Hello all,
I was unsure about where to place this: fan fiction, non-Canon units or wherever, but finally settled for here for the idea.
Ok, let’s do an experiment: The second page of the “Gimme More Stuff Debrief:The (very limited selection of the) People Have Spoken!” thread (
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=63385.30 ) has a discussion about running a small merc unit and the nuts and bolts of what it would imply.
Well, I suggest we can do that as an open collaborative project in the fòrum.
IDEA:
Small merc unit moving around before the clan invasion.
Define a combined arms command. Say, a medium Mech lance plus some armor and infantry plus aerofighters (if we want them). Total size would depend on people involved in the project (more on that later).
The unit will have a Trojan dropship. Why? Because I think it is not overboard, it is a common design and it allows us to do some nifty stuff. A Trojan can act as a cramped and underwhelming field base for mech and vehicle repairs if going behind enemy lines, and has enough room to be configured as an actual living space. Having all that, it still allows for a nice cargo hold that would allow for the dropship to pay for itself while not in active use by the mercenary unit. It is not a combat dropship per se (hence the suggestion of the ASF) but can be looked as less dangerous than a Union, Seeker, Intruder or another more military-grade dropship. Still, transport problems can still be there in the form of lack of jumpships.
The unit will also have trucks, a recovery vehicle, jeeps and other utility vehicles.
The rest of the unit will be defined collaboratively.
I will try to start a thread narrating the unit’s developments, but the assets and characters will be defined by others.
ANYONE can take the narrator seat at any time they want to, and set forward a challenge or battle for the unit.
When there is a battle, ANYONE can play the engagement and its results /(salvage, destroyed vehicles… dead or wounded people). It is recommended to use the Alpha Strike rules, but you can use whatever you want: Classic BT, MegaMek, a RPG game (for example, for a commando raid) or any Giant Stompy Robots rulebook you fancy, … Stuill, I think (feel free to correct me) that AS would be the good default. The results of the report will be introduced into the narrative thread.
BUILDING THE MERCENARY FORCEEach participant has 100 points to select stuff.
When selecting stuff, Rule of Cool is suggested over optimized designs. Shadow Hawks welcome. We are deciding on the opposition (that does not need to be optimized either), so if you have a mech you like but think is underwhelming on the TT, no problem, just field it. Green pilots and alcoholic veteran MechWarriors with nothing to lose welcome as well. It is suggested that no assaults are selected. It is supposed to be a medium unit at most, so an all heavy lance would be weird even if not unheard off.
The 100 points can be spent in the following ways: Vehicles, Combat Personnel and other stuff
VehiclesMECHS: x2 MUL cost.
ASF: x2 MUL cost.
The rest of the units (VTOL, armor, infantry…) cost the same as their MUL cost.
Mind you, you can have as many as you want of any given troop type. You can have 3 light mechs if you want. Or buy 2 mechs for your main character and have one in mothballs. Up to you.
Combat PersonnelYou also get a Competent (+0) pilot/leader for Free. This is the main character of the selection and must be fleshed out. Other characters can be fleshed out as well if you want.
You can change the competence of the main character. You get +10 points to buy stuff if the character is Green (-1 to rolls), while it costs 5 points to make it a veteran (+1). At the start of the game, I think it is better if the unit does not have Elite characters, even if some variance can be cool.
Additional pilots/crew. All units have a skill rating. They are gGreen by default. This can be upgraded paying some more points.
- Green (-1 to rolls) 0 points
- Competent (+0) 10 points
- Veteran (+1) 15 points
- Elite (+2) 20 points
Armor and VTOL crews are selected per type of unit. So, if you have 3 Saracen hovers, you pay 10 points to make all 3 Competent. Once again, use Rule of Cool. I am sure this can be abuse, so just don’t go overboard if you find a cheap highly efficient unit that you can load on, please :)
Transports (IT2+ or CAR2+) are always Green.
- Tech Team. 10 pts. Tech teams are needed for maintenance and repairs. They are a special category of personnel in the sens that they do not rate as green-competent-veteran… but they still count as personnel for unit costs and morale (see below under Maintenace).
OTHER STUFF- Spares. 1 pt per point of Spares. Spares are used for maintenance and to repair stuff after battle (1 point per point of armor and 2 points for internal damage).
- Ammo. 1 point per 2 points of Ammo. Each non-ENE vehicle spends 1 point of Ammo per battle.
- VEHICLE UPGRADE. 5 points. Select a non standard item to add to one of the vehicles. Discuss with the other players to get their OK.
[Note, I am not sure about this one. Open to discussion]NOTE: These are ideas to have each participant select more or less items of the same magnitude of interest for the unit, not a “hard” system. Once the force is selected, we can convert the force to Warchest points and see what happens and fine-tune the unit. :)
MAINTENACEEach month the unit incurs in maintenance costs. This represents basic spares and maintenance, the wages of the crews, fuel, some ammo, quality checks that detect faults, lighting, foodstuffs,… The cost is as follows
Each COMBAT VEHICLE (mech, ASF, tank, VTOL, …) consumes 1 pt of Spares
Each PERSONNEL unit (pilot, vehicle crew or tech team). 1 pt of spares
Transports CAR2+ do not consume maintenance resources (yeah, unrealistic, but otherwise costs skyrocket for stupid things like having a few jeeps or transport trucks)
Each combat vehicle also requires 1/3 of a Tech Team for regular maintenance. In other words, a Tech team can maintain up to 3 vehicles.
If you do not pay the maintenance costs you suffer the following penalties
VEHICLES: Lose 1 point of internal structure. If it reaches 0, the vehicle is considered destroyed.
PERSONNEL: Unpaid (and unfed) personnel lose 1 point of skill until their back salaries are paid in full. So, a Veteran unit becomes competent and a Competent unit becomes Green. If he Skill rating falls below green, the unit disbands.
TECH TEAMS that are unpaid can maintain 1 less vehicle. If the can maintain no vehicles, they disband as well.
REPAIRSAfter a battle you need to rearm and repair the damage to your units.
Vehicles that are not full ENE need 1 point of Ammo to rearm. If you do not rearm them, recalculate their firepower for the next engagement.
A tech team can repair 1 point of armor per day. Cost 1 pt Spares.
A tech team can repair 1 point of internal structure per 2 days. Cost 2 pts of Spares.
Certain critical damage (fusion engine or gyro smashed, for example) might be somewhat more difficult to repair and require some story development.
Infantry “internal” loses can only be repaired between missions at a clear supply point like Galatea.
So here it comes. Suggestions appreciated :) 
