Wind Tempest, on 20 June 2012 - 12:38 PM, said:
You guys are all trying to make fun of Steiner and their scouting lances, but they are onto something. They have simplified their strategic and tactical logistics with this setup. Hear me out...
Point #1 : Solid and Steady Information Warfare
So your standard Scouting lance in Steinerland is 4x 80+ ton mechs. Well let us they are on patrol duty protecting a Steiner world and they encounter a patrol hunting force. Well the standard non-Steiner anti patrol force is usually a mixed lance of mediums and lights so they can keep up with any runners. Outside of veterans and elites, how are 2-3 light mechs and a medium going to take out over 300 tons of hardened armor and weaponry? This ensures that the patrols are safe from harm and Steiner holds the advantage in information warfare.
Point #2 : Tactical Versatility
How about Tactics? Well Steiner has that streamlined to the point in which a simple order would allow entire lances or even companies to change Roles. Lets have that previous Scout Lance on patrol again, this time they find a Kurita staging area preparing to attack. If this was a normal scout lance, they would have to report the location of the staging area and launch an Assault lance to deal with the staging area. This leaves a window in which Kurita can mount the attack and cause damage or simply withdraw or relocate wasting even more time. With Steiner they can just order the scouting lance to which from Scouting Roles to Assault Roles and behold, the Kurita base is destroyed and time is saved.
Point #3 : Industrial Logistic Simplicity
Many think that Assault Lances are expensive to field, this is only half correct. While the individual cost of a assault mech is high, what about the ability to maintain that mech? A regular House has close to 10-20 different mech designs which they use, how many different kinds of gyro, engine, actuators are produced specifically for those models? How good is that 4 million C-bill mech when the parts that are used to fix it are only produced in two facilities across the Inner Sphere? By fielding only assault mechs, they are only focusing their production into at most 7 different mech designs. This focus simplifies the logistics by a considerably degree. In addition, some mechs like the Thug, Charger, and Hatomato Chi use the same internal structure and actuators resulting in a even more simpler supply line.
Do not underestimate the Steiner Scouting Lance.
This... somehow... makes sense...
.....
Still.
....
Why can't we have 500 ton mechs which can fly and jet at 500kph?
oh well. Can't have everything nice. I'll have fun in my nice Cicada, Jenner, and/or Commando going as fast as I can possibly make it while still arming it with a PPC or Large laser... I'll see you Steiners on the battlefield, though you won't see me in all likelyhood.