[[Posted 26-08-2006, 23:38:09]] Annabelle's Pub, Ft. Ritchie, Donegal..."...made you the Supply officer. It doesn't make sense." Gunther stirred his meat-pie.
Trung shrugged. "Well...look at how the LAAF usually assigns officers, sir. Staff Job, followed by one tour in a combat command, two staffers, then either retirement, or another combat command, wash, rinse, repeat. We're top-heavy with staff as it is, according to this paperwork Lt. General Forrestal gave us. We don't
need that many bodies in a command-track."
Gunther Marsden, Colonel and commander of the yet-to-be-formed 551st
Panzergrenadier Regiment put his fork on the table, and leaned forward intently. "Do tell." he prompted.
"As far as I can tell, we're going to be dealing with six officers of Kommandant grade rank just to, well... I can't see
what they're for- a lot of those jobs should go to Non-Comissioned personnel, I get stuck with eight Hauptmans that basically do nothing but glorified clerking, to supervise less than half a battalion's worth of supply personnel. I've used Corporals for those jobs before, and Lt. Colonel Huang used mainly Sargeants supervised by a single Leutnant. Just culling staff-officers we could probably have enough Comissioned personnel to lead two additional Battalions of troops in the field, and still handle all the paperwork we really need done."
Marsden nodded, "You want to get rid of the hangers-on?" he asked.
Trung shrugged, "Maybe-maybe we should see if any of them might make useful Cadre for a garrison-training assignment, something like a reserve to generate replacement troops or a tactical reserve formation we keep in the...ah... 'sundry and assorted costs' until needed."
Marsden frowned, "the additional equipment for something like that will be noticed."
Trung shrugged, "Sure, so we combat-loss some gear, training-loss others, and use duplicate bumper-numbers to hide the
real size of the Regiment from the DQ's Auditors. According to this, we've got a damned big budget...in fact, makes me wonder how come the line regiments are so small, when the
Drei was operating at around a quarter the same allotment in Kroner."
Marsden looked over the figures Trung had scribbled out while he was talking. "What are you planning?" he asked.
Trung tapped a stylus on the table for a moment, then, he said, "We don't need twelve different 'mech types, we need at most, three. If we pick three good ones, and sell or trade off the ones that aren't the right make, model, and brand, I can reduce the supply costs for the 'mech battalions exponentially-the import gear's a millstone around our necks, we don't
need slow-moving siege machines that fall on their metal asses every time they fire their main guns, and we certainly don't need to try and account for seven different calbres of Class-ten ammunition. The Clantech machines are also a significant problem-we can't get parts for them for love nor money, and machinery
breaks. We can't fix it, we don't need it cluttering up our MTOE and sidelining units that should be field-ready."
Marsden nodded, "Sound logic, but... what about the Tank Battalions?"
Trung grunted. "Newer, is not
necessarily better, sir. Challengers are slow, they're not compatible with Manticore parts, and neither one is compatible with Rommels or Pattons. We can cut around eighty percent of our maintenance down by picking
one tank design, then using it in quantity. While the Mantueffel would be nice, they're not exactly flying off the production lines, but we can get Gauss-Rommels for around a third the price of a used Mantueffel, half the price of a Chally, or about twice the price of a Manticore... and I know a supplier that can keep us in running gear, engines, and chassis equipment for a lot less than buying from Defiance Direct's new-old-stock warehouses."
Marsden frowned, "Infantry?"
Trung shrugged, "The Saxon's well-advertised, but it's
not a good APC. First thing we found out fighting the Falcons, was that if your infantry aren't supported, they just die, usually horribly, and usually because the enemy can stand-off at ranges nothing we had could touch...except what Lizzie's IFV's could put out... and we also found out that those fifteen-tonne coffins with the firing ports aren't worth the anfo to blow them to hell agianst a live opponent armed with anything bigger than a 'guage shotgun. Maxims are good, so're a few other commercially available designs, but they're not compatible mechanically with anything but another Maxim. Simplify, simplify, simplify-I think you should focus on getting Patton-based IFV's like
we use. It's slower, but on the other hand, once the grunts get out the door, it's tough enough to hang around and puts out enough ranged firepower to give the boys a chance to do their business."
Marsden nodded, "And, if one of the Rommels loses a track and some roadwheels, you've got more spares, right?"
Trung nodded, "Yes, Sir. We have to
expect that some of the machines aren't going to survive-and make damned sure that the ones that
do, have replacement parts so that we can sustain operations."
Marsden nodded, "Light vees?" he asked.
Trung leaned back, "Choppers, sir. anywhere we go, we're probably going in atmo, and that means there's plenty of air to beat into submission."
