Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Star League Era

[Mendrugo]

The Huks are socialist guerillas who want revenge against the wealthy elites who supported House Cameron and House Amaris in succession, retaining thier places at the top of Phillipine society by siphoning off tax revenues while keeping the majority impoverished.  Father Jerome tells Wuerzel that the Huks hate the elite and powerful for keeping the people beggars in order to maintain the status quo, with the few ruling over the many.  They rose up during the Amaris occupation and fought the Usurper's troops, then fought the SLDF when it attempted to carry out war crimes trials rather than just letting the Huks slaughter the collaborators.

Jerome describes them as "poor and simple people who are very angry and seek revenge on those they have reason to hate."  He adds the caveat that their leadership has untrustworthy elements.

Despite a strong Catholic presence (at least before the massacre), Jerome describes the Philipine poplation as being Muslim majority.  His father was a Catholic fisherman and his mother was a Catholic convert from the Yakan tribe.  His father's family had emiraged to Basilan from Luzon, and they were still considered outsiders a few generations later.  His father was killed by rival Tauseg fishermen.

The original Huks were anti-Japanese guerillas during World War II (Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon).  Since these Huks have no beef with the Japanese, they might be the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Amaris Imperyo (The Nation's Army Against the Amaris Empire).  They're only called Huks in "The Dark Night of the Soul."

[Nerroth]

I see, thanks.

I wonder if any of these undercurrents of Terran affairs remain in later eras. Would the Huks continue to be a force in the era of the Republic, or might they have faded into history long before then?

(And would there be any other militant groups or disgruntled voices "under the surface" on Terra itself, then or now?)

[Mendrugo]

The primary Terra-based insurgent group in the Republic Era appears to have been the conspiring nobles in the Senate.  Fighting broke out between the Exarch's troops and Senate partisans prior to the erection of Fortress Republic. 

No sources have addressed whether ComStar's Bureau of Terran Affairs or the Republic's Terran administration were able to successfully deal with ongoing socio-economic issues in the Phillipines.  The Camerons seem to have just thrown money at the problem, without doing follow-up to ensure that real development took place.  James McKenna wasn't any better - he bombarded it from space to prove a point to the Expansionist and Liberal parties, and then paid to rebuild what he'd blown up.

The description of the Huks implies that they rose up specifically to address the oppression by the Amaris occupation forces, with the Ignis massacre perhaps being the triggering event for the start of an active armed resistance movement.

[Mendrugo]

----- 5 Months Later -----

Date: September 29, 2779

Location: Terra

Title: Hard Justice

Author: Chris Hartford

Type: Sourcebook Fiction (Historical: Liberation of Terra – Volume II)

Synopsis:  Endgame.  Elaine Young is a secretary in the Amaris Imperial Palace (formerly the Star Palace) near Lake Louise, Canada, where Emperor Amaris and his remaining Republican Guards have been surrounded by SLDF forces.  Artillery blasts cause the walls of the underground bunkers to shake.  Elaine is summoned by General Bridge, who instructs her to carry a message to Emperor Amaris.  (Shoot the messenger is standard operating procedure at this point, so the lowest people on the totem pole are being chosen to bring in the bad news.)  Elaine passes through the security cordon to the throne room, noting the evidence that previous messengers have met messy ends.

Elaine enters Amaris’ darkened throne room and finds Stefan sitting alone with a pistol.  He makes reference to Elaine having “lots of spirit,” and compares her with Richard’s wife Elise and Elaine’s long-since fled co-worker Shera (from Star Lord).  Stefan appears to be holding a conversation with the ghost of Richard Cameron.  Amid his mad ramblings, Amaris tells Elise that Kerensky has come with his Wolves to kill them all.  She informs him that Kerensky has requested that Emperor Amaris surrender in person.

Out in the courtyard, Kerensky watches Amaris walk out into the courtyard and approach the spot where his Orion stands.  Stefan throws his laser pistol (the one used to kill Richard) at the ‘Mech’s feet, then is joined by his wife and children.  Kerensky is tempted to dispense summary justice, but refrains – feeling that such a swift end would be too easy for Amaris.  He orders his troops to take the mad Emperor into custody.

Notes:  Nobody can seem to agree on how to address Aleksandr Kerensky on an intimate basis.  His classmates and friends on Tharkad called him Alek (Destiny’s Call/Destiny’s Challenge); Amaris calls him Aleks, and H:LoT2 shows that advisors called him Alex.

The sourcebooks tell that Amaris and his family are held in custody until after Kerensky personally sees the carnage in the throne room, where the massacred Camerons had been sealed in for the duration of the war.  Following his tour of the site, Aleksandr orders Amaris' execution, commenting that there will be "no sympathy for the devil."  Amaris' remains end up in a Combine medical school. 

Amaris was clearly far gone to madness by the end, but his comment about "Kerensky and his Wolves" could be taken as his having, through his madness, tapped into the same precognitive visions that the Nova Cats (via Carolina Devalis) and Jonathan Cameron were said to have.

Kerensky spends the subsequent years trying to put the Star League back together, but fails.  The Star League Council meets one final time, but the House Lords can't agree who should be the new First Lord, and only manage to appoint Jerome Blake as head of the Ministry of Communications and to request Kerensky's resignation.  The Council then disbands, never to convene again, bringing the Star League era to an end.

This concludes the Star League Era thread.  The poll has been added, and further discussion of any of the works is welcomed.  I will be starting a new thread tomorrow for the Succession Wars.

