond being heavily-armoured for APCs, they are the only homegrown designs that the Coalition has. Every other piece of major military production are either generic designs of some variant or they originated abroad.
Meanwhile, Pinard Protectorate Limited is me taking advantage of my future knowledge. Being formed in late October, I used part of my recently arrived fortune from House Davion to invest in the corporation at the ground level, becoming one of the major stockholders that the board of directors is held accountable to. Built around a consolidation of existing factories and some new ones, only the future will determine whether PPL crashes and burns or becomes a success story. Unless, of course, you are me, who knows that the corporation will still be in business halfway into the thirty-second century and will only expand its operations further between now and then.
Of course, I haven't just been investing my newfound wealth in the businesses of others. I decided to help out Malia by giving a relatively small yet hefty contribution to Kalani Meats & Meals, making some one-time payments for a few plans that she has for the family business. And then there are my own exoskeleton dreams.
While making my own version of the Yellowjacket is the dream, I have a decent way to go. I have the myomer layout figured out and patented and the machine gun needed to be adapted from the infantry support weapon version, but the armour is being elusive. I'm not Jackson Watt who has the knowledge of what the armour formula looks like and just lacks the means to make it. If anything, I'm the opposite as I have funding and tools to make the exoskeleton-sized armour and just lack the necessary knowledge.
Instead I've had to do things the old fashioned way of hiring some researchers and putting them to work on figuring out how to make BAR 10 grade armour that will fit on an exoskeleton. Hopefully it won't draw the attention of ROM. I've caused enough messes for ComStar to run damage control on that developing military-grade exoskeleton armour should be overlooked if I'm lucky.
In the meantime, I've been purchasing exoskeleton factories on Coromodir alongside their component production lines. While it is entirely viable for me to build new production lines from scratch, it is cheaper to just purchase existing factories and purpose them to my own designs. I might not have everything needed for the Yellowjacket yet, but I can set the foundation for producing it when I finally get the specs put together.
Just tool everything up for a similar design. Just make an exoskeleton with the same myomer layout with gloves. Maybe add something else to it like that space operations adaptation that the Taurians came up with a decade ago to disguise my true intentions. Once I have the machine gun ready and the armour formula figured out, I can just switch over the production of the civilian exoskeletons to my version of the Yellowjacket.
"Given how much money Father and Uncle Santiago have been making, I can certainly believe it," says Kamea.
"At this rate, we'll have to expand into the Frontier just to avoid crashing the economy via inflation," I note and doesn't that just bring up mixed feelings in me.
The thirty-first century part of me, well, it sees nothing wrong with the idea, but it is more a distaste for the loss of life and upending the lives of the innocent people unfortunate to live on one of the conquered worlds. There is no real moral objection to the idea of just conquering a place via force of arms just because we can or we want their land.
The twenty-first century part of me baulks at the idea of just invading something on the grounds that we want to and we can get away with it. Just effectively invading another nation with no proper justification, it feels wrong. I know that has been normal since the Star League fell, but the concept just rubs me the wrong way.
"It was always going to happen sooner or later," says Kamea as she gives me an odd look, "What about the other 'Mech options?"
"Bug 'Mechs, especially the Wasp, are easy enough to make, but they're Bug 'Mechs," I answer, "With everything we've now got, we can set up a factory for one of those on our own. As for the rest, Blackwell Industries has an exclusive contract with the Wolf's Dragoons when it comes to the Marauder II and they aren't budging from it. Nimakachi has been playing games, silly games and I lack the patience to deal with it, especially over the Spider. Things have been going better with Corean Enterprises and the Centurion. They're willing to set up a new factory over here, but we're running into issues with FedSun regulations given that the Coalition is a foreign entity. Your father is handling that one though so I'm not really involved in it."
"Merlins and Centurions," muses Kamea.
"Those along with Bug 'Mechs and whatever else your father and Lord Espinosa come up with," I confirm, "So what has brought you here? Just wanted to talk or is there something that needs my attention?"
"Oh, nothing urgent, Elizabeth," replies Kamea, "I just wanted to give you a friendly heads up that Father is planning to finally send us after the Argo."
