The Scorpion Empire : Plus Ultra

[CJC070]

If not already mentioned Operation Turning Point: Hanseatic League.

https://bg.battletech.com/news/battletech-state-of-the-game-june-2020/?fbclid=IwAR3zTou68QPFlQM7A-_jwMcQdETniApfZBD_GLnEEOewa9FiMaDTZ_pK0Yo

[glitterboy2098]

hopefully the new products include some additional recordsheets or even TRO entries for Imperio units.. by 3140 they should have straightened out production of mechs and such (at star league levels if not fully clantech) so i'd expect to see some new mechs in the scorpion frontline units, as well as their armed industrials getting made in even larger numbers. plus it would be neat to maybe see some info on what castile and the ummayids were using before the conquest by the scoprions, both in mechs and in vehicles. (especially since updated versions of those would be the logical choice for production to fill out the imperio frontline forces)

[Talpini]

Rejoice!

The Imperio (now in lore probably referred to as "Scorpion Empire") will survive at least in the the 3140s   :))

https://bg.battletech.com/news/battletech-state-of-the-game-june-2020/?fbclid=IwAR3NfkC5KsZ2VPg4Iqh7TLtYVZVRUTaLhacikB4mFdNQE22Lgf8ub_8IzXM

Rejoice indeed!

I assume we'll still be using Imperio as shorthand for Scorpion Empire though.

The suite of publications here is great, I'm really looking forward to Touring the Stars: Valencia and Spotlight on: Hellion Keshik.

The latter implies that the Khan of the Scorpion Empire has some Hellion roots, and having the Hellions represented within the Imperio, that's classy. Unlikely that Connor Rood is still in charge in 3140, a 100+ year old Khan might be pushing it, but I hope he gets some time in the spotlight.

The fact that the red star is still part of the Empire's logo in 3140 might be good news for those of a Umayyad persuasion. That said, the use of the word crusade when there's still a Caliph knocking about might mean something. Weird to have a Caliph help start a crusade is all I'm saying. But hopefully the Scorpions got wise to Homie propaganda and everybody's friends now.

The fact that the supplemental material dealing with the Imperio follows that dealing with the Hanseatic League probably indicate the Imperio will survive the Crusade at least.

Great stuff.

And a Crusade in 3140... That gives them enough time to organise the invasion of Terra for 3150, right?

[CJC070]

Rejoice indeed!

I assume we'll still be using Imperio as shorthand for Scorpion Empire though.

The suite of publications here is great, I'm really looking forward to Touring the Stars: Valencia and Spotlight on: Hellion Keshik.

The latter implies that the Khan of the Scorpion Empire has some Hellion roots, and having the Hellions represented within the Imperio, that's classy. Unlikely that Connor Rood is still in charge in 3140, a 100+ year old Khan might be pushing it, but I hope he gets some time in the spotlight.

The fact that the red star is still part of the Empire's logo in 3140 might be good news for those of a Umayyad persuasion. That said, the use of the word crusade when there's still a Caliph knocking about might mean something. Weird to have a Caliph help start a crusade is all I'm saying. But hopefully the Scorpions got wise to Homie propaganda and everybody's friends now.

The fact that the supplemental material dealing with the Imperio follows that dealing with the Hanseatic League probably indicate the Imperio will survive the Crusade at least.

Great stuff.

And a Crusade in 3140... That gives them enough time to organise the invasion of Terra for 3150, right?

I doubt they will be apart of the invasion of Terra.  I believe Scorpions are still trying to unearth Star League relics but have separated themselves from the Clans and their machinations.  Although what they will do with the Hanseatic League is anybodies guess.

[truetanker]

Maybe the  Blood is evolved or that some of the Minnesota landed there but left for possible greener pastures? Who knows...

TT

[Deadborder]

The very fact that Escorpion Imperio survived to 3140 is a miracle in and of itself. That they have made it this far and are able to mount an invasion (?) of the Hanseatic League would suggest that they've been somewhat successful in dealing with their internal issues. It also means that either the Homeworld Clans' plans for an invasion of the Imperio were unasuccessful or never came off

Personally I'd love to see a unit listing with colour schemes.