[BrokenMnemonic]

Oddly, nobody ever seems to call Aleksandr "Sasha", which is the common Russian nickname for Aleksandr.

[Decoy]

The quick answer to that may be the question "How many of his friends were Russian or were aware of Russian customs?" A twelve year old girl who spent all of her life in Moscow and probably has Russian as her first language would know that Kolya is the pet form for Nikolas. Many of Aleksandr's acquaintances may be too hung up on the western form of the name and go by that. *shrugs*

[SCC]

I've got a slightly different take on the "Kerensky has come with his Wolves to kill them all" bit but that belongs in a different thread

[Mendrugo]

----- Meanwhile, Back in Good Old 2766… -----

Date: December 27, 2766

Location: New Dallas

Title: Houston, We Have a Problem

Author: Joshua C. Perian

Type: Track (Historical: Turning Points – New Dallas)

Synopsis:  As the First Lord took a laser to the frontal lobe and the Royal Black Watch ate a nuke on Terra, the Amaris coup (Operation APOTHEOSIS) was unfolding simultaneously throughout the rest of the Terran Hegemony.  On New Dallas, General Benboudaoud sent her elite 154th Amaris Dragoons to seize the Caddo City HPG and SLDF administration buildings, hoping to cut the planet off from the rest of the Hegemony.

The Dragoons have a 25% strength advantage, and are attempting to destroy the HPG building and at least half of the the SLDF admin buildings by turn 12.  Historically, the attack failed because the commando team failed to secure the HPG, alerting the New Dallas militia.

Notes:  This is a very well designed Track, with a wide range of strategic options.  My first thought when reading this Track was that the Amaris forces could eke out an easy win by spamming the board with troops.  Since they’ve got a strength advantage, but the number of target structures doesn’t change, the larger number of attackers would make it even easier to break through the defenders’ line and trash the admin buildings and HPG.  However, I then noticed that Mr. Perian thought of that and cut the time limit if the Rim Worlders field more than a company.

The Republicans also can’t just rely on sending in a company of Ignis tanks to set the targets aflame.  Since buildings on fire only lose 2 CF per turn, they can’t burn to the ground within the Track’s time limit.  LRM carriers and/or artillery would seem to be essential components for RWR success, since they’d allow indirect strikes from maximum range at the targets, minimizing the risk of exposure to return fire.  The night-fighting modifiers get pretty well offset by the immobile target bonus.  Packing some incendiary warheads would be nice, since you could set the target buildings on fire right off the bat, and thereby whittle down their CF while you advance, switching to explosive ordinance after the first volley.

For precisely this reason, the Star League/Hegemony player might want to salt in a few fire engines to extinguish any buildings that get set aflame.  The understrength Hegemony forces really just want to run out the clock, so anything they can do to slow the Rimmers down is great.  Thus, FASCAM/Thunder rounds to fill the approaches through the city streets with minefields would be perfect.  If you’re using raw numbers of units to balance forces, then you want as many assault units as possible. 

However, if you’re using tonnage, BV, or C-Bills (Star League Dollars in this era), infantry would be fantastic.  In a dense urban environment, if SRMs are raining down out of every window along the boulevards (while suicide squads take to the streets to prevent Republican units from moving through the hex), the RWR advance can be slowed to a crawl.  You’d want to mix in a few fast response units to go after any rear-area concentrations of indirect fire units (like LRM carriers or artillery pieces).  Ripper VTOLs would be the era- and faction-appropriate unit, and would be able to get right on top of the enemy and drop infantry squads on them, zipping over the rooftops while the RWR ‘Mechs/tanks slowly wind through the streets below.  If the RWR forces deploy off-board artillery (hey, they’re Periphery scum – they don’t play fair) you could use Rippers to easily overrun their guns and take them out of the equation.

Interestingly, the Amaris Dragoons’ stated goal in destroying the HPG is to prevent New Dallas from communicating with the rest of the Terran Hegemony.  However, at this point most of the other Hegemony worlds were being hit by similar strikes, and had either already fallen into RWR hands or were in the midst of combat, so having New Dallas shout a warning would be of little consequence.  The real danger, I would think, would be calling for help across the border – the Free Worlds League – and getting the word out to the SLDF fleets before the Caspars and SDS batteries were fully under Amaris Empire control.

[Mendrugo]

----- Later, That Same Day… -----

Date: December 27, 2766

Location: New Dallas

Title: Operation REPRISAL

Author: Joshua C. Perian

Type: Track (Historical: Turning Points – New Dallas)

Synopsis:  The 154th Amaris Dragoons, having failed in their sortie against the capital, have fallen back to their revetment at Fort Resolute to await reinforcements.  New Dallas’ SDS batteries made short work of the Amaris WarShips in orbit, clearing the way for the enraged Loyalist forces to attack the Usurper’s troops.  The New Dallas militia’s objective is to take out the fort’s HQ and commander, and drive the enemy troop strength below 50%.

The SLDF forces now have a numerical advantage, but the Dragoons can (optionally) deploy a significant number of turrets, though taking that option makes the SDLF troops more numerous and better skilled.  Both sides can put their commanders on the field, and get bonus points for taking out the enemy commander.

Notes: If the Rim Worlders want to be manipulative, they could put just a small token force (say, one Ignis) on the field, and then put in all the Castle Brian Weapon Emplacements and fixed weapon emplacements allowed by the scenario.  Since the number of attackers appears to be based off the number of defenders (not counting the turrets), the tiny SLDF force would be easily wiped out by the turrets.
 
