The Wolf Empire: Our Khan Beat Devlin Stone in a Savage Wolf! Buy Savage Wolves!

[Vlads Fangs]

Hello fellow Wolves,just checking in to see if everyone still around.I see the IlClan book is still not out yet,so we are still in limbo.I will check in in about another 5 months (post) to see if we are still around.I am still building my Wolf Empire forces with all the Tomahawk II variants and hope they start making Wulfen variants as well.And we nee the BlackWolf Battle armor.

[SteveRestless]

Yup. Standing guard, waiting for my chance to leap past the fortress walls and claim what lies within. :D

[Foxx Ital]

Yup. Standing guard, waiting for my chance to leap past the fortress walls and claim what lies within. :D

The last star league twinky!

[GarageBay9]

Hello fellow Wolves,just checking in to see if everyone still around.I see the IlClan book is still not out yet,so we are still in limbo.I will check in in about another 5 months (post) to see if we are still around.I am still building my Wolf Empire forces with all the Tomahawk II variants and hope they start making Wulfen variants as well.And we nee the BlackWolf Battle armor.

It is cold on Ark-Royal this time of year.

And my distant cousins are breaking things, peeing in people's front yards, and embarrassing the family name... so to speak. 

Life goes on.

[SteveRestless]

It is cold on Ark-Royal this time of year.

And my distant cousins are breaking things, peeing in people's front yards, and embarrassing the family name... so to speak. 

Life goes on.

Just remember when the turkeys bring ragnarok to Arc Royal, you had your chance to rejoin the winning pack.

[Colt Ward]

Kind of hard to survive when you get hit with the Axe of Fiat.

[Colt Ward]

While rereading some of the novels detailing the Crusader Wolf novels invading the Republic, Marik-Stewart and lastly the Lyrans I got to thinking about some of what Alaric might have done.

He was given the task after the first peace with the Lyrans to rebuild the touman which he mentioned meant coming over all the salvage in their territory to find any equipment to field.  It would also mean making that captured or salvaged equipment as capable as possible . . .

 . . . so which IS mechs would benefit most from getting some (not all) Clan weapon upgrades.  Playing with HMP I came up with a few easy candidates-

Shadow Hawk 7M-  Pretty common from the RATs and a design that had been around for a while.  While its equipped with a LGR to get some range . . . the Clan weapon weights the same but takes a single additional crit.  The LRM rack on the machine never had enough ammo . . . but making it Clan cuts the weight letting you double the ammo and giving more mass over to Gauss ammo though I also tossed a half ton to improve the CASE to II.  Swapping the ML for a IS or Clan ERML is of course a choice though I also left the SSRM2 alone- the LGR/LRM15 for a Clan GR/LRM15 was a big enough firepower change.

Wolverine 9M-  Again, a common heavy skirmisher . . . to keep the punch but up the range of course you give it a cERPPC.  I think the extra weight should go to replacing the single SSRM6 with 3 SSRM4 for all the crit fun.

Griffin 2N/3M/4R/6S-  Flavors of PPC to Clan ERPPC for the punch.  Missile launchers swapped for Clan spec and increases in ammo.  The weird one not mentioned is the -5M LGR . . . blah, build it as a -3M arm for the ERPPC.

Rifleman 7M-  Another common LGR design, pull the Lights and a pair of IS ERML (for crit space) in the arms to replace them with Clan Gauss and more ammo gives a weaker Glass Spider for secondary forces.

Scourge WF1- Found in the League, Republic and Lyran forces, its a updated Jinggau.  Again, give it a Clan Gauss Rifle and replace the cluster of IS ERMLs in the right arm for Clan ones- with the AES that just gets more mean.

Archer 8M/9M/7S-  Of course you are replacing the LRM launchers with Clan spec launchers, the question is if you keep the Artemis systems to increase the number of hits or just use the lighter weight nature to increase the throw wait.  For the -8M I think you go with a Clan ERLL to replace the IS one.

Warhammer 8M/9S/10CT-  Or even any old -7Ms still lurking from the original Clan invasion, very simply the PPCs of whatever flavor would be replaced with Clan ERPPCs.  Not even sure any secondary weapons should really be upgraded.

Marauder 5S/9S/9M2/9W2-  Just like the Warhammer, replace the ERPPCs or in one case ERLL with Clan spec versions which are the hammers they are armed with.  In the case of the 5S & 9S the Gauss Rifle and LB-10X would be replaced with the respective Clan versions to increase ammo capacity.  I would also think the 5S should be armored up to 9S specifications.

