The LosTech Draft (collaborative Storytelling, apply within!)

[Vehrec]

While the push to work on all four of the Lucifer's issues was strong from certain quarters, the exigencies of war meant that reducing the fighters weakness to opposing military dropships innate ECM advantage over smaller fighters by upgrading the electronics was considered an absolute priority for the LCAF. Reinstalling a functioning ejection system was the second issue that was Targeted. While there was some hope the fighter's maintenance problems could also be addressed at the same time this was very much a distant third "nice to have" that could be tinkered with long term after the fighter was back in Escort Command service.

The automated factories that produce Tri-House kits were a massive focus of government effort when they they were first laid down and they continue to churn out a steady stream of units, but since Elizabeth Steiner ascended to the throne in 2859 the primary focus of the Commonwealth's relief and welfare programs have been on Agriculture. The planetary famines that occurred during the First Succession War as a result of jumpship shortages are memorialised within the Commonwealth alongside more direct massacres and although it's not practical for every world to feed itself significant effort has been invested both in ensuring that no Lyran goes hungry and no planet starves due to a couple of missed shipments.

Give my regards to your engineers, Ed, they've done wonders with the new revisions.  The Comset 100 mark 7 is a hell of a lot mor durrable than the old Mark 6, it survived both a 6 story droptest and a trip through the 'washing machine' on the test stand, as well as all the abuse our test pilots could throw at it.  The TarSet 56 was even better, more capable than the unit it replaced, though maintenance is griping that you've basically baked the entire module into a solid block of resin that needs to be dissolved to repair any faults.  Given the mean time between failures is over 10,000 hours though, I think they're complaining about that just for something to gripe about.

That new ejection seat though, that's the thing that really has people talking.  How did you get that many features into such a small package-rescue kit, reserve oxygen inside hollow structural elements, and more comfortable than the previous seat, all while only weighing 30 kilos more than your previous seat-and being able to be installed into all previous models of the Lucifer in 24 hours?  We're not only going to buy all that you can make for the Lucifer-we want to see if you can refit these into your other products!  But I do have to ask-why didn't you have something like this already??
-Colonel Rudolf Steiner, procurement.

(Due to a critical success, the Lucifer's new ejection seat not only removes the previous flaw, but grants the positive quirk Improved Life Support at no additional cost, as well as being easily refitted to previous production, causing a lot of 'what the hell' from pilots.)

The agricultural reforms, meanwhile, did a great deal to ease the rift between the nobility and the commons, and more than one Mechwarrior would take time off in the harvest season to show off their skill as agromech driver, or to engage in the many, many harvest festivals and fairs that sprung up across the Commonwealth in the wake of these policy changes.  Agricultural colleges and institutes sprouted like mushrooms to study the unique conditions of each planet and it's regions, and diversified breeds of hardy Terran animals and xeno-domesticates spread as well, with one of the most notable being the Tharkad Shorthorn Cattle, the only breed of cattle that can find grass to graze on under a 10 foot snowdrift.


Lord Zaris' loss is the FWL's gain, as the seizure of his assets as part of the criminal investigation involved the transfer of a large amount of currency to the treasury's foreign reserve holdings.  In addition to house bills in several hundred millions, he also had nearly a hundred million C-bills in non-serial bills and secret accounts.  These were a boon both to intelligence operations, and to foreign investments alike, allowing the FWL to purchase key components outside their own borders to maintain a few flagging systems, and all in all, may have helped arrest the economic downturn.

[Daryk]

NICE update for the Lucifer!  8)

[VensersRevenge]

Sorry, this took a while to get the free time to write.

You can absolutely do that-though, well, the Crucis March lords will be a little more mad after calming down because *they* aren't the ones getting the Ace Custom Centurions and Enforcers.  Or the Ace Custom Shadowhawks, or whatever you're spending those UAC/5s on.  Riflemen, maybe?