This is an issue for the Track format in general, since the number of turrets usually isn’t scaled up/down along with the flexible force sizes used, either making them irrelevant – 2 turrets against a battalion – or decisive – 10 turrets against a lance.  Mr. Perian has attempted to address this by boosting the size and skill of the attackers if the defenders deploy turrets, but game balance could still be ruined if the defenders opt for a tiny footprint.  The Track also doesn’t specify whether these are Class “E,” “F,” or “G” fixed weapon emplacements.  Since “E” class turrets have 6 tons of weaponry, while “G”-class turrets have 100 tons of weaponry, that makes quite a difference.

It would actually be sort of fun to see the Rim Worlds player set up the strongest possible defenses for Fortress Resolute (8 class-G turrets and two of the hardened Castle Brian turrets [packing 135 tons of weaponry each, counting ammo] from JHS:Terra), plus a battalion of House Amaris’ best troops, then see a Rattler Mk I (dispatched from Fortress Goliad, down the coast) lumbering over the horizon.  Line Developer Herb Beas confirmed that Rattlers were deployed “wherever they were needed, but weren’t considered standard equipment for a Castle Brian,” so there could have been one at Goliad.

[Mendrugo]

----- Two Weeks Later -----

Date: January 14, 2767

Location: New Dallas

Title: Hold the Line

Author: Joshua C. Perian

Type: Track (Historical: Turning Points – New Dallas)

Synopsis:  Two weeks after the 154th Amaris Dragoons’ demise, their reinforcements arrive – 30 RWR WarShips (representing nearly 10% of the entire RWR WarShip fleet) and up to two M-3 Caspar drones.  The defender has up to eight M-3 drones, up to two nuclear missiles, and an absolute swarm of Mk. 39 Voidseeker drone fighters (2/3 the strength of the Amaris fleet deployed in the engagement).

Historically, the RWR fleet smashed through the New Dallas drone fleet and then systematically bombarded all the fortresses and other militia strongpoints, paving the way for the world’s successful occupation.

Notes: The setup says that the Rim Worlds Navy units are regulars and use any Rim Worlds RAT.  However, there is no RAT for WarShips (for any faction).  The tables in H:LOT 1 & 2, Era Report:2750, and Era Report: Age of War only cover AeroSpace fighters and DropShips. 

Line Developer Herbert Beas II has clarified that the RWR force in this track is exclusively comprised of DropShips and aerospace fighters (unless the special options are used to add Caspars and an Aegis to the fray).  This actually makes a fair bit of sense.  Unlike the multi-threat modern WarShips, the Star League-era craft were generally very weak against fighters, so driving thinly armored (and largely impotent) corvettes and destroyers into a cloud of Voidseekers would risk unacceptable losses.  The main role of the WarShips in this era is to serve as carriers/transports for the fighters, and to use their capital batteries to bombard and destroy hardened strongpoints on the planet’s surface.

Prior to Herb’s clarification, I ran the numbers for a hypothetical engagement in which the RWR committed the full task force (assuming 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, 2 M-3 Caspars, 3 frigates, 12 destroyers, 12 corvettes, backed by a mix of Achilles assault DropShips and Leopard CVs carrying Vulcan ASFs) and, based on the BV force parity ratio, got a rough estimate for the New Dallas SDS of over 1,500 Voidseekers, eight Caspars and two nukes.  Hope your weekend’s free…

H:LoT1 recounts that Task Force Commonwealth sent its fleets against New Dallas in 2773.  Commandos snuck into the system aboard captured Republican ships and managed to board the Pavise SDS control station at one of the jump points, disabling the main drone fleet there.  Once the SLDF achieved orbital superiority, New Dallas resistance fighters rose up and helped the SLDF slaughter the elite Republican brigade garrisoning the world.

[Wrangler]

Prior to Herb’s clarification, I ran the numbers for a hypothetical engagement in which the RWR committed the full task force (assuming 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, 2 M-3 Caspars, 3 frigates, 12 destroyers, 12 corvettes, backed by a mix of Achilles assault DropShips and Leopard CVs carrying Vulcan ASFs) and, based on the BV force parity ratio, got a rough estimate for the New Dallas SDS of over 1,500 Voidseekers, eight Caspars and two nukes.  Hope your weekend’s free…

Mendrugo, did you run that scenario with that force?  How did it turn out? Was it realistic?

[Mendrugo]

I have not run the "full fleet" Track variant.  Even using the old BattleSpace rules for simplified squadron combat, that would put nearly 300 units on the map boards.  The largest space battle scenario I've ever run had 33 pieces on the table (5 WarShips, 1 space station, and 27 fighter squadrons), and that took about six hours to run.

Perhaps if Alpha Strike or Interstellar Operations offer simplified rules for mass naval engagements (BattleForce Space...aka BattleFace), you could make such a scenario manageable.

[SCC]

The StratOps Record Sheets allow you to form DropShips into squadrons, not reason that it shouldn't be possible to do the same WarShips

[Mendrugo]

The DropShips and WarShips aren't so problematic.  The 250 squadrons of Voidseekers and 100+ squadrons of Vulcans are what would cause the bog-down.  Record Sheets for entire wings would be a good start.

I did create a BV based mass combat resolution algorithm that could model the battle and project a winner, but you're not really playing the battle at that point. 