And here is the financial and industrial side of things. Elizabeth is selling lots of things for lots of money, of which I am being mostly vague because FASAnomics. Just consider it enough that Elizabeth has enough for any foreseeable future plans and her biggest financial concern is not crashing the Aurigan economy via inflation.
As for the Aurigan BattleMech production, I looked at what 'Mech production has recently been set up for what they would go for rather than the best 'Mechs. Spider production gets renewed between 3025 (House Marik sourcebook) and 3005 (the arrival of the Wolf's Dragoons) and the Marauder II is introduced by the Wolf's Dragoons following their arrival. Likewise the Merlin is a new design that was introduced in 3010 and a new Centurion factory was set up on New Avalon in 3012.
For those wondering, Ragnarok Engineering is something I made up as there is next to no information on the Sleipnir and Vargr APC Tanks. We know that the former was first procured in 3002 and the latter in 2945, but that's it so I'm filling in the blanks by making it a native Aurigan design to explain why its usage is so limited.
Anyway, the next update will need a new arc as Elizabeth and her Aurigan Sentinels go on their first mission to retrieve the Argo for High Lord Arano.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
30th December 3020
"What are you currently working on?" inquires Kamea, causing me to look up from my work.
"I just received the latest reply from Brandon O'Leary about the Merlin licence," I reply as my future liege lady slash de facto personal assistant glances over at the screen of my computer, "We're finally making some headway."
"You've agreed on what you are going to do?" asks Kamea.
Since I acquired a not so small fortune after some rather successful LosTech sales, I made the decision to reach out to Mountain Wolf BattleMechs about setting up a Merlin factory here in the Reach. Something which has proven more time-consuming then I would have liked, but also going better than I feared it might.
"We're settling on a joint-venture," I say, "It isn't entirely what either of us want, but it is a compromise that we can both live with. And it does get the Coalition some native 'Mech production, which was the ultimate goal."
"Father and Uncle Santiago will certainly be pleased to hear that," says Kamea, "Why did you choose the Merlin anyway?"
"A variety of reasons," I answer, "The 'Mech itself is a solid design. A decent mix of long range and short range firepower, a solid amount of armour for protection while its average speed combined with its jump jets give good mobility. It doesn't have the heat sinks to spam full alphas while also jumping, but it can jump while firing some of its armament or it can dish out full alphas without jumping. Nothing special or amazing, but it is a solid and versatile 'Mech.
"That's just the 'Mech itself. The Merlin is the first design to be put into production in over a century and means something beyond just bragging rights. We want to build a 'Mech factory from scratch rather and O'Leary is one of the only people to have done that since the Third Succession War began. And the Merlin is a fairly easy 'Mech to make and it is primarily put together from off the shelf parts rather than specialty pieces. Not to mention that the Merlin is a Periphery 'Mech and not an Inner Sphere one."
"I think I get it," says Kamea, "Because they have already done what we are trying to do, it makes more sense to reach out to them rather than another corporation who hasn't done it."
"O'Leary has the expertise, but he lacks the funding to make another factory," I say, "He spent most of his family fortune on getting the Merlin into production and even with the last decade, he is still mustering up the funds for a second factory. It turns out that being a military equipment producer in the Alliance doesn't pay that well, even if you make 'Mechs."
"If that is the case, what was the hold up then?" inquires Kamea.
"I wanted to just pay for a licence and have the factory be under Nora Engineering," I explain with a shrug, "He wanted a new factory under Mountain Wolf BattleMechs. And we've just-"
"Settled for joint ownership," interrupts Kamea, "So you've said already. I take it you have the funding for that?"
"You know I've made a Behemoth's worth of riches," I point out, "And even with all that I've been spending, I've made sure to hold back enough for this very endeavour."
In terms of financial security, my situation has completely flipped around as my various sales came through and firmly secured me a position of stability on the financial front. First of all is the Star League memory core full of engineering data that we've been selling to everyone. And I do mean everyone as High Lord Arano publicly announced that we had the memory core and copies of it were for sale.
