Basic Discussion Points Part 2:
Units
Units will be built in company strength blocks. Battlemechs, Aerospace, Armor and Infantry will all come as companies. Most (not all) players will be have a battalion to regimental sized military force, maybe two and some merc units so you'll track everything on a single record sheet or maybe two or three record sheets at most. A few players will have significantly more but shouldn't be overwhelmed if they are prepared. Think of your regiment/battalion unit as a squad and the companies as the individual men you have in it.
Battlemechs are of course, the principal weapon of the game. Battlemech companies will have the most flexibility and the best all-round stats in the game. They pack the most bang for your buck, but are expensive and difficult to replace in large numbers and experienced mechwarriors are a rare resource.
Aerospace units are the rarest in the game. As expensive as Battlemechs, their pool of experienced pilots is even smaller.
Armor is one of the two cheap units. They're less flexible and not anywhere near as tough as Battlemechs but have their uses. Really niche units like Submarines will be exceedingly rare and are not encouraged. Armor will be much easier to get a hold and training is easier to arrange but not all universally available.
Infantry is the cheapest unit. Like Armor, it's not as flexible as Battlemechs but they're cheap and plentiful. Anyone can build low-end Infantry but the higher-end stuff has requirements that poorer worlds or proto-nations can't meet without importing gear. Training is about on par with Armor. Battlearmor exists but it's rare compared to the rest.
Artillery isn't being counted as a separate unit, but a part of other units should they buy it as seperate upgrade. Omni tech will be treated similarly and will make such units easier to repair.
Techs and logistical support will be wrapped together into it's own support team unit. They'll be able to make a repair action for any single company, and you will need at least one for every ten companies you possess but a 1 support team to 3 companies ratio is far far better.
All units will have an upkeep cost and supply cost each turn and for every combat action they participate in.
Units will have the usual experience levels - Green, Regular, Veteran and Elite. The baseline is regular, and green troops will be markedly worse while Veteran troops markedly better. Elite troops, what few exist will be superb.
There is a technology tree but it's pretty limited. There's six ranks of Inner Sphere tech, with four ranks of Clan tech. Clan tech is extremely rare and highly coveted but it's so expensive/difficult to get I don't expect to see much of it in the game. The ranks for Inner Sphere tech are as follows:
0 (zero): Primitive/Retrotech & Armed Industrial Mechs
1 (one): Basic Inner Sphere technology
2 (two): Standard Star League/recovered technology (XL Engines, Double Heatsinks, ER & Pulse Lasers, Endo-Steel/Ferro-Fibrous, Ultra 5 & LBX 10 ACs and the like)
3 (three): Star League/early new inner sphere technology (light engines, light and heavy gauss rifles, MRMs, Stealth Armor and the like)
4 (four): Star League/late new inner sphere technology (light & Snubnosed PPC, Reinforced Armor, Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle and the like)
5 (five): Advanced star league/experimental inner sphere technology (XXL engines, Composite Structures, Superheavy Battlemechs, and the like)
The Clans ranks follow a similar path.
Just because it's there in the tech scale, doesn't mean it will see use in the game. Having it all out there, is for sake of reference only. I honestly don't expect to see very much outside of IS rank 1-3 and Clan rank 1. I'm including rank 0 for IS but it's not something I'll be encouraging for the most part. Of course as tech increases your units are more effective but they're going to be more expensive and less worth the expense the higher you go. Rank 0 tech is less effective and pretty much only for the desperate.
Dropships & Jumpships will be kept seperate and are mostly expected not to be involved in combat. Each player will only have limited access to Jumpships (some more than others, and in the case of mercs they may have to rely on employers/contracted ships) with Dropships being slightly less rare. No Warships will be in the possession of a player, so don't even go there but Assault Dropships are a possibility but will be exceedingly rare.
Infrastructure
Military factories exist in the Chaos March but they're an exception and not the rule. Battlemech, Aerospace, Armor and Dropship factories are extremely valuable assets. Mostly they'll be making money for owning players through trade so they can hire mercs or buy equipment/training for units. New factories are extremely expensive and it will be cost prohibitive for the most part to build them. Basic infantry equipment is available to anyone but the advanced stuff will require importing from a house or some sort of military industry/advanced infantry training facility. An Armor factory is about the most I expect most independent worlds to be able to come up with and 95% of the time, it'd be much better to just import gear instead.
No Battlearmor factories are around but they're not impossible, just about as expensive as the other military factories. Similarly there's no retrotech/primitive/armed industrial mech factories but they're not impossible, just expensive but not as expensive as the real deal so it's a possibility. More possible for a faction that already has some military industry and has an urgent need for domestic use can convert something over but even then, that'll be rare.
Training facilities are almost as rare. Only Sarna, Northwind and Outreach in the Chaos March offer Battlemech and aerospace training, but you can add or increase training capacity. Otherwise, you'll have to recruit from the small pool of available dispossessed pilots and house rejects. Armor and Infantry are universally available training wise except for the advanced infantry which need advanced facilities.
No Jumpship yards exist in the Chaos March and are unattainable. Jumpships are very hard to permanently acquire without piracy.
Agriculture, Mining and Light Industry will be valuable assets to cultivate. Most planets can feed themselves but some can't and need to import food. Military and light industry need access to materials from mining to function. Light Industry is needed for feeding advanced industries.