(Each unit tracks offensive BV at short, medium and long range, as well as defensive BV, and in a battle has each unit use its speed to try to stay at its optimal range - so LRM boats try to hang out at medium range, while flashbulbs close to knife-fighting range...though units can have orders to mountain a certain distance issued.  Pilot XP is tracked from 1 to 100, as an indication of how effectively the pilot is using the equipment.  In each combat round, each unit randomly picks a unit within range - Clan units can be set to pick the same one each time and not gang up - and deals damage equal to their BV score at that range, modifies by XP.  So if a unit has a Medium Range offensive BV of 500 and an XP of 50, it would deal 250 damage to the target. 

After all damage is subtracted from the targets' Defensive BV, any that have dropped below 0 are considered destroyed.  Any that have fallen below the Critical threshold - base defensive BV modified by XP - check for disabling damage.  If they fail the check, depending on the Margin of Failure, the results range from crew/pilot stunned to unit inoperable but salvageable to unit going up in flames.  Even if they make the check, offensive BV is degraded by the percentage by which the Defensive BV below the threshold has been marked off.  Damage received above the threshold is essentially just armor damage.

After each round of combat, each side assesses its losses and makes a morale check to see if it breaks and runs or surrenders.  A unit's Loyalty rating comes into play here.

The effect is that Elite pilots - XP 100 - can deal more damage and absorb more punishment than greenies.  That Stormhammer commander in one of the MWDA books who took a Jupiter into battle with post-it notes on the console and the operator's manual open in his lap represents XP 1.)

With this system, I can effectively model a huge battle, but I haven't used it to model this scenario as yet.  (My final exam in Russian is in a week.)

[SCC]

So? Just makes the "Squadrons" the size of wings

[Mendrugo]

----- Eight Years Into the Star League Civil War -----

Date: September 18, 2774

Location: Hood IV

Title: Call or Fold

Author: Cody Ouellette

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  The mood in the Kyrano Base barracks is grim, and Republic Captain Ivan Eoghan has lost his appetite.  He exits the mess and watches a trainee exercising in a Wasp.  He is joined by Sevan Stine, a Phoenix pilot.  Stine's initial jocularity soon fades, and he sighs at the news that the Lyrans have renewed their annexation of Republic worlds.  Ivan wonders aloud if the Lyrans will leave anything for their comrades in the Terran Hegemony to return to.  Sevan quips "We're too stubborn to fall," but without conviction.

Notes:  Kerensky's first action in the Star League Civil War was to invade and subdue the Rim Worlds Republic, and to use it as a staging ground to reorganize and rearm a Star League Defense Force battered by years of hard fighting against the Periphery Uprising and cut off from its logistical support.  Once the SLDF was prepared, however, it left the Rim Worlds Republic with just a skeleton garrison, since every 'Mech and AeroSpace fighter was needed on the front lines to retake the Hegemony.

Once Kerensky's forces left, according to Handbook: House Steiner, the opportunistic Lyrans moved in and began annexing Republic worlds, shattering any Republic government or militia that resisted, and ignoring Kerensky's demands that they respect Republic sovereignty.  We know from Last Stop that the RWR had established hundreds of fall-back bunkers stocked with war materiel, from which Republican partisans could launch attacks.  The Steiner Handbook went on to say that the Lyrans had to deal with persistent and aggressive attempts by Republic patriots to try to reclaim Lyran-occupied worlds and to re-assemble a central RWR government.  The Rimmers put up such a fight, in fact, that when the Commonwealth received reports of fresh attacks out of the Periphery in 2786, they shifted much of their strength to contain what must have appeared to be yet another RWR insurgency (actually Combine-equipped bandits), and were caught flat footed by a major DCMS push across their border.

One of the sourcebooks posed the question "Where did the Rim Worlds go?"  Answer - the Commonwealth ate it, then spat out the gristle.

[DarthRads]

The DropShips and WarShips aren't so problematic.  The 250 squadrons of Voidseekers and 100+ squadrons of Vulcans are what would cause the bog-down.  Record Sheets for entire wings would be a good start.

I did create a BV based mass combat resolution algorithm that could model the battle and project a winner, but you're not really playing the battle at that point. 

(Each unit tracks offensive BV at short, medium and long range, as well as defensive BV, and in a battle has each unit use its speed to try to stay at its optimal range - so LRM boats try to hang out at medium range, while flashbulbs close to knife-fighting range...though units can have orders to mountain a certain distance issued.  Pilot XP is tracked from 1 to 100, as an indication of how effectively the pilot is using the equipment.  In each combat round, each unit randomly picks a unit within range - Clan units can be set to pick the same one each time and not gang up - and deals damage equal to their BV score at that range, modifies by XP.  So if a unit has a Medium Range offensive BV of 500 and an XP of 50, it would deal 250 damage to the target. 

After all damage is subtracted from the targets' Defensive BV, any that have dropped below 0 are considered destroyed.  Any that have fallen below the Critical threshold - base defensive BV modified by XP - check for disabling damage.  If they fail the check, depending on the Margin of Failure, the results range from crew/pilot stunned to unit inoperable but salvageable to unit going up in flames.  Even if they make the check, offensive BV is degraded by the percentage by which the Defensive BV below the threshold has been marked off.  Damage received above the threshold is essentially just armor damage.

After each round of combat, each side assesses its losses and makes a morale check to see if it breaks and runs or surrenders.  A unit's Loyalty rating comes into play here.

The effect is that Elite pilots - XP 100 - can deal more damage and absorb more punishment than greenies.  That Stormhammer commander in one of the MWDA books who took a Jupiter into battle with post-it notes on the console and the operator's manual open in his lap represents XP 1.)