The Colonel nodded, "Yes, and I see you've already red-lined the Yellowjacket Gunships off the list..."
Trung nodded again. "Yes sir, I did-slow, easy targets don't provide either good scout info, or good harassment platforms. Something that's outrun by half the light omnis in the Clan arsenal, while having that damn-vulnerable rotor assembly, and just-enough-gun-to-draw-attention isn't something that is going to do much more than give the enemy some easy target practice. At what those cost, we can't afford to lose that much just to soothe some half-foreign bastard's ego. I can trade those in for two H-8's on the new market, or three H-7's, and the H-7's a common platform, which means we can get spare parts for cheap, and recruiting mechanics and pilots is easier, lots of people know how to fly it..."
Marsden leaned back, "And how, pray tell, are you going to manage this in the time we have alloted to us?"
Trung favoured his Commander with a grin, "Sir, that's an S-4's
Job."
What a minute, typical Lyran officer track is twice the time in staff as in field command? Is that backed by source materail? Sounds like a receipe for too many chiefs, not enough indians to me. Then again given how bad Lyran field commands to to perform...
Hmm, while I can see the attraction of one common chassis (IIRC your Kowloon Thumper tracks are modified Rommels), doesn't a Patton IFV seem a bit big? How about the upgraded Goblin, say with a standard Large Laser and twin SRM-4 packs replacing the SRM-6 and LPL? Under TW rules (since Kowloon doesn't seem to use BA) I'd add a coax SPL for extra squishy frying.
It might not be backed by canon material but remmber to be a social general you have to hob nob with 'important people' and as a staff officer you can do that a lot more than out in the field.
What a minute, typical Lyran officer track is twice the time in staff as in field command? Is that backed by source materail? Sounds like a receipe for too many chiefs, not enough indians to me. Then again given how bad Lyran field commands to to perform...
Hmm, while I can see the attraction of one common chassis (IIRC your Kowloon Thumper tracks are modified Rommels), doesn't a Patton IFV seem a bit big? How about the upgraded Goblin, say with a standard Large Laser and twin SRM-4 packs replacing the SRM-6 and LPL? Under TW rules (since Kowloon doesn't seem to use BA) I'd add a coax SPL for extra squishy frying.
Ah, the old files got wiped with the Board reset- I posted the "Patton IFV" some time ago. PPC, Four tonne infantry bay, lasers eliminated in favour of machineguns, it retained the LRM-5 for use with certain rounds-like smoke, Thunder, etc.
Yes, at 65 tonnes it's neither light, nor c-bills cheap, but there's something like an 80% parts commonality with the Rommel/Patton. In gameplay, it has worked rather well, and it works to move either leg infantry, or BA.
Hmm, on common parts APCs there is a infantry variant of the Warrior, listed as gutting an H8 fitting a pair of (heavy?) MGs and sinking the rest into a troop bay. Downside, I'm not sure how much commanility there is between the H7 and H8, and unless you are in some's hip pocket you aren't a threat, your basic flying battletaxi. The new Karnov in 3058 is a better platform (fusion engine, twin nose ER Mediums, jammer, 8 ton troop bay), but that gets you into the 'extra platform' you are trying to avoid.
Be interesting to see how much leway Colonel Marsden and Kommandant Trung organzing the 551st, how are you planning to set them up in terms of the mix of armor and infantry battalions?
AFAICT your trying to pare an RCT down to three classes of mech, one armor/IFV/artillery chassis (counting the Patton and Rommel as variants based on a common chassis and drivetrain), and one VTOL design. Going with one fighter design, like a Vietmin or Stingray? I'd suggest the Eisenstrum but even if that's all the LA is producing and it is a damn fine fighter, it is still an expensive beast.
Hmm, according to 3058U Lockheed has switched over to H8 production, but IIRC might do parts and limited production runs of the H7 on request. OTOH from my experience in the automotive industry 'out of production' means spares are farmed out to a legacy group or outside supplier. Espically with the Sphere in flames from the Jihad I can see some enterprising soul picking up the production line for the H7, those things tend to be recycled or sold rather than scrapped.
As for the trash details, reminds me of one of my dad's stories, about an unfortunant Lt. and his drunken comment about the base CO, a Col. Custer...
BTW what are your three mech designs? I can see a light scout/scimisher, a medium cav design, like the Light Fusion Engine Griffen, and a heavy/assault beat stick. What particular designs do you want for the 551st?
Edit: Just noticed the Starslayer is built in Lyran space, though I don't know how Loxley has made out (So far) in the Jihad.
