Plasma weapons—These are quite well understood, within their lanes. The Inner Sphere is now very comfortable with the technology, production and maintenance of the Mech and BA-Scale Plasma Rifles, with the Near Periphery only slightly behind (Less so the Calderon Protectorate). The Clans have eagerly internalized the Plasma Cannon alongside their other heat-producing weapons.
The Ghost Bears, Hell’s Horses, Jade Falcons, Diamond Sharks, Blood Spirits, both Wolf Clans and the Snow Ravens have all obtained samples of Plasma Rifles to contrast and compare and could built their own prototypes and direct-copies. Whether or not this is a weapon the Spheroid Clans will make their own and internalize or upgrade remains to be seen, however. But for now, any of these could easily support and maintain captured examples or produce copies for their own use.
Given The Republic’s overall stance on incendiary weapons, but fondness for weapon systems that can disable enemy ‘Mechs, it remains to be seen what the legal fate of Plasma weapons will be. There remain widely separated camps on the matter, but it is expected to be settled when the Hull Treaty is scheduled to be revisited in 3105.
Targeting Computer---"Targeting Computer” technology (the very name being an even more vast over-simplification than that assigned to the “C3 Computer”) may only be a near-pinnacle of fire control technology, plateaued now as it has been by various spin-off systems. But this still represents a highly-advanced, difficult to maintain, repair and produce item of military technology. The Inner Sphere still produce their own versions; now to be found across all the realms, but they are nowhere close to matching the Clan-version.
However, it must be said that neither are the Clans any closer to further-refining this system and it looks as though further advances in gunnery will depend on integrating and refining other systems beyond the monolithic “Targeting Computer”
From the God’s-Eye-View, the 3rd League can source both kinds of Targeting Computer easily, but still depend on the Diamond Sharks for supplies of the Clan Model.
TSM---The Clan understanding of Triple-Strength Myomer remains starkly limited. But it is something that both the Inner Sphere and Near-Periphery can manage handily, although some of the former FWL dominions are less comfortable with it.
BA weapons/equipment---The divisions between Clan and Inner Sphere Battle Armour weapons and equipment have more or less been maintained, outside the RAF and SLDFiE where considerable inter-mixing is observed. The Fusillade system is one that the True Clans, Goliath Scorpions, Jade Falcons and Hell’s Horses are all very comfortable and familiar with. The others almost certainly have examples recovered from Trials of Possession, salvage and even espionage, but it isn’t something they are using widely or producing, yet.
Bloodhound AP---By this time, this is a highly-regarded and well-understood item in both the Inner Sphere and among the Clans. However, it remains beyond the reach of the Periphery Powers.
Watchdog CEWS---While still a niche system, the Watchdog has proliferated amongst all the Clans.
AES---The Inner Sphere, at large and the Continuation Clans are all highly conversant with Actuator Enhancement Systems tech. It’s not well-understood beyond the Great Houses and the Occupation Zones, even among the New Clans, but this is something that a DCMS or RAF Senior Tech wouldn’t even blink at.
Angel ECM---Within the Inner Sphere; among the Great Houses and The Republic; Angel ECM systems are now a widespread and well-regarded, if expensive, delicate and finicky piece of technology. These remain well beyond the means of even the Magistracy and the Concordat to produce and maintain, however and they rely on foreign-contracted service personnel to maintain the few they possess.
Among the Clans, there is a sharp divide on Angel ECM, with many feeling that it is simply *so good* as to be dishonourable, inherently. Indeed; among the True Clans, the subject of ECM is hotly debated within the echoing Grand Council Chambers. Certainly, the technology is well-known, but of the Clans, only a few make regular use of it; these being the Raven Alliance, the Ghost Bears, Hell’s Horses, Clan Wolf-in-Exile, The Escorpion Imperio, the Blood Spirits and the Diamond Sharks
Ferro-Lamellor---This is now a well-understood, if spottily-employed item among both the Spheroid and Periphery Clans.
Artemis-V---While still rarely employed, this is a system well understood among all The Clans.
Cruise Missiles---All the Inner Sphere Powers and some of The Spheroid Clans understand and field Cruise Missile Artillery, although most of the Clans employ it in only a limited fashion. The Ghost Bears, Hell`s Horses and Clan Wolf-in-Exile; all field Cruise Missile Artillery.
Since the end of the Jihad, there has been some proliferation of fixed Cruise Missile Launchers as vehicles for deploying small Satellites, as for some purposes and scales; this is more economical than using a dropship, AeroSpace Fighter or Small Craft.
