37 replies to this topic

[MeiSooHaityu]

Interestingly enough, the new BattleTech game is taking some of these manufacturing traits into consideration. It is going to have weapons from different manufacturers and depending on who made it, it might carry small bonuses to performance. You can see the manufacturer names above the weapons on the pic below...



I don't know if it will get much more complicated than what is shown (or if certain bonuses are 100% lore friendly), but I think it is interesting that it is being acknowledged regardless.

[Koniving]

MeiSooHaityu, on 12 March 2018 - 07:10 AM, said:

Interestingly enough, the new BattleTech game is taking some of these manufacturing traits into consideration. It is going to have weapons from different manufacturers and depending on who made it, it might carry small bonuses to performance. You can see the manufacturer names above the weapons on the pic below...

I don't know if it will get much more complicated than what is shown (or if certain bonuses are 100% lore friendly), but I think it is interesting that it is being acknowledged regardless.

Thank you. We're actually aware of this (MW5 is also doing this, though we already know that MW5's version of variants is not lore friendly, as showcased by the Shadowhawk). One of the examples Harebrained gave was Donal (mentioned in the first post). BT PC is giving Donal less accuracy but more 'umph' in each shot.

All we know of Donal from the history is effectively covered on its Sarna page
Blocky power chambers and longer than normal barrels (which makes me wonder how reduced accuracy comes into play.)

There's a few ways to explain it, though of them the one that makes the most sense is this:
since BT PC still is turn based and still runs on time slices [as a rough but not precise way of looking at it, assaults move every 10 seconds, lights every 2.5 seconds], it could be that the Donal takes longer to get ready to fire, thus reducing the accuracy as opposed to another issue such as carbine assault rifles with short barrels having reduced long range accuracy, given that Donals inherently have much longer barrels than is standard).

The reason this makes sense is we've had discussions in the past in which PPC lore, as of the introduction of the PPC Field Inhibitor's fluff of degrading the PPC to prevent damage to its unit (and how deactivating it produces more heat), as well as certain other factors such as the Lord's Light pre-inhibitor lore describes it as taking longer to get ready to fire (as well as its name originating from the way it creates a brilliant light that builds up for around 2 seconds before it actually fires)... that the PPC requires time to build up energy in order to fire (due largely to the field inhibitor, and with it off the PPC can fire almost immediately at the risk of causing damage to itself and significantly more heat [which we attribute some of the reduced heat from using the field inhibitor as a slower, more controlled buildup of energy]). In other words, PPCs charge up to fire unless the field inhibitor is turned off (thus the minimum accuracy range which disappears when you turn off the field inhibitor, but there's a chance the PPC will explode in your face when you do).

ER PPCs come with some other solution that doesn't require a switchable field inhibitor, and has minimal firing delay in exchange for the extra heat...without it destroying itself.

All-in-all this works well with the post-90's fluff. The 1986 fluff, however, all of this would fall apart and ER PPCs shouldn't exist and Light PPCs shouldn't have a minimum range and the Heavy PPC should have a harsher minimum accurate range. So what was the difference?

1986 fluff basically said this: Minimum accurate range without penalty (shortened minimum range) is due to the difficulty in swinging such a heavy weapon around. (Keep in mind that PPCs were typically arm-mounted in most mechs at the time, much like ACs. Roughly most Mechs at the time were the Unseen. Stingers carrying medium laser 'guns', Wolverine carrying an AC/5 'gun', Phoenix Hawk carrying PPC and laser 'guns'. Griffin carrying a large laser or PPC 'gun'.. Etc. All carried in their hands rather than mounted on the body (where the logic falls apart). This is also why ACs originally had minimum range. They still do, but you can effectively attribute it to the same difficulty you'd have in hitting lights in MWO with any version of the ACs.. You'd miss... a lot..)

With Harebrained versions we can make some beliefs that there's some general truth to them, depending on how much feedback they get from Jordan Weisman, whom created the original series and most importantly, has tried to remind of us the old lore on many instances. Did anyone catch Jordan during the battle of the greybeards, stating that he was specifically sticking to mechs in a particular size (which he gave in feet, but if you translate them to meters, is chosen mechs are MUCH smaller than MWO's), and much more in line with the old lore that the 14.4 meter Executioner was the tallest mech in the 3050+ era.

(Currently, the Atlas in MWO is 17.8 meters and many medium mechs are 14+ meters.)

Still, as Battletech is still a PC game with balancing concerns, and there's only so much that can be done within a turn-based system. As such we cannot expect total compliance. I'm also certain they're not picking up old books, as I'm sure most developers are not...

Some of the best details on weapon systems, unfortunately, comes from BattleTechnology which while canon for well over 22 years, was determined to no longer be canon by the same person that then introduced an AI hivemind named "The Broken" in halloween and said that was canon. So yeah....