With this system, I can effectively model a huge battle, but I haven't used it to model this scenario as yet.  (My final exam in Russian is in a week.)

Did you do this in XL? Can I see the file? (I love looking at game aids and mechanics...helps when designing my own)

[Mendrugo]

I have an Access database rigged up to DreamWeaver-built webpages, with ColdFusion handling the interface.

Every known or implied 3025-era regiment and cluster is detailed in tables down to the individual 'Mech/tank/infantry squad with skill, morale, and loyalty values, as well as BV broken out into defensive, Short Range Offensive, Medium Range Offensive, Long Range Offensive, and Extreme Range Offensive (artillery and cruise missiles, basically). 

When two units are put into the arena to fight it out, I have the code run down the list, figure out the range to the enemy line from the current firer, pick a random target in the available range brackets (picking randomly those in the range zone at which the firer would do the most damage), adjust the damage done by XP and range, and assign it - degrading the recipient's defensive BV appropriately and checking against the threshold for critical hit chances. 

After each round of firing, any surviving unit over its Threshold goes into Forced Withdrawal.  If a sufficient percentage of the unit is destroyed or in forced withdrawal (determined by the Loyalty rating - so Fanatical units hang in the fight longer while Questionable units will head for the hills at the earliest opportunity), there's a growing chance the whole unit will fail a morale check and rout.

Under this system, I've seen Elite companies chew up and spit out Green regiments, which fits the pulp nature of the setting.

[Knightmare]

Holdover setup from SWs? IF it is, that's a heck of a resource.

[Mendrugo]

Holdover setup from SWs? IF it is, that's a heck of a resource.

Gigs and gigs of it.  Plus whole datasets for star systems, planetary bodies in those systems, moons, asteroid belts, factories, forts, rail networks, cities, seaports, etc.  I got my sandbox Inner Sphere looking fine...just ran out of time and skill to code up a reactive AI so garrison units wouldn't just stand there waiting to get overrun by invaders.

[Mendrugo]

----- The Next Day -----

Date: September 19, 2774

Location: Hood IV

Title: Call or Fold

Author: Cody Ouellette

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  In the midst of a game of Apollo Hold 'Em, Captain Ivan Eoghan has to deal with defeatist talk from Lieutenant S.G. Iulius Timotej, who argues that the Republic is barely holding itself together since Amaris abandoned it.  He notes Hood IV hasn't been visited by a trading vessel in years and has only two AeroSpace fighters to fend off pirates.  With arrival of a LCAF DropShip in the Hood system, Timotej advocates surrender rather than dying in the name of a Republic without a president or a capital world.

As weak cards surface on the table, Ivan folds, as do most of his staff officers.  Sevan Stine laughs, calls, and raises - contending with Iulius and Battalion Commander Thanesdottir for the pot.  Iulius continues his defeatist talk, saying even if the Lyrans lose this invasion, they'll just send another task force.  Thanesdottir responds that their duty is to defend the people of Hood IV, regardless of what's going on elsewhere in the Republic.  Iulius folds when Thanesdottir raises, leaving just Thanesdottir and Stine, who wins when Thanesdottir is revealed to have been bluffing.  When the cards are shown, Iulius groans when he sees he would have had a winning hand, and Ivan tells him he gives up too easily.

Notes: Apollo Hold 'Em uses BattleMechs as the face cards including a BattleMaster and an Atlas.  By contrast, Four Card Drax uses the Great Houses as the suits (omitting Liao), and has images of the royal family on the face cards.  The choice of 'Mechs is interesting, since at this point in history, the Atlas is a fairly recent development, designed as a symbol of Star League military superiority.

The lack of trading vessels is telling, and probably one of the key factors in the collapse of the Rim Worlds Republic, along with the Lyrans and general pirate predation.  Many terraformed worlds were dependent on shipments of irreplaceable parts from offworld, and had to be abandoned when those parts stopped arriving.  My guess is that Kerensky and the SLDF seized most of the RWR's merchant marine and pressed it into service for the liberation of the Terran Hegemony. 

In this scene, the troops refer to themselves as members of the People's Army.  I wonder if that's just a local designation for the Hood IV planetary garrison under the provisional civilian government, or if it's the official name the Rim Republican Army took after the SLDF forced the regent to surrender.

While the Hood garrison is slipping deeper into malaise, other RWR systems are taking different paths, few of them good.  On Gutara V, the RWR forces are digging in at their secret bunker and preparing for a counterattack (not knowing that they'll be steamrolled by the SLDF on its way out of the Inner Sphere).  On Erin, House Von Strang is beginning a generations-long effort to turn the world into a fortified camp that will eventually be known as Von Strang's World.  The world of Haublan was abandoned.  Ingvolstand balkanized into fiefdoms controlled by self-styled warlords and dictators (not unlike the Pentagon worlds during the civil war there).  A junta seized power on Syrstart, and disease and fires swept the world.  Civil wars broke out between city states on Fredotto.  A plague nearly depopulated Vannes.  Cut off from its export markets, the agricultural world of Paran faced isolaton and technological decline.  The underwater cities of Far Reach failed, one by one, and were abandoned.

[Mendrugo]

----- 4 Days Later -----

Date: September 23, 2774

Location: Hood IV

Title: Call or Fold

Author: Cody Ouellette

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  Lt. S.G. Iulius Timotej displays terrible piloting skills as he staggers through Hood IV's dense foliage in his Whitworth, trying to make contact with the Lyran scouting force.  By sheer accident, he flushes a Lyran Commando. 

