Bienvenidos al Imperio del Escorpión

[ArkRoyalRavager]

I understand, the Sharks do utilize lower castes for Watch work, but i mean they could've simply sent someone not a merchant to spy on the Imperio just like they did at the Homeworlds after the WoR, but it's a merchant, so i just thought the guy could be opening up another market to sell their wares in addition to spying.

pack zel

How does pack zel work?

Solitaire makes a lot of sense IMO . . . speed for the Hellions, and direct fire weapons that require precision for the Scorpions.  Standard light mech of the Imperio?  yes please.

If RS3067Uu hasn't had the variant yet, hopefully any HL-toting 'Mech in the Imperio would get the refit to improved versions once they can produce that hardware.

[Col.Hengist]

In the Sharks, you don't watch the Watch, the Watch watches You!

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Duh, they must have like a gazillion Watch Chatterweb admins. Though you make it sound like they're Maskirovka 2.0 >:D

[wellspring]

Duh, they must have like a gazillion Watch Chatterweb admins. Though you make it sound like they're Maskirovka 2.0 >:D

Nefarious, sinister, all-seeing admins on a network discussion forum? I'm not buying it.

[Aleksandr]

How does pack zel work?

You have a group of light mechs against something heavier, and the group (Whether it be a star or something smaller) all make their initial attack against it. Once the bigger mech has been weakened enough that it can be finished by a light mech, the warriors all start bidding off their weapons to see who can get the killing blow. It all, ideally, scales by the mech - if it's a Dire Wolf, the whole star will probably have to beat on it for awhile. If it's a Gargoyle, maybe 3 mechs for a few rounds before they start bidding.

If it's a Hellbringer, maybe two, and then only for one firing phase.  ;D

[rebs]

Don't forget Raven Clearwater! She may have agreed to cooperating with the Society, but she did it out of loyalty to her Clan and did not hesitate to dispose of Elliot McKibben for her Clan to survive.

Does the Council of Six ban on contact with Homeworld Clans extend to the Imperio? They now belong to the Abjured Clans, and p.145 does hint that the Sharks at least want to maintain business relations with those Clans.

You have already got the best answers for your question, though I would have to agree, the Scorpion's current status leaves much up to the interpreter.  And the only interpreter who really cares to look is the Shark Foxes.  No one is going to be out there to police them.

And indeed, Raven Clearwater and her quick-thinking sacrifice is not forgotten by me. :)  One of the few to actually be kind of honored by the Bloody ilKhan.  That is, before he leaves the scene with his saKhan, and she does not leave, as it is rendered to us...    :'(

[Offworlder]

But are the Sharks/Foxes really keeping contact with the Imperio? I am getting the impression that the only have a watch operation going on, one that may actually have different aspects to it...

[ANS Kamas P81]

Nefarious, sinister, all-seeing admins on a network discussion forum? I'm not buying it.

good thing they don't use red Battlemaster IIC logos...

[ArkRoyalRavager]

You have a group of light mechs against something heavier, and the group (Whether it be a star or something smaller) all make their initial attack against it. Once the bigger mech has been weakened enough that it can be finished by a light mech, the warriors all start bidding off their weapons to see who can get the killing blow. It all, ideally, scales by the mech - if it's a Dire Wolf, the whole star will probably have to beat on it for awhile. If it's a Gargoyle, maybe 3 mechs for a few rounds before they start bidding.

If it's a Hellbringer, maybe two, and then only for one firing phase.  ;D

Isn't that...breaking zell into a melee?

You have already got the best answers for your question, though I would have to agree, the Scorpion's current status leaves much up to the interpreter.  And the only interpreter who really cares to look is the Shark Foxes.  No one is going to be out there to police them.

Why did the Sharks get censured at the end of the century and change their names back to Foxes? Just using the reason of selling Clantech to non-Clan entities doesn't stick, since they've been doing that since after the Great Refusal.

And indeed, Raven Clearwater and her quick-thinking sacrifice is not forgotten by me. :)  One of the few to actually be kind of honored by the Bloody ilKhan.  That is, before he leaves the scene with his saKhan, and she does not leave, as it is rendered to us...    :'(

She had to go down, since unlike Leo Koga, she was one of the leading faces of the Coyote/Society attacks.

Strangely, one thing i noticed is the two Clans that don't have Keshiks in their toumans end up being merged. I hope to see the extent of Hellion influence on the Militar's composition, perhaps each Cluster getting their own fast Trinaries and the introduction of lots of Flurries.

[Aleksandr]

Isn't that...breaking zell into a melee?

Hellions don't think so. Other Clans don't necessarily agree. Kind of depends on the situation - sometimes they put up with it, sometimes they don't. I think that's why there's a lot of tanks, artillery and TAG in the Hellion touman (see: Flurry clusters, Icestorm mech, some Mist Lynx variants).

[Moonsword]

I've split a few Diamond Shark-specific posts off and dropped them into the Shark thread to avoid derailing this.

[ShockaTime]

Hellions don't think so. Other Clans don't necessarily agree. Kind of depends on the situation - sometimes they put up with it, sometimes they don't. I think that's why there's a lot of tanks, artillery and TAG in the Hellion touman (see: Flurry clusters, Icestorm mech, some Mist Lynx variants).