Here we go. "30 and 40 foot tall walking robots" (Had to listen until he said it to remind myself of the numbers). (So "9.144 meters and 12.192 meter tall walking robots").
(Note Jordan is bullshitting on rear armor being heavier. Unless he customized it to be heavier. But I'm sure that's obvious.)

Edited by Koniving, 12 March 2018 - 08:29 AM.

[Koniving]

In the Hypothetical thread, it was said by Cathy that issues that plagued the Daboku would never let the 'Mechs leave the test stages in real life military production, however from personal experience with the HEMTT and 1980 and 1990s-built MLRS that military vehicles do indeed ship to field with some design flaws which are often only discovered during field use. There's also dozens of youtube videos (with varying credibility, though the ones from Matsimus, a former Canadian tank engineer [technician] checked out when he covered the vehicles I was familiar with) which often demonstrate that flaws are discovered while the vehicle is in service and later corrected with later generations.

In terms of the Daboku, which (if you ignore the German Battletech's introduction of the Linebacker) is exactly what happens. It is the first model of its kind (again if you ignore German BT's Linebacker) and it has flaws that are mostly discovered during the stresses of combat.
According to TRO 3039, the Daboku is among several mechs listed as the first brand new BattleMechs in centuries.
Sarna's entry however, makes it out that they knew about all the flaws and nonetheless rushed it out into the field. TRO 3039 and Mech Factory however, show that this was NOT the case (and that Sarna's full of it). It was doomed from the start due to politics, corporate fast trackers and some eccentric scientists that claimed to perfectly understand the new data they bought and licensed from the Helm Memory Core... It did debut with little fanfare, however beyond the jamming issue (which they apparently included a mechanism to unjam them in the field, so they knew about this issue and already devised a quick counter). Its laser flaws are not mentioned on Mech Factory strangely.

(Apparently according to page 222 of the TRO 3039, Comstar, over the span of a long time, has sent 'ROM' agents out to assassinate head researchers and top technicians that would get close to producing new designs. Each assassination would set teams back by years to decades. Few managed to slip past them, though among them include the Hatchetman designer and the Raven's designer. It could be asserted that once the Helm Memory Core was out and the mercs that found it had chosen to release it to all by giving it to escorted merchants to sell off bit by bit, Comstar couldn't keep up and just stopped. After all Comstar failed in securing it and failed in preventing its transfer, and I have little doubt that Comstar wanted to keep its involvement secret, though by the time of TRO 3039, apparently the secret was already out.)

Anyway, LAW (Lutherien Armor Works) only got it because of their success with Hatamotochi. However it was uninspired from the get-go, copying the silhouette of IMBU's Awesome. It had a test run of 300 models which apparently the prototype did well enough to get a 300 model production. (The TRO mentions the laser heat problem, but says its an issue with the lasers and the missile launchers, but specifically blames the insufficient heatsinks not the weapons, unlike Sarna which pins the lasers themselves as producing excessive heat).

"A large portion of the problem with the Daboku was trying to copy the Awesome and expecting it to work with the different weapons mix and system construction. The frame was too small to adequately handle the autocannons' multiple weapon feeds; adding to the problem was the constant jamming of the Holly loading systems." (So both the ACs and the missiles would jam, but before the 300 mech test run they only knew of the AC feed issue and had already built a counter for it). "Tronel Lasers were notorious for overheating" (Okay there's the laser-specific blame) "due to designincompatibility could not mount an adequate heat baffle to the charging mechanism. As a result, the Tronel system tended to short-out the targeting circuitry."

I think this is an important line actually.
"could not mount an adequate heat baffle to the charging mechanism"
This implies that lasers charge at some point before they can fire. Why is this important?
PC Battletech is perhaps the first BT/MW game (that I know of) which reflects this. Notice before you fire your lasers in Harebrained Schemes' Battletech you'll hear something click on and a buildup of energy before it actually fires.

But back to the Daboku...
LAW got the C.A.S.E. tech directly from Comstar. Instead of rengineering the tech from scratch, they got it shipped from Comstar without knowing that it was deliberately sabotaged (by not calibrating the sensors or telling LAW about how they would need to do so)... This is where the ejection issue comes from. Of interesting note, this would happen "regardless if the system was manually disabled or not."

With less than half a year from production to being rushed to the field, the Dabokus became a laughing stock.

Now, is was a test run rushed to the front lines due to need. The Russian Hind in the video linked with Matsimus's name up there, they had already mass produced it before discovering some of its major flaws, including the wings which they replaced, and the canopy which wasn't replaced for two or three model generations. Of interesting note, the Hind was originally built with cannibalized parts from existing helicopter systems which attributed to other problems (the Daboku also used existing weapons from other machines such as its Tronnel lasers but failed to encompass the room necessary for proper heat management, or proper space for the Holly missile feeds or its AC feeds from weapon systems harvested from other machines rather than uniquely designed to suit its needs).