Back with the main body of the Battalion, Catpain Ivan Eoghan is unable to reach Timotej, and worries that his unit will have to spend months tracking the Lyran raiders through the stench-filled forest.  Timotej radios in and warns that he's made contact.   Ivan orders his troops to move up to engage.  The Lyrans charge the Whitworth lance, having broken RWR communications encryption and identifying it as a vulnerable fire support lance.  As they approach point blank range, the Whitworth lance reveals its deadly surprise - the LRM racks have been replaced with SRM racks, turning fire support 'Mechs into close assault terrors. 

In another part of the fight, Sevan Stine leads his lance against a Lyran Griffin, bracketing it with fire from a Thug, Phoenix, and Marauder.  The Griffin falls, but Stine's Phoenix takes a severe hit to the cockpit from a Commando's laser.  As the battle continues to rage around him, Stine taps into the Lyran communications network and offers to provide detailed information on the RWR defenses on Hood and neighboring Barcelona in exchange for ten million kroner and passage offworld.  The Lyran officer agrees, and asks why.

Stine responds that if you can't win, it's better to fold than to keep playing.

Notes:  This appears to have been about the last time anything happened on Hood IV.  The 15th Lyran Regulars were garrisoned here in 3025 and were returned to garrison duty after a brief stint on the front lines of the 4th Succession War.  Hood IV gave them little to do except crush an occasional pirate raid in the early 3050s and face down one Jade Falcon raid.  Looking at the map, Hood IV appears to have been one of the last acquisitions by the Commonwealth, with Herbania across the new border left on its own.  Circa 3025, it's on the outer edge of the Commonwealth's Periphery border. 

The RWR "People's Army" seems to use SLDF organizational principles, though they group similar 'Mech types by lance, rather than by company or battalion.  Stine tells the Lyrans the RWR garrison consists of five combined arms battalions, and one training company.  Observed 'Mech types include the Phoenix, Rampage, Thug, Marauder, and the close-assault WTH-0 Whitworth variants.  TRO:3039 says that only 24 were ever made, and were assigned to the Amaris Dragoons as terror weapons.  Perhaps the "People's Army" is the regimental nickname for a unit of the Amaris Dragoons, though circa 2765, Hood IV didn't rate a line regiment garrison, according to Field Report 2765: Periphery.  Even more interestingly, the TO&E of the RWR didn't in 2765 didn't include any Dragoon regiments, implying they were all part of the "secret army."  Five Amaris Dragoons regiments were assigned to defend the RWR while the main army was occupying the Terran Hegemony.  Perhaps the "People's Army" is one of those five, or perhaps it is a militia unit that incorporated elements of a Dragoon regiment after its defeat by the SLDF. 

I'm curious how the Hood IV garrison is getting news about the course of the invasion.  Do they still have a SLCOMMNET node?  Did refugees from the fighting arrive with word of the fall of Apollo in 2767, seven years before this story?

[Frabby]

I find the "only 24 ever made" hard to believe given that we're looking at what seems to be a simple and easy field modification. Perhaps only 24 WHT-0 were factory-produced and after that they simply didn't bother and just mass-produced the WHT-1, knowing they can easily be refitted.

[BrokenMnemonic]

Given that the Republic's hidden production capacity seems to have been pretty monumental and even now is still largely unknown, I'm rather inclined to handwave oddities involving unit composition in their units because there's no way we can really disprove anything. Or those Whitworths could be field refits, like Frabby said.

One of the things that makes me look forward to the Succession Wars historicals is that they might potentially give us a good feel for how the Periphery states declined - which worlds vanished from maps and when, and maybe more information on which ones simply declined, vanished, or were the site of battles. I don't think there are any maps that show the full extent of the Outworlds Alliance or Rim Worlds Republic after the end of the Hegemony Campaign, and seeing some of the small proto-states that formed in the Rim area and never managed to make it would scratch a curious itch very nicely.

[Mendrugo]

----- In the Midst of the "Good Years" of the Star League -----

Date: May 8, 2643

Location: Tharkad

Title: Other Perspectives

Author: Herbert A. Beas II

Type: Short Story

Synopsis: With pageboys announcing his coming and nobles applauding on all sides, Archon Kevin Steiner enters the Archon's hall and approaches the Lyran throne, flanked by twin Griffin BattleMechs.  He strides down the central corridor, past the tombs of previous Archons embedded in the floor of the throne room, noting the most recent one - just before the throne - where his mother lies entombed.  The several-hundred strong members of the Estates General are watching in person, while billions more are watching at home on the trivid.  He notes his sister, Sarah Steiner-Dinesen, standing by the throne, and reflects on how both of them are starting to show signs of age after fifty years at the helm of the Lyran Commonwealth. 

He mounts the podium, and addresses the members of the Estates General and the Terran Hegemony, welcoming them and noting that this day marks a turning point in the fate of the Lyran people. 

Notes: This is the prologue to a story in which it is revealed this is a holo-documentary being critiqued for accuracy by Lyran historian Bertram Habeas in the early years of the Jihad. 

The context for this event is found in Handbook:  House Steiner, which notes that Archon Kevin Steiner-Dinesen brought up the issue of disbanding the Commonwealth government, which many members of the public and Estates general, unified as the "Decentralist Movement" were beginning to consider an unnecessary duplication of effort, given the success of the Star League.  In his speech, Kevin pleaded for the Commonwealth's continued existence.  The final vote by the Estates General was 160 to merge with the Terran Hegemony under the Star League, and 161 to remain independent.

