Hiring new mechwarriors and so forth

[hive_angel]

I know I can find new support crew in Strategic Operations. Does anyone know where I can find new mechwarrior pilots/vehicle drivers. Thoughts as to how to go about this.

Example: My current player has salvaged a few armor assets and wishes to devote them to an ending climatic battle against a large pirate threat.

[Col Toda]

Sadly it is a question of time line .  What year ? Depending on the year it can be Outreach ; Galadon  ; Port Krin  ; or Solaris VII to hire . How good are your hires tend to be who is in command ?  The further the Commander's public skill set is from what you want the harder it will be to recruit better than green troops . If you have the Commander who is a known Aerospace Pilot he can recruit good Aerospace pilots and drop ship and jump ship crew but have a harder time with war ship or battle mechs ; combat vehicles ; battle armor or infantry as the good applicants have little or no confidence that someone with that experience could actually command them intelligently enough for them not to get killed . If it is a house unit or a Nobel sponsored unit they may have a home planet or base that have  a population that have good recruits to get .

[StuartYee]

Expounding on what Col Toda said, it depends on a lot of factors. There are a lot of possibilities limited only by your judgement and how you're running your campaign. Here are some ideas:

*If the the adventure is taking place on a backwater world, the Player Characters can see if there are any retired veterans they can levy from the populace

*On a more populated world, the Player Characters can put out For Hire ads, and interview applicants. Think Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven (really the same plot anyway)

*Would the PCs have enough time to venture to Terra or Outreach to see who they can recruit from one of the hiring halls?

*Maybe PCs just don't have the time or resources to properly recruit vehicle crews. Maybe they can haphazardly crew the vehicles themselves if they have the available manpower. Maybe they jury rig something so the vehicles are either somewhat automated, or are simply stationary weapon emplacements crewed by civilians. Or maybe they're rigged with shoe string to move forward in a straight line as a diversion.

IMHO, I think the last option would be more dramatic and more satisfying as part of the storytelling process rather than the PCs simply recruit vehicle crews.

Just some thoughts, hope that helps.