How Hard Can It Be? A Battletech Arms Manufacturer Quest
- Thread starter Vanigo
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- battletech
Shell games leave a bad taste in my mouth and make non corrupt goverment officials twitchy
- Location
- Under your bed
[X] Seek investment off-world
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Oh! Runes' post I think hit on a good idea! Does Whiterock Motors (our parent company) have the capital to furnish us with at least a loan? I think that's a thing you can do legally, and if it is doable then it's probably our best bet since we're like 90% to revenue generation in terms of money spent.
[] Ask for a loan from Whiterock Motors, your parent company.
@Vanigo does something like this make sense?
[] Ask for a loan from Whiterock Motors, your parent company.
@Vanigo does something like this make sense?
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LordVile
There's thinking and thinking with explosives.
- Location
- INDIA
Then, can we sell tractors?
Like T34s?
Just strip out everything but the drivetrain and seats.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Our tanks would make lousy tractors or prime movers if stripped down to bare frames and so on; they're not really built for it.
Most of the free capital that Whiterock Motors had on hand already went into your starting funds, and it's only had a few years to build back up. I guess I could roll for how well that's going.
WHI was originally spun off from a tractor manufacturer in the first place, which was where we got our seed funding.
Beyond that, Combat Vehicles just aren't well suited to civilian roles, just as a basic technology. They're more expensive than civilian tech and the benefits are usually only relevant if you're expecting to be shot at. There are some uses, but afaik it's mostly for extremely hazardous environments and megafauna-infested hellholes like Hunter's Paradise.
And that still leaves the problem of actually building the thing to sell in the first place.
Seems to me it'd be somewhere between pointless and counterproductive. Not sure on the business plan.
I assume you mean the LRM factory, because I don't think anything else uses a 130-rated ICE, so there's not much market for it.
Those factories were built as feeder lines for the Sloop factory; spinning them off would add extra administrative and regulatory overhead, and depending on how FWL corporate law works it might torpedo Sloop profit margin by making us pay market rate for our components to subsidiaries expected to act in their own best interest.
If we wanted to make bonds disguised as "new local arms company planning an expansion", we could simply do that as-is and just not mention the tanks.
Though a possible middle ground between "full disclosure now" and trying to keep things quiet as long as possible could be to false-flag the tank factory as being meant for APCs, useful for the militias but not really worth the effort of a raid to steal.
Unless perhaps you mean something like separating them so as to sell shares in the subsidiary lines without affecting the conglomerate as a whole? Could work, idk. Again depends a bunch on particulars of corporate law. Extra moving parts. As investments they'd be much less risky but also less valuable than an aspiring tank manufacturer. Thought if they're not selling parts to the tank line market rate, "34% of the output is sold at cost and will not produce dividends" is a bit eyebrow-raising.
Fundraising will be easier in future once we've got a viable product bringing in money and proving we're able to fulfil our promises.
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- Location
- not telling
Well our opening vote had Whiterock Motors as probable one of the biggest industrial concerns on Aylmer seeing how we export agricultural machinery to nearby worlds. We had 1000 Capital that originally was for expanding the tractor factory before we spun off Whiterock Heavy Industries with it so obviously it's very profitable seeing how we had that much free liquidity. With it being three going on four years and we don't need another 1000 just ~30 or so it should be enough to get us over the line.
LordVile
There's thinking and thinking with explosives.
- Location
- INDIA
Well, so that
This clarifies that we will need to either go public, go into debt or seek offworld investment as we have mostly tapped out the local economy.
1000 capital? No, you started with... I think it was 300. It is one of the biggest industrial concerns on the planet, and the largest agricultural machinery producer in the stellar neighborhood, by that says as much about the neighborhood as anything else.
- Location
- not telling
I could have sworn it was 1000? Well that's easy enough to solve with math. We're sitting at 80.1. Our funding we've recived is X (starting fund), 54 (local big business), 450 (government buy in), 40 (gun guys stock), and 40 (prototype grant). Expenses were 5 (workshop), 40 (workshop upgrade), 10 (armor license), 5 (LRM/SRM license), 32 (facorty campus), 95 (armor machinery), 27 (LRM building), 90 (LRM machinery), 4 (AC/5 guns and pillboxs), 29 (wall and mercs), 100 (main factory), and 330 (factory machinery). Also the miscellaneous stuff like R&D and armor profits totaled up to -26.9.
So
80.1= (X+54+450+40+40) - (5+40+10+5+32+95+27+90+4+29+100+330+26.9)
80.1= (X+584)-(793.9)
80.1=X-209.9= X= 80.1+209.9
X=290
Okay either I'm missing an expense of 10 somewhere or we started just short of 300. With it not stated in an unchaged post all we have are the running numbers.
