What If? the Fortress really acted like one with large scale sallies?

[Cannonshop]

I figure I'd need 2 Bug-Eyes to start, and would want to expand to six of them later as the process goes full active.  This would let me monitor the Zenith and Nadir regions at three star systems, or even watch six systems but only one of the two Jump regions at each.

From Sarna a Bug-Eye needs 60 people, I figure with the larger size for the extra fuel a safe (excessive) bet would be to double this to 120 people per ship.  So the full size operation will need 720 people for the Bug-Eyes, or 1440 if you use the 2-crew method of US Ballistic Missile submarines.

How many planets are still inside the Fortress?  Are any of them over a billion people?  I should be able to find 1440 people in the intel/analysis departments that could be given astronaut/spacer training, and twelve spacer captains that could be given intel/analysis training.  I literally need the one in a million exceptions, and that is assuming that there are only 1.5 billion people inside the Fortress.

You'd also need a place to put the crew from the Jumpships.  Depending on the morality of the capturing group, this could be a series of small islands in the middle of nowhere, a semi-comfy prison where they are taken care of, or out an airlock.

But this would all have to be paid from the intel budget, rather than the Navy budget.  Those Navy types get cranky when you ask them to perform steady and on-going kidnapping/piracy.

Bodies aren't an issue, Trained and capable bodies is the issue-particularly trained and capable, and able to pass the kind of security screening your mission requires-esp. considering who's running it, and the need to avoid implicating the government in such a mission.

Billions of people-but they all live on the ground.  This situation might be equated to seeing how many sailors you can recruit from the middle of Saharan Africa's largely less-educated minorities-though it would likely be an easier task, than finding sixty spacers who aren't already making better livings running freight or doing other spacer tasks, at much, much, much, lower risk.

Again, for this to work requires not only trained bodies, but trainers to create them.

And you still haven't addressed the elephantine cost of building your subcompact core ships in an economy and situation where there is no other use for them and travel is restricted by Fortress anyway (and fortress is eating up materials you need!)

There is also the cultural bias to address-getting money from developing Tripod mechs to building expensive surveillance ships, money from training elite 'mechwarriors (and servicing their desires in order to keep them) to train up the crews, the likely losses during testing and development and avoiding cancellation since the outside world is supposed to be collapsing into anarchy...which would not require commerce raiders so much as large troop transports to deliver armies.

The technical hurdles have, as you noted earlier, all been overcome.  The problem is the cultural obstacles remain-and the conditions would likely amplify them, given the lack of similar forces being active in the previous 300 years.

But, this isn't where the fun ends, it's where it starts.  You need the supply line, because no HPG means messages and orders must be moved by courier, both within, and outside of, Prefecture X.  Messages because identifying likely targets and adaptations like shifted routes or enemy movement is kind of useful, orders because you may need to move your raiders to cover another system, or shift them around, and you don't want blue-on-blue.

it's not just an easy or simple 'park in this system and profit' situation-at least, not for very long.

No such force exists in the canon, or has existed in the canon, and the closest thing we have to something similar, has not existed for the last 300 years.

That means your force is, essentially, green and making it up as they go along, based on manuals that may or may not have been written by experts from an environment that ceased to exist in the first succession war.

An environment, I must emphasize, that had HPG communications that were reliable if the most modern such doctrines are the training materials being used.  Otherwise, essentially you're sending out green troops on an elite mission intended to be deniable.

The sort of situation that results in either Epic Stories that rewrite whole sections of military doctrine, or epic failures that discourage further investigation.

Such a situation might be more viable, if it's the Taurians, or Canopians, or even Outworlders doing it despite their lower tech and lower populations-because unlike the Republic, these are people who've had first hand, within living memory,  experience dealing with Piracy and Bandits that move between star systems, instead of locally grown fanatics waging ground wars.

The Republic is NOT (and was not, for the preceding fifty years) subject to the kind of conditions that teach people how to wage such a conflict, or how to carry it out as the perpetrator.  The odds of massive, program killing mistakes that compromise national security are sufficiently non-zero to prevent such a thing from being approved...or even studied by anyone with the resources to put it together.

when speculating about what a faction can do, it's important to remember how that faction operates.  Cappies don't suddenly adopt liberal western ideals of liberty or free and open elections-because that goes against their core identity.