The sidebar on page 29 contains a quote from the speech:

“My friends, we here are all businessmen in one way or another. We know the value of most things. We are admired throughout the Star League as the shrewdest of industrialists.  We even feel a secret pride when someone chides us as 'Money Demons' or as 'Pirates of Profit', do we not? Well then, why should we, of all the League's people, forget what it means to invest for the future or to set aside emergency money? How could we fail to realize that some of today's profit might be needed tomorrow?

Yes, these have been sainted years, filled with peace and the sound of money filling our coffers.  But are we so naïve as to expect the shower of money to go on forever? No! And if the shower should end—as showers always do—and the hot sun of misfortune should reappear to evaporate the profits of everyone, everywhere—what then?  Do you for a moment believe that cooperation and trust will reign to save the day?

“Banks are something that you and I understand.  Consider the Commonwealth government as a bank not of money but of a future where we may store good fortune now, to be used later when times get rough, as surely they will.”

In the vein of "Empires Aflame," it's interesting to speculate how things might have changed if the Lyrans had chosen to merge with the Terran Hegemony during the Good Years.  Without question, the Hegemony would have sealed the deal with an immediate tidal wave of preferential business deals and technology transfer (not that this wasn't already happening - Tharkad was the first non-Terran world to have an HPG installed).  The edge granted the Lyrans by their strengthened ties to the Hegemony would probably have kept the Third Hidden War from taking place, since (as far as I can tell), the cross-border pirate raiding with WarShips never took place on Hegemony border worlds (too much of a chance that the Caspars would take out the raiders).  Other realms might also have been convinced to follow the Lyran example - the Free Worlds League and the Federated Suns.  I can't see the Draconis Combine ever even considering such a move.  The Capellans might have gone along once both the FWL and FS were reaping rewards and hemming the Confederation in. 

The Rim Worlds Republic would probably not have been able to infiltrate the entire Terran Commonwealth (Lyran Hegemony?  Terran Overlord Government?), and would have likely called off the whole revolution as a bad idea.  Presumably, once the Lyran government was declared redundant, House Steiner and their heirs would become regional administrators, but all eyes throughout the Lyran sector would look to Terra, not Tharkad.  If Amaris wanted to launch a civil war, he'd have had to recruit a substantial number of Lyran dissidents in addition to getting cozy with Richard Cameron. 

[drakensis]

Since the Lyran Commonwealth would have merged into the Star League government not the Hegemony government, that would probably have also weakened the Terran Hegemony government to be consistent as the Star League government organs took over Lyran government functions. It's quite possible there would have been some pressure for and against other areas doing the same - some of the Periphery worlds that were pro-Star League, or for nightmares, what if part of the FWL wanted to do the same while the rest didn't?

Amaris would probably propose to do the same and position himself for a high post in the SL government, in preparation for more self-promotion.

[Wrangler]

Things would still would have "went south" with Richard Cameron being neglected by General Kerensky and lovely raised by Amaris.  Commonwealth would suffered even more so and ultimately would had hodge-podge military force to raised to deal with the Republicans and eventual Succession Wars to come.

Its does go against game balance as well, without build in game development, it would been possible i think but not finite done deal.

[Mendrugo]

I can't recall offhand, but the presence of the Terran Hegemony "special guests" at the vote implies, to me, that the proposal was to merge the Hegemony and Commonwealth under one governmental bureaucracy. 

Presumably, up to this point, the Lyrans paid their taxes to the Lyran government, which used most of it to pay for governmental services, and then gave a chunk to the Star League central administration, which provided additional services.  Undoubtely, in such an arrangement, there was a fair amount of needless duplication of effort.  Lyrans, of all people, are averse to wasting money, and would be able to get behind the idea of streamlining the bureaucracy by cutting out the Lyran portion and dealing directly with the Star League administration.

I don't think the Lyran state would have been weakened substantially by the merger.  The SLDF worked in conjunction with the LCAF to keep the peace in its territories.  After the Reunification War, the House troops contributed to form the SLDF became League forces administratively.  So the LCAF would be folded into the SLDF, but would retain its existence.  If the HAF units were still distinct as "Royal" units within the SLDF, the LCAF-origin units could probably also get a national champion status and largely be relegated to operations within Lyran borders.  One of the elements that made the Star League Civil War worse was the refusal of all five Great Houses to help Kerensky overtly.  If there had been this sort of bond, and direct administratie control over the former LCAF, the RWR would have had at least the Lyrans to contend with alongside the SLDF.

Also, the Lyran bonding would have probably included some backdoor clauses for succession.  In the event that House Cameron ceases to be able to fulfil its role as First Lord, the logical successor would then be House Steiner.  Through the merger, the Archon would probably get an honorary "Second Lord" title and a role in the line of succession.   

[Mendrugo]

----- 26 Years After Directive 41 Removed Restrictions on Exploitation of the Periphery -----

Date: 2748

Location: Iron Land

Title: Iron Land Wildcatters

Author: Eric Salzman

Type: Sourcebook (BattleCorps Unit Digest)

Synopsis:  This Unit Digest profiles an insurgent group on the Rim Worlds Republic world of Iron Land.  In the quarter century since Directive 41 removed the restrictions on commercial exploitation of the Periphery by Inner Sphere corporations, Commonwealth Mining has turned the mineral-rich planet into its private corporate fiefdom (starting in 2737).  A revolt organized by the Iron Land Miners' Guild in 2743 was crushed by House Amaris' AsRoc, but a second one in 2747 is still going strong. 

