Explorer Corps Question: How hands off were they when it came to deep periphery?

[Izzy193]

This is something that kind of confused me a little, but how hands off were the ComStar Explorer Corps when it came to contact with deep periphery states? Did they do anything to stifle development of said states or did they help them indirectly or just stayed neutral and marked the state down on star maps? This is Something I need clarification on, as I got conflicting information in that regard.

[Alan Grant]

There may be a differential between what the Explorer Corps did and what ComStar did. I wonder if that is what you are running into.

The Explorer Corps finds a deep periphery nation or inhabited world. They just try to learn more about it and then report back. At that point what happens is no longer centered around the Explorer Corps. (yes they may be a "partner sub-component of the effort going forward, but there are other divisions of ComStar better tailored to what happens next)

ComStar then figures out what to do with that. Whether that means their Diplomatic Corps or ROM or others are tasked with this. Are they a threat? Are they a potential ally? Can we turn them to our cause? They evaluate and make a plan.

Quite often ComStar's reaction was to act as a benevolent power/partner/ally/friendly neighbor. Let's make friends, we see your people are struggling, we can help, would you also like to worship Blake with us? That was kind of the tact we know they took with some of these periphery worlds. They saw them as ripe recruiting grounds for individuals willing to accept Blake's wisdom.

Then of course also, every periphery world is different. Some are cruel and violent places, others are nicer. Some probably accepted ComStar's representatives in a civilized and diplomatic way. While others ran the ComStar representatives out of town with rifle gunfire. There you run into what Comstar maybe wanted to do, versus the reality of who they were dealing with. If the situation was tough/violent/complicated they'd then have to do the math on whether or not any further efforts to influence that periphery power are worth their time and energy.

[Frabby]

That's a good way of looking at it.

The Explorer Corps had a very specific mission, it was to find out where Kerensky had gone.

They did discover oodles of Rim Worlds Republic holdouts and other deep periphery settlements, including Columbus which they made their coreward deep periphery HQ. But that was an outlier. By and large, the Explorer Corps wasn't interested in all these colonies, settlements and protostates. They duly noted them down on a map, and moved on. In that sense, they were pretty hands-off.
One of the epilogue chapters to Betrayal of Ideals depicts an Explorer Corps mission that actually landed on Barbados... and decided to move on instead of follow up on their strange finds.

ComStar, on the other hand, used some of these finds to establish hidden protectorate worlds (distinct from The Five, like Alfirk, Farstar or Haddings), used some for secret research or weapon tests (Mundo Nublar), used to exile disgraced personnel (Alpha Hydri), and used a bunch to seed pirate groups into the periphery during the Jolly Roger affair. It would seem the isolated worlds and civilisations that the Explorer Corps found were indeed dealt with on a case by case basis by ComStar.

[ColBosch]

Also, sometimes people confuse Explorer Corps (a government agency) and Interstellar Expeditions (a non-government operation). While both are/were explorers in the Deep Periphery, their goals and methods differed greatly.

[Metallgewitter]

Also, sometimes people confuse Explorer Corps (a government agency) and Interstellar Expeditions (a non-government operation). While both are/were explorers in the Deep Periphery, their goals and methods differed greatly.

Comdstar's Explorer Corps can hardly be called a goverment operation as Comstar was never a ruling body but rather a interstellar corporation. Except you take "comstar ruled Earth" as point it was a goverment.

There is one point though: in the Living Legends book we have the story about the Outbound Light and their stops within the Deep Periphery. The leader, a ROM agent does indeed trade with a merchant from the Hansa (trading in a pristine if downgraded Sentinel mech) and even fights with some tribe on another planet that has a decrepit BattleMech. So I assume that depending on the mission the Explorer corps comes "strapped" if need be

[phoenixalpha]

I would say any Explorer Corps missions would contain but not be limited to, standard Explorer Corps staff with a mission to find Kerensky and anything wierd and unusual out there and report back to ComStar/Explorer Corps HQ with their findings. I would also imagine that there would be a hefty ROM and Militia (in all varieties including mechs and ASF) contingent. I would also think that the strategy for every new planet would be decided on an adhoc basis between all the various organisations on board. Some it might just be scientific backed by infantry, some might be ROM infiltrating an existing albeit low tech/low population world with the aim of changing the planetary leadership to a more ComStar orientated ones down to literally hunting pirates on vulnerable worlds or providing humanitarian relief to worlds with ongoing issues to win hearts and minds. I would think that if the Explorer Corps decided to turn a world towards ComStar they would leave all necessary elements required on planet and move on instead of hanging around in orbit for months on end.

[Alan Grant]

I would recommend thinking very carefully before you decide to embark on the journey of trying to decide whether ComStar is a government or not. You are diving into the debate of what ComStar is, which I've seen played out many times with many different views, all of which tend to be half-right and half-wrong. That's a whoooooole can of worms in and of itself. Do you really want to go there? I wouldn't advise it. Nor is it what the original poster is asking. You risk derailing the thread by a lot if you all decide to go down that rabbit hole. If you are going to play that game, I'd suggest starting a new thread.