The Republic is a ground-force oriented society, they are not a maritime society and prior to Gray Monday, their enemies were organized states with a ground war focus, and no fleet to speak of.  This WILL tend to influence doctrines including what sort of doctrine is even considered for investigation, never mind development and training.

As I said. it would require a massive paradigm shift that has no real grouding in terms of what the Republic is, or stood for.

[Maingunnery]

I think that I can reduce the costs of such an operations and bring it more inline with RoTS doctrine.

Covert ground-based units and spies to gather traffic information.
LF equipped JumpShip to verify the presence of targets or threats.
Another LF equipped JumpShip with PWS to force the surrender of targets.

However this will only work for a time, until traffic completely avoids the area or they start traveling in armed convoys.   

[Cannonshop]

I think that I can reduce the costs of such an operations and bring it more inline with RoTS doctrine.

Covert ground-based units and spies to gather traffic information.
LF equipped JumpShip to verify the presence of targets or threats.
Another LF equipped JumpShip with PWS to force the surrender of targets.

However this will only work for a time, until traffic completely avoids the area or they start traveling in armed convoys.

now, that makes a bit more sense for the Republic, than embarking on a warship building spree and trying to run all-new tactical options.  What makes the friction is communication issues, but everyone has the same ones, so not so much of a deal.

[Minemech]

 If you go on history, the Republic may in fact have been quite a maritime power. They apparently aggressively deployed Castrums to maximum effect in a number of conflicts to control movements. The Republic's navy was likely the most inconvenient part of the storyline of their collapse, similar to the fact that Free Worlds League ships were supposed to have marines during the Jihad.

 The traditional maritime power of Battletech was the Free Worlds League. Take that for what it is worth.

[Stormlion1]

Jumpships are very vulnerable while there recharging. It takes time to retrieve them once deployed. Which of course gives plenty of time to move against them. We saw examples of this using Battle Armor with the Grey Death Legion and against the Kuritan Jumpships over Dromini VI during the Fourth Succession War.

[Cannonshop]

If you go on history, the Republic may in fact have been quite a maritime power. They apparently aggressively deployed Castrums to maximum effect in a number of conflicts to control movements. The Republic's navy was likely the most inconvenient part of the storyline of their collapse, similar to the fact that Free Worlds League ships were supposed to have marines during the Jihad.

 The traditional maritime power of Battletech was the Free Worlds League. Take that for what it is worth.

Castrums are essentially river monitors.  They're GREAT for parking in orbit over somehting valuable, and not much else.  a station could do the same job cheaper, so no, the Republic is NOT a maritime power.  Maritime Power requires Expeditionary capacity and strategic mobility.  NOBODY in Battletech is a Maritime power.

If you go on history, the Republic may in fact have been quite a maritime power. They apparently aggressively deployed Castrums to maximum effect in a number of conflicts to control movements. The Republic's navy was likely the most inconvenient part of the storyline of their collapse, similar to the fact that Free Worlds League ships were supposed to have marines during the Jihad.

 The traditional maritime power of Battletech was the Free Worlds League. Take that for what it is worth.

Buidling bigger expensive ships doesn't make for an effective, never mind powerful, navy.  It juat means you're putting your poor 'mechwarriors who aren't that good into a bigger armored box for ramming.

The signs of a Maritime power, are:

1. the ability to protect commerce outside your border.
2. the ability to deny commerce to an opponent outside your border.
3. the ability to engage in, and support, exeditionary operations outside of your borders.

This can be done with nearly anything that grants strategic mobility and can carry weapons, or weapons-carriers, but it requires something called coverage-that is, covering logistics, covering territory, covering communication.

nobody does this in Battletech.

least of all, the Republic.

as for the FWL, they built expensive, but they didn't build the skills base or mentality, that actually separates a powerful navy from a collection for a museum (or collection of underutilized prototypes).  Had they done so, or had the skills base, the WoB wouldn't have been able to subvert their Navy in the first place.

[Minemech]

as for the FWL, they built expensive, but they didn't build the skills base or mentality, that actually separates a powerful navy from a collection for a museum (or collection of underutilized prototypes).  Had they done so, or had the skills base, the WoB wouldn't have been able to subvert their Navy in the first place.

