Explain To Me How The Merc Trade Works In BT

[Iceweb]

Except you use mercenaries too.  And if these guys are any good, you may want to hire them.

It does raise the question of how many mercs try to keep their heads down on a raid, and how many try to network, and leave their business cards.   

It sounds funny but if you become a big enough merc unit you could have the attitude of leaving your mark as a look how good we are concept. 
You too can hire us and we will do this to your enemies instead. 
All for the low price starting at 9.99! (million Cbills) 

Still houses and the such have to be somewhat respectful to mercs and not lay down the law on every unit that hits them or no one will work for them. 

[Daemion]

Yeah, that's where I'm getting at.

I prefer figuring out the stated nominal rules of the system, and only then find out how it's undermined and subverted. In this case, as you say; if it's some no-name band, no one will care.

I know I've used that for setting up fights for a merc company of mine. They run under the radar a lot and get the occasional attack from people 'seeking out a pirate band in this region of Astrokaszy'.

[Sir Chaos]

It does raise the question of how many mercs try to keep their heads down on a raid, and how many try to network, and leave their business cards.   

It sounds funny but if you become a big enough merc unit you could have the attitude of leaving your mark as a look how good we are concept. 
You too can hire us and we will do this to your enemies instead. 
All for the low price starting at 9.99! (million Cbills) 

Still houses and the such have to be somewhat respectful to mercs and not lay down the law on every unit that hits them or no one will work for them.

I figure that, outside of covert operations, identifying yourself as the force behind an attack - after the fact at least - is required by unwritten rule. If nothing else, you´d want the target to know who to turn to in order to pay ransom for prisoners taken.

[Daemion]

Now the leaders of Dirtball VI might hold a grudge, but so what?  What are they gonna do?  Issue an arrest warrant for the mercenaries?  These guys already rampaged through your city, setting it on fire and doing whatever the hell they wanted.  You obviously don't have the forces necessary to stop them from coming back and making your lives worse.

I could actually see them putting out a wanted poster with 'engage on sight - shoot to kill' orders, or hire out a force to track the group/individual down and bring them in for justice or provide proof of death. This, too, could be under the radar.



And, I have an interesting question to ask - How many mercenaries aren't house/state forces in disguise?  Is it possible that a lot of the 'failed' mercenary units might be small raiding forces put together by a regiment/militia to keep their skills sharp and running under the guise of a shell corporation, and after the raid, they 'disband' never to be seen again?  They could also be hired by another shell corporation for that raid.

For that matter, how many merc units disband to avoid reprisals from mission they've taken, only to reform under a new guise?



 

[Iceweb]

I figure that, outside of covert operations, identifying yourself as the force behind an attack - after the fact at least - is required by unwritten rule. If nothing else, you´d want the target to know who to turn to in order to pay ransom for prisoners taken.

 

While they were solvent I figure ComStar would be an easy go between for getting your people back regardless of who the attacker was (house or merc) or how covert the op was. 
Even without ComStar I would figure there would be scads of unscrupulous sorts trying to broker deals of any sort where they could take a cut of the action. 
So if you are willing to pay for your people back and even if you don't know who took them but they are willing to ransom them back, someone will find a way to be a no questions asked middleman.   

[massey]

Merc hiring is probably not an open-tender process. More like backroom personal negotiation via selected known intermediaries and representatives.

Yes, the various State intelligence agencies would definitely try to infiltrate the processes, and spend equal effort ensuring their prospective employees haven't been penetrated by other agencies. Likewise Comstar/Dragoons would be doing the same to keep such shenanigans to a minimum, for their own good name... welcome to the spy game :D

Well let's think about how this could actually work.  Keep it as close to the source material as possible without having obviously exploitable holes.

Let's say I run a standard merc unit, maybe a Battlemech company that's been around for like 15 years or something.  I've got a ComStar rating (I honestly don't remember exactly how the rating system works).  But we'll say that that rating is a combination of a bunch of different factors, like a cross between an eBay seller's rating and a credit report.  Having a history of doing mercenary work is going to get you a higher rating (and thus more job offers).

The Federated Suns is not going to take bids on their upcoming secret raid on the Draconis Combine from just anybody.  "Hmm... what about this unit?  'Takashi's Ninja Dragons.'  Never heard of them before, but they look pretty good.  Let's see what they'll bid on this raid against New Samarkand."  Nope.  They're going to want somebody who has a long history of working for various Houses.  So if I did some work for the Lyrans for a few years, and say the FWL after that, and then did a little pirate hunting for the Kuritans, even if I only did on "okay" job, I'll get a better merc rating than if I had exemplary service to one House for the whole time.