[Weirdo]

What I want to see is a vague breakdown of what kind of tech would be found in what units. Which units would you most likely look at to find the Omnis, Standard Clan, Blakist swag, Intro tech, and armed IndyMechs, respectively?

Fan speculation is never useful, so I'm hoping for some in-print hints on this.

[Nerroth]

I mentioned this over in the announcement thread, but i would be interesting to see if the effects of the Blackout rippled as far out as Nueva Castile.

Presumably, the Scorpions would have wished to establish an HPG network connecting the Imperio worlds to start with, and then plan to expand it across to Hansa space during the course of the invasion. But if Gray Monday put a pin in this project, they'd have to consider other options in terms of keeping some sort of lines of communication open once things kick off in 3140.

[CJC070]

I mentioned this over in the announcement thread, but i would be interesting to see if the effects of the Blackout rippled as far out as Nueva Castile.

Presumably, the Scorpions would have wished to establish an HPG network connecting the Imperio worlds to start with, and then plan to expand it across to Hansa space during the course of the invasion. But if Gray Monday put a pin in this project, they'd have to consider other options in terms of keeping some sort of lines of communication open once things kick off in 3140.

It would be interesting how the Homeworlds were affected by the blackout (if they were).

[Weirdo]

Apparently the Scorpions were not, at least.

Also, it looks like Scorpion efforts to integrate their conquered populations were very successful. Our last view of them in ISP3 had me very unsure if it was truly going to happen.

[Dragon Cat]

given time alone to sort things out guess most things can work out.

And if you have the firepower to back it up

[rebs]

Think the Scorpions are shifting their feet from Nueva Castile to Hansa space?

How about getting closer to the Rim Worlds Republic ruins, and thus, more ruins of the ancient Star League? ?

[CJC070]

Think the Scorpions are shifting their feet from Nueva Castile to Hansa space?

How about getting closer to the Rim Worlds Republic ruins, and thus, more ruins of the ancient Star League? ?

Makes sense there is a connection between the Inner Sphere and Hanseatic League so why not send seekers to find lost tech.

[rebs]

It is also possible that the old Nueva Castile worlds will now be a good battlefield between the Scorps and Home Clans.

[GreekFire]

So for the interested, I decided to reverse-engineer the RATs a little bit to see what the Scorpion Touman was looking like by 3140. The numbers next to each 'Mech represent how many chances there are, throughout all of the Scorpion RATs, to roll that 'Mech. They don't, however, take into account finer details like how Tau and Seeker Galaxies are oversized. End result:

Code: [Select]

LIGHT (67 total chances to roll) - 26.6% of RAT
Mongoose - 1
Jenner IIC - 2
Incubus - 2
Mist Lynx - 3
Piranha - 3
Kit Fox - 6
Hellion - 6
Horned Owl - 7
Adder - 11
Snow Fox Omni - 11
Cazador - 15

MEDIUM (91 total chances to roll) - 36.1% of RAT
Crab - 1
Viper - 1
Phantom - 1
Shadow Hawk IIC - 2
Griffin IIC - 3
Pouncer - 3
Hunchback IIC - 4
Conjurer - 5
Battle Cobra - 5
Rhino - 6
Great Wyrm - 7
Stormcrow - 8
Nova - 13
Tolva - 14
Ice Ferret - 18

HEAVY (75 total chances to roll) - 29.8% of RAT
Black Python - 2
Bowman - 2
Black Knight - 2
Flashman - 3
Glass Spider 2 - 4
Night Gyr - 4
Fire Scorpion - 4
Ebon Jaguar - 5
Rifleman IIC - 5
Summoner - 7
Mad Dog - 8
Timber Wolf - 14
Hellbringer - 15

ASSAULT (19 total chances to roll) 0.8% of RAT
Stone Rhino 2 - 1
Kodiak - 1
Kingfisher - 1
Turkina - 1
Executioner - 1
Naga - 1
Dire Wolf - 2
King Crab - 2
Warhawk - 3
Thunder Stallion - 3
Bane 2 - 3

Since we don't quite know what the Scorps are producing, we can *guess* that they might be making the:
-Adder
-Snow Fox Omni (certainty)
-Cazador (certainty)
-Nova
-Tolva (certainty)
-Ice Ferret
-Rhino (certainty)
-Timber Wolf
-Hellbringer

...or at least, they field them in non-negligible numbers. Anyway, thought that might be interested for people thinking of making a 3140-era Scorp force.

