How Are There Still Privately Owned 'Mechs?

[Daryk]

The oil lobby of course... ICE engines drive an entire petrochemical economy.  :D

[massey]

If the 'Mech shortage doesn't exist, why then do the House's build/use ten times the number of tanks then they do 'Mechs?

Where'd you get that idea?

[Kitsune413]

Where'd you get that idea?

If you look at the objectives books or the Liao House book alot of worlds have just got regiments of armor sitting around defending them. We just don't talk about it much because Battletech is mech on mech action.

But Davion uses Regimental combat teams for a reason and they come with lots of armor and soldiers.



Also this whole topic is really weird. Especially these attempts to make sense of where mechs are coming from.

In the beginning there was a giant faction called the Star League. Then they got blown up and alot of their army left known space. But not all of it. They also had giant caches of mechs everywhere. They had the largest mech army anywhere...

They aren't trying to track down where their mechs went because they're dead. That is where all the privately owned mechs came from.

[Daemion]

If the 'Mech shortage doesn't exist, why then do the House's build/use ten times the number of tanks then they do 'Mechs?

As for #3 given the number of upgrade kits that seem to have been made.

Because that's what the police, lower end nobles, and planetary guard are legally allowed to field in numbers, and I'm sure there's a cap, somewhere, too.

But, that's not the case everywhere. In the Periphery Field Manual, it's stated in the units section that most periphery worlds only field a battalion of hard armor assets, preferring to spend money on Mechs.



In fact, as a counter to the notion that the tank wall is possible, I would like to point out that most tanks from the TRos are manufactured in the same way as a lot of Mechs: On a particular world or a particular small number of plants and then shipped out to buyers. Yes, sometimes they're still in various states of assembly, if QwikCell is anything to go by.
 

[SCC]

No, those are 'Federal' forces, RCT's and LCT's used by the FedSuns are still using vehicles and those are raised by the Great House itself

[Kitsune413]

There is definitely an in universe fusion engine shortage. Which allows them to field way more vehicles. In the succession wars they are ripping fusion engines out of old vehicles to put them in mechs.

Keep in mind the largest loss of technology was the ability to recreate jumpships.

But they were relying on factories they didn't understand to produce a really limited amount of fusion engines to put into mechs.

[Alexander Knight]

Per ISAW, it's more like a 3 to 1 numerical edge for tanks over 'mechs.

[SCC]

There is definitely an in universe fusion engine shortage. Which allows them to field way more vehicles. In the succession wars they are ripping fusion engines out of old vehicles to put them in mechs.

Keep in mind the largest loss of technology was the ability to recreate jumpships.

But they were relying on factories they didn't understand to produce a really limited amount of fusion engines to put into mechs.

In the Succession Wars, yeah, although I would draw parallels to the FWL's shortage of PPC's, sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

Per ISAW, it's more like a 3 to 1 numerical edge for tanks over 'mechs.

It carries from source to source, but the Combat Commands from ISAW seem to draw more upon the FedSuns RCT then anything else.

[Kitsune413]

From the Lyran Objectives PDF.

Typically, Lyran planetary militias contain 1 to 3 companies of unarmored infantry (mostly foot) and conventional fighters, and a battalion of armor

So drop onto any planet in the Lyran Commonwealth and there are a few companies of combat vehicles ready to duke it out around strategic points. But not mechs.

(I'm also not sure if it is a typo. Because every other successor state leaves a regiment on planet of mixed infantry and armor.)

[SCC]

That's indicative of a shortage of 'MECHS, not fusion engines.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

From the Lyran Objectives PDF.

So drop onto any planet in the Lyran Commonwealth and there are a few companies of combat vehicles ready to duke it out around strategic points. But not mechs.

(I'm also not sure if it is a typo. Because every other successor state leaves a regiment on planet of mixed infantry and armor.)

I don't have the Steiner volume of that series, but some of the other ones have language that's actually ambiguous as to whether the militia forces present are all that's available to defend the listed strategic target, or all that's available across the entire world.  Since a few companies can't plausibly cover a garrison as large as an entire planet, I willfully choose to interpret that ambiguity (if only in those books) as meaning "a few companies to defend the mech factory/whatever" rather than the entire world.

[Kitsune413]

I feel you TDC.

It never actually works out though. Haha. Like... if you are a merc unit with a Lance of mechs doing raids it doesn't make any sense. You would never win. The battalion of vehicles would always wreck you.

The Lyrans are weird with their single battalion though. The Free World's League with their Regiment of infantry and armor per one billion people is probably the most accurate. But it still means your tiny merc company is screwed.

Anyways. Alot of planets are just a space port city. But usually they've only got a few sites to defend too. Like... "if there is gonna be an objective raid they are hitting this factory so that's where we will park these vehicles. Everywhere else motorized infantry will do."

But that makes it harder when pirates come and they are just trying to hit your Kong Walmart.

To SCC, not having fusion engines means you don't have mechs. There is definitely an Inner Sphere mech shortage because there is an Inner Sphere fusion engine shortage. In the Succession Wars if your engine takes too many crits to be repaired good luck getting that mech going again...

Haha. I wonder if there was a huge jump in available mechs post helm memory core from all the machines they didn't bother to rip apart to work an ice engine in.

The Clans don't have that problem and they garrison their worlds with mechs and a few vehicles.