Part of what they're rating is your legitimacy as a merc unit.  A Great House might take a small force and spin them off into a "merc unit" temporarily to try and spy on others.  But they're not likely to let that unit go work for other people for 10+ years.  As soon as your unit service record starts passing the normal enlistment time for a House military, your rating probably goes up.  It's like when you turn 25, your car insurance gets cheaper.  Let's say the Fed Suns and the FWL have a 4 year enlistment, and the Combine and Lyrans have a 5 year, and the Cappies have a 6 year.  Once your unit hits that 4 year mark, your rating goes up (because it's less likely that you're a plant).  At 5 it goes up again, and at 6 it goes up again.  It's not proof that you aren't a spy, it's just showing that it is less likely that you are.

Backwater assignments, like pirate hunting or garrison duty on no-name planets, those jobs are probably pretty easy to get info about.  Some planet that is 5 jumps deep into Combine space, they need some extra mechs for a year or two because hostilities are higher and whoever was stationed there is getting moved somewhere else.  Everybody in the Inner Sphere knows that people are getting moved to the border (the Dragon is making a show of force, and wants the Fed Suns to see).  So it's not like there's a big secret to protect.  You do some assignments like that for a while, or missions where you just take care of local trouble (Baron #1 hates Baron #2, and needs some muscle).  Do it long enough and people think you're probably a real merc unit, and it's not actually a secret long-term scheme by a House to spy on people.

So that's the first thing they'd look at.  Your "credit rating", so to speak.  Anybody with a credit rating below a certain point doesn't even get to see most of the contracts available from ComStar.  To even get in on the bidding process, you've got to have been around a while.  If somebody has been a merc for 30 years, it's a pretty good bet that they aren't actually spies (I mean, you know, except for Wolf's Dragoons, but whoda thunk it?).

[massey]

Second thing.  Before you "graduate" up to a higher level and get to bid on more contracts, you probably get spied on by any House who even thinks about hiring you.  Phones tapped.  People go through your mail.  Somebody in a van parks down the street from your house and watches you with binoculars.  Cute girls meet your techs at the bar and get them drunk, then seduce them.  They're looking to see if you're really who you say you are.

In this sort of "background check", they probably don't care if one of your mechwarriors is a serial killer who is on the run from the law.  Oh, it'll go in the report, but that's not what they're looking for.  Again they just want to know that it's safe to let you bid on certain contracts.  Ironically, if they find out every little secret you have, it probably weighs against your rating.  Nobody wants to bid a secret mission to a unit that can't keep its mouth shut.  If your chief tech is laying there in bed with a beautiful spy woman, telling everything he knows, she's going to write down "Do Not Hire -- Talkative Morons" in her report.

And honestly, having people who do have a criminal record in their history probably makes you seem more legitimate.  12 upstanding Captain America types who appear out of nowhere with squeaky clean records, that's unusual.  But if you've got a guy who killed a man in a bar fight on New Avalon, and then hightailed it?  Another who "borrowed" a Zeus battlemech from the Lyran military when he was passed over for promotion?  A third who is accused of sexual assault on four different planets?  Yeah that's probably a real mercenary unit, and not a bunch of spies.

--

The third security precaution is fake missions.  So you bid on a raid, and let's say the first couple of times, you don't get hired (because nobody is actually getting hired).  Each time there's a little bit of information that could be useful to the Combine.  Spies would watch you like a hawk to see if you try to leak info to them.  Who do you meet with?  Do you make any suspicious HPG transmissions?  This wouldn't just be the House intelligence agencies, it would be ComStar as well.  If they're going to give you a good rating, they don't want you betraying people.  I mean, they don't really care, but they'll at least do a passable job of monitoring you.  You're using their equipment and all.

Now, I don't think the Great Houses maintain a massive group of spies just to watch mercenaries.  There's probably a group of them who go over new units that you're considering hiring, at least until they've been adequately vetted.  After a while, you just trust their rep.  Everybody knows that Eridani Light Horse is a real unit, and they're honorable.  And you wouldn't hire some D-rated unit to do a secret mission anyway.