[VhenRa]

Apparently the Scorpions were not, at least.

Which leads into the question? Why weren't they affected?

What is different between them and the IS and IS-side Clans?

[glitterboy2098]

Which leads into the question? Why weren't they affected?

What is different between them and the IS and IS-side Clans?

presumably, whatever jamming effect that caused the bulk of the blackout has a range limit and they lie outside it.

[Gaiiten]

Any hint about the Home Clans in the book?

Also, it looks like Scorpion efforts to integrate their conquered populations were very successful. Our last view of them in ISP3 had me very unsure if it was truly going to happen.

IMHO this could be a change of TPTB`s priorities / ideas after Herb Beas and especially Ben Rome left.

[CJC070]

Which leads into the question? Why weren't they affected?

What is different between them and the IS and IS-side Clans?

It may be due to different technical techniques is IS-clans weren’t as adversely affected when the Society caused the blackout in the Homeworld Clans.  Not to mention the HPGs affected were once under the control of Comstar (another WOB conspiracy)

[Weirdo]

Any hint about the Home Clans in the book?

Only a mention of the Cloud Cobra attack on the Hansa, and a line saying it took the Scorpions a decade or so to clear the disruptive Watch presence from their worlds.

[CJC070]

So for the interested, I decided to reverse-engineer the RATs a little bit to see what the Scorpion Touman was looking like by 3140. The numbers next to each 'Mech represent how many chances there are, throughout all of the Scorpion RATs, to roll that 'Mech. They don't, however, take into account finer details like how Tau and Seeker Galaxies are oversized. End result:

Code: [Select]

LIGHT (67 total chances to roll) - 26.6% of RAT
Mongoose - 1
Jenner IIC - 2
Incubus - 2
Mist Lynx - 3
Piranha - 3
Kit Fox - 6
Hellion - 6
Horned Owl - 7
Adder - 11
Snow Fox Omni - 11
Cazador - 15

MEDIUM (91 total chances to roll) - 36.1% of RAT
Crab - 1
Viper - 1
Phantom - 1
Shadow Hawk IIC - 2
Griffin IIC - 3
Pouncer - 3
Hunchback IIC - 4
Conjurer - 5
Battle Cobra - 5
Rhino - 6
Great Wyrm - 7
Stormcrow - 8
Nova - 13
Tolva - 14
Ice Ferret - 18

HEAVY (75 total chances to roll) - 29.8% of RAT
Black Python - 2
Bowman - 2
Black Knight - 2
Flashman - 3
Glass Spider 2 - 4
Night Gyr - 4
Fire Scorpion - 4
Ebon Jaguar - 5
Rifleman IIC - 5
Summoner - 7
Mad Dog - 8
Timber Wolf - 14
Hellbringer - 15

ASSAULT (19 total chances to roll) 0.8% of RAT
Stone Rhino 2 - 1
Kodiak - 1
Kingfisher - 1
Turkina - 1
Executioner - 1
Naga - 1
Dire Wolf - 2
King Crab - 2
Warhawk - 3
Thunder Stallion - 3
Bane 2 - 3

Since we don't quite know what the Scorps are producing, we can *guess* that they might be making the:
-Adder
-Snow Fox Omni (certainty)
-Cazador (certainty)
-Nova
-Tolva (certainty)
-Ice Ferret
-Rhino (certainty)
-Timber Wolf
-Hellbringer

...or at least, they field them in non-negligible numbers. Anyway, thought that might be interested for people thinking of making a 3140-era Scorp force.

If your calculations are correct Goliath Scorpion is looking more like Inner Sphere with mediums more common than heavies.