You know I am only going to hit this one for now. The Free Worlds League and Terran Alliance/Hegemony are the only two entities in Battletech history that had something resembling an intelligently designed navy. The Free Worlds League had a strategy with a working doctrine that its ships could employ effectively. They took stats that were ignored when designing FedCom/Lyran ships and applied them realistically for a fictional universe. They based this on a strategy that had been continuously functioning throughout the Succession Wars, even after losing their warships. They were the only state the maintain fleets in their military structure during the Succession Wars, it was a unique distinctive, and one that enabled them to perform miracle defensive actions, as well as pull of extreme distance raids without support.


 

[Stormlion1]

Something to say on the idea of the Pocket Warships of the Republic. We know they had them but we didn't see them used more or less at all. They would have been perfect to use as a raiding force. One jumpship with enough Docking Collars could be a major threat. Even the Invader with its three docking collars could carry one Castrum and a second dropship. That small ship and two dropships could easily corral and seize several jumpships and return them to Republic controlled space.

[Cannonshop]

Something to say on the idea of the Pocket Warships of the Republic. We know they had them but we didn't see them used more or less at all. They would have been perfect to use as a raiding force. One jumpship with enough Docking Collars could be a major threat. Even the Invader with its three docking collars could carry one Castrum and a second dropship. That small ship and two dropships could easily corral and seize several jumpships and return them to Republic controlled space.

We know they weren't doing this, because canon shows they weren't doing it.

not even to the Capellans, and they had a WAR with them during the fifty year break from major wars pre-3132.

The mindset isn't there for the Republic to have developed it, it's just not.  and, as I already mentioned, up to gray monday, the Republic didn't exist in a paradigm/neighborhood where learning the relevant skills was even a probability, never mind a necessity.  Strategy develops based on conditions and inputs, mixed with priorities and environment.

The hardware to do it, may be there, but that doesn't mean anyone in a position to make decisions is even going to consider it. *(see: world war 1, trench warfare, and 'tactics'.)

Professional militaries often are VERY conservative entities.  post WW1, everyone considered the question of what tanks were good for.  The british even came up with something very like the Blitzkreig strategy the germans later used-against them-a bit over a decade later, but didn't adopt it, becuase the idea didn't resonate with the professional officers in charge of writing their doctrine.

going further back, everyone SAW a preview of what 1914 had in store with the American Civil War, yet nobody actually internalized it even when similar events kept happening leading up to the Great War.

The idea of Republic commerce raiding is attractive, but that's because as gamers we look for the advantage, without being burdened by cultural drives or prejudices that very much exist in the setting, and without being burdened by having to account for what it takes to make those operations succeed.

[Metallgewitter]

This whole discussion about Bug-Eyes and so on makes me wonder why the Republic never adopted the idea of secret intelligence gathering like the Hegemony did: build a dropship that looks like an underpowered brick of a freight carrier but in reality houses a veritable slew of surveilance technology. Of course once the wall goes up said ships might not be viable but as the Republic had the means to cross the wall at will it might have been a risk worth taking. And one thing that nobody seems to have considered: commerce raiding is all well and good but you can't afford that for long when your protective shield eats into the very thing that you need. Yes stealing jumpships sounds like a good idea but then delivering them back sounds very risky. Striking at the places where the raw materials are produced might be the better idea just to keep your own production going.

[Cannonshop]

This whole discussion about Bug-Eyes and so on makes me wonder why the Republic never adopted the idea of secret intelligence gathering like the Hegemony did: build a dropship that looks like an underpowered brick of a freight carrier but in reality houses a veritable slew of surveilance technology. Of course once the wall goes up said ships might not be viable but as the Republic had the means to cross the wall at will it might have been a risk worth taking. And one thing that nobody seems to have considered: commerce raiding is all well and good but you can't afford that for long when your protective shield eats into the very thing that you need. Yes stealing jumpships sounds like a good idea but then delivering them back sounds very risky. Striking at the places where the raw materials are produced might be the better idea just to keep your own production going.

Dude, they had Titan, Luna, Blue-nose and Ross 248 yards, they  didn't need to build a new hull, just turn out Trackers with upgraded electronics [Because they HAD the original plans and tooling!]  per the Canon, Trackers look just like Merchants, can be painted up to look like commercial haulers and even in a pinch be USED just like commercial haulers.

But...they didn't do it.  'why' is one of those questions that falls into the hole of 'it can't be logistics, so it must be psychology'.