Artillery Cannon---The Artillery Cannon is a weapon system that is unevenly used and distributed, but one that is easy to build and maintain; much easier than real artillery. Powers which cannot manage to build true artillery pieces still have the technical capacity to produce Artillery Cannons, if they can get their hands on the technical data. Even the Clans can build them and make limited use of them. But therein lies the issue. While widespread; no-one makes heavy use of Artillery Cannons. Rather they are specialist or niche weapons employed here and there.
However, the nature of Artillery Cannons means they are here to stay and powers which have access to the specifications and knowledge of their use will not soon forget it.
HVAC---Obsolescent. The secret of High-Velocity AutoCannons is well and truly “out” so far as the Inner Sphere is concerned. However, with the end of the Jihad, further development of these weapons has stalled in most places. Any of the Great Houses could easily build them, but they will remain consigned to custom variants, prototypes, Solaris brawlers and technology demonstrators until they get that whole “Exploding Issue” fixed.
PM-AC---All of The Clans can now field and maintain ProtoMech AutoCannon. They remain niche weapons; but they are there when wanted.
HarJel---After the Abjurement of the Diamond Sharks, the other Clans began to invest in diversified sources of HarJel and HarJel substitutes, in earnest. While the synthetic replacements are not yet adequate; many have made great inroads in cultivating their own sources of the wonderous by-product.
The Diamond Sharks remain the main supplier of HarJel to the Spheroid Clans and the Escorpion Imperio. While all of the extant Clans now have some capacity to create and refine their own HarJel, the ‘Sharks are still the main supplier for all of the New Clans, save the Raven Alliance and for the Continuation Clans.
However, within the Inner Sphere; the Lyran Commonwealth and The Republic have both established their own sources of HarJel and have a great deal of familiarity with it. The Lyrans had reverse-engineered the BattleMech HarJel system by 3067 and have now almost finished refitting it to their surviving warship fleet. The Republic has yet to settle on where to centre their own HarJel efforts, but has diversified instead; incorporating it into some Battle Armour, some space-faring vessels and continuing research and development into the applications of HarJel as a passive-defence measure in ‘Mechs.
Thanks to exports and continuing research, several powers have now produced limited runs of units featuring HarJel sealing and even self-repair systems.
Mech Melee Weapons---The Clans all understand ‘Mech-Scale melee weapons perfectly well at this stage, but by and large; they aren’t willing to make use of them. Exceptions are just that; exceptional and frequently ad hoc. This is a technology the Inner Sphere is, naturally; well familiar with. Out in the wilder Periphery understanding varies; with some pirate bands able to produce custom hatchets and lances and some manufacturers which would have difficulty producing such equipment in serial.
Partial Wings---This is an easily reproduced and understood technology among the Clans and Inner Sphere. The Major Periphery Nations can easily manage prototypes.
UMU---These remain a highly niche piece of technology, but here and there are powers which know it well and are familiar with its upkeep and production. Among these are the Escopion Imperio, Diamond Sharks, Federated Suns, Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine.
*as a side-note getting away from proprietary technologies in the last ten years of the game has made stuff like this hard to keep track of. I’m just about certain that there are a few other factions producing UMU-mobile units in-game, even in Der Tag, but I’ll be dipped if I could be sure I have encapsulated them all here.
Chaff Pods--- Frankly, I am baffled this was ever considered LosTech. But here it is. Anyone can make these in Der Tag; even backwater Periphery pirates can chop up metal foil and wrap it around a small explosive charge.
Chameleon Light Polarization Shield---Only The 3rd League currently possesses detailed knowledge and understanding of CLPS systems.
Drones---Generally detailed understanding of Drones and Drone-systems is limited to the Great Houses, the Magistracy and the Taurians at the basic level. Essentially; they can build, use and maintain things like the Hi-Scout Drones and their Carrier/Controller easily. Most everything more advanced than this has been long-lost to the Clans and humanity at large.
The Republic, however knows advanced Drone systems backwards and forwards, thanks to the legacy of the Word of Blake.
The SLDFiE has an understanding which is as advanced, but also different by and large. Mainly they seem to have mastered the old Star League’s Reagan/SDS network systems, but then gone in a different direction from the Word of Blake. What they do have, they tend to use very differently than either the Word or The Republic.
Remote Drone Command Console---Republic.