Any half-ton openings left would use RLs to bring them up to the list weight.

All of this would provide a very solid upgrade to the weapons in the hands of Wolf Clan warriors when they are settling into their new Empire.  The replaced weapons could either be traded to the Sea Foxes to gain Clan-spec systems; used as spares for other salvage being reclaimed or spare inventory for pure IS equipment.

Of course they could always upgrade all the weapons to Clan spec like the 'C' refits of the 3050s, but I think in character/fluff it should be the primary weapon system- like ERPPCs for the Warhammers or LRMs on the Archers.

[Deadborder]

To be fair to the Exiles, it's not like the Exiles could have predicted the events that occurred after the offer for reunification. I sincerely doubt that Seth Ward would have let the Exiles in on their plans to turn on the Lyrans, for starters, nor his intent to carve our the Empire. Nobody would have expected the Kuritans to hire Wolf's Dragoons, stripping much of the defense against Falcon aggression. And certainly Malvina's drive took everybody by surprise, especially given that the Falcons were supposedly still rebuilding from the Rending.

The Exiles were given a choice between maintaining their own independence and identity while remaining loyal to the nation that had harborured them for eighty years, or being subsumed into the same Clan that they had willingly divorced themselves from generations ago. Yes, they have nobody to blame for their situation but themselves, but at the same time, it's not like they could have expected that things would get this bad this fast.

In many ways, but turning on the Lyrans, gutting the forces involved in HAMMERFALL and devouring so much of their state, the Wolf Empire is responsible for the Exiles' current situation. If you want to blame anyone, blame them.

[SteveRestless]

They would not have to predict what Seth Ward would do, since I am referring to Alaric's "Come Home" offer, not the earlier talk of reunification. They would also have had a much better idea of the Falcon's intentions by that point. I am unsure how the Come Home Offer lines up with the dragoon departure time-wise.

And really, I can understand why the exiles might not return, but I really do not think they are in a good position to talk smack about the Imperial Wolves, is my point. a Wolf ilClan can do a lot more to stop Falcon predation upon the sphere than a dead Exile clan. Had they returned in greater numbers, they could potentially have served as the conscience of the wolf empire, and helped steer the clan.

Kindof silly to call another clan's successes embarrassing when you are so imperiled. 

[Deadborder]

Okay, in the case of the "Come Home" it's again an identity thing. The Exiles would once more lose their individual identity and culture, more likely seeing their units broken up and used to bolster Empire forces where possible. Their choice is "live as somebody else or die as yourself" and they seem to prefer the former.

After the WoR, the Wolves would never allow the Exiles to maintain a strong powerbase within a reunified clan. The lessons of the Adders and the Burrocks are proof as to why.

If anything, the Empire's turning on the Lyrans probably strengthened the Exiles' resolve to remain independent from the Wolves. Again, it's the loyalty thing; the Exiles had called the Lyran Commonwealth home for some nintey-odd years at that point. They're not going to turn around and join the Empire that's out and destroying that very same state.

[Colt Ward]

Eh, this has been done ad naseum . . .

Warden Wolves just feel hurt like the Nova Cats . . . when a large powerful warship is brought up because it is missing in 3145 books and we basically get told it was forgotten about but just consider it destroyed without any details.  Its annoying.

Really I am waiting to see what Calamity does and if she took off some Warden Wolves.

[SteveRestless]

For that matter, I've been meaning to ask, which Wolf/Wolf In Exile warships just fell through the cracks like that?

[Colt Ward]

Full Moon, Potemkin . . . 'no yards' ended up being the BS.  Funny considering their space station was able to rebuild the pair of Aegis & Fredasa, produces the Endo Steel both the Wolves and the Hounds need/use even after the Jihad, and built our Isegrims.

In fact the Isegrim fluff I have read indicates the Crusader Wolf ships were using the Warden station yards to repair their ships, b/c they had nothing functional in the OZ, as part of the collaborative effort against the Blakists.

[SteveRestless]

Just the Exiles' Full Moon?

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, everything else got smoked for 'reasons' in the Jihad.  It probably would too, but I imagine it was forgotten there too . . .

[Øystein]

Full Moon, Potemkin . . . 'no yards' ended up being the BS. 

The plan was always to strip the CWiE of their Potemkin - all my TO&Es I sent out during the Jihad had a special note on the Full Moon - this from the 3085 TO&E:

Clan Wolf in Exile Navy	Class	Notes
Full Moon	Potemkin (Clan)	(*) Must survive Jihad

Contrary to what some people believe - the fate of all warships during the Jihad was tightly controlled and approved by two people, the LD (Herb) and myself. I had full veto power over any unsanctioned death of a warship. :P
So feel free to blame me for all warships deaths during the Jihad - and up to and including 3145. :P

[SteveRestless]

Strikes me as strange that it was indicated to survive, just to vanish in the interim.