Somewhere in the mentality of the RAF, must exist an aversion to either the tactics of covert operations (*seems unlikely) or an aversion to warships (in the context of the Jihad, this seems likely), or just a blind-spot regarding using a Navy as something other than a transport service that sometimes defends a planet.

the last would NOT be unusual in the context of the Inner Sphere's leading warrior classes.  The sort of mind that comes up with successful plans and methods for commerce raiding may simply not be positioned in the hierarchy in a place where their ideas will be considered seriously enough to get resources devoted to them, much the way that pre-WW2 French generals who wanted to create armored divisions couldn't get a straight hearing, thus leading to a situation where the French had better Tanks, but the Germans had a better over-all doctrine for using armored forces and as a result, Char Bis tanks were ill-positioned to deal with Panzers 1, 2, and 3, despite being better machines.

or, we can look at the history of the Mitrailleuse in the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870-five years after Gattling guns showed what hand crank machine guns could do, The french had them, and lacked the doctrine and training to USE them.

Thus getting an ass-whuppin' from the Prussians despite having a larger army with qualitatively better gear.  The lessons that might've let them USE that better gear, were learned by their opponents, and not by them.

The RoTS (*and everyone else) invested heavily in up-armed and up-armored dropships ("Pocket Warships") Designed to do the same job that earlier assault dropships do..and nobody invested in strategic mobility, or gave commerce interdiction much thought...and that's sphere wide including the Clans.

The reasons don't point to logistics, nor to tactical feasibilty, it must be psychological and/or cultural.  the 'Common Wisdom'-the same common wisdom that saw the Sol System defense fall back on techniques that failed the exact same ways in two prior conflicts...two conficts with more invested in that same layout than the Republic bothered to spend.

my money ends up falling on 'Common cultural blind spots' and 'conventional wisdom' for the reason.  Anyone who might think of other methods, isn't in a position to be heard, any experience that might lead to such thinking must be very distant indeed, without the (OBVIOUS) need, the interest isn't indulged and nobody puts serious thought into it.

So, who would have the obvious need? 

Well, the Taurians, some of the FWL statelets, maybe the Magistracy, the Outworlds...anyone who has serious problems involving raiders from out-system, and can't afford the massive 'mech army to repel them on the ground.

VERY few of those have the resources to build such a fleet...or much of a fleet, on their own.

[Metallgewitter]

Slight correction: while they had Titan the yards were wrecked. And they were never rebuild as shown now (Not sure about Blue Nose and Ross 248 though). While they had Luna they used it to build Jumpships. From what I understand that might have been a way to make the other states dependent on them. After all the naval yards around the IS took a severe beating during the Jihad. Galax, Necromo and Alarion (I probably have missed at least a few) were completly taken from the radar. And the toll inflicted on every navy and the needs of the after war rebuilding meant that civilian Jumpship construction took priority. But they also had those Faslane Yardships and they mothballed them while the last Newgrange yardship was basically written out of existence

[Cannonshop]

Slight correction: while they had Titan the yards were wrecked. And they were never rebuild as shown now (Not sure about Blue Nose and Ross 248 though). While they had Luna they used it to build Jumpships. From what I understand that might have been a way to make the other states dependent on them. After all the naval yards around the IS took a severe beating during the Jihad. Galax, Necromo and Alarion (I probably have missed at least a few) were completly taken from the radar. And the toll inflicted on every navy and the needs of the after war rebuilding meant that civilian Jumpship construction took priority. But they also had those Faslane Yardships and they mothballed them while the last Newgrange yardship was basically written out of existence

They still had the files and plans, but I think my point holds up-the Republic never developed the ability, because they never thought they'd need to take the concept seriously from day one.

[Maingunnery]

During the early RotS there was a heavy focus on economic recovery, in such a situation it would be preferable to build as many JumpShips as possible. Also the RotS military makes a lot more sense if it assumed an abundance of friendly JumpShips, however the Wall put an end to that.

Doctrine wise the RoTS seem to have been highly focused on small ground units (Ghost Knights, Fidelis), possibly related to their origin as a resistance organization. While designs and programs that didn't fit this mold were usually inherited from the WOB.

[Minemech]

During the early RotS there was a heavy focus on economic recovery, in such a situation it would be preferable to build as many JumpShips as possible. Also the RotS military makes a lot more sense if it assumed an abundance of friendly JumpShips, however the Wall put an end to that.