Also, those rights will probably be granted on a planet-by-planet basis, with each dukedom having a slightly different relationship as a result.  On the average, however, there can be only two people who lose out when House Davion devolves rights to the nobility they previously didn't have-either House Davion loses wealth and power, or the commoners do.  Please select, between 0 and 100%, how much of this falls out of House Davion's pockets, and the rest will come from the commoners.  There isn't any cost to screwing the commoners over, but they will remember that...


Allons enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !

Sure, but they don't need advanced tech Centurions, Enforcers, and Shadow Hawks to defend the border, and with lower taxes to House Davion and/or higher taxes from the commoners should allow them to bulk up their own militias with Quikcell products and more infantry.

New Avalon 2820

First Prince Paul Davion's Atlas stomped through the tactical training course on New Avalon. A Panther hologram popped up and he fired his "New Avalon Special" Gauss Rifle. As the simulated round took off the holographic Panther's head, Paul's console beeped. Paul examined the console, sighed and put his Minister of the Interior on. "Are they still complaining?" Paul growled. “Sir, you have to do something. I understand why the Outback is what we are focusing on, but…” “But the Sandovals and Haseks don’t care about anyone but their own fiefs.” Paul completed. “I would not phrase it that way, but yes. Although it is not just them Sir. Crucis March nobles are also upset.” Paul growled again. Don’t they understand why the Outback needs water purifiers more than they do? I can’t change where the purifiers are going, but maybe I can get them to shut up another way. “Authorize the release of advanced weapons systems to the Capellan and Draconis March Militias. Another Kentares cannot happen, and I’m sure Ilsa wants to waste more lives on Chesterton.” “Very good sir, but what about the Crucis March nobles?” Paul sighed for a second, then responded, “Cut their taxes and allow them to expand their noble guards without advanced technology. And arrange an auction of all of House Davion’s art holdings and unnecessary property.” “Sir?” “You hear me. The duty of the nobility is to defend the Federated Suns. If everyone else has forgotten that, it’s up to House Davion to remind them. I don’t need art for that.”

OOC: The cost of the tax cuts will be split 80/20 House Davion and the common people, and house Davion is going to become even more militaristic than they were previously.

[Daryk]

Interesting!  I'm sure some relation is going to try to change Paul's mind (not that it'll work)...

[VensersRevenge]

That relation would find themselves piloting a JagerMech against the Snakes.

[Daryk]

I'm sure Paul's grandmother would relish the idea...  ^-^

[Vehrec]

Paul Davion was a great man-but he single-handedly caused most of the trouble in the Crucis march we still deal with to this day.  The Feudal levies, of knights who march when their lord calls the banners are a nice cost savings in theory, but in practice, I can't rely on my Crucis March Millitias to do anything other than guard a given duke's planet, let alone reliably follow orders.  His tax cuts and distribution of the House' fortune beggared us too-we still feel it to this day.  Do you have any idea, how much I ass I had to kiss to get Hanse's Institute of Science off the ground?  I can still taste shit, Hanse, you smirking bastard!
-Ian Davion, private speech to Arden Sotek and Hanse Davion.

(Due to their massive outlays of bribes and feudal rights, House Davion has gone from one of the richest of the Great Houses to the poorest, distributing massive blocks of stock, landholdings and other property to shore up their support, as well as reverting to a 'you bring your army if you can' model for most regiments in the Crucis march.  Feudal rights distributed also included various noble monopolies on basic goods and services-nobody but the Duke of El Dorado can own a steel mill on the planet, for instance, and the Duke of Manassas has an absolute monopoly on grain processing within his realm.  These serve primarily to annoy the common people, and allow a certain amount of guaranteed income, but are subject to traditional limits-one duke who was overzealous over the enforcement of his right to wine production found himself stripped of all his ducal rights after winding up in a court battle with a man who was exporting grape juice to be fermented offworld.)