SRCS, SASRCS, SDS-DCS, CASPAR II ASRCS, ATAC, DTAC, ARTS---That whole mass of alphabet soup are examples of Drone technology The Republic has a good grip on. Frankly; the SLDFiE might possess some of it when I get to their ships in detail; but for right now, just figure that if it is Drones, then The Republic can do it.
Large Engines---Virtually Extinct. There is just so little practical application of these things that they have never made it out of prototype and bench-rest status. Even in the XL and XXL-models. The Major Powers could all still make them, if they wanted to. But as a practical matter, why would you? So by and large they don’t.
Lite Engines---This horse has long since bolted. In addition to the Inner Sphere, the Magistracy, Concordat and Raven Alliance can all handily produce Lite Engines now.
XL---The Inner Sphere, Clans and Near Periphery are having no technical issues producing XL Engines. For the Inner Sphere, it’s a problem with the special limitations levied by The Republic on XL Engine production; there is an additional cost, payable to various NGOs, Charities and rebuilding projects laid against each XL Engine produced in the Federated Suns, Draconis Combine and Lyran Commonwealth, as well as on some Republic-owned firms selling them as export orders or part of export orders. In practice; such sanctions have been difficult to apply in the fractious Andurian Pact holdings and impossible in the Capellan Confederation.
In the Near Periphery, it’s an issue of cost. Times are still lean everywhere in the Near Periphery and cheaper is usually better. As a result, procurement plans have cut the numbers of more advanced designs being produced in favour of the more easily maintained and cheaply acquired.
For the Clans; the bottleneck is raw resources and logistics. Freed of most trade politics and lacking most of an economic system as you would know it; the problem the Clans have is mining or buying enough of the raw materials, and getting them refined, shipped and turned into Fusion Engines. With lower caste populations devastated and disrupted by recent conflicts and trade fleets damaged, this is harder than ever.
A note on XL-Engines in the Der Tag AU: The principle difference between Fusion Engine types is in the shielding itself. No working parts of the reactor need to be replaced to turn one type of fusion engine into a Lite or XL. It’s actually a bigger deal to re-route certain systems to accommodate different heat sink systems. Once you get to an XXL; it’s a much bigger job because some systems have do have to be re-routed around the even-more thickened shielding, but it is still doable.
The hitch is having the skills, manhours, resources and above-all: *The Shielded Area* to do the work. But really any decent repair facility should have a hardened clean room for major reactor maintenance anyways.
XXL---The Clans and Inner Sphere can both produce XXL engines. The Inner Sphere faces serious budgetary issues with XXLs, however. Interestingly, these are not “Taxed” as are XL engines. Possibly due to an oversight, possibly because they are seen as niche items at this juncture.
On the Clan side, these engines have actually become *more* popular than they were previously, with several production-models being going concerns for many years now. The reason is that the resources sink to produce an XXL engine is not nearly twice that of an XL; as the cost would is for an Inner Sphere military-industrial complex. Nor is the time to produce an XXL much increased or the skills and techniques implicit in the manufacture. The shielding is simply made differently; to a different design and standard than XLs.
Full Head Ejection System---This system has now been mastered by both the Clans and all Nations within the Inner Sphere.
EW Equipment---Any of the more advanced and industrialized enclaves of the Deep Periphery have the capacity to produce primitive EW equipment. A normal ECM system might be beyond them, but this most of them should be able to swing by this stage if they have a semi-decent electronics industry.
ER Flamer---While it is banned, along with normal Flamers in the Inner Sphere; the technology of the ER Flamer proved easy to internalize for all of the Great Houses. Among the Clans, this weapon has been well-accepted.
Heavy Flamer---Naturally; the Heavy Flamer shared the same fate as it’s smaller brethren, but due to its nature; the Heavy Flamer proved even easier to copy and reproduce. These are less popular among the Clans, but still well-known.
Heavy Gauss Rifle---The Heavy Gauss Rifle is a highly specialized weapon; capable, but also handicapped. It’s been around long enough that many factions are handily familiar with it and thus it can be made and maintained easily in any Inner Sphere Realm.
Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle---Within the Der Tag AU; the Heavy Gauss Rifle is handled a little differently. As such the modifications to create the Improved HGR are somewhat of an evolutionary dead end; it’s hardly revolutionary and therefor not difficult to copy and reproduce, if you really want it. As a result, alongside the original; the iHGR is well proliferated across the Inner Sphere.