Of course, there were several problems with the regional HPG when he did this, but even ComStar wasn't able to stop it. Or at least they weren't able to destroy the memory core before an improvised pony express saw Protector Calderon informed of the news and after that, the cat was well and truly out of the bag.
I'm fairly certain that I've made more C-Bills from selling the memory core than my LosTech even if I am splitting the proceeds of the former with House Arano and House Espinosa. What I found pales before the true find of the century hidden away on Helm, but nobody apart from myself and Moana know that. All of the major players just see the greatest LosTech prize for sale and they want a piece of that.
The Successor Lords, the Canopians, the Taurians and even relatively minor players such as major interstellar corporations or Leaguer provinces all want a copy of the memory core and they are willing to pay top C-Bill for it. Even months later, sales of memory core are still ongoing even if they are dying down in both numbers and the amount of money exchanging hands.
And then there is my actual LosTech sales. While it took until early October for me to actually receive the C-Bills as I only got paid when a Davion task force showed up to collect the loot, the First Prince was more than willing to pay a not so small fortune for intact LosTech samples for the NAIS. I sold him most of my Nightshades, Cyranos, Padillas and Lightning hovercraft alongside some assorted LosTech components in exchange for roughly one and a half billion C-Bills.
And that was just House Davion. The Taurians snapped up the remaining vehicles on sale, though in that case the price got a little abnormal as the Bulls paid in heavy 'Mechs rather than plain old C-Bills. The last lance of Padilla Heavy Artillery Tank were traded for a lance of MAD-3R Marauders fresh from the Taurus Territorial Industries' factory on Taurus. A similar deal was cut with the VTOLs and Lightnings, the Protector decided it was cheaper to continue paying for the Concordat's semi-active heavy 'Mech factories to be more active than normal so I will be receiving a demi-company of Thunderbolts and Warhammers each. The only downside is that all of the 'Mechs will only be arriving partway into the next year and while I doubt House Calderon will stiff me, it remains a possibility.
Frankly, it isn't the best deal in terms of raw financial value, but all of those are some excellent 'Mechs. So I get some quality warmachines and goodwill while the Bulls get to save a small fortune in C-Bills and acquire more functional LosTech for their research efforts. Considering that the Taurians were the neighbour most likely to invade the Reach, the goodwill won't hurt at all. Especially since I just sold twice as many LosTech machines to the hated House Davion. The Bulls always get irrational when the Federated Suns is involved.
The remaining LosTech sales that I made were assorted components to the Canopians, Capellans, Leaguers and even individuals further afield like those from the Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine. By the time that I called an end to the sales in November, I had a pretty major fortune with enough C-Bills to sustain the Aurigan Sentinels for the foreseeable future as I easily had enough to keep the unit afloat for a few years.
Not that I have been limiting my spending to just my mercenary unit or the attempt to get a Merlin factory. I've invested in Ragnarok Engineering and Pinard Protectorates Limited as two promising companies and while I don't have controlling stocks in either one by a long shot, I do have enough that my say has meaningful weight in both companies. The former is the corporation behind the Sleipnir and Vargr APC Tanks and while those vehicles aren't special beyond being heavily-armoured for APCs, they are the only homegrown designs that the Coalition has. Every other piece of major military production are either generic designs of some variant or they originated abroad.
Meanwhile, Pinard Protectorate Limited is me taking advantage of my future knowledge. Being formed in late October, I used part of my recently arrived fortune from House Davion to invest in the corporation at the ground level, becoming one of the major stockholders that the board of directors is held accountable to. Built around a consolidation of existing factories and some new ones, only the future will determine whether PPL crashes and burns or becomes a success story. Unless, of course, you are me, who knows that the corporation will still be in business halfway into the thirty-second century and will only expand its operations further between now and then.
Of course, I haven't just been investing my newfound wealth in the businesses of others. I decided to help out Malia by giving a relatively small yet hefty contribution to Kalani Meats & Meals, making some one-time payments for a few plans that she has for the family business. And then there are my own exoskeleton dreams.
