34 replies to this topic

[dal10]

i assume you mean that they lost the war. and yes this is necroed.

[Dirus Nigh]

The mechs in the FASA era TROs are generally written about. FASA is the original company that created Battletech. Some like the before mentioned Locust, Wasp, and Stinger have been made in the thousands, while others while having less production are the main stay for a particular house. For example, the Catapult is the heavy fire support mech for Liao, the centurion is the work horse medium for Davion, and the Atlas Commando the top scout for Steiner.

Because of the Inner Sphere's history older models are kept in use for centuries there can be a large variety of age and models in any give military. This is why you will get a mech that was made in the 2700s in a unit made up of new mechs from the 2900s. A national military will have more modern and unified vehicles. A regiment under the command of a sector governor might have a mix of old and new chassis. While a planetary militia would have mechs from several different sources. Individually owned mechs handed down through generations, mechs owned and run by the planetary militia, and mechs given by the house military.

Sarna is a great resource for Battletech. Some of the best info came from sourse books written when FASA was still alive.

[Steven Dixon]

The Locust, Wasp and Stinger were the most produced battlemechs until the Zentradi battlefleet destroyed their factories and most of their kind, although the Locust is making a comeback.

A little more seriously: pre clan invasion you would hear a lot about those mechs in fiction but after the clan invasion they were rarely discussed (probably because of the lawsuit although they could still use their names in fiction just not their visuals). My personal explanation for it is that many of these older mechs were destroyed in the initial invasion and when they were rebuilding they focused on other newer designs.

[Vanguard319]

Steven Dixon, on 07 December 2013 - 01:19 PM, said:

The Locust, Wasp and Stinger were the most produced battlemechs until the Zentradi battlefleet destroyed their factories and most of their kind, although the Locust is making a comeback.

Damn Zentradi, they took out the factories for the following mechs too:

Phoenix Hawk
Falcon
Archer
Rifleman
Warhammer
Marauder
Crusader
Ostsol
Ostroc
Ostscout
Longbow
Hornet
Firebee

and every single LAM

[dal10]

Vanguard319, on 07 December 2013 - 03:28 PM, said:

Damn Zentradi, they took out the factories for the following mechs too:

Phoenix Hawk
Falcon
Archer
Rifleman
Warhammer
Marauder
Crusader
Ostsol
Ostroc
Ostscout
Longbow
Hornet
Firebee

and every single LAM

actually there was 1 surviving LAM factory on irece.

also, most of those mechs besides the firebee and the falcon had factories left. For example capcon still produced archers.

Edited by dal10, 07 December 2013 - 07:35 PM.

[Nathan Foxbane]

dal10, on 07 December 2013 - 07:34 PM, said:

actually there was 1 surviving LAM factory on irece.

Then Clan Nova Cat came along and spare parts dried up.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Chameleon yet. It is among the most common of 'Mechs due to its lack of combat losses considering its role as a trainer and to being in constant production since 2510.

Edited by Nathan Foxbane, 08 December 2013 - 10:44 AM.

[Skylarr]

dal10, on 07 December 2013 - 07:34 PM, said:

actually there was 1 surviving LAM factory on irece.

Quote

Irece

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LexaTech Industries was once the Draconis Combine's largest producers of LAMs. They have since become a large supplier of heavy BattleMechs.

Note: The production facility on Irece were razed after their capture by Clan Nova Cat.

Edited by Skylarr, 08 December 2013 - 05:31 PM.

[dragnier1]

Nathan Foxbane, on 08 December 2013 - 10:44 AM, said:

Then Clan Nova Cat came along and spare parts dried up. I am surprised no one has mentioned the Chameleon yet. It is among the most common of 'Mechs due to its lack of combat losses considering its role as a trainer and to being in constant production since 2510.

A pity there are no numbers. We can only reference based on existing mechwarrior academies.

[Victor Morson]

Adridos, on 02 October 2013 - 10:46 AM, said:

Locust is the undisputed king in numbers produced.

Followed by the Wasp, Stinger, Urbie trio Dal mentioned.

That is most produced, not the "best bang for a buck" kind of deal as with M4/T-34.

Yep, this is accurate.

Nathan Foxbane, on 08 December 2013 - 10:44 AM, said:

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Chameleon yet. It is among the most common of 'Mechs due to its lack of combat losses considering its role as a trainer and to being in constant production since 2510.

True story: My first intro to BattleTech was Cresent Hawks Inception on the C64. I knew nothing of BattleTech.

The Chamelon is the only medium in the game.

There was a way you could steal it (no replacement parts though!) and man, it was like God mode. I thought it was the best 'mech in the whole game universe.