[skiltao]

How many mercenaries aren't house/state forces in disguise?  Is it possible that a lot of the 'failed' mercenary units might be small raiding forces put together by a regiment/militia to keep their skills sharp and running under the guise of a shell corporation, and after the raid, they 'disband' never to be seen again?  They could also be hired by another shell corporation for that raid.

For that matter, how many merc units disband to avoid reprisals from mission they've taken, only to reform under a new guise?

Rebranding your unit might prevent an enemy commander from issuing on-the-spot bonuses against you, but I don't think disbanding does anything to make existing bounties uncollectable.

Also, if you're going to false-flag but not frame someone for it, why create a paper trail at all? Seems like a liability.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I would imagine that rebranding isn't common.  We saw it done solely to mislead at the Battle of Wolcott, where the DCMS answered a batchall with service records for a 'brand new' regiment made up of Genyosha mechwarriors.  But that's an exception, and one where the misled party is notably unskeptical of shenanigans.

I'd imagine that in the BTU, a mechwarrior's service record follows him from unit to unit, and even from house service to mercenary employment.  Kurita made up some phony personnel records for their elite pilots making them look like greenhorns, but I don't think that'd pass inspection for anyone who's not an early Clan Invasion Clanner.  Certainly not without a valid MRBC/Hiring Hall certificate of validation on a resume/service record, I doubt a  merc captain or prospective employer would take a falsified record at face value.

[Garrand]

Wondering if the MRBC keeps dossiers on mechwarriors then? So lets say Joe's Jumpers merc company has a bad time/defaults on its liabilities & rebrands as Franks Stompers, goes looking for a contract. There's no prior record of this merc company (a red flag but not necessarily a disqualifier), so the House in question pulls reports on the roster. If THOSE members have no history, or a suspicious history (I'd thing the MRBC is pretty well trusted as a reliable source of info anyway), then maybe they don't get the contract. I would think that's a normal part of the contract negotiations process & helps weed out suspicious organizations, making a spin-off house espionage merc company harder to do.

That being said, I would expect a House to be extra cautious about who they hire, with landed nobles a little less picky, and corporations or private entitites the least picky. That might be were merc start-ups get their initial experience -- working corporate security -- besides the record of the start-up leader who may have gone independent from an older, established merc command...

Damon.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Wondering if the MRBC keeps dossiers on mechwarriors then? So lets say Joe's Jumpers merc company has a bad time/defaults on its liabilities & rebrands as Franks Stompers, goes looking for a contract. There's no prior record of this merc company (a red flag but not necessarily a disqualifier), so the House in question pulls reports on the roster. If THOSE members have no history, or a suspicious history (I'd thing the MRBC is pretty well trusted as a reliable source of info anyway), then maybe they don't get the contract. I would think that's a normal part of the contract negotiations process & helps weed out suspicious organizations, making a spin-off house espionage merc company harder to do.

That being said, I would expect a House to be extra cautious about who they hire, with landed nobles a little less picky, and corporations or private entitites the least picky. That might be were merc start-ups get their initial experience -- working corporate security -- besides the record of the start-up leader who may have gone independent from an older, established merc command...

Damon.

I find it hard to imagine a MRBC/Hiring Hall bonding process not storing data on their clients.  Not only do they serve as an ostensibly arbitrary party that can verify the authenticity of a merc's claims about his prior service, they can target him for HPG spam marketing based on his history on file.  "Hey our records show you buy tons of LRM ammo every month, you might be interested in a special offer going on with a Shigunga distributor within 1 jump of your contract location!"

[massey]

I find it hard to imagine a MRBC/Hiring Hall bonding process not storing data on their clients.  Not only do they serve as an ostensibly arbitrary party that can verify the authenticity of a merc's claims about his prior service, they can target him for HPG spam marketing based on his history on file.  "Hey our records show you buy tons of LRM ammo every month, you might be interested in a special offer going on with a Shigunga distributor within 1 jump of your contract location!"

It's still the future of the 80s.  I think spam HPG messages are moving it into the present too much.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

It's still the future of the 80s.  I think spam HPG messages are moving it into the present too much.

I assure you spam existed in the 80s.  It was snail mail, which HPG traffic is closer to anyway than email.  It was called junk mail instead of spam, but yeah same thing. 