[Weirdo]

We actually know the average weight of almost every cluster used in the Crusade:

7 Assault Clusters
7 Heavy Clusters
14 Medium Clusters
3 Light Clusters

Using Alpha Strike weights (Light=1, Medium=2, Heavy=3, Assault=4), this averages out to 2.58, just barely rounding to heavy on average.

This does not count the three Keshiks or the mixed Clusters of Grunt Galaxy.

[Doom]

The RAT for Hellion Galaxy leans pretty hard toward the light end of the scale. I like that.

[VhenRa]

Only a mention of the Cloud Cobra attack on the Hansa, and a line saying it took the Scorpions a decade or so to clear the disruptive Watch presence from their worlds.

Which should be Star Adders... [The Pegasus is a Star Adder corvette and the same event from the Clan perspective was done from a "Our raid on the Hansa was not so successful" line... from the Star Adder Loremaster]

[Baldur Mekorig]

They finally drop the "Escorpion imperio" thing. Very interesting book.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

It was bound to happen. The Clans' lingua franca is Star League English. With the Hansa now the majority, a change to English with German and Spanish as other official languages is the logical way.

[ArkRoyalRavager]

It may be due to different technical techniques is IS-clans weren’t as adversely affected when the Society caused the blackout in the Homeworld Clans.  Not to mention the HPGs affected were once under the control of Comstar (another WOB conspiracy)

It was mentioned that the Scorpions use newer, post-Exodus HPGs that are not affected by the Blackout.

Also, this product finally marks a tonal shift from the gloom of the IS products. Last the Imperio was seen in WoR Supplemental and ISP3, it was collapsing. This is a great product :thumbsup:

The Empire now has the largest population and industrial base in the Coreward Periphery, it has made Hansa and Nueva Castile contiguous through colonization, mastered integration of populations and good governance as well as a booming Clantech economic-industrial base. The Hansa also add a lot of JumpShips and if this victory doesn't trigger a Homie intervention, the following decade will make the Empire very formidable.

The 3095-3140 history of the Imperio is basically what would happen to the Wolverines if they were left to prosper instead of being forced to escape. It's good that the flexible genetics program of the Imperio was continued from the hints in WoR. The ELH and its bloodlines live on  :thumbsup:

[glitterboy2098]

Also worth noting that we still do not know the cause of the blackout, and whether whatever it is has a range of effect that would extend all the way out into the deep periphery

[ArkRoyalRavager]

I'm guessing Stone has something to do with the Blackout. Perhaps an experiment to test whether the Republic was viable. Both the Fortress wall and the Blackout are most probably caused by Super HPGs tuned to cause all that interference. My wild goose theory anyway ;D

There are several implications from the Crusade too:
- The Imperial RAT has Balacs.  It seems the Foxes have been doing business with the Empire for a while now, and both the IS and Homie Clans no longer enforce their mutual blockades. Which is another question of what happened for the Adders to withdraw their post-WoR naval patrols.

- This is actually the first Clan Empire, pre-dating the Wolves by 2 years. Though highly unlikely, perhaps the Wolves found out and used the idea :D

Big THANK YOU to the team behind this product for making it highly entertaining :thumbsup:

[Sharpnel]

I'm guessing Stone has something to do with the Blackout. Perhaps an experiment to test whether the Republic was viable. Both the Fortress wall and the Blackout are most probably caused by Super HPGs tuned to cause all that interference. My wild goose theory anyway ;D

There are several implications from the Crusade too:
- The Imperial RAT has Balacs.  It seems the Foxes have been doing business with the Empire for a while now, and both the IS and Homie Clans no longer enforce their mutual blockades. Which is another question of what happened for the Adders to withdraw their post-WoR naval patrols.

- This is actually the first Clan Empire, pre-dating the Wolves by about 60 years. Though highly unlikely, perhaps the Wolves found out and used the idea :D

Big THANK YOU to the team behind this product for making it highly entertaining :thumbsup:

FTFY. The Imperio/Empire has been extant since the day they defeated the Castillian/Umayyad forces in 3080. In 3141 they merely changed their name from Spanish to English.