Light Gauss Rifle---Light Gauss Rifles are still highly-regarded as sniping weapons throughout the Inner Sphere. By 3099, this weapon can be found in all the Great Houses and The Republic as well as the Former Free Worlds League.
MagShot---The MagShot started out as a highly specialized weapon and it still is, but that specialty has changed from an Arena weapon from the dueling pits of Solaris 7 to a much-valued backup weapon on real battlefields. In the Der Tag AU; MagShots are in heavy demand to replace machineguns on many warrior’s rides. As such; the MagShot is produced all across the Inner Sphere and can even be found stamped “Made with Pride…” in the Taurian Concordat, The Magistracy of Canopus and even the Calderon protectorate and Marian Hegemony.
Silver Bullet---The Silver Bullet-variant of the common Gauss Rifle is a highly specialized weapon, but not a difficult one to realize. As such, any non-Clan power which can make a Gauss Rifle can easily make the Silver Bullet.
Blazer Cannon---The Blazer Cannon has become a popular weapon in the Der Tag AU, not least because it is easy to produce and maintain. As a result, they can now be produced anywhere in the Inner Sphere and the Near-Periphery states.
Bombast Laser---These have fallen rapidly out of favour after being a popular fad for a number of years. As a result, 3099 will be the final year of production for all remaining designs utilizing the Bombast Laser. A spare parts run may go on for a number of years, but consider them obsolete as of 3100.
Chemical Lasers---Limited deployment. In the Der Tag AU, the Clans have different and alternative weapons and so, while Chemical Lasers show up here and there, they are not as popular as in Canon. You can figure that by 3099, all the Clans can build them, however.
Production ER-Pulse Laser---In the Der Tag AU, the Clans continue to refine their laser technology. One outcome of this is that the ER-Pulse Laser as we know it, is now considered the prototype version, as of 3093 when the Ghost Bears develop the first Production-Model ER-Pulse Lasers (Followed by the Star Adder version in 3096). The only difference is that the production model is more refined and retains the -2 to hit of the standard pulse laser and the Small version weighs only 1 ton.
VSP Lasers---The Variable-Speed Pulse Laser has really taken off since the end of the Jihad. Not only are the weapons popular and sustainable among the armies of the Inner Sphere, but it turns out that a tunable laser has many, many applications in industry as well. As such, part of the reason for the popularity and general proliferation of VSP Lasers is that they are easy to acquire in an age when ComStarWeapons inspectors seem to be everywhere.
X-Pulse Lasers---These have been around and widely experimented with for a long time. As such, the entire Inner Sphere can consider this as a mature technology, ready for series production.
Laser AMS---This is a very popular technology right now in various design studies; especially for military naval vessels. The Inner Sphere and Clans are intimately familiar with Laser AMS systems, but due to various outside issues, relative few are in production now. However; their popularity has risen far beyond the status of a technological curiosity and they are now much more common and well-understood than they were. The recent upgrades of the Kuritan fleet feature then extensively, for example.
LF Batteries---Among the Clans; the Lithium-Fusion Battery is a feature which is considered a must-have in a modern warship design and a highly-desirable feature in a JumpShip. In the Inner Sphere, the technology is well understood---in theory---but almost impossible to reproduce in large numbers due to the paucity of capable yards and manufacturers. Currently, only The Republic and 3rd League can easily produce these “spare jumps”.
Republic sanctions limit the export of completed or kit LF-battery modules to the Successor States and the ongoing trade embargo with the 3rd League limits commerce in that direct as well.
Mass Drivers---Considered a weapon of mass destruction, Mass Drivers are banned under three different treaties (Whitting Naval Treaty, SALT I and The Mars Accords). The technology, itself however is well understood by The Republic and the Capellan Confederation. Naturally, it is something the Taurian Concordat would love to get their hands on, but a number of technical limitations have their hands tied for the foreseeable future. Were it not for The Republic; the militaries of the remaining Great Houses would openly covet this technology as well.
The Clans probably retain some knowledge of Mass Drivers as well, but it is likely that at this time, they still see it as a dead end or somehow distasteful. The 3rd League, however has a very detailed understanding of the technology and employs it in limited military and civil roles.
Mech Mortars---It turns out producing a fully-automated indirect-fire mortar is trickier than you might think. But having been prototyped as far back as the 3040s after having been lost for almost 200 years, most interested parties have the bugs worked out by now. The Inner Sphere, The Clans and the Near-periphery can all manage to build and maintain Mech Mortars as regular equipment. Still a niche piece of gear though, due to its inherent limitations.