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The public locally isn't going to have the funds we need, and public off world is just off world funding but slower. Whiterock likely spent all the money it had stockpiled on this, and if it has anything tapping it would have been an option.
Off world funding is the only conceivable option to get this done in a timely manner.
Off world funding is the only conceivable option to get this done in a timely manner.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
True, offworld investment's probably better. Though Vanigo said a roll would be made for Whiterock, and the effort of asking is miniscule. It's not like we need that much more money anyhow.
Asking around the neighborhood
[X] Seek investment off-world
Whiterock Heavy Industries
Red Shore, Aylmer, Free Worlds League
December 4, 2915
Sitting in your office, you look over the HPG message that arrived from Hazeldean today. Cautiously interested... risks of an unproven design... invite you to visit Hazeldean and demonstrate your product... Another one of those.
You drop the letter in a pile on the side of the desk, not particularly upset. Partly, this is because you can't really blame them. It's pretty reasonable to want to see the Sloop before investing. But the real reason is that you have gotten some good offers here and there.
The Duchess of Dalcour, one jump rimward of Aylmer, responded positively, saying a lot of nice things about improving the security of the region, and offered 60 capital in exchange for a 3% stake. The Duke of Tormentine has made a similar offer along with a message much more focused on financial gain.
Lastly, the Abbey District - a district of five poor worlds one jump to the east - has sent an unusual offer. They'll give you 60 capital in exchange for only 2% ownership, but they also want a promise that, should you expand production off of Aylmer in the future, you build at least one factory within the Abbey District. That... wouldn't be easy. The Abbey District is more shot to shit than most worlds (which is really saying something, these days), and from what you can tell would struggle to support a tank factory. Silver might manage, though - Curtiss Hydroponics is the FWL's most important producer of water purifiers, so they must have something going on, industrially.
(Honestly, you have no idea why Curtiss Hydroponics hasn't changed their name. They haven't made any hydroponic equipment in decades.)
There are a few other, worse offers, but those are the only ones worth seriously considering. Any of the three offers would get you enough money to finish up your factory, so you'll have to decide which one to take. Or you could take more than one if you want a buffer, you suppose.
[] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
[] Accept the offer from the Duke of Tormentine (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
[] Accept the offer from the Abbey District (+60 capital, -2% ownership, strings attached)
[] Don't accept any of them
In any case, you were pretty confident that you'd be able to raise the money to get the final assembly line built, so while you were waiting to hear back from offworld, you started sounding out the tool and die shops. Your own techs are still busy with the engine line, and after that they'll be busy installing the other lines, so they aren't really an option this time. Lucas and Sons and Geotech both say they can get it done in five months, for 110 and 100 capital, respectively. Bendan Tool and Die, meanwhile, says that it'll take them seven months, and they want 115 capital. Honestly, you're not sure what that's about, but it doesn't seem like a useful option this time around.
[] Order the final assembly line from Lucas and Sons
[] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
[] Order the final assembly line from Bendan Tool and Die for some reason
[] Don't order the final assembly line yet
- Pronouns
- He
[] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
[] Accept the offer from the Abbey District (+60 capital, -2% ownership, strings attached)
This 2 seams like the mos reasonable
[] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
And geotech haven't fail us so far
[] Accept the offer from the Abbey District (+60 capital, -2% ownership, strings attached)
This 2 seams like the mos reasonable
[] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
And geotech haven't fail us so far
What is our current ownership?
[X] Plan: Get the Dukes invested
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duke of Tormentine (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Abbey District (+60 capital, -2% ownership, strings attached)
-[X] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duke of Tormentine (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Abbey District (+60 capital, -2% ownership, strings attached)
-[X] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
A buffer is important for just in case issues, and frankly we could probably leverage some of the extra capital into either RnD or better fortifications. We are also assured to still hold a majority stake which is huge. If this shakes out we can build more factories abroad while also work on getting a SRM variant up.
[X]Plan Finish is upon us
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duke of Tormentine (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
[X]Plan Finish is upon us
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duchess of Dalcour (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Accept the offer from the Duke of Tormentine (+60 capital, -3% ownership)
-[X] Order the final assembly line from Geotech
70% Only reason i'm not taking abbey district is the string attached.
- Location
- USA
[X]Plan Finish is upon us
Does give up more but also gives us a cushion for operation expenses until the tanks start selling
Does give up more but also gives us a cushion for operation expenses until the tanks start selling
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
[X] Plan: Get the Dukes invested