Power is a goal. Pleasure is eternal. Welcome to Canopus.

[RAE]

I was talking about 3025.

Shadow Hawks, I guess.

[hpackrat]

Out of curiosity, what vehicles did the Canopians field in 3025 aside for the Manticore MBT?

[ArkRoyalRavager]

The Pike and any Quickscell product.

The Canopians also have a lot of the Phoenix 'Mechs, since those were secretly snapped up by their rebuilt armies prior to the 2760s rebellions

[Maelwys]

That bit is from XTRO: Primitives, Vol.1.

Aha! Thank you.

I was talking about 3025.

The Bug Trio, plus Shadow Hawks, plus whatever they've managed to keep working since the Amaris Crisis, and whatever they've been able to salvage or buy. The best bet is probably anything from TR 3025.

The Canopians also have a lot of the Phoenix 'Mechs, since those were secretly snapped up by their rebuilt armies prior to the 2760s rebellions

Source on that? Seems rather surprising that those were mostly made out of Phoenix designs as opposed to others.

[hpackrat]

The Pike and any Quickscell product.

The Canopians also have a lot of the Phoenix 'Mechs, since those were secretly snapped up by their rebuilt armies prior to the 2760s rebellions

Thanks, though I was under the impression that the Majestrix had ordered a halt to imports to rely more on local production.

[jimdigris]

In what time period?

[hpackrat]

In what time period?

I think it was in 3025 from the original Periphery book. Not sure though.

[jimdigris]

In any time period, I doubt any government is going to halt imports of military equiptment.  This is especially true in the period before the Helm memory core discovery.

[Maelwys]

The Pike writeup mentions that the Magestrix was looking to increase exports, believing the Successor States would be ripe for a cheap combat vehicle. Not sure if I recall anything about the Magistracy reducing imports, though I could see why they'd want to.

[hpackrat]

Hmm... Ah! Here we go... It's listed in the Periphery book under the MoC's socioeconomics: "An official ban on importation of Inner Sphere technologies (except for military technology obtained from the Taurian Concordat) has further hampered economic development. Recent efforts by Magestrix Kyalla Centrella to trade the services of Canopian physicians for Inner Sphere technicians and business experts may begin to change this situation."

So unless Quikscell has a factory in the Concordat, it's unlikely that the MAF has imported any of their products outside of salvage as of 3025. That might have changed at a later date. This implies they import Vedette & Hunter tanks from the TC. If their bank accounts could afford it, they also imported Seydiltz, Lightning, Chippewa & Thunderbird ASFs as well as Commandos, Griffins, Thunderbolts, Archers, Warhammers & Marauders...

[Kit deSummersville]

How long has Kyalla been dead? It's not terribly recent these days.

[Maelwys]

Sure, but when the original question was "What did the Magistracy field in 3025" knowing that the Magistracy severely limited imports could shed some light on that.

[jimdigris]

Which version of the Marauder was being built at the time?

[Moonsword]

It's definitely something in the MAD-3 line at that point.  Judging from the comments in TRO3039 on the variants and the way they're closely associated with the Houses, it's probably the MAD-3R.  Seeing any of the three factional variants turn up in anyone's hands (especially the MAD-3D, which lacks the AC/5 ammo so infamous for rendering the whole thing unsalvagable) really wouldn't be difficult to justify, though.

[Maelwys]

Do we even know if a Marauder variant was being produced in 3025? For all we know its a modern line.

[Moonsword]

I don't know - I assumed so based on his question.  TRO3039 certainly doesn't discount the possibility since it mentions the Marauder in production in the Periphery.  It might be referring to the Concordat, though.

[Baldur Mekorig]

I don't know - I assumed so based on his question.  TRO3039 certainly doesn't discount the possibility since it mentions the Marauder in production in the Periphery.  It might be referring to the Concordat, though.

 I think the TC is the only Marauder producer in the near periphery pre-Trinity Alliance times.

[Medron Pryde]

And at the time it built the standard 3R variant.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Going as far as Objective Raids, the MoC only produced SHD-2H and the baseline bug trio.  The Marauders came later.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Source on that? Seems rather surprising that those were mostly made out of Phoenix designs as opposed to others.

Well, the Periphery BattleMech factories, with the exception of Mountain Wolf, were building L1 Phoenix 'Mechs (VMI, TTI, MMM) and all of them got snapped up by Amaris agents and were given to the three nations rebelling against the Star League, which fielded over 50 divisions (sources: HB:MPS, FM:P). Since the MAF has a policy of taking great pains to preserve their 'Mechs, and the SLDF let them off lightly compared to the TDF, it stands to reason that most of the MAF 'Mechs post-Star League would have large numbers of L1 Phoenix 'Mechs.