When I finally met someone that showed me an Atlas, it blew my mind.

dal10, on 07 December 2013 - 07:34 PM, said:

actually there was 1 surviving LAM factory on irece.

I wish the fluff addressed that nobody wants them because who wants a crappy 'mech that can also be a crappy fighter?

[Skylarr]

Nathan Foxbane, on 08 December 2013 - 10:44 AM, said:

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Chameleon yet. It is among the most common of 'Mechs due to its lack of combat losses considering its role as a trainer and to being in constant production since 2510.

Quote

Since the Terran Hegemony introduced it in 2510, the Chameleon has been the premiere training BattleMech for light- and medium-BattleMech Mechwarriors. In fact, with its role away from the battlefield (except in the most desperate of circumstances), the Chameleon has suffered relatively little attrition. Combined with its continuous production on Hesperus II, the Chameleon is one of the most common BattleMechs. Even in the 31st century, the Chameleon is widely used at academies and training cadres throughout the Inner Sphere.

The Chameleon is the most common, not the most produced.

[Skylarr]

Quote

An ongoing project, the Faction Assignment & Rarity Tables, originally known as the 3025 Faction List & Deployment Tables and also often called the Xotl RAT tables and by many similar names, is a freely available fan-made BattleTech resource authored chiefly by Keith "Xotl" Hann. The titular timeframe was changed at some point to "3028-3050", although by now tables are in fact provided for timeframes as early as 2750 (the Star League era) and tables for beyond 3050 are being worked on.

Being entirely fan-made, the document itself is not canonical. However, it can be considered to be a meta-source because it collates canonical production data, with educated guesswork filling in for some blanks.

3025-3050 Faction Assignment & Rarity Tables

[Elyam]

I agree with Dal10, by 3050 it's likely Stingers produced may have surpassed Locusts. This is based on my reading of the available materials, particularly 1st edition 3025 Technical Readout which always contains a bit more information than Sarna. Mind you, this isn't flatly stated in the text, it is just a best-estimate inference.

Edited by Elyam, 27 December 2013 - 08:20 AM.

[Skylarr]

Quote

http://bg.battletech...hp?topic=5064.0

IS mech production circa 3025

Quote

The House Marik Sourcebook has very detailed numbers by BattleMech type, totalling a bit over 500 per year. The House Liao Sourcebook mentions production per planet with 'Mech factory (total: 400 per year), but not the make and model. You can figure averages from there, if the other House SBs don't give specifics.

Quote

House militaries and militias totaled about 400-500 'Mech regiments in 3025: 50,000 'Mechs. Production rates were about 2,500 'Mechs per year. The question is not "where did they all go?" but "How the hell did 'Mechs not disappear centuries ago when you've got 2000 planets and 6 trillion people to defend/attack?"

Quote

http://bg.battletech...p?topic=19554.0
Mech and other production facilities

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I'd recommend downloading the 3025-era House SBs, which show most 'Mech facilities producing 5 to 25 'Mechs per year, with some exceptions (e.g., the Valkyrie factory on New Avalon) producing up to 100 per year. The average in 3050 to 3070 would be about 3 to 12 per month.

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It completely totally varies from line to line & factory to factory.

The following info I've pulled from older sources but I don't have every source known to man so its possible something beats these figures.

3025 Era.
Smallest # of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 4 (Goliath-Corean/Stewart)
Smallest Tonnage of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 240 (Cicada-FWDI/Gibson)
Smallest # of Designs produced at a Single Factory = 1 (Orion-Kendal & Quickdraw-Savannah)

Largest # of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 130 (Valkyrie-New Avalon)
Largest Tonnage of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 3900+ (Valkyrie-NewAvalon)
Largest # of Designs produced at a Single Factory = 10+ (DefHes)

3050 Era
Largest # of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 240 (Vulcan-Nimakachi/Tematagi)
Largest Tonnage of Mechs/Year from a Single Production Line = 11,270 (Nimakachi/Tematagi)


Now we don't have much in the way of 3050+ figures, but the jump of the Vulcan line from 13/Year to 20/Month should tell you something about what the Helm Core did for a lot of these factories.
I'd also assume the Clan invasion took factories from 1 shift a day to 2-3 shifts a day for a while & that accounts for at least some of the increase.

Quote

https://docs.google....FXcjd6N2c#gid=0

[Escef]

Vanguard319, on 07 December 2013 - 03:28 PM, said:

Damn Zentradi, they took out the factories for the following mechs too:

Phoenix Hawk
Falcon
Archer
Rifleman
Warhammer
Marauder
Crusader
Ostsol
Ostroc
Ostscout
Longbow
Hornet
Firebee

and every single LAM

Why is the Firebee on this list?