Everyone here understands that the Explorer Corps and Interstellar Expeditions are very different entities. Which means they have different operating procedure, goals and objectives. Done. (the original poster wasn't asking about IE)

Moving on...Regarding arms/weaponry....

We know the Explorer Corps is armed. Canon sources back this up well. The Explorer Corps has their own favored variant of the Chevalier wheeled tank (BAP variant). The fluff of the Pinto VTOL indicates the Explorer Corps also makes extensive use of it, both as a utility transport helicopter as well as a combat platform. TRO 3085's infantry section gives us the Explorer Corps Hostile Environment Recon Units. Their role is to escort and protect the Explorer Corps survey teams. We also know they hired small mercenary units to work with the Explorer Corps.

Military escort is necessary, it's dangerous out there. What that does reliably tell us is that the Explorer Corps do spend some amount of time dirt side and not just mapping space from space. That means coming into contact with people now and then. Whether it's just a deep periphery outpost so phobic to outsiders that they shoot first and ask questions later, or you run in some scummy warlord who just wants to take your stuff. Or pirates. Or the Clans. Or just frightened low tech locals who haven't seen a spacecraft in 300 years.

I was never trying to suggest they aren't armed or don't have something akin to a military contingent. But it should be thought of as a security/escort/deterrent force first and foremost. At least on paper and most of the time. Exceptions will ensue.

The best comparison I can think of is the Star Trek model. Your average science/exploration/diplomacy driven away team has its armed escort. But since in Battletech even some backwater low-tech pirates or periphery colony militia might have 'mechs or vehicles or fighters, your escort needs to be beefy enough to handle threats like that. So more than a pair of red shirts with hand weapons is required.

[ActionButler]

**Mod Notice**

I wanted to step in to remind folks that, in all but the most egregious cases, users should refrain from declaring lines of conversation off-limits in threads that they did not start. If a certain topic, diversion, line of thought, or whatever seems fishy, please report it to the mods.

[Alan Grant]

Noted, thank you.

[Nerroth]

It's worth noting that, while the ROM agent aboard the Outbound Light had prior knowledge of the Hanseatic League, the remainder of the crew did not. For their own reasons, ROM saw fit to keep this awareness of the Hansa's existence on a strictly need-to-know basis until after Operation REVIVAL.

Also, it's worth noting that a number of the places detailed in ISP3 had been discovered by the Explorer Corps prior to their becoming known to Interstellar Expeditions - though, as with the Hansa, it's quite possible that ROM was very selective in terms of who, if anyone (even within pre-Schism ComStar), they shared this information with at each point in time.

It's interesting that, while the Explorer Corps sought to expand the DRUM network into the coreward Deep Periphery in order to support JumpShips with mobile HPGs operating in the region, they never went so far as to offer HPG service to the locals themselves. Not until the arrival of the Goliath Scorpions would the first HPGs be built in Nueva Castile - and not until after the Hanseatic Crusade was waged would the first HPGs be constructed in (now-former) Hansa space.

Although, had either ComStar or the Word of Blake offered to build HPGs in the region, might those have been affected by the Blackout along with their Inner Sphere and near Periphery counterparts? Or, might they have escaped the effects of CLARION NOTE, the way the Scorpion-built HPG network has done? It's interesting to consider a "what-if" version of the Hanseatic Crusade in which the Hansa had a ComStar-built HPG network, which might - or might not - have been forced to deal with the after-effects of Gray Monday.

And, as a further aside...

Everyone here understands that the Explorer Corps and Interstellar Expeditions are very different entities.

Not anymore, they aren't!

[AlphaMirage]

I always figured the Deep Periphery and inhabited "Dead/Lost Worlds" were trade secrets kept by various factions like more sophisticated pirates (gotta' fence those goods somewhere), the Jarnfolk or similar Deep Traders, or Isesaki Shipping and similar conglomerates. The Hansa have a history of trading with the Lyrans and Rasalhague as well as pirates and other deep dwellers but they are far away, beyond pirate space, and don't have anything unique or very valuable to offer or trade so you wouldn't want to risk a Jumpship venturing out, thus it remained isolated.

They weren't hiding but if you only have the basic subscription to COMSTAR's astrogation database they just weren't there along with all those dead worlds. It wouldn't really be worth investing in an HPG station on some minor world where it could be damaged or taken over by the locals, remember the COMGuards aren't actually a really big force and you'd be hard pressed to find mercs willing to take such hardship duty or trust the (unindoctrinated) locals. DRUM Satellites around gas giants far away from saboteurs and spies were a better choice.

[Von Jankmon]

I do remember from an old Periphery sourcebook that the Explorer Corps came across a very distant colony, and decided to warn them about attempting to contact the Inner Sphere or seek out neighbours.  The report is written with an intent of honest concern for their wellbeing.  The colony was the most distant from Terra found at the time, excepting the unknown clan homeworlds, and this information is obsolete by every metric.

I do not remember its name but I do remember it had a sufficiently advanced society to be stable, but was peaceful and agrarian in nature with some industry.  So reading between the lines it was not worth subjugating except for its own sake.  A megalomaniac would be bandit-king would want to rule it, but an expansionist state likely would not.