It seems like it's just been kind of accepted by the Hellions as a result of how their touman is constructed. If they want to take down the heavies and assaults some amount of teamwork is often needed. They sort of play it fast and loose with the rules of zell in any case; they had an entire galaxy (or was it just as cluster in Beta) that specialized in ambushes.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

From the description, the Hellions practiced some variation of SLDF doctrine. The focus fire and arty use would be right at home with the SLDF.

[St.George]

Hummm,thats quite a mix,,,hellion "flurry" tactics and the Scorp's "gunslinger" type of training sould be intresting.though I didnt know of the Hellions ever using Arty.

[Colt Ward]

Actually, Flurries were disposable clusters made up of old old equipment- some not even fully functional- mostly conventionals and manned by below-grade or political pariahs.  You can wedge them between the regular touman and the paramilitary police units.  Its one of the few little things I liked about Hellions, enough to where I fluffed the Scorpions creating a 'sandstorm' unit to test protos without adjusting the main touman before they officially accepted them.

The pack tactics of the lights are another story.

Still, the formation of the touman will be interesting . . . if you are from Hellion stock, will you be piloting the light & mediums that are 6/9 or faster?  Will Scorpions get the energy and AC armed slow heavy & assaults?  Aside from the Commando IIC (which goes 6/9, hello Hellions!) will missiles be less represented in the Imperio's forces?  Will the local freebirths be put in units that do not fit either of those groups preferences?  When will the Hellion/Scorpion division fade?  Will it, will freebirth cease to be a stigma?

Did the locals have mercs in their employ?  did they survive? how would the Imperio veiw them?

Anyone know what their production look like?  I mean the gear is pretty eclectic- Primative/3025 from the locals, Star League, IS/WoB battlemechs, Clan secondline and frontline Omni.  Anywhere they have RATs posted?

Do we even know what they might have in production?

Wish list
Heavy Mech- Black Knight 6b (eventually upgraded to a BK IIC)
Medium Mech-  Stormcrow
Light Mech-  Incubus
Vehicle-  Bandit Hovercraft
Aero-  Xerxes
BA-  Elemental of course

[greatsarcasmo]

good thing they don't use red Battlemaster IIC logos...

Admins are blue... ;)

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Wish list
Heavy Mech- Black Knight 6b (eventually upgraded to a BK IIC)
Medium Mech-  Stormcrow
Light Mech-  Incubus
Vehicle-  Bandit Hovercraft
Aero-  Xerxes
BA-  Elemental of course

I'll add to that list what the Scorpions could've gotten as isorla from the WoR: Vapor Eagle, Black Python. Both are standard 'Mechs and have loadouts very suitable to the Scorpions.

[GreekFire]

I've been hunting for those pack zel rules for ages now!! Where are you all getting that info from?

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Presumably FM: Crusader Clans

[Col.Hengist]

I'll add to that list what the Scorpions could've gotten as isorla from the WoR: Vapor Eagle, Black Python. Both are standard 'Mechs and have loadouts very suitable to the Scorpions.

 Be hard to get black pythons since they are vipers only. I'll not say they don't have a few but none in large numbers.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Did the Black Python go out of use in the Wars of Reaving Supplemental?

[Col.Hengist]

Did the Black Python go out of use in the Wars of Reaving Supplemental?

 Don't have my books handy but i thought i remembered that since the vipers were gone that plant was gone too.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Oh...i thought there was a chance that the Scorpions secured some of their factories at New Kent and stripping it before leaving the planet uninhabitable. The "Focused Aggression" section of WoR seems to hint that.

[Nerroth]

The Black Python is not on the list of discarded tools of war in WoR:S, and is included in all four remaining Homeworld Clans' 3085 RATs.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Thanks for the reply. Oh well, i at least hoped some Viper 'Mechs would stay exclusive to one of the remaining Clans

[Moonsword]

The Black Python is not on the list of discarded tools of war in WoR:S, and is included in all four remaining Homeworld Clans' 3085 RATs.

That list only includes OmniMechs.  There's no information given on any of the standard BattleMechs that we know were produced in the Homeworlds prior to the Wars of Reaving and I wouldn't make any assumptions about a design's survival.  The only Clan that doesn't have the Battle Cobra listed somewhere is the Coyotes, for instance, making it just as widespread as the Black Python is.  (It's not on the Coyote RAT.)

[Hedgehogey]

I'm wondering if we ever got any more info on Nikolai Djerassi. He seemed like such an interesting character from his profile in FM: WC. It does say in WoR that Sargon Ben-Shimon was a graduate of his programs.

[Kilraven]

 So, in an attempt to stir conversation;

 Waypoint 531 "on the cusp of the Escorpion Imperio". (WoR)

 Would it be kept as a 'listening post' so to speak.

 Possibly used as a touchstone for a jumpship carrying an aerospace quick reaction force?

 Certainly no more than a cluster, probably a trinary or binary.

[wellspring]

I'm wondering if we ever got any more info on Nikolai Djerassi. He seemed like such an interesting character from his profile in FM: WC. It does say in WoR that Sargon Ben-Shimon was a graduate of his programs.

So is it fair to say he went to Djerassi Junior High?

[BlackKnight95]

So, in an attempt to stir conversation;

 Waypoint 531 "on the cusp of the Escorpion Imperio". (WoR)

 Would it be kept as a 'listening post' so to speak.

 Possibly used as a touchstone for a jumpship carrying an aerospace quick reaction force?

 Certainly no more than a cluster, probably a trinary or binary.

Given how strong the Scorpions military is I'm guessing "listening post"