Eventually the Hind gets redesigned from the ground up using entirely original parts and from there it becomes a great gunship.
As did the Daboku, in the form of what became known as the Mauler.

So, the Russian military provides us with an example of the Daboku in real life. Though any politically charged rushed military creation is bound to give us similar results. Especially considering the design was rushed in less than 2 years.

Kurita is known, however, to rush designs even when they are well-designed. The Atlas K was supposed to have double heatsinks but was rushed into production before they could finish it, not giving them the time to rework how to go about it in the Atlas's compact frame. (Love how they put so much emphasis on how tightly packed the Atlas is.)

[Koniving]

Without going into the Hind's issues from conception to its many variants... the 1973 produced the Mi24-D, though they intended to produce the V, a missile that they wanted for it was STILL unavailable despite this now being the second iteration that was intended to have it but failed to do so, and so they settled on another kind of missile alongside the downgraded Mi25 which both entered official service in 1976. 650 Mi24-D and Mi25s were produced. Later in 1973, the missile (whose name I cannot even hope to spell) was finally ready, the Mi24-V was also given upgraded engines (and numerous other upgrades which I didn't catch but it goes into actual production in 1976 and around 1,400 examples of it still exist today).

This Mi24-V included an infrared suppression exhaust muzzle, numerous warning systems (blah blah)... here we go, the cannons is what I wanted to share.

They envisioned a hard hitting twin barrelled 23mm weapons. But defense insisted on a smaller caliber gun. In 1975 as the Mi24 mutated from a flying vehicle to a flying artillery vehicle, they returned to the big cannon idea. The resulting Mi24-P was essentially Mi24-V without the four barrel turret and instead featured a 30mm cannon. This also fostered the Mi25-P, the export version. 720 of these were built. The 30mm cannon was extremely heavy, carried far too little ammo, and its recoil was harsh on the aircraft's frame which is never a good. They went back to the drawingboard and produced the Mi24-VP finally introducing the 23mm twin barrel cannon they originally envisioned. It entered production in1989 but not many were made before the VN was built, which ironed out virtually all the kinks and issues.. Since then it has been mainly upgrades with new technology rather than redesigns or issue fixing.

So yeah, just focusing on the cannons, there's nearly 15 years between discovering a major issue and actually fixing it.

Daboku discovered the issues and fix it within 10 years, though a large amount of that delay is nobody wanted to touch it again for several years.

[Koniving]

So remember that raid as a merchant idea, Karl? It is in the very first sentence in "Objective Raids". Masquerading as a merchant craft.

Apparently unless the recharge station is manned there is no way to tell what ship arrived or if something arrived at all without radio transponder codes until much too later. Also raids tend to get a full 12 hours before a large scale response is issued. A company sized response will gradually occur well before then.

Finally figured out whom Imperator belongs to. Imperator is a subdivision of Kallon industries. Quality ballistic weapons...and nothing else.

Edited by Koniving, 25 March 2018 - 08:11 AM.

[Koniving]

So. Objective Raids is an awesome resource, but its set in Clan Invasion+ so it'll leave me with some continuity errors, but if I set the short stories a bit later it won't be an issue.

Anyway, some corporate **** because this thing has a LOT of corporate stuff.

First off.
The issue of "My Brand!" and "Why you makin' mah brand!"
Apparently, and it is briefly mentioned on a few pages... Factories have acquired licenses to manufacture brand name weaponry and equipment. A part of their profit is paid to the licenser by the licensee factory producing the good. This is under varying conditions, but typically weapons are licensed to be produced as part of a packaged deal (buy this mech, it has these weapons that we have acquired the manufacturing rights to) or as replacement parts under a premium. Sometimes the license doesn't allow them to sell the weapons/equipment/parts to any non-government military (so no mercs).

Second.
The listing we often see on Sarna...
As example, jump to manufacturing here.
implies that the components are just made for that specific thing. I.E. the StarGuard CIV Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE in Objective Raid on the Hornet.
However, Objective Raid lists the component's "Typical use." So the typical use is the Hornet, but Sarna acknowledges it is used for Hornet, Enforcer and Enforcer III. It can actually be used on a lot more things, but the point is the listings given are the typical uses or in some cases what the licensing limits allow. Once out of the factory and into your hands however, who says they can stop you?

Achernar BattleMechs... confirmed to have no capabilities to produce heavy mechs in Clan Invasion era (Sorry; no Roughneck, and Loader King would be a medium. But since Roughneck is effectively being made canon... The transition from a medium industrial chassis to a heavy Battlemech chassis using the same molds wouldn't be difficult, though, change the materials, some software, change it to some real armor... A 50 ton Loader King [my version] industrial structure is 10 tons. A 65 ton military grade internal structure is only 6.5 tons so they can easily be the same size. The difference in structure health is 104 military 65 tons to 83 industrial 50 tons = 21 points stronger, too.)