Doctrine wise the RoTS seem to have been highly focused on small ground units (Ghost Knights, Fidelis), possibly related to their origin as a resistance organization. While designs and programs that didn't fit this mold were usually inherited from the WOB.

The Republic pocket warship fleet was primarily composed of Interdictors and Castrums. It is odd that they never produced Leopard PWS, since they are fairly cheap and easy to make (Albeit they are less for combat). Castrums should have had no issue with combat speed in a black water environment, and only have been impeded by the typical limitations of pocket warships.

[Cannonshop]

During the early RotS there was a heavy focus on economic recovery, in such a situation it would be preferable to build as many JumpShips as possible. Also the RotS military makes a lot more sense if it assumed an abundance of friendly JumpShips, however the Wall put an end to that.

Doctrine wise the RoTS seem to have been highly focused on small ground units (Ghost Knights, Fidelis), possibly related to their origin as a resistance organization. While designs and programs that didn't fit this mold were usually inherited from the WOB.

No contest on this point.

That said, naval blockade operations, commerce raiding operations, and commerce protection operations are all large-scale, resource intense, naval efforts.

At least, if you're using them for stratgic purposes other than running false flags or raiding a hated neighbor.

So...going back through our wayback machine to the beginning of this thread...

What would a Repbublic naval effort look like, if it were properly funded based on that emphasis on small unit, precise strike forces in imitation of irregulars and rebels?

My picks:

Core unit/Raid squadron:

1 Invader type standard jumpship
2 Tiamat class pocket warships
1 logistical support dropship of some type to be grounded or held back.

Two merchant class jumpships for each jump point between Republic territory, and the targeted system, placed at known or mapped uninhabited systems in a chain.  This is for communications, or to move personnel and/or replacement equipment forward as damage or loss occurs.

The reason and purpose of that jumship chain, is both to rapidly move replacement personnel in in the event of a prize vessel being taken, and to have a secured line of communication that isn't comstar, black boxes, or blacked out, depending on era.

You'll need to double up if you're intent on covering both zenith, and nadir points in your targeted system.

note where your major costs REALLY are: the chain of support ships carrying personnel, food, and supplies to your blocking force of pocket warships, necessary because prize crews, spare ammo and maintenance parts are absolutely necessary for expeditionary work of this nature.

This also allows the pre-staging of additional forces either to fully lock down the target system, or to provide aerospace superiority with line units in the event you're planning to take the system entirely.

and it provides a route of escape if things go horribly wrong.

This is all without using any warships.

For the purpose using Warships, the go-tos would be (in my opinion)

1. Replace the jumpship allocated with a Tracker class, two collars, lite capital weapons, okay ish maneuverabilty and it looks like a merchant transport vessel.  It's also one of the cheaper designs being on the small side.  (no warships are actually cheap, but the tRacker's a proven design and it can 'blend')

2. Something like the FWL Zechetinu can also work for this mission-agian, it's a low-cost warship design that doean't LOOK like a powerful warship to a casual observer, yet packs a reasonable amount of punch for its size as a commerce raider and possible intel gathering platform.

I left out the Castrum, because, aside from needing two collars it's a VERY recognizable design meant for blunt-faced brutal duelling over a planetary surface.  It's literally unsuitable for the role or purpose.  The Casty is a ship you use to provide cover for your regimental combat team's landing dropships, since those droppers are sort of confined to 1 gee for most of the flight in, so the speed isn't an issue, but firepower and structural endurance ARE.

(iow you don't want your troops exhausted and injured by the flight in, you want them fresh and ready to fight once boots hit dirt.)

but really any relatively quick PWS with a decent passenger/cargo fraction can work as your 'engagement element' in a commerce suppression operation.  I just like the Tiamat.  I think it's kinda nifty for an assault dropship.

The strategy here isn't to get every ship that pops in-it's to work the nerves of your targets and make them make sacrifices and adapt to an ongoing threat instead of advancing their own offensive plans.

The deployment STRATEGY is to have three or four of these 'basic squadrons' hitting a selection of targets simultaneously in multiple systems, all leaning on the same supply chain of jumpships in alternating position.  this forces the other side to speculate and either overestimate you, or underestimate you, depending on success and psychology.