[Øystein]

Strikes me as strange that it was indicated to survive, just to vanish in the interim.

It was always intended to be traded off to the Sea Foxes, hence why it hard to survive :P

The Potemkin is a transport vessel, not an offensive warship in it's own right. It was mostly useless to the CWiE - espesially as a defensive weapon. The Sea Foxes could either turn it into an ArcShip, or for spare parts for the rebuilding of the ArcShips they did.

[SteveRestless]

Well, that's a better fate than I expected.

[Colt Ward]

Potemkins as a whole had to go, their ability to transport that many DS while armed like a SL battlecruiser was paradigm breaking.

[Deadborder]

I admit a slight disappointment. I was hoping the Falcons would have blown it up.

[SteveRestless]

Potemkins as a whole had to go, their ability to transport that many DS while armed like a SL battlecruiser was paradigm breaking.

It would be Just The Thing, for somebody who needed to flee a doomed planet under fire though.

[Colt Ward]

Sure . . . and I can think of quite a few offensive and defensive uses for a Potemkin in a dropships=navy paradigm.  When you can carry in 5 stars worth of Isegrims, Nagasawa, Titan, Miraborgs and other assorted PWS/Assault/Carrier DS it gets unpleasant . . . for the other guy.

[Øystein]

It would be Just The Thing, for somebody who needed to flee a doomed planet under fire though.

Assuming you'd get past the enemy blockade. And it'd be a once time use in what, 20+ years of conflict.

Better to have had a couple clusters of extra BattleMechs to fight during that period.

[Øystein]

Sure . . . and I can think of quite a few offensive and defensive uses for a Potemkin in a dropships=navy paradigm.  When you can carry in 5 stars worth of Isegrims, Nagasawa, Titan, Miraborgs and other assorted PWS/Assault/Carrier DS it gets unpleasant . . . for the other guy.

Except you have to buy/build those ships, and maintain them. And when the enemy can use plain jumpships to deploy the same amount of PWS/Assault/Carrier DS.

Ground troops is what takes and holds planets, not warships. You need feet on the ground. And you don't have infinite resources (espesially not a restricted vassal like the CWiE).

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, load of crap but that writing has been on the wall for a while- what is funny is that it conflicts with 3145 material.

[Deadborder]

Yeah, load of crap but that writing has been on the wall for a while- what is funny is that it conflicts with 3145 material.

How exactly does it conflict?

[Colt Ward]

He is postulating they did not have material, the implacation from 3145 is they do not have bodies.

[Deadborder]

He is postulating they did not have material, the implacation from 3145 is they do not have bodies.

First up, he's also one of the writers who helped the very material we're discussing.

Second, check TRO3085. Post-Jihad, the Exiles were suffering chronic shortages of Clan-tech equipment. That's why they created the IS Tech Mangonel and mixed-tech Pack Hunters, and also part of why they were unable to restore their lost Mad Cat, Puma and Fenris production. That would also limit their ability to rebuild their forces, especially in light of the losses they suffered during the Jihad. They could have raised new Sibkos, yes, but those warriors wouldn't have had 'Mechs to pilot.

And that's before we look at events that occurred between 3085 and 3132, which are still not fully documented. They could have suffered other losses durign that time that they would have been unable to make up. For example, in 3099, the Exiles lost an entire cluster that were claimed by the Wolves. For all we know, they could have lost more.

Trading away a Warship that they had limited use for at the time for new material to help rebuild their forces and possibly even fix gaps in their production capabilities is a good deal.

The personell crunch doesn't occur until the 3140s, well after the point that they were suffering material shortages.

[SteveRestless]

So, I am looking at the Generic Clan 2858 RAT in Golden Century.

On it, the Orion IIc is listed at a 4 result, giving you an 8% chance of having an Orion IIc no matter what clan you are. Sure, usual disclaimers about RATs apply, RATs aren't absolutes, but they do have to generate a plausible force to be of any meaning at all. Do you think this means that the Wolves stance on the mech wasn't always one of exclusivity and that you'd only get one as an accolade came later?

or do we figure that it's non-indicative, and that it doesn't really speak that much towards the presence of the design in other clans?

Makes me wonder if at some point the decision to render it exclusive occurred and a series of trials ensued to reclaim possession of them or destroy them.