Mydron is primarily built at Yeffers Weapons Factory.
Mydron has a naming convention. Model A is AC/20, model B is AC/10, model C is AC/5, model D is AC/2. Mydron Excel is the LB 10-X. Their machine gun line is simply called Mydron Miniguns. Christine Salos, Duchess of Gulkana, runs the company. It is in reach of AFFS,but otherwise the factory is undefended. It takes 23 days of standard propulsion to reach the planet from the system's jump point. Though her line of autocannons is on Commonwealth mechs and vehicles, they were originally installed on dropships. Particularly the model B.

I saw it at work but with the 192 pages I'm having trouble finding it, but one company builds nothing but targeting systems, their own brand line as well as licensed versions of numerous others.

Quite sleepy so I'll come back with more later.

Edited by Koniving, 26 March 2018 - 06:21 AM.

[Karl Streiger]

Need to slide in here
The naming convention of the Mydron just gave me the idea.
Considering that Mydron is the "brand" with different manufacturers.... I wonder why there is no Farfire LRM 5.
You remember (Farfire one of my first LRMs (for Jes II and Jes III)

Considering the naming convention of some FarFires - Medium (LRM 10), Heavy (LRM15) and the branding of LongFire LIGHT LRM 5 on Behemoth and Maxim (side not in the Text of the Maxim the LRM are named FarFires in the text variants)

Considering sarna - the LongFires are manufactured from other companies - but still I bet its a typical FASA mistake the created the LongFire (although you still find it in the TRO3145) - a alternative might be the inability of a company to "copy" the performance of the FarFire and the complexity of the launcher - and created a cheap copy in form of a light LongFire missile system.

[Koniving]

Could be. There's also the "Farfire Maxirack" (strangely used for both LRM-15 and LRM-20... which I wonder if this is a typo OR a naming convention in regards to the specific nature as described on Atlas D [and as a remaining oversight due to hurried conditions for the Atlas K where they didn't have time to remove the housing from the production run -- though considering that their factory is near Davion space, stolen from the Davions, and under constant risk of Davions taking it over again especially as Steiner and Davion marry into each other for an alliance...this makes perfect sense to rush it before the factory and the design is stolen back from under their feet ].. In which it is a rapidly reloading 5 tube launcher.).

(Though with the weight, slots, etc. in play, I always wonder why they didn't just do 4 LRM-5s and say its a single system... But then it could lock onto 4 different targets, be lighter, still function if one launcher is hit, etc... Still you'd get the behavior of being able to launch one rack of 5 missiles every 2.5 seconds.. ...Okay there's solaris where you could ******** it into a single 2.5 second turn...)

Meh.

Any reason its called a Light Longfire system? Like is it a Light LRM-5? Or a standard LRM-5?

[Karl Streiger]

Koniving, on 26 March 2018 - 06:31 AM, said:

(Though with the weight, slots, etc. in play, I always wonder why they didn't just do 4 LRM-5s and say its a single system... But then it could lock onto 4 different targets, be lighter, still function if one launcher is hit, etc... Still you'd get the behavior of being able to launch one rack of 5 missiles every 2.5 seconds.. ...Okay there's solaris where you could ******** it into a single 2.5 second turn...)

Like the LongFire LRM5s on the Behemoth....4 LRM5s.... instead of a single LRM20.
(The issue is that it doesn't matter much in the classic tabletop game) so the TRO guys can type what ever they want
(Like there is a Mydron Rotary RAC5 as well as a Mydron Tornado... RAC5.....??? Guys serious?

When I think of my FarFire LRM System - the difference would be the number of launchers - a LRM20 would be able to fire 4 LRMs in one volley - were as the LRM5 would be limited to 1 missile. (so as you said - 4 instead of 1 missile system)
But considering my system of the Holly missile family - there would be a difference between a Light LRM and a Siege LRM (5 and 20) - both systems would fire 2 missiles per volley - but the LRM20 would be bigger, slightly slower but would have more range and deliver a bigger payload.
There it would made a difference if you load 1 LRM20 or 4 LRM5s.... 2 or 8 missiles - the later would be a good option for multiple light targets, target saturation or better anti air performance.(if you use SAM LRMs)

[Koniving]

Huh, shocking. No light LRM systems so it isn't like a copy of the Clan tech eight with less range. Unless you count the man-portable / Battle Armor versions but those are O/S.

Speaking of, have you seen any stock versions of O/S LRM-5 through LRM-20 on mechs?