Of course the costs involved in analyzing a merc outfit's C-Bill expenditures for real world style targeted marketing are impossible to figure.  How much does it cost to send out a catalogue of wares?  How much does it cost to send a catalogue to every merc company currently bonded with MRBC/Hiring Hall?  How much does it cost to transmit, gather, and analyze the C-Bill expenditures of a given merc company?  These numbers are impossible to know, so it's either financially viable or it isn't, depending on which answer you prefer.  Personally, I suspect they do exist. 

Granted, it might be a bit too "modern" to produce adverts based on location and spending habits, but junk mail ultimately was doing the same thing all along.. just less efficient.  Besides, it doesn't get much more 1980s than cheesecake pull out posters ostensibly picturing hardware rather than nude or scantily clad models.  The lore even mentions that none other than Natasha Kerensky posed for them in-universe at least once (and you can even find such in-universe pinups of her on a google search, a famous one is from the WD SB), so you know mercs in 3025 got nudie catalogues of pro gear transmitted to them :D

[Kidd]

Remember it's a universe with little or no central authority, massive amounts of data and severe impediments to communication. The MRB is more a brokerage and the MRBC a union board; neither body would really have the resources to audit the movements and actions of individuals and organisations across several thousand square light years of space. Not even Comstar would have had access to cross-border and proprietary government data, which I imagine is heavily encrypted and mostly physically transmitted rather than via HPG.

There's probably a group of them who go over new units that you're considering hiring, at least until they've been adequately vetted. After a while, you just trust their rep.

Varying levels of due diligence, according to procedure, and subject to resources... which of course would never be enough for the task at hand.

they can target him for HPG spam marketing

Courier jumpships likely remain the primary means of interplanetary mass-media communication, not HPGs.

[nerd]

Granted, it might be a bit too "modern" to produce adverts based on location and spending habits, but junk mail ultimately was doing the same thing all along.. just less efficient.  Besides, it doesn't get much more 1980s than cheesecake pull out posters ostensibly picturing hardware rather than nude or scantily clad models.  The lore even mentions that none other than Natasha Kerensky posed for them in-universe at least once (and you can even find such in-universe pinups of her on a google search, a famous one is from the WD SB), so you know mercs in 3025 got nudie catalogues of pro gear transmitted to them :D

*Cough*Dillon Precision*Cough*

I'm quite sure the hiring halls will have info on the units available for intentional employers. It just seems like something that would be available as part of a review and bonding system, if not there's someone with the information for sale. Outreach and Galatea sound like spy playgrounds as much as anything. If your intelligence agent didn't tell you who the Merc Colonel's Academy Roommate was, they aren't doing their job right.

For what it's worth, part of the MRBC's stature is that it tries to be a cartel for quality Mercs and that includes driving prices up. The Great Houses are willing to work with it because reliable Mercs are better tools in their power plays.

The way I see raiding offers, they would be written as House X raiding House Y, dates including transport, and minimum unit size. Both sides know the targets, and are defending them as best possible/

[Garrand]

Courier jumpships likely remain the primary means of interplanetary mass-media communication, not HPGs.

Not so sure about that. Why? the only advantage a jumpship has over an HPG is the ability to carry physical goods. In a universe of HPG transmissions, however, there is no need to do so. Likely the HPGs work like the post office, but with digital information, handing messages or mail off from one HPG to another depending on the routing information. A high speed squirt of data later and the receiver gets it at the destination. At which point it either goes out as an email (or equivalent), or goes to a printshop to be snail-mailed (FREX magazines or physical books). Heck, I would imagine for regular traffic companies set up standing contracts with local printhouses to print of editions of books or magazines for the local clientele.

Damon.

[Kidd]

Bandwidth. Unless data transmission rates have been retconned...

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I don't know that HPG transmittion rates have been retconned, but I do know that game materials never really accounted for the possiblity, nee probability that preexisting orders for HPG traffic already meeting bandwidth and the resulting bottleneck rendering the planetary compound technically unable to process the PC's desired communication (for parts, reinforcements, whatever).

The built in delays for sending the communication have always been, IIRC, based on celestial alignments.  You might have to wait 12+ hours for your message to go out, but that was because you had to wait for the next HPG in the chain to rise on the local planetary horizon.  Indeed, the rules supported the notion of paying premium cash to send a message right now, using whatever HPG is currently up in the sky, even if that's not the most direct route to your ultimate destination.