The digest details the group's armed WorkMechs, scouts, technical support crew, and offworld "technical advisors."  As befits scrappy insurgents on a mining colony, they have Dig King MiningMechs and Copper SecurityMechs, along with Buster HaulerMechs, Corx Mobile Tunnel Miners, jeeps, and skimmers.  With this equipment, they raid Commonwealth Mining facilities and scout for untapped germanium lodes they can mine and sell to offworld smugglers in exchange for supplies and weapons.  The Wildcatters' latest supply of weaponry came with technical advisers of mysterious origin - apparently from the Rasalhagian underground, given their use of Swedenese - who offer training in the use of heavier weaponry soon to come.

While most of the Rimmers are fighting for justice or revenge, the offworld advisers have their own agenda.  They're actually an undercover ISF team assigned to covertly assist the Iron Land insurgents with the goal of driving Commonwealth Mining off the planet - not to restore the local mining industry, but to clear the way for the Combine's Metals of the Earth to move in and begin strip mining the whole world. 

Notes:  I had a number of goals when I composed this Unit Profile.  First, I wanted to elaborate on the sort of corporate abuses perpetrated against the Periphery that ultimately led to so many joining the anti-League uprisings.  I knew Commonwealth Mining had been a major firm during the Star League era, but went bankrupt during the Succession Wars.  It seemed natural to have a Lyran firm (given their reputations for corporate rapaciousness) petition to have the League council to declare that the Iron Land germanium deposits were a "vital League resources" being "inefficiently" exploited by the native miners, and to grant exclusive mineral rights to Commonwealth Mining (which, of course, had dropped substantial bribes on the necessary League officials to ensure such a result).  Having a League corporation move in and tell all the native firms they are now squatters on their own lands, and that they must either vacate or pay hefty licensing fees to CM for the privilege of continuing to eke out a marginal living under crushing taxes, would be the sort of thing to trigger uprisings.

I also wanted to tie this into one of the other major events going on at this point - the Third Hidden War, in which League member states equipped/trained bandit forces or used false-flagged elements of their own military (up to and including WarShips) to deniably strike at each other's economic interests.  Having the Rimmer insurgency get co-opted into Third Hidden War maneuvering between the Combine and the Commonwealth seemed to me to perfectly fit into such a narrative.  Metals of the Earth's involvement also helps explain why Iron Land vanished during the Succession Wars.  Metals of the Earth is known for having depleted entire worlds in the Combine through deep core mining, leaving economically ruined husks whose primary use is as training grounds for DCMS troops.  With inside knowledge of the insurgents, they could immediately wipe them out and set about reaping the world's riches for the glory of the Coordinator.

A Guide to Covert Ops' writeup on Mimir implied that Rasalhagian underground had continued to exist and to struggle (ineffectually) for Rasalhagian independence since the Combine annexed the Principality of Rasalhague.  If they're still active during the Star League, they'd have the skills, experience, and networks to smuggle weapons, and would be a logical buyer for black-market germanium.  Thus, they also make a plausible cover for the ISF.

I also wanted to get AsRoc involved to explain how House Amaris had kept their sector quiet while the rest of the Periphery had highly visible anti-League protest and insurgent movements.  In my backnotes, I had it down that when AsRoc rounded up the Iron Land Miners' Guild leadership in 2743, they didn't kill or imprison them, but instead incorporated them into whatever form of "secret army" may have existed at the time, being unwilling to let them run loose and draw League attention, but also being unwilling to waste a cadre of citizens with leadership skills and a fighting rage against the League.  In my personal "what happened next" narrative, AsRoc swoops in and stops the Wildcatters as they're on the verge of sabotaging seismic stabilizers to drop Commonwealth Mining's headquarters dome into a crater.  Like their predecessors in the Mining Guild, the Wildcatters (minus the swiftly spaced ISF team) are inducted into the secret army.  To my mind, Amaris keeps his sector quiet during the buildup by having AsRoc sweep up insurgents and giving them a...more productive...outlet for their grievances.

Finally, I wanted to showcase the kind of support vehicles that would be used by insurgents.  I incorporated a whole raft of rarely seen designs (many from Technical Readout: Vehicle Annex), but alas, few if any had Catalyst-produced record sheets, so much of that detail was cut.  The MechWarrior 1st Edition RPG featured mining robots that had a movement of 5/8 and a bank of ten Small Lasers, which seemed like an appropriate item with which to equip the miners.  Likewise, the Corx Mobile Tunnel Miner, MiningMechs (the Dig King mentioned as the Dig Lord's predecessor), and Coppers salvaged from CM security forces.  For the scouts, I thought the Skimmer (from MW1E and FASA's Record Sheets Volume 5 - Vehicles) would be perfect - essentially a faster (18/27) Savannah Master that skimps on the armor, but adds a rear-mounted flamer to complement the forward small laser.

[russtarvin]

Gigs and gigs of it.  Plus whole datasets for star systems, planetary bodies in those systems, moons, asteroid belts, factories, forts, rail networks, cities, seaports, etc.  I got my sandbox Inner Sphere looking fine...just ran out of time and skill to code up a reactive AI so garrison units wouldn't just stand there waiting to get overrun by invaders.

Most likely would be considered overkill, but you might look at neural networks.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_network.