While making my own version of the Yellowjacket is the dream, I have a decent way to go. I have the myomer layout figured out and patented and the machine gun needed to be adapted from the infantry support weapon version, but the armour is being elusive. I'm not Jackson Watt who has the knowledge of what the armour formula looks like and just lacks the means to make it. If anything, I'm the opposite as I have funding and tools to make the exoskeleton-sized armour and just lack the necessary knowledge.
Instead I've had to do things the old fashioned way of hiring some researchers and putting them to work on figuring out how to make BAR 10 grade armour that will fit on an exoskeleton. Hopefully it won't draw the attention of ROM. I've caused enough messes for ComStar to run damage control on that developing military-grade exoskeleton armour should be overlooked if I'm lucky.
In the meantime, I've been purchasing exoskeleton factories on Coromodir alongside their component production lines. While it is entirely viable for me to build new production lines from scratch, it is cheaper to just purchase existing factories and purpose them to my own designs. I might not have everything needed for the Yellowjacket yet, but I can set the foundation for producing it when I finally get the specs put together.
Just tool everything up for a similar design. Just make an exoskeleton with the same myomer layout with gloves. Maybe add something else to it like that space operations adaptation that the Taurians came up with a decade ago to disguise my true intentions. Once I have the machine gun ready and the armour formula figured out, I can just switch over the production of the civilian exoskeletons to my version of the Yellowjacket.
"Given how much money Father and Uncle Santiago have been making, I can certainly believe it," says Kamea.
"At this rate, we'll have to expand into the Frontier just to avoid crashing the economy via inflation," I note and doesn't that just bring up mixed feelings in me.
The thirty-first century part of me, well, it sees nothing wrong with the idea, but it is more a distaste for the loss of life and upending the lives of the innocent people unfortunate to live on one of the conquered worlds. There is no real moral objection to the idea of just conquering a place via force of arms just because we can or we want their land.
The twenty-first century part of me baulks at the idea of just invading something on the grounds that we want to and we can get away with it. Just effectively invading another nation with no proper justification, it feels wrong. I know that has been normal since the Star League fell, but the concept just rubs me the wrong way.
"It was always going to happen sooner or later," says Kamea as she gives me an odd look, "What about the other 'Mech options?"
"Bug 'Mechs, especially the Wasp, are easy enough to make, but they're Bug 'Mechs," I answer, "With everything we've now got, we can set up a factory for one of those on our own. As for the rest, Blackwell Industries has an exclusive contract with the Wolf's Dragoons when it comes to the Marauder II and they aren't budging from it. Nimakachi has been playing games, silly games and I lack the patience to deal with it, especially over the Spider. Things have been going better with Corean Enterprises and the Centurion. They're willing to set up a new factory over here, but we're running into issues with FedSun regulations given that the Coalition is a foreign entity. Your father is handling that one though so I'm not really involved in it."
"Merlins and Centurions," muses Kamea.
"Those along with Bug 'Mechs and whatever else your father and Lord Espinosa come up with," I confirm, "So what has brought you here? Just wanted to talk or is there something that needs my attention?"
"Oh, nothing urgent, Elizabeth," replies Kamea, "I just wanted to give you a friendly heads up that Father is planning to finally send us after the Argo."
***
And here is the financial and industrial side of things. Elizabeth is selling lots of things for lots of money, of which I am being mostly vague because FASAnomics. Just consider it enough that Elizabeth has enough for any foreseeable future plans and her biggest financial concern is not crashing the Aurigan economy via inflation.
As for the Aurigan BattleMech production, I looked at what 'Mech production has recently been set up for what they would go for rather than the best 'Mechs. Spider production gets renewed between 3025 (House Marik sourcebook) and 3005 (the arrival of the Wolf's Dragoons) and the Marauder II is introduced by the Wolf's Dragoons following their arrival. Likewise the Merlin is a new design that was introduced in 3010 and a new Centurion factory was set up on New Avalon in 3012.
For those wondering, Ragnarok Engineering is something I made up as there is next to no information on the Sleipnir and Vargr APC Tanks. We know that the former was first procured in 3002 and the latter in 2945, but that's it so I'm filling in the blanks by making it a native Aurigan design to explain why its usage is so limited.