The rules ever saying it takes X amount of time to send Y amount of data was a brain fart of a mistake on the part of TPTB... it works at the primary level of addressing PC experience (it provides a ticking clock plot device) but it doesn't work when extrapolating what those numbers mean for the universe at large beyond the PCs themselves.. it's basically assuming that nothing ever goes on in the universe beyond what involves the PCs.  Which is true from a meta standpoint, sure.  But not a good way to gauge how a universe "works".

[Daemion]

Also, if you're going to false-flag but not frame someone for it, why create a paper trail at all? Seems like a liability.

Plausible deniability on both sides? I've read enough in various field manuals that some regiments conduct raids which aren't sanctioned by the state. It makes sense to me that the regiment would have some way of disguising themselves. You can only get away with 'random new pirate group' in a region of space for so long. People get familiar with the wanted posters or any other means by which pirates are identified.

But, a new merc unit? They're a dime a dozen.

 

[massey]

Not so sure about that. Why? the only advantage a jumpship has over an HPG is the ability to carry physical goods. In a universe of HPG transmissions, however, there is no need to do so. Likely the HPGs work like the post office, but with digital information, handing messages or mail off from one HPG to another depending on the routing information. A high speed squirt of data later and the receiver gets it at the destination. At which point it either goes out as an email (or equivalent), or goes to a printshop to be snail-mailed (FREX magazines or physical books). Heck, I would imagine for regular traffic companies set up standing contracts with local printhouses to print of editions of books or magazines for the local clientele.

Damon.

ComStar charges a huge amount for HPG transmission.  Most communication appears to be more like a telegram rather than a long, rambling e-mail with video attachments and things.  Unless speed is really important, you could save a lot of money by just paying a guy going on a jumpship voyage to take along a data disc and give it to people at the next planet.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Plausible deniability on both sides? I've read enough in various field manuals that some regiments conduct raids which aren't sanctioned by the state. It makes sense to me that the regiment would have some way of disguising themselves.

In my view those unsanctioned raids are better explained by the distributed nature of C2 in the BTU.  That is, the regimental commander largely acts without imperial oversight.  If he sends forces out without being told to, it's because it's within the purview of his broad standing orders.  If the raid was labelled as "unsanctioned" in the lore, that to me means that the CO wrote a check to his House Lord that his pedigree/connections/glibness couldn't cover.

Keeping it from fully becoming a tangent here:  I'd see it the exact same way for a large enough merc group.  If a regiment or battalion is contracted to protect a chuck of the border (even one world), it may follow that the mercs would be encouraged or even expected to launch some proactive raids/action to keep their assigned sector protected.  And if they do something that causes a fuss, their CO too would have to explain it away to MRBC/Hiring Hall rather than the House Lord.  Or fail to satisfactorily explain it, as the case may be.

[Daemion]

In my view those unsanctioned raids are better explained by the distributed nature of C2 in the BTU.  That is, the regimental commander largely acts without imperial oversight.  If he sends forces out without being told to, it's because it's within the purview of his broad standing orders.  If the raid was labelled as "unsanctioned" in the lore, that to me means that the CO wrote a check to his House Lord that his pedigree/connections/glibness couldn't cover.

Keeping it from fully becoming a tangent here:  I'd see it the exact same way for a large enough merc group.  If a regiment or battalion is contracted to protect a chuck of the border (even one world), it may follow that the mercs would be encouraged or even expected to launch some proactive raids/action to keep their assigned sector protected.  And if they do something that causes a fuss, their CO too would have to explain it away to MRBC/Hiring Hall rather than the House Lord.  Or fail to satisfactorily explain it, as the case may be.

I'm thinking of instances where they're specifically told not to, maybe because it's become too much of a habit with said regiment. 

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I'm thinking of instances where they're specifically told not to, maybe because it's become too much of a habit with said regiment.

Those instances are few and far between.

And even in those instances, those troops may see asterisks on those orders.  "Yeah behave, but of course you still have to do what you have to do to keep the troops on the other side of the border from being able to build up..."   Or, in the case of the Ronin Wars, the rebel DCMS units surely didn't see themselves as rebelling, but answering the subtle and unspoken call from the Coordinator that politics wouldn't let him put into explicit orders to take action to un-%^&$% the situation of having had to relinquish worlds to the FRR.  Might makes right in the entire BTU, not just among the Clans.  So long as you were victorious, it's easier to get forgiveness after the fact than if you were defeated.