Mydron's entry under the Gurkana at the Yeffers factory seems to imply that they are not (yet) produced anywhere else, at least not for 20 years leading up to the Clan invasion. (In fact it also implies that Mydron as a brand didn't exist until 20 years preceding the Clan Invasion, as Mydron is a brand name that is the creation of the Duchess, and that in return for her loyalty and help in overthrowing the previous rulers of the planet, that "HER" company get larger military contracts to quickly spread her brand.) So that does make for a curiosity. It also seems to imply that at first her autocannons were only initially put on dropships (citing that it is traditional to mount the cheapest most abundant autocannons on hand onto dropships regardless of performance), but Mydron ACs were proven to be more than reliable, which led to them being used to re-outfit everything from Battlemechs to "Combat Vees." I assume that means Combat Vehicles. So Mydron is a potential candidate for "replacement ballistics" on different units. But according to this, "Mydron" ACs shouldn't exist before somewhere in the 3025-3032 time frame, depending on exactly when that "20 years" actually begins and how rounded (generalized) that "20 years" actually is.

Anyway...
Objective Raids also contains maps of the different factories, as well as some brief details. For example the planet Talon, on which Kallon Industries has its main facility, virtually requires jumpjet capable mechs due to the rugged and treacherous terrain that is prone to collapsing in some areas. The use of assault mechs is ill advised. (It doesn't specifically say but I assume you just do a basement check when landing on the terrain for a jump to see if any of the natural rock spires will collapse under your weight.)

Its funny that Kallon would be on Talon as in either case if you swap or remove a single letter you have my real name. I've already got a company in Battletech lore.

Also fun to note:
The following real life companies, more or less, are in the BT universe:
Brinks (they are still doing armored trucks for escorting finances between institutions.) (Remind me I'll find the picture later, it isn't in Objective Raids [nor is their company]. )
General Motors (has their hands in vehicles of all types and mechs as well as the civilian sector. They still produce civilian cars, too.)
Nissan: Builds engines... and battlemechs?
Apple, Inc. (Mentioned below.)

There are more, too.

---

An interesting note: Draconis Combine always decorates their dishes (satellite, comms, etc.) with their arms (coat of arms).
Link in case if picture doesn't work.


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From a completely different source:
Destrier and Paladin, both Commonwealth siege engines, both use Long Toms and are very similar.
The key difference is the Paladin's Long Tom is an artillery piece, and the Destrier uses its Long Tom as a traditional direct fire weapon. (Imagine being on the receiving end of THAT thing in PGI's version...)

I'd never use a mech again; just give me the Destrier, it'd become the only meta to exist.
But BT's Long Tom is nothing like MWO's....

Destrier
Paladin (NOT the mech.)

These things look like fun. Pity they're not in the era I'm looking to recreate.

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Quikscell Company....
Produces a number of ICE, armors, comms and targeting systems as well as LRM, SRM carriers, Scorpion Tanks and Vedette tanks. All of their parts are manufactured seemingly in house.

Of interesting note: Both the Scorpion Tank and Vedette tank have their machine gun built here, they use the same thing, and it is specifically named "20mm Gatling Gun." No brand name. They do not manufacture the Deleon 5 autocannon of the Scorpion Tank or the generic autocannon of the Vedette and instead import those.

An Interplanetary Drive is produced by Salvators, Inc. It is part of their Seeker Dropship. It exclusively produces the engine on their factory site.
Both are on the planet "Layover."
Quikscell only gets a single defending batallion. Salvators, Inc gets 2 batallions.

----

The Apple corporation owns a planet in Battletech!!!!
The planet, Macintosh, is owned by the company Apple Computers Interstellar.
It has a single defending batallion.
They appear to be the primary producers of Daiban targeting systems.
They also produce Octagon Tantrac System C... though this appears to be licensed.

(It seems they also produce a number of other less important computer systems, but only those of military interests are listed on Objective Raids.)

---

The planet New Avalon is INCREDIBLY defended. There's Team Banzai with a rotating batallion on duty at all times. There's the 1st Davion guards RCT (the ENTIRE FORCE) and Davion Heavy Guards RCT (again the ENTIRE force). And within 7-ish days the 1st Batallion of the 19th Arcturan Guards can reinforce.

These forces, however, are diluted by being dispersed to defend "No less than 6 major potential targets" including "Avalon City [including the Royal Palace], the New Avalon Institute of Science, the Fox's Den (Davion military headquarters), Corean Enterprises (on the continent of Albion [I'll be gone,Albion!] ), Archernar Battlemechs and Lycomb-Davion Introtech Factories (both on the continent of Brunswick).

