Bishop Steiner, on 23 March 2016 - 12:14 PM, said:
Actually the Clans still have Brian Caches, with old and obsolete equipment that they dole out as needed for second line forces.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Brian_Cache
And most of those caches were relatively untouched until the Refusal War rebuilding (Falcons and Wolves) and the during the War of Reaving.
So Metus is Right, since the Coyotls weren't seeing much active combat, as inter-clan warfare was seldom wasteful, the majority built would likely still exist in mothballs.
Being a first generation Omni though, they would be both high maintenance, and generally speaking Omnis were not assigned to second line forces, even outdated ones, which is why they would not be prominent in the Toumans.
While they were produced for 89 years, they have not been in production for nearly a century, and spare parts were scarce even at the end of their production. Add to it that the Coyotes are not part of the Invasion Force, And the Diamond Sharks (Sea Foxes) are an Auxiliary, and the likelihood of Coyotl being in a force in the Inner Sphere theater, is sadly, next to nil. With Timeline advance to Operation Bulldog/Scorpion, one might see them come out in limited numbers as the Wolves use whatever they have in the Brian Caches.
So in this, Odanan is also right.
They do exist. But the likelihood of functional ones being in the IS are slim to none.
So you're both right and both wrong, and the end result is that it probably is not the best candidate to hang your heart on.
Quoting from Sarna:
"During the Clans' Golden Century and the years prior to Operation REVIVAL, the Brian Caches were further enlarged when "obsolete" Clan equipment were placed into mothballs after newer-generation equipment became available."
It seems like one of the important points of differencing here has been "whether it shows up in a TRO."
Even KTOs, for example, show up in TROs. Barely, but there were some in ComStar's secret stash that made its way to Kurita, and a tiny little fractional amount in Davion's muster.
Barely there vs. Not there becomes an interesting point of difference.
Does Comguard itself have a TRO listing? (showing my ignorance here)
If it did, would Secret Stash mechs in that listing make it into the ComGuard TRO, or would they be unlisted because they're not "active?"
That's relevant (I think) because the Clanners' Brian Caches would seem to operate similarly.
Would the mechs in a given Clan's Brian Cache show up in a TRO, or not?
If they do, then a lack of Coyotls in anyone's TRO, much less that of an invading Clan would seem to rule it out.
If those Caches and Stashes don't show up in TROs of any kind, because they show only "activated" equipment, but instead serve as ready-to-hand plot devices for the authors and TT GMs, then it would seem like almost anything could be in there, inluding "obsolete" tech that was replaced when next gen mechs became available.
At that point, it's just a matter of how PGI wants to play it. If it's only a matter of whether it's got timeline tech, and they want to bend it, it could happen.
If they're requiring something from the chassis to be in some TRO, somewhere, around now-ish, with current in-game tech, then it's gonna be a no-go.
Some mechs are incredibly obscure, but hanging on by a fingernail in the forgotten corners of a House military muster somewhere (looking at you, Kintaro).
If the Coyotl's in a TRO somewhere, then it's a question of whether an invading Clan would have used it. If it's not, it's much harder for me to see being added.
Unless, that is, we hand-wave it through the plot portal by way of the Brian Cache alone. We haven't had to though, because they've all (to my knowledge) been listed in a TRO thus far, to some miniscule degree.
TL;DR: Is Coyotl in anybody's TRO, for any reason, around now-ish? Seems to have been the case for every other mech we've had in game thus far. If TROs include caches, and there's no Coyotl, then no go. If they don't, anything could go (Coyotl included).
Eek, wall o' text 0.o
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