The New Avalon Special:
The only model of Gauss rifle left in open service in the Inner Sphere, the New Avalon Special, or to use it's proper name, the New Avalon Armory Special Weapon, is a derivative of the MagCoil Model M found in the Highlander, redesigned by an unknown engineer working for the Amaris empire.  When the final version emerged from the New Avalon Armory Company's lines, it was a formidable, but tempermental weapon.  NAA has had to institute a test-stand policy of firing each rifle at 120% power to test for flaws in construction, a test that about half of the rifles fail, developing either cracks in their barrels, or rupturing their capacitors, or both at once.  NAA also has a rigorous and comprehensive program of post-manufacture care, with each rifle being inspected annually by trained technicians who examine them for cracks using ultrasound machinery, and undergoing a once-a decade teardown and inspection at NAA's refurbishment facility to replace fraying coils, strained capacitors, and other wear and tear. 

This is all justified in the eyes of the end users.  The AFFS and it's Mechwarriors consistently rave about the power of the design, it's range, and it's accuracy-while they have trouble with quality control up to the test bench, the relentless testing produces a weapon on par or even a few percent better than anything in common use with the SLDF or our own Militia.  Tests on a unit bought from a Mercenary unit for the price of a whole Atlas reveal that this is not just hype.
 The single unit that has fallen into our testing group's hands has proven that this is indeed the high performance, high maintenance weapon that the propaganda makes it out to be.  Somewhat uniquely, the New Avalon Special fires not the lozenge shaped ovoids of typical gauss rifles, but conical slugs-these are brittle, and prone to breaking up on impact, but do have a slightly better normalization when impacting angled armor, making them less likely to glance off entirely.  However, with slight modifications to the loading gear, it can accept and fire standard gauss rifle ammunition.

We can be thankful that the AFFS is so parsimonious with these units-the majority of them are kept within the Davion Guards or the Knights of the Silver Bullet, awarded to ace pilots who are sternly warned to use their tremendous firepower in only the most cautious manner.  Less than ten have fallen into the hands of other powers that we can account for, and are still intact.  Still, our Copo Guard should practice as though any enemy might possess this weapon.
(Ian Davion survives his encounter with destiny on Mallory's World due to using a Gauss-Atlas.  He probably falls in battle at some point, but hey, history is changed!  But speaking of 'history is changed...')

June 12, 2823:
CPNN report; River Reversal on Sanurcha.

The fires of nuclear weapons touched another world of the Inner Sphere today, but it was for peaceful purposes.  First Prince Paul Davion pressed the ceremonial switch to detonate 90 nuclear weapons to demolish a hole in the Daikun mountains, and allow the Hyperion River to flow south into the deserts of the planet, rather than irrigating tundra and snow.  With the mountains cleared away, workers descend on the site of the future Sanurcha Hydraulics Works, and prepare the site for a massive dam to contain a new reservoir and the filtering facilities.

"This project will quintuple the arable land available to the inhabitants of Sanurcha, and can be done with mostly local materials and labor.  The diversion of our nuclear stockpile's oldest and least reliable assets in this use is more admirable and honorable than dropping them on cities or launching them at JumpShips.  Project Sumeria will create over 300,000 square kilometers of new, irrigated agricultural areas, bring wealth and prosperity to a world that had been in long need of it, allowing them to not only open up massive new areas for settlement, but for good, honest people to make an honest living.  It will feed miners, and clothe soldiers, and allow new cities to rise out of the desert."

ComPow has provided support to the operations, though a climatologist on Terra said that the river reversal could intensify winters in the planet's northern hemisphere and trigger an ice age.  Doctor Henrietta Dunklehoff also said that the reversal could have long-term soil degradation problems for the planet, as salts and other contaminants from the mountains trickled down into the new floodplain.  Paul Davion remained unconcerned at the press conference saying: "The waters of the new river will be as pure as anything-it will be perfectly drinkable and with careful management I expect the new lands to be productive for a thousand years or more."

[Daryk]

Ian surviving Mallory's World IS big!  That should give Hanse's heart a few extra years at least...  ^-^

[VensersRevenge]

But might change the FedCom Accords and almost certainly remove Hanse's children. While losing Katrina is definitely a massive win, I like Victor. He would make a perfect exemplar of one of the concepts for a House Davion that thinks very differently because of my differences. I'll hopefully have a writeup of the Order of Paul Davion soon.

