MogCarns, on 06 December 2011 - 05:45 PM, said:
C- Clan tech is not nearly as overpowered as it was portrayed in the early novels. The major issue was that for reasons never really officially explained, the IS was still using 3025 tech despite the fact that upgraded gear was available for nearly thirty years. I have many scenario sourcebooks set in the late 3020s and early 3030s that made use of varying levels of tech, from new mechs to refits. Some of these are fairly elite units, but that still leaves some 15 to 20 years of catch up that was never done... including other elite units. Hell, the Marlette CMM has upgraded tech in 3044, but the 12th Donegal of Prince Victor fame (and to note, Victor/Galen themselves) are riding in 3025s come 3050. The primary issue was that those twenty years never really existed... In reality we "jumped" from the end of the 4th to the beginning of the clans with one "Twenty Year Update" sourcebook. We went from garrisoning a planet with a lance to needing a regiment overnight, and no one gave the first thought to where all those Mech suddenly came from, or why they were all built with Obsolete tech. It just wasn't THAT rare.
First: Clan tech weighs less, has better range, better efficiency (damage/heat), takes up fewer critical slots, and even the armor (ferro) is more effective per ton. All rolled in to one bundle. It's pretty overpowered, no way around it.
Second: I'm not sure if you're familiar with modern military procurement practices and weapon system life cycles, but things don't just change over that fast. It costs a LOT of money to change your entire military from 3025 (and earlier) mechs to new ones that are being developed. A lot of the new/recovered technology didn't come online (into production) until the early 40s. And that is for one specific faction, not the entire Inner Sphere. You've got to add in the delay it takes for that tech to proliferate. Don't forget, you have to add in the development time of new mechs as well as the deployment time. As you start filtering new tech mechs into your elite regiments, the older models get pushed out to the more green units, or new ones that are formed. They aren't mothballed, because they're still effective in the world of the Inner Sphere pre-clans. Plus, there are the family owned mechs, that are passed down from one generation to the next. Odds are that those pilots will keep their heirlooms, which they slowly retrofit as time (it isn't an easy process to refit a mech properly, you aren't going to see them upgraded from standard to endo steal structure for example) and money become available. I believe those folk tend to be more in the officer ranks if memory serves.
I'm not sure how you're saying that there was a huge 20 year non-existent period. It may have seemed that way when the 20-Year Update first came out, but there's been a LOT of fill in done in between that release and now in the lore.
Third: Why mechs were still produced with "obsolete tech". Because it was economical. Because not every manufacturer HAS access or the capability to produce the new tech. Because there are still buyers since the mechs are still effective. It takes a long time for the newfangled gadgetry to filter down and become common.
Lastly, a general comment: Don't forget everyone that we are specifically fighting over BORDER planets, according to the info we have. We won't be able to make a deep strike into opposing territory, or wipe them off the map. This will put a brake on how powerful a faction can be or how much their numbers will matter, since they can only reach a certain theoretical maximum in held territory.
Edited by Dihm, 07 December 2011 - 04:48 AM.
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Kay Wolf, on 06 December 2011 - 06:40 PM, said:[/color]
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