To exploit this, requires your larger regular navy forces to be ready and positioned to take advantage of the mistakes you're trying to get the other side to make-such as drawing their REAL warships into a position to be irrelevant to your actual offensive plans.

Naval warfare is best played out by playing the offense-from Salamis to Midway, the bulk of naval engagements are won or lost based on which side takes the initiative and has the better intel on the other side.  playing the defense game in a naval context (esp. 3 dimensional) is inviting defeat.  This was the mistake Amaris made, and the mistake Word of Blake made, and the mistake, eventually, that Stone made.  holding still, just makes you easier to kill.

[Metallgewitter]

The Republic pocket warship fleet was primarily composed of Interdictors and Castrums. It is odd that they never produced Leopard PWS, since they are fairly cheap and easy to make (Albeit they are less for combat). Castrums should have had no issue with combat speed in a black water environment, and only have been impeded by the typical limitations of pocket warships.

When were the Castrums build? I thought they were a Dark Age invention. Before that the Republic had versions of the Blakists Interdictor and Tiamats which both pacxk a fearsome punch. I think they also used Dragau's and augmented these formidable ships with purchases from friendly states (I would suspect that would mean Isegrims and Arondights in small numbers as I doubt the Combine would sell them Nekohonoo's or Taihous)

And there is another thing to consider: the Republic had I think almost 25 years of peace before the next war started. Considering the damages after the Jihad and the 1st Capellan conflict I suspect that spy ships were on the very bottom of the priority list (not surpising repairing infrastructure, rebuilding civilian fleets and rebuilding military units you can see where resources went. and the Capellan Crusades did some serious damage to the military again. Of course from there the Republic should have made some serious changes (there were the Republic Special scouts but that was not much)

[Minemech]

When were the Castrums build? I thought they were a Dark Age invention. Before that the Republic had versions of the Blakists Interdictor and Tiamats which both pacxk a fearsome punch. I think they also used Dragau's and augmented these formidable ships with purchases from friendly states (I would suspect that would mean Isegrims and Arondights in small numbers as I doubt the Combine would sell them Nekohonoo's or Taihous)

And there is another thing to consider: the Republic had I think almost 25 years of peace before the next war started. Considering the damages after the Jihad and the 1st Capellan conflict I suspect that spy ships were on the very bottom of the priority list (not surpising repairing infrastructure, rebuilding civilian fleets and rebuilding military units you can see where resources went. and the Capellan Crusades did some serious damage to the military again. Of course from there the Republic should have made some serious changes (there were the Republic Special scouts but that was not much)

Castrums were late 31st century. The Republic's refined Tiamat was actually a fairly good upgrade since Kraken Ts are unreliable. Their fleet needed a vessel like the Leopard PWS for basic control of civilian shipping lanes. I assume that they used Interdictors for that task, since they do not seem to produce assault ships in notable numbers if at all.

[Stormlion1]

The Castrums were noted for for at least twice being used by the Republic as peace keepers ships against both the Combine and the Capellans. So there must have been enough of them to keep both nations honest.

[Minemech]

I was a bit wrong, they produced the Claymore (So so, but effective enough), and theoretically could have used Overlord A-3s for a similar purpose.

[Stormlion1]

I was a bit wrong, they produced the Claymore (So so, but effective enough), and theoretically could have used Overlord A-3s for a similar purpose.

Another option would be massed Leopard CV's. A single Invader could carry three of them which means three full squadrons on the field. Against sitting jumpships that is a big issue to deal with. The Leopard CV's though are not exactly PWS's.

[Minemech]

 I agree, if used effectively and judiciously, a Leopard CV can be an important component of a state's naval infrastructure. Team her up with a pair of Claymores and she should be able to handle nuisances in systems of lower priority. In important systems she would simply act as an early layer of a defense in depth. I think that the Republic would have to import them, but they are fairly ubiquitous. 

[idea weenie]

Another option would be massed Leopard CV's. A single Invader could carry three of them which means three full squadrons on the field. Against sitting jumpships that is a big issue to deal with. The Leopard CV's though are not exactly PWS's.

I agree, if used effectively and judiciously, a Leopard CV can be an important component of a state's naval infrastructure. Team her up with a pair of Claymores and she should be able to handle nuisances in systems of lower priority. In important systems she would simply act as an early layer of a defense in depth. I think that the Republic would have to import them, but they are fairly ubiquitous. 