[Daryk]

I suspect it would delay Hanse's children, but it's your sandbox... I look forward to seeing how it turns out!  :thumbsup:

Vehrec, will 10 years be enough to get organic power supplies back up on Lothario?

[Vehrec]

I mean, if you wind copper wire around a magnet, and can find some form of moving water, you can probably generate hydroelectricity.  Especially with imports from the Taurian/Canopian realms, you can build up some kind of power infrastructure.

[Daryk]

I was looking to rebuild the fusion and geothermal plants wrecked by the "mercenaries"...

[AlphaMirage]

"mercenaries"...

'Pirates' which were totally not League affiliated

[Daryk]

Yeah, them!  :D

[idea weenie]

I mean, if you wind copper wire around a magnet, and can find some form of moving water, you can probably generate hydroelectricity.  Especially with imports from the Taurian/Canopian realms, you can build up some kind of power infrastructure.

Canopian/Taurian imports should handle that (though Taurian imports are 30 jumps away vs MoC at about 15 jumps away).  Th fun part is how small the Lothian population is vs the tech base that is desired to maintain.  Terra managed to build KF vessels with a single planet, but that single planet was excellent for humans, ad had ~6B people on it.  Lothario has ~2.5M OTL (not sure this TL), so even if the other 6 worlds are the same, that is less than 20M people total.  Even multiplying the population by 10 only gives the Lothian League 200M people, or about 3% that of Earth.

Trade will be vital if the Lothian League wants to survive.  And if they get a reputation for shooting first at unknown targets within what they claim as their territory, what will happen to that trade?

I was looking to rebuild the fusion and geothermal plants wrecked by the "mercenaries"...

The fun question is who will you be buying the necessary equipment from?  The Lyrans are running short of home-grown fusion systems, the CapCon are under attack so likly don't have the spare industry, the FWL might have extra fusion engines that are going unsold due to their economic recession but are an Inner Sphere power, so the only real sources are Periphery nations that have spare industry.  Marian Hegemony?  But they have only been around since 2920 and were initially a bandit kingdom, so admitting weakness to them might be a bad idea.  The Illyrian Palatinate is a trading nation, so they might be able to find the stuff you need.

[Daryk]

The Lothians buy from the Taurians by preference, and the Canopians at need, and no Inner Sphere types at all if they can help it (whcih tells you exactly how desperate they are after that last IS raid).  For this exercise, that probably means a majority of Canopian components (that will eventually be replaced with Taurian or home grown components).

For three centuries, the Lothians had limited trade with the Taurians and Canopians and did just fine, thank you.  That's what they're looking to return to.  The LAST thing they want is a closer connection to the Inner Sphere, and Terra specifically.

Yes, the population of the ENTIRE Lothian Leauge is on the order of 100M, sustained with the "high" tech of the Concordat and Magistracy.  But it worked for 300 years.  And it would have worked indefinitely if not for those damned Spheroids!

[Daryk]

It's been a while, but here's my proposal for the Lothian Hidden Yard:

1 Large Unpressurized Shipyard (30,000 tons; 600,000 ton capacity; a "Small" yard was too small to fix JumpShips)
1 Snowden Mark I Mining Facility (51,000 tons; includes two smaller repair facilities, neither will fit a JumpShip)
1 Small Factory (2,500 tons)
1 Large Habitat (500,000 tons)
1 Small Habitat (120,000 tons)
1 Small Recharging Station (2 Energy Storage Batteries; 300,000 tons)

And for the next level down on the surviving half of the Fleet in 2940 (spread across seven worlds, the above Hidden Yard and the Fleet):
100 military Small Craft
- 36 Landing Craft (details TBD)
- 42 "Ligress" Gunboats (Tigress variant dropping missiles)
- 12 "L'Aquarius" Gunboats (Aquarius variant dropping missiles, adding a Hi-Res Imager for picket duties)

250 ASF
- 81 Thunderbird D-39 variants (drops missiles)
- 169 Sabres

Oh, and two of the 31 Manatees are Q-ships that carry 6 ASF each.

[Daryk]

Vehrec, it's been almost a year since your last post here... any chance of a revival?  ???