[Maelwys]

Oh, I agree they probably have a bunch of the Phoenix `Mechs, I was just wondering about the comment "...since they were snapped up prior to the 2760's."  I was just wondering if there's anything that says they mostly had Project Phoenix `Mechs back in the 2760s, as opposed to say, snapping up Hunchbacks as well, and via randomness, Phoenix were the only designs they were still able to produce past 2800.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Havent come across anything definitive like that. Before CGL, mostly it was the Taurian military that got fleshed out more among the Periphery militaries, especially in TRO 3039's PP section.

[Maelwys]

Anyone used the Danai Support Vehicle yet? Is it too limited with only a single ton of ammo?

[jimdigris]

That's 20 shots.  I have never played a game that went 20 turns.  Granted, you could play a game where several turns one side was simply playing dodge the artilllery. 
If you are playing in a campaign with other units, they'll probably run out of ammo even before the Danai and your entire force will need to be reloaded anyway.
So, I don't consider it to be limited in ammo.

[Kit deSummersville]

I think the limiting factor would be the ability to chose different loads. HE's probably enough for Periphery fighting, but having the ability to switch between Flack, HE and Copperhead would be nice.

[Moonsword]

Exactly, although flak is an autocannon ammo type, not one for artillery.  If you bring Copperheads in a Danai and your TAG spotters get nailed, the artillery unit is now reduced to being a twin ERML cavalry unit.  Since the Canopians don't use TAG that heavily, you're basically obliged to use HE rounds.

[Maelwys]

Exactly. 20 rounds is plenty for a single battle, but I lose the ability to use multiple types of rounds.

For instance, in the current game that I'm playing, the map is large enough that using TAG wasn't an option for the first several rounds. So dropping standard HE rounds along my opponent's path of movement is preferable. Unfortunately, with only a single ton of ammo, if I do that, I lose the chance later on to utilize the Eyleuka's TAG to take advantage of the Copperhead rounds.

My opponent on the other hand is using Thumpers. With their two tons of ammo he was able to saturate my line of approach (though odd, it didn't really seem that saturated, I expected more :) ), and now that we've closed together, his TAG carriers are able to become effective, and he can switch to Copperhead rounds. If I manage to destroy all the annoying hovercraft (and the 9M2 Marauder and whatever else I'm forgetting), he can always switch back to HE rounds.

The 5/8 on the Danai is nice, and the ERMLs in the turret might eventually help, but an extra ton of ammo would be nice.

[jimdigris]

Most real-world militaries have a supply train follow the artillery elements with reloads, anyway.  Most of the time, the Danai would be behind the lines where those supply trucks aren't in that much danger.

[Moonsword]

Most real-world militaries have a supply train follow the artillery elements with reloads, anyway.  Most of the time, the Danai would be behind the lines where those supply trucks aren't in that much danger.

Well, yeah, that's where you keep supply trucks.

That's not what we're talking about since you don't want to be messing around with unloading and reloading the gun while you're supposed to be laying down fire support.

[Maelwys]

True, baggage trains would help, but not necessarily on the board game.

So finished up the match, my opponent conceded, though just barely.

2H Penthesilea
2MAF Penthesilea
5L Marauder
5MC Koschei

The Penthesileas worked as expected, both good trooper `Mechs. Not outstanding, but not worthless. I've played with worse. The Koschei sucked this time around, mostly because of the small cockpit causing it to drop early. The Marauder did its job, though died when half my opponent's force shot at it. On the plus side, its reactor cascaded standing next to a coupe of enemy units.

Eyleuka Lance - one of each. Small cockpits suck at times. The 4A performed about as well as I could expect. Bad luck with it. The 45A and 45B performed as I expected (since I've used them a couple of times). The 35A was unexpected. Park it in some trees and keep shooting the LRMs. Drop Stealth when they get close, use the ERMLs on things in close, and the LRMs on things far away.

2x Ebony 9's
2x 7MAF Wasps

The Wasps survived about as long as the Wasps were expected to, any hits on them ruinous. The Ebony's worried my opponent since on first turn with the sprinting rules on, they were halfway across the board :) "I need 21s to hit your Ebonys" is a nice thing to see.

4xMML Carriers - Survived a surprisingly long time. Good to see the missile spam. One managed to take down a pristine Cicada as it tried to run by.

4xDanais - Speed is nice,  limited ammo is a problem. On the other hand, since the Copperhead Thumper round only deals 5 damage, maybe the ammo swap isn't needed that much...

4x Tamerlanes - One of each - one skidded off the board (sigh). The others teamed up with an Ebony to exploit a flank and go after the artillery. Took down a Thumper eventually.

4x Theseus RLs - Didn't get to use them much, they were out of position
4x Theseus - Not bad. Once you get used to the lack of jumping, they don't seem to move that slow, and the MRRs are nice. Wish there were more weapons listed as being used on the MWM.
4x Jump Squads - Urf. Wish I had realized these were squads instead of platoons earlier. A squad just doesn't seem to do the damage you need from infantry.