But yeah tangent alert.  Unless a merc group is big enough to be equitable to a House army field command (and thus have the authority and expectation for independent action as a field command), this train is largely not relevant.  But in the 31st century where full regiment and multi-regiment merc outfits are common, yeah this is very relevant.

[Daemion]

I still think it's far more plausible an idea than not. There's always the higher end lord sending a missive to the other side warning him/her to reign in their eager forces or see the start of a new war.

There's always that line that people are pushing but trying not to completely cross.

Especially in the Clan Invasion Era, when houses were supposed to be 'working together' against the clan menace. Or during the Second Star League. Or, even that one agreement between houses Liao, Marik, and Kurita during the 4th succession war.

FWL and CapCon have strong rivalries, and we see that resume with the dark age.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

I still think it's far more plausible an idea than not. There's always the higher end lord sending a missive to the other side warning him/her to reign in their eager forces or see the start of a new war.

There's always that line that people are pushing but trying not to completely cross.

Well, the reason I find the notion of going to the bother of hiding a force's identity for a raid to be unlikely is for two reasons. (note, unlikely, not never done!)

One: The notion I mentioned upthread about using military force being a socially acceptable thing.  Again where in the real world you'd unleash lawyers on someone to settle a greivance, in the BTU you send in the mechwarriors instead.  There's just no reason to hide who they are, who you are, and why you've unleashed them to avoid censure.  Trick them into launching reprisals against someone else? Ok, that's potentially a tack, but there's no reason to hide your identity to avoid fallout from your peers.

Two: The sheer headache of the paperwork.  Let's say you do launch a raid and successfully hide your identity and noone ever knows who did it.  How do you recognize your mechwarriors' actions in that raid... do you not give out any recognition or awards?  (not to mention no combat incentives for your troops at all? yeah that'll go well..) How do you handle the requisition for parts to cover the costs of the raid, given that you've officially not just been on a raid?  If you make it known to your side but not the other to allow for the paperwork to function, then that's a very, very poorly kept secret that defeats the purpose of having gone through the bother of hiding your identity in the first place.

[Daryk]

*snip* do you not give out any recognition or awards? *snip*

Yes, that's exactly how it works.  If awards are given, they're very non-specific.  It's one of the reasons there's so much boiler plate in real world award citations.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

There's more to recognition than fancy medals and ribbons that get pinned to a uniform.

If you keep a combat op "off the books", the participants of that op don't get to benefit from having that combat experience recorded in their personnel file.  That will have implications on promotion and pay.. particularly the latter for mercs who normally get paid based on experience levels.  Disavowing ops would have an impact on pilots like saying a star athlete's stats from certain games don't count for contract negotations.

The BTU is a neo-pre-Westphalian setting.. most mechwarriors are in it for factors other than nationalism... especially mercenary mechwarriors.  Doing things that negatively affects their bank accounts is a terrible policy. 

Again, the level of offense taken at the Great House level when this regiment or that one jumps the border is normally rather low.  Even if the Houses are for example generally working together to combat a third party, it seems that launching a recon raid or a smash and grab has about as much response as in the real world when a surveillance aircraft flies right along an observed border or claimed waters:  A shrug and acknowledgement that that's how Things Are Done in the world.  It ain't worth escalating; respond in kind.  You don't really think the Great Houses never raided each other during the 3050s do you?

[Daryk]

The communities that do those kind of ops in the real world operate more on word of mouth within them (i.e., reputation) than by what's written down anywhere, and that's no impediment to their promotions.  "Excelled in combat operations during the last 12 months" can cover quite a lot of ground without revealing any details on an evaluation.

[Daemion]

You don't really think the Great Houses never raided each other during the 3050s do you?

I imagine they did. The fact that we haven't heard about it in fiction can be indicative of the nature of the raids. (Instead of simple oversight by the writers.)

[Kidd]

I don't know that HPG transmittion rates have been retconned, but I do know that game materials never really accounted for the possiblity, nee probability that preexisting orders for HPG traffic already meeting bandwidth and the resulting bottleneck rendering the planetary compound technically unable to process the PC's desired communication (for parts, reinforcements, whatever).

in short, HPG transmission limitations is a problem for private individuals, not planetary gov'ments or Great Houses.

Sure, but we were talking about commercial junk mail directed to individuals. Even if corporations enjoy slightly better transmission rates than private individuals, mass-mailing individuals might still be prohibitively expensive.