Anyway, the next update will need a new arc as Elizabeth and her Aurigan Sentinels go on their first mission to retrieve the Argo for High Lord Arano.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
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- Location
- Porto, Portugal
What is the Yellowjacket you are talking about?
The only one in Sarna is a VTOL with a Gauss rifle, but you are talking about a PA(L)/BA, right?
The only one in Sarna is a VTOL with a Gauss rifle, but you are talking about a PA(L)/BA, right?
Thank you for the update!
These are from a fic called China shop by TPK over on SB.
These are from a fic called China shop by TPK over on SB.
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The one from this BattleTech fanfic: China Shop (Battletech)
That's a couple decent mediums add a lights like the Commando and Firestarter and you have a good lineup.
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
While the Centurion is a medium, the Merlin is actually a heavy.
Is there a reason the AC is going with the Centurion over the Enforcer or even better the Hunchback?
- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Hmm... a Centurion gives you a good Trooper medium, that can work for infighting or long-range support with the LRMs... assuming you're getting the base -A model, of course, and with HBS ACs and ammo explosion rules it's really solid! If you get any -ALs I'd want to collab with Yang to thin the armour by a half-ton and beef up the power feeds for the SL until it can handle an ML, but if you're using HBS rules the -AL isn't such a huge upgrade over the -A as it is on the tabletop.
Getting the Merlin should be having your techs set up little shrines in your honour - it's got Easy to Maintain and Rugged, which will make it a breeze to work on and free up their time for the more finicky designs, particularly the ones that will need the Argo or the Tomb-Maker's machine shops to make parts for! As a combat machine, I'd be tempted to pair it with your Grasshoppers, to give them some more long-range firepower than their puny little LRM-5s (with another puny little LRM-5! Oh, and a PPC, that's probably important too, lmao), and seriously consider loading Smoke rounds into at least some of the lances' LRMs. Alternatively, refit some to the Porter standard (pull the PPC and LRMs, replace them with an LL and SRMs) and let them bodyguard your Warhammers or be battle buddies with your Centurions.
But even if your home nation can find some Bugmechs for you, those are just more scouts to go with your Ostscouts, in that they're significantly worse at scouting while being slightly better at protecting themselves. Same for the Spiders you were looking at. You need some Scout Hunters, or at least bodyguards for your Scouts. Phoenix Hawks are the obvious choice, but even Javelins or Firestarters could work (if you get Javelins, please please please buy both -10F and -10N models and swap half their armaments with each other, to get a hybrid model with both SRMs and MLs. A couple of them works far better than the dedicated models working together, imo). Of course, that's down to if you can either buy enough or collab on a factory for them...
Getting the Merlin should be having your techs set up little shrines in your honour - it's got Easy to Maintain and Rugged, which will make it a breeze to work on and free up their time for the more finicky designs, particularly the ones that will need the Argo or the Tomb-Maker's machine shops to make parts for! As a combat machine, I'd be tempted to pair it with your Grasshoppers, to give them some more long-range firepower than their puny little LRM-5s (with another puny little LRM-5! Oh, and a PPC, that's probably important too, lmao), and seriously consider loading Smoke rounds into at least some of the lances' LRMs. Alternatively, refit some to the Porter standard (pull the PPC and LRMs, replace them with an LL and SRMs) and let them bodyguard your Warhammers or be battle buddies with your Centurions.
But even if your home nation can find some Bugmechs for you, those are just more scouts to go with your Ostscouts, in that they're significantly worse at scouting while being slightly better at protecting themselves. Same for the Spiders you were looking at. You need some Scout Hunters, or at least bodyguards for your Scouts. Phoenix Hawks are the obvious choice, but even Javelins or Firestarters could work (if you get Javelins, please please please buy both -10F and -10N models and swap half their armaments with each other, to get a hybrid model with both SRMs and MLs. A couple of them works far better than the dedicated models working together, imo). Of course, that's down to if you can either buy enough or collab on a factory for them...