Archnar has a huge factory here producing... just about everything.
Of interesting note: Wasp and Phoenix Hawk share similar skeletons, only modified between "type 3" and "type 7."
Dervish and Enforcer use identical skeletons, with a slight modification for the Dervish called "55 TES" (the Elder Scrolls!? Lol)
Dervish gets a newer model ("MK II") of a targeting system over the Phoenix Hawk and Enforcer, but the brand name is the same (Federated Hunter)

There's an LRM-10 called the "Federated 10-shot." (Strikes me as weird to have to explicitly state it is 10 shots, which I assume simply means it has 10 tubes... That's like calling a Kitchen Knife... a Kitchen Knife Blade. We know it's a bladed weapon because it is a knife, or a Cobra attack helicopter a Cobra attack aircraft helicopter. It's assumed that if it is a helicopter it is an aircraft and vice versa. Just seems superfulous.)
Just above it is the Magna Longbow-5 (LRM-5)

Archernar appears to produce a lot of their own stuff and have a number of licenses.
Corean Enterprises is producing endo-steel structures, I assume they import the metal and assemble the skeletons since endo steel must be produced AND molded in space.
All the equipment manufactured here is strictly for their Valkyrie and Centurion models.
Of peculiar note: They manufacture two LRM-10 launchers. Devastator Series 07 for Valkyrie and Luxor 3R for the Centurion.
Apparently they are not cross compatible, otherwise why manufacture two entirely different versions of a weapon fitting the same damage classification?

Which is even more strange... because the launcher on the Valkyrie and the Centurion appear to be identical based on TRO art. So why wouldn't they be cross compatible?

Corean's facilities are fully automated, and sometime post Helm Memory Core, the NAIS Techs were sent to repair the facility which performed "miracles." Not only is the line up and running again, but a second line dedicated to the new Centurion CN9-D has been produced, and both are using the recovered Star League tech.

Lycomb-Davion (written here as "IntraTech")
Produces Aerospace craft.
All three types (Hellcat, Lightning, and Stuka) are produced using in-house built frames.
They export only the Holly-5 (LRM-5) for use with Hornets and for "Ontos" (never heard of this). They also produce a Holly-4 (SRM-4). Possible naming convention?

Goes into unusually specific detail on a new Stuka model, including not only detailing weapon systems but also which facing each weapon system has, and that Ferro-Aluminum couldn't be used due to the weapons taking too much space.

General Motors/Blackwell Industries on New Valencia
Produces GM Marauder skeleton for use with Marauder II.
Produces Marauder II (meaning all other equipment is imported.)

New Valencia is an agricultural planet that produces food that is heavily exported to many other planets lacking in sufficient agricultural capabilities.
Strict regulations are in place to prevent the Marauder test site and factory from being able to accidentally destroy the planet's crops. These regulations severely hamper the production abilities of the factory, limiting the quantity of machines produced which is recouperated by marking up the price of the Marauder II.

Panpour; Jelastar Aerospace.
"Visual Scans" cannot distinguish the new Sparrowhawk 6D from other Sparrowhawk Light Fighters. It maintains an identical hull configuration to the original, but the differences are that the lasers are pulse, the armor is ferro-aluminum, and the engine is XL.

To specifically have to mention this supports the idea that sometimes mechs and vehicles undergo some extensive physical changes in order to fit XL engines and other larger space-consuming equipment, like the Shadowhawk 5M from the 2D2.
(Also funny is that a Shadowhawk 3 sub variant is produced in 3070 long after SHKs are in the 5s, suggesting that the SHK 3's base model was used to mass produce a new sub variant, but why? The ongoing theory is size differences after all art of the 2D show it to be incredibly short while 5M art from the Phoenix Project artwork suggests it is a lot larger.)

General Motors on Salem produces exclusively ICE engines, the GM Minigun (MG), and generic "Wheeled APC". Many of the engines are exported to other factories on other planets for use with Partison tank at Kirklin and Pegasus tank at Layover.

Talcott also has a General Motors plant. This produces a Shitton of things, and apparently they have "factory sites" (plural) here. This also seems to be their primary headquarters (as they put the HUGE half-page consuming logo right under it).
All engines produced here are exported, it produces nothing but the engines.

In Kurita space on the planet Schedar, is Randar Communications Equipment, Inc., which produces Comms and Target/Tracking equipment. They also produce "portable phones" which are widely used on the planet. (So another planet with its own cell phone network.)

Its defended by a Cadet Cadre from the NAIS. (NAIS fixed Corean Enterprise's New Avalon facility..... Schedar is in Kurita space. Why is a cadre of NAIS cadets guarding a Kurita facility? Granted it is Clan invasion era, but still... (Turns out this is on the Draconis March, the Davion/Kurita border, and the two have agreed not to fight each other while dealing with the Clans. "Periphery Pirates and disgruntled mercs are an entirely different matter").

Also within jump distance for reinforcements is the Tikonov Martial Academy Trianing Group... so more rookies.