To me a Leopard CV would be an in-system platform rather than a strategically mobile platform.  With a Leopard CV you are deploying 6 fighters per Dropship Collar, vs if you used a Mule Q-ship you get the same 6 ASF but also Capital Missile launchers.

A modified Mule with more armor, higher thrust, and more than 6 ASF would be able to drop a massive cloud of ASF on a Jumpship, be better protected than a Leopard CV, and be faster than a Leopard CV.  It would be more expensive but it would also only need one Dropship Collar to deploy.

(There's a reason why I prefer larger Dropships)

[Minemech]

 The Mule PWS technically was still in existence and fielded by the Republic.

[tassa_kay]

It seems really odd to me that the Republic wouldn't be more prepared in the PWS department. The Capellans, who they fought not one but three wars against, were using Lung Wangs and Vengeance DCs as their primary naval force since they didn't want to risk losing their two surviving WarShips.

[Cannonshop]

It seems really odd to me that the Republic wouldn't be more prepared in the PWS department. The Capellans, who they fought not one but three wars against, were using Lung Wangs and Vengeance DCs as their primary naval force since they didn't want to risk losing their two surviving WarShips.

It's not WHAT they're using, but HOW.  The Republic may well have been quite thoroughly prepared for what passes for Capellan naval strategies, and thus, not unprepared at all by their own lights.

[Minemech]

 The problem with that argument is so does every state in the Inner Sphere, likely not excluding the Clans.

[Church14]

Doctrine wise the RoTS seem to have been highly focused on small ground units (Ghost Knights, Fidelis), possibly related to their origin as a resistance organization. While designs and programs that didn't fit this mold were usually inherited from the WOB.

Not really. The Fidelis weren’t really tapped post Jihad until the fortress was being enacted. At that point they were special forces

Assuming the problem wasn’t an enemy government acting openly:
Step 1 was Ghost Knights, Knights, or paladins trying to find a peaceful/quiet solution
Step 2 was a knight or Paladin commandeering local forces to deal with it.
Step 3 was calling in line regiments.

That sequence seems to be to use the lightest touch possible. If light touch wasn’t possible, then make it look like a more local solution instead of off world troops flattening threats with a heavy hand.

Once we reach enemy governments acting openly, then Triarii/Hastati/Principes were called in right away. 

[Cannonshop]

The problem with that argument is so does every state in the Inner Sphere, likely not excluding the Clans.

as I said before, we're in agreement here.  The strategy is unlikely in any of the major states due to doctrine and culture, and unlikely in the minor states due to abject not-being-able-to-pay-for-it, even if they were ABLE to come up with it.

which, is not guaranteed.  Hence why I said wayyy-back earlier in the thread that it would require a massive paradigm shift before it could be viable-unlike with gamers, who, as outsiders with godlike access aren't tied down to anything but the specific arbitrary rules of the game, without the cultural baggage.

WE can come up with this stuff as gamers, because WE aren't hogtied mentally the way fictional characters are.

This is similar to how some history students play 'What If?' with historical events from a perspective the people involved could not have physically had.

I believe Harry Turtletove actually did an article on this, or at least, he discussed it at Norwescon more than 20 years ago as a pitfall in writing alternative history settings-too often the authors forget their own perspective and knowledge surpasses what was available to the actual figures they're re-imagining.

iirc he said *{paraphrasing here} that it's difficult to do the necessary shift in events without falling into that trap when you're rewriting  a history.

[Stormlion1]

To me a Leopard CV would be an in-system platform rather than a strategically mobile platform.  With a Leopard CV you are deploying 6 fighters per Dropship Collar, vs if you used a Mule Q-ship you get the same 6 ASF but also Capital Missile launchers.

A modified Mule with more armor, higher thrust, and more than 6 ASF would be able to drop a massive cloud of ASF on a Jumpship, be better protected than a Leopard CV, and be faster than a Leopard CV.  It would be more expensive but it would also only need one Dropship Collar to deploy.

(There's a reason why I prefer larger Dropships)

Cost would be a big issue as you probably could build many more Leopard CV's and add there squadrons for the cost of a single Mule PWS. And there are a ton of dropships to convert if you have the facility's. But the big issue is how best to use these to raid outside the Republics walls. Do you want a few hard hitting PWS's or large numbers of CV's with literally thousands of tons of aerospace fighters?