Cos the Centurion recently had a new factory set up, when almost no-one is setting up new factories at this time. I like the Hunchie too, particularly if you can set up multiple model lines in the same factory, since there's a Hunchie for almost every job, but no-one's actively making new Hunchie factories at this time, and won't until Helm is uncovered or someone generalises the data from the SI's civilian core into factory-relevant info. Same problem with getting a decent Scout-Hunter/Scout Bodyguard, like I want them to - no-one's building factories for them right now, due to the knowledge loss from multiple Succession Wars, not to mention Holy Shrouds.
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- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A new Centurion factory was set up in 3012 so there both proof that it can be done with modern tech and knowledge and living expertise to tap into. Meanwhile, the Enforcer hasn't had any new production set up since the Succession Wars began and since there is no date given for when Kali Yama started making Hunchbacks for League, I'm treating it as one of the first two Succession Wars since it is more plausible for it to happen in that time period than the Third Succession War.
Elizabeth doesn't currently have any Grasshoppers in the Aurigan Sentinels even if she would like to have some.
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
They are welcome, but no promises about canonicity.
- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Really? I coulda sworn... *checks the post where you listed your rolls* *checks the post where I did an analysis of your initial lineup* ...huh. At some point the Grasshoppers you initially listed as getting on a roll of 67 were replaced with Catapults with a roll of 27. Fair enough, Grasshoppers'll be easier to actually acquire at this point anyway, them being still in production unlike Catapults.
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Actually, they aren't. Their factory was destroyed in the Second Succession War, which caused production to cease.
Aurigan Sentinels TO&E (January 3021)
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Naval Assets
WS Tomb-Maker, McKenna Class (Green) (Admiral Leona Geary)JS Enduring Dawn, Star Lord Class (Veteran)
JS Victory's Horizon, Invader Class (Veteran)
JS Noble Huntress, Invader Class (Veteran)
JS Cardenia Claremont, Invader Class (Regular) (Captain Veronika Abraham)
DS Myrmidon, Argo Class (Elite) (Captain Jacen Cressida)
DS Durendal, Fortress Class (Regular) (Captain Roberta Duarte)
DS Joyeuse, Fortress Class (Green)
DS Curtana, Fortress Class (Green)
DS Caladbolg, Fortress Class (Green)
DS Hrunting, Fortress Class (Green)
DS Caliburn, Fortress Class (Green)
DS Northern Ride, Mammoth (Green) (Captain Jamie Smith)
DS Western Steed, Mule Class (Green)
DS Eastern Chariot, Mule Class (Green)
DS Starclaimed Spinner, Modified Buccaneer Class (Regular) (Captain Danilo Teodoro)
DS Hysteria, Leopard Class (Regular)
Independent Formations
Command UnitPaladin Company
-General Elizabeth "Knight" Nora - Modified AS7-D Atlas (Green)
-Lieutenant Kamea "Princess" Arano - AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-Captain Moana "Maiden" Kalani - HGN-732 Highlander (Regular) (Owner-Operator)
-Lieutenant Victoria "Lady" Espinosa - HGN-732 Highlander (Regular)
-Lieutenant Jenelle "Fireball" Donovan - ON1-K Orion (Green)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-Modified GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-Modified GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
Storm Aerospace Squadron
-STU-K5b Stuka (Elite)
-STU-K5b Stuka (Veteran)
-STU-K5b Stuka (Elite)
-STU-K5b Stuka (Veteran)
-STU-K5b Stuka (Veteran)
-STU-K5b Stuka (Regular)
Marine Contingent
Saltwater Company
-Marine Infantry Squad (Veteran)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Veteran)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Veteran)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
Vixen Platoon (Colonel Rosebella Arkos)
-Commando/Spec-Ops Infantry Squad (Elite)
-Commando/Spec-Ops Infantry Squad (Elite)
-Commando/Spec-Ops Infantry Squad (Elite)
Security Contingent
Shepherd Company
-Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
-Infantry Squad (Green)
Watchdog Company
-Marine Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
-Marine Infantry Squad (Green)
1st Aurigan Sentinels
Alpha Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Cavalier Company-Colonel Raju "Mastiff" Montgomery - AS7-D Atlas (Elite)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-HGN-732 Highlander (Veteran)
-HGN-732 Highlander (Regular)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Hospitaller Company
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Wolf Company
-Jump Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
Bravo Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Cataphract Company-Sonya "Chief" Zola - HGN-732 Highlander (Veteran)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-STK-3H Stalker (Veteran) (Owner-Operator)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-CN9-A Centurion (Regular) (Owner-Operator)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Teutonic Company
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Lion Company
-Jump Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
Charlie Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Chevalier Company-Vance Zola - AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-Vanessa Zola - HGN-732 Highlander (Regular)