All systems are Randar brand, except the Goblin's BlazeFire Tracker with RangeCheck which is licensed.
.....Why does a system need to specifically state as part of its name that it has a "RangeCheck"? Unless this is not a standard feature....
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Precision Weaponry on Tancredi IV...
Sutel Precision Line is their inhouse brand name. They produce pulse lasers of small, medium and large varieties.
These facilities have been heavily damaged 3 times, and on the fourth time rather than rebuilding, they relocated all the facilities underground and rebuilt the original buildings as hollow shells that employees enter (in order to get underground trains) and ground mercs stand guard as part of an elaborate decoy.

This "shows how far the Successor States will go to protect their diminishing industries."

------

That's enough for now.

[Koniving]

Also of interesting note:
Dropships when making landfall MUST cut their engines to avoid damaging the mechs and vehicles they are deploying as well as to reduce their detection on their final landing location. As such if they do make landfall they need to remain powered off for several hours and need a lot of firepower to defend itself if discovered. They do not make multiple landfalls in a sortie, so one landfall and return home due to fuel limitations, they rarely make a second landfall and might not be able to leave without procuring more fuel for their interplanetary drives.

It is preferable to drop mechs and some vehicles from the atmosphere whenever possible for long term campaigns with the intention of returning later.

Aerodyne dropships are preferable for multiple landfalls in a sortie, though they typically do not land.except for pickup. Aerodyne dropships are typically preferred for raids, although both Aerodyne and Spheroid dropships typically go undetected until within 1 day's travel to a planet (unless the recharge station for the jumpship is manned). Some planets might detect them within 2 days travel. By detect I mean identify visually, before that all that identifies them is a radio transponder signal as otherwise they are too small and difficult to identify from the planet until then. Even then radio transponders are traveling at the speed of light, which still takes considerable time.

In many cases, a dropship may go undetected until entering the atmosphere.
(About the only thing MW5 seems to have gotten right.)
(All of this information is literally in the first page of Objective Raids with very little extrapolated from somewhat vague wording, most of it is very directly worded. The very first paragraph mentions that a common tactic is to pretend to be a merchant ship until getting close to a raiding target... I'd be very paranoid of literally any merchant ship because of this. Wonder how much it sucks to be a legitimate merchant because of this.)
(A little is taken from Objective Raids: OEF... which is an edit that mostly just removes non-FASA art but has added an extra page, too and tiny retcons.)
That's it for now.

Edited by Koniving, 26 March 2018 - 11:57 AM.

[Koniving]

Onto is a 3025 tank 95 tons with 8 ml and 4 lrm5s.

The ice engine features "powerboost" to allow use of the lasers at cost of large amounts of fuel

[Karl Streiger]

Koniving, on 26 March 2018 - 08:59 AM, said:

Of peculiar note: They manufacture two LRM-10 launchers. Devastator Series 07 for Valkyrie and Luxor 3R for the Centurion.
Apparently they are not cross compatible, otherwise why manufacture two entirely different versions of a weapon fitting the same damage classification?

You might not explain it with TT rule sets. But it doesn't meant there isn't an explanation.
The AIM-54 Phoenix looks almost the same as the AGM-65 Maverick. But still both do different things.

You might use the Phoenix vs soft ground targets if (its somehow possible) and you might use the Mav against aircrafts but both are not desigend for this.

Same with the Devastor and the Luxor. The Devastor could be a strictly ground based system for attacking tanks and mechs - where as the Luxor might work vs air and land targets.

Edited by Karl Streiger, 26 March 2018 - 10:50 PM.

[Koniving]

(Quick note from orbit they pretty much Dont have tremors/heat/shockwaves of sand and planetary debris so the dropships can keep their engines fired if necessary while doing orbital drops..
Somerset strikers which is an introductory book to battletech states all mech's have jets in their feet and enough fuel to make a single landfall from orbit, but would only be given this fuel if they planned on an orbital drop as it is otherwise very volatile. As such sometimes mech's were easily shot out of the air (if there was a lot of prepared defense and compromising Intel.) This explains why they dont use it to jump without jump jets or in space flight or other odd moments where it would be super handy.

It was either tac ops or strat ops...whatever it was called...either way one of the two retcons this by instead saying that mech's are equipped with a backpack loaded with fuel for the orbital drop. It can also be used after landfall if there is enough fuel left. Any hit to rear torso will instead hit the backpack and can cause it to explode. Backpack is automatically jettisoned when the fuel is exhausted.

[Koniving]

Correction on the Yeffers Weapon Factory.

They manufactured licensed Mydron autocannons. However strangely this is all they produced and nothing else. Just Mydron autocannons. Which they also expanded on...

