Expanding your staff with a new hire, do you . . ?

[Colt Ward]

It is late 3151, the merc market was just stabilizing when a flood of former Republic Armed Forces arrive at the open Hiring Halls to throw it all into the mix again.

You command a overstrength combined arms company- some mechs, some armor, some BA, some infantry, maybe a VTOL when you feel adventuresome.  The senior officers have been managed to do most of the staff work but their time is really stretched tight and hiring a single specialist could free them up to devote more of their duty time to core tasks thus improving the mercs performance.

Any of these options could improve your command's performance and appeal when negotiating for the next contract though one is not near being signed.

Yeah, leaning into tropes but you sell a reputation even if it is not always accurate.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Gimme the supply officer.  A small unit is going to have a mixed bag of stuff without standardization, so having someone dedicated to getting parts and equipment where it needs to be is critical.

[worktroll]

The admin staffer. Combined arms battalion means lots of people, which means lots of paperwork if you want to keep everyone paid, and bills paid too.

[Motpart]

Admin officer, 100% hands-down.

It's not sexy, but it could help free up so much time for the senior staff to focus on their own specialities.

The corporate/political ties are a bonus on top if it leads to an insight on how to bag a corporate job for the next contract, especially with the more storied Lyran companies.

[smdvogrin]

Supply/logistics, Admin, or Intel officer - whichever impresses me the most with their competence in an interview.

Supply because logistics win wars.
Admin because it frees time for everyone else.
Intel because bad intel is the number 1 killer of units.

But all 3 of them could make things WORSE instead of better if they're not good at the job.

[GRUD]

I went with Lyran admin/HR staffer, because those "Political Connections" could help them find any/all of the others on the list!   

[nckestrel]

Went with Lyran admin, because I don't trust a Sea Fox.

[General308]

The admin staffer. Combined arms battalion means lots of people, which means lots of paperwork if you want to keep everyone paid, and bills paid too.

If it was a combined arms Battalion I would agree.  But he said Combined arms Company.  So for me he is still a bit to small to worry about those other things though close to needing that Admin staffer.  So I went with buy another tank

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

I'd choose medical staff, for a dead person serves no purpose to me. Bonus point for lessen my burden to pay for the death benefits as well as wrote the letter of condolence.

[glitterboy2098]

medical staff.

logistics would be my first choice normally, but given the Sea Fox individual is a merchant i'd be wary of them. merchants might be good at record keeping, but aren't automatically experts at unit logistics. the one thing they usualyl are good is upselling you and taking your money. for a unit of this kind i'd need the best deals, not just the best (overpriced) offers from my local sea fox merchant fleet.

and a note on the Solaris gladiator.. the types of fighting done in the arenas of solaris are quite different then the types of fighting needed for a combined arms engagement on a regular battlefield.

[Iceweb]

See first one I want to hire is the Horses Tank to make sure all my armored vees are running great, but I pass on him when I find out he is a trueborn.  With the rumors of clan genetics and those weird creches they grow up in I just don't want to deal with someone who has been drilled from childhood with these personal honor ideals and then couldn't make the grade and got busted down to a tech. 
Sorry I would never be sure he wouldn't steal a mech or a tank and go off looking for personal glory.  Maybe its just spheroid racism but its a headache to avoid.   

Were they a freebirth I would probably hire them. 

Next choice would be the Sea Fox merchant, but all his connections are gonna be through his clan and the markups would drive the company into the red. 

So I end up choosing the Admin.  The contacts are great, but honestly being able to dump every single bit of officer paperwork that doesn't have to actually be done by senior staff on them is the main benefit.  And they can sort the paperwork that does actually have to be done by each of the senior staffers.  Thats the major win.

[EPG]

medical staff.

logistics would be my first choice normally, but given the Sea Fox individual is a merchant i'd be wary of them. merchants might be good at record keeping, but aren't automatically experts at unit logistics. the one thing they usualyl are good is upselling you and taking your money. for a unit of this kind i'd need the best deals, not just the best (overpriced) offers from my local sea fox merchant fleet.

and a note on the Solaris gladiator.. the types of fighting done in the arenas of solaris are quite different then the types of fighting needed for a combined arms engagement on a regular battlefield.

On the merchant it depends on if that merchant is going to remain a dedicated merchant and member in good standing of clan sea fox, or if they are going to be a full fledged member of the unit who will be OUR merchant out there playing supply sargeant who ‘finds’ stuff for us that nobody else can find. 

If it’s just another contract where we hire a merchant on for assistance I want the staff officer - they will do a good job even on a temp assignment.

But if it’s the latter where the merchant really becomes a member of the mercenary organization completely that could be invaluable.

So for me it would come down to which kinds of contacts the unit really needs, and if we really need more stuff, or just better use of what we have.  Also how well we are handling the current situation already. 

If there’s a member of the company who’s already good at one of those jobs maybe pick the other one. 

So to me it’s situational between these 2.

If they both seem too shady or like they won’t be a good fit for the organization then we just get a backup tank and hope to get a good person some other day.

[nerd]

Admin/HR.

Nobody wants to get paid late, and getting some contacts for corporate contracts is a good thing.

[Cannonshop]

Before you slag too hard on the Administrator, one of the thing about having a badass bureaucrat, is that Administration fits on every level, can wear a great many hats, or at least, can find someone to wear the right hat for the right job.

and get them to actually do the job inside budget and on time.

The other candidates listed are largely specialists, Admin is, by definition, not really a specialty in the same way-an administrator who's any good can find money, or sources, can scrounge the guy who knows a guy, and can negotiate that most vital of things for a Merc unit: Contracts.

in a sense, it's hilarious, but the history in the fiction shows that the Lyrans train fantastic officers....for the mercenary market.

While retaining all the dead weight you can pile on an organization.

Means he's probably a BETTER administrator than whoever he (or she) left behind in the LCAF.

It's all well-and-good to have immortal-warrior scale trigger pullers, but if you want your Merc unit to prosper, you need the guy who can find the right people, resources, and jobs to be more than Wilson's Hussars.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Definitely the admin.  That's a kind of expertise that's rarely available to a merc. And unlike the Fox, the Lyran is probably not a spy.

[DevianID]

The fun thing is that there are rules for all of those in the expanded campaign ops/merc handbooks.  Since not enough admin staff will lower your merc rating, and not enough technicians will lower your merc rating, I would hire the one that raised my rating the most.  AKA, if I dont have a mechanic, but have vehicles, well you need to have a mechanic period, so you must hire this mechanic.  So without further info on exactly how the merc unit is staff deficient in the actual rules, my answer is the cop out 'the one the unit is short the most, as determined by the staffing rules of the game'.

Now, if the unit is fully staffed and this hiring will not improve the merc rating, if using the training rules from ATB the training officer needs to be out leading a lance, so the as worded 'non-pilot' solaris guy is kinda useless for granting XP.  Also, unless you have a lot of green recruits, training wont help.  But if you do have green recruits, and the training officer can still pilot and lead a lance, well bring all your green recruits up to combat regular is a must have.  Same with the doctor, an elite doctor is nice only if you dont have one already AND you are using the medical rules.  If you arnt using the advanced rules, then its kinda just a fluff pick, and you are better off with someone that does something tangible for the unit in game.

[klarg1]

Went with Lyran admin, because I don't trust a Sea Fox.

My thoughts too.