-ON1-K Orion (Regular)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Templar Company
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Alacorn Tank Mk VI (Regular)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Bear Company
-Jump Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Jump Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
2nd Aurigan Sentinels
Delta Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Centurion Company-Major Michael Markham - MAD-3M Marauder (Veteran) (Operator-Owner)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-Amir "Dekker" Kowalski - HGN-732 Highlander (Green)
-Mohammed "Medusa" Benitez - HGN-732 Highlander (Green)
-Miranda "Behemoth" Aguilera - ON1-K Orion (Green)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-Jessica "Glitch" Chernovskaya - CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-VND-1R Vindicator (Green) (Owner-Operator)
-SHD-2H Shadow Hawk (Green) (Owner-Operator)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Steel Company
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Regular)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Tiger Company
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
Echo Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Legionary Company-HGN-732 Highlander (Elite)
-HGN-732 Highlander (Regular)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Iron Company
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Regular)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Leopard Company
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
Foxtrot Battalion (Combined-Arms)
Viking Company-HGN-732 Highlander (Elite)
-HGN-732 Highlander (Regular)
-AS7-D Atlas (Regular)
-ON1-K Orion (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-WHM-6D Warhammer (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-CPLT-C1 Catapult (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-GRF–1N Griffin (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
-OTT-7J Oscout (Green)
Bronze Company
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Regular)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Merkava Heavy Tank VIII (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Manticore Heavy Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
-Chevalier Light Tank (Green)
Panther Company
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Regular)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
-Foot Infantry Squad (Green)
Aerospace Wing
Sky Wing
Daybreak Aerospace Squadron-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular) (Operator-Owner)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
Dawn Aerospace Squadron
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
Dusk Aerospace Squadron
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Regular)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
-SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Green)
Star Wing
Twilight Aerospace Squadron-F-90 Stingray (Regular) (Operator-Owner)
-F-90 Stingray (Green)
-F-90 Stingray (Regular) (Operator-Owner)
-F-90 Stingray (Green)
-F-90 Stingray (Regular)
-F-90 Stingray (Green)
Sunrise Aerospace Squadron
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Regular)
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Green)
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Regular)
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Green)
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Regular)
-HCT-213 Hellcat (Green)
Sunset Aerospace Squadron
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Regular)
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Green)
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Regular)
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Green)
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Green)
-LTN-G15 Lightning (Green)
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- Location
- Porto, Portugal
Serious hardware.
- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Well, now I really feel a fool. Teach me to go off my (faulty) memory, instead of double-checking before I say something...
Also a serious maintenance problem given some of those designs haven't been made in centuries or are exclusive to Comstar. But it also gives Comstar an in to stir up the Reach. The other nobles will not be pleased that others have gotten so much stronger than them and will soon own most of the heavy military industry. If the New Earth Trading Company or whomever owns the Merkava approached them as a group they should be able to afford the startup costs.
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- Location
- The deathworld-in-miniature that is Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Also, you gave headshot-capable mechs to the entire starting lineup of the Marauders except for Glitch, the somewhat-unhinged headshot machine? Why?
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I give out the 'Mechs to canon Marauders in order of which ones I remembered first. Also I'm not using baseless memes for the story such as Glitch especially good at getting headshots or Dekker always dying. If they have a basis in canon, then I might included them, but they only come from players making certain choices like using Glitch for headshots or being bad enough to get Dekker killed in the first mission rather than anything to do with the characters themselves.
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