The UAC/2 takes the name Mydron D-rf.
Their naming convention changes with Light ACs and Rotaries.
Rotaries are both called"Mydron Tornado."
Light AC/2 is called Mydron Flyswatter
Light AC/5 is called Mydron Snakekiller.

I assume these might be names that Christine Salos came up with as the company's head due to how they stray from the traditional conventions of the Mydron name.

[Koniving]

So this isn't corporate specific, but it's a custom BT weapon I created originally as a sort of variant concept.

A recent "create your own weapon" thread inspired me to give its stats. Quoted here for your pleasure.

Koniving, on 21 April 2018 - 01:19 PM, said:

Does it have to be weapons?

I've created half a dozen mechs / vehicles and some custom weapons.

An example of a custom weapon I did (please note this was done using actual board game rules).

Advanced MG prototype
(a pre-3025 precursor to the Heavy MG; originally created as a way of making an MG variant).
(Functionally identical to a UAC).
2 base damage/use. 1 ton, 2 crits. 0 base heat, but 1 secondary heat (see special). 200 uses per ton of ammunition.

Under the "Burst Fire machine guns" rule from TacOps, this triples...at the user's choice of once or twice for a maximum potential of 12 damage without factoring

Special: It is actually made out of two separate machine guns with the following special traits.
Primary is set to Accurate Weapon to improve the chance of hitting.
The secondary is set to Inaccurate Weapon to compensate for the original's accuracy, as well as to reflect the increased inaccuracy of 'spraying'. The weapon is also set to Poor Cooling Jacket. This causes the MG's lesser half, or if we think MWO terms the "Ultra" mode option of this MG to cause heat.
An additional quirk, Ammunition Feed Problem, can be assigned to either of these though the norm is to tack it on the secondary. This represents the machine gun struggling to churn through the bullets at exceptional rates of fire.
User is restricted from exploiting the Burst Fire MG rule unless both MGs are fired. (Total heat from both being used to their maximum potential is 7 heat.)
If one of the two halves is destroyed, the remaining one still functions.

In terms of quirks:
Total advantages: 1.
Total disadvantages: 3
----------------

Comparison to HMG with the AMGP in parenthesis.

HMG (Advanced MG Prototype)
Weight: 1 ton (1 ton)
Slots: 1 slot (2 slots)
Base Heat: 0 (0+1)
Base Damage: 2 (2 or 4 in separate lots.)
Max heat: 2 (7)
Max base damage/turn: 9. (12)
Base Damage per distribution: 3 (2).
Can fire if crit? No. (Yes, half as effective).
Can jam if not using Burst Fire rule? No. (Yes, well half-yes if jammed its ability cuts in half.)
Cost (Unloaded) : 7,500 (10,000)
Ammo / ton: 100 (200, consumes 1 or 2 at a time).
Ammo cost per ton: 1,000 (1,000)
Battle Value 2.0: 6 (10).

[Karl Streiger]

Well sounds legit, but I really really really^10 hate the Ultra Game Mechanic - its far beyond my understanding why not increase the damage by 50% and half the ammunition.
So the AMGP would have 3 damage but only 100 shots....oh darn this is a heavy machine gun......

this is not the post you are looking for, move on....

---

Over a discussion about the "transparent" storyline of the MW5 game - I started a "new" fanfiction about this topic - a Mercenaries life. It has been told so many times I hardly will develop something new, however - there is one part were our young wanabee becomes part of a merc outfit - that consists of 3 Mechs ~ 2 tank platoons.

Assassin, Clint, Shadow Hawk, 3 Vedette with 2 vonLuckner and a Merkava - reason is simple (same medium lasers, same missile systems for (Assassin and Hawk), same Autocannon Manufacturer - the exception might be the "Harpoon" missile systems for the Merkava - but I think the writer of the TRO did made a mistake - its a common knowledge that the Harpoon is ALWAYS a SRM 6 with a Longbow LRM 10 as a counterpart.

This outfit has an more "compact" supply chain, maybe the vonLuckner and Merkava are also modified to use Light Holly long and short range missiles only.
considering the dual main gun von Luckner variants there might be a vonLuckner using AC5s (dropping SRM4 and AC20 for 2 AC5 sound legit)

Edited by Karl Streiger, 24 April 2018 - 05:10 AM.

[Koniving]

The issue is editing the scripts for how weapons work is beyond my ability. Besides could just use an hmg if going that simple. Instead this prototype attacks 2 separate components as an over time thing. The other main idea is unlike a normal machine gun it would still function since it occupies two slots...just be half as effective.

Also it sounds good. If the machines are sharing ammo types its easier to keep them supplied and at strength. Bad thing about separate ammo types is if this guy has one and the other guy has another...and the first guy is trigger happy then the second guy will have ammo while the first may have to say "bang bang"...due to an empty gun.