They took what they wanted and needed from the others.
Yes, rather than developing their own infrastructure. This worked reasonably well while they were confined to the Kerensky Cluster, but was the source of virtually every problem they had once they expanded beyond it.
They were an Invading Clan. You know, the Wolves did not even need to fight for such a spot, thanks to Nicky , the Jags just smashed all that stood in their way. Others were reeling from this turnament still afterwards.
The Wolves were within a hair's breadth of winning at 4-1 odds against the most elite forces of the pro-Invasion Clans. Ulric killed two Ghost Bear Khans and repeatedly humiliated Leo Showers in battle. Had they bid and fought, they would have won a place- and likely ahead of the Smoke Jaguars.
Then comes the IS. Advancind slowest? Not in my book.
Clan Wolf took 85 worlds. Clan Jade Falcon captured 43. Clan Ghost Bear managed 38. The Smoke Jaguars managed to capture a similar amount of worlds to the Bears, and then promptly lost about a fifth of them to the Nova Cats. The Jaguars were also the only Clan with enemy-held territory in their Occupation Zone.
Leo Showers was so upset by the poor showing of the Jaguars compared to the other Invaders that he attempted to hamstring the Wolves and Bears over Rasalhague and was going to censure the Wolves for being too good at Radstadt, but for the rather spectacular intervention of Tyra Miraborg.
Against technological most inferior House? The Dracs got Star League Mechs from ComStar, how about that?
Continuity issue.
In the original, pre-Unseen timeline, the Inner Sphere at large had only "Freezers" (NAIS corrosive version), Listen-Kill missiles and the countermeasure to them prior to the Outreach Summit, at which point all the Star League technologies were disseminated and units were upgraded during the Year of Peace. As it was, the Combine suffered a critical shortage of the one item that makes the biggest difference in advanced technology- the Double Heat Sink. Even going into the Jihad, the Combine was mass-producing line 'Mechs still using Single Heat Sinks, the only house to do so on such machines.
Then the Unseen issue happened and many 'Mechs were stripped from the 3025/26 Tech Readouts, which were replaced by the downgraded, ex-SLDF machines.
Then there was the
Historical: War of 3039 retcon, where it was revealed that all manner of advanced technologies were employed. Even so this clashes with the charts in
Field Manual: Mercenaries Supplemental II which states unambiguously that a number of items had been perfected by that stage and should not have been in the -P format presented.
Advancements in technology make a lot more sense than overnight appearances, but the
Blood of Kerensky series is quite explicit in the Inner Sphere having no conception of SLDF-era technologies, let alone Clan technologies based upon them. Hanse Davion, Victor Steiner-Davion, Justin Xiang Allard, and Kai Allard-Liao had to have the mysteries of things like Pulse Lasers explained to them (slowly) by Clovis Holstein at Outreach, despite all either having been involved in the War of 3039 or supposed to have studied it extensively in their military academies.
As a result, the continuity is a mess.
Even so, the actual downgraded machines the Combine recieved were vanishingly rare, on the order of about a battalion spread through the ~10 regiments of machines they obtained from ComStar. The native high-tech industry was poor, and the Free Rasalhague Republic enjoyed the support of the other Houses for their upgrade projects.
The
Royal Kungsarme, despite numerous detractors, was supplied with the best chassis of the Draconis Combine and Lyran Commonwealth, and their units were no less skilled than the defenders of the Combine or Commonwealth. Given how well guerilla techniques worked against the Clans, it is hardly as though the Wolves were strolling to victory, and as the examples of them fighting AFFC units go to show, anyone who stood in their path was in for it.
Wolcott: a trap, simple as that. The Jags were Warriors, not some Traders or criminals who so numerical were serving for the Dragon. The Officer responsible for the Disaster saw the consequences.
Hohiro did not lie to the Smoke Jaguars. He baited them, definitely, and caused Dietr Osis to lose his head, but he also forwarded a complete dossier on all the forces at Wolcott to him. Names like Asano Narimasa would have definitely been in the ComStar files available to the Jaguars, never mind the Dragoon reports. That he chose to not investigate is his own problem.
Had another Clan sprung the same surprise, it would be hailed as a masterpiece of bidding, defeating the enemy even before the battle was commenced.
The same technique, it must be pointed out, was used elsewhere, with various units on FedCom worlds providing their MRBC or LCAF State Command ID codes rather than their unit names. It did not seem to slow the Falcons down very much.
The Bears, btw, got the smallest Corridor, no?
Smallest in volume, but densely-packed with worlds.
Then came Ulric, the Traitor and sent the Nova Cats as "reinforcements". Now fighting a Two Front war, they still swept through the Combine.
Actually, their Fourth and Fifth waves were the least impressive of all the Clans and they took the least territory of the Invaders. There was no "two-front war" going on, as the Nova Cats were either ceeded worlds or took them in limited-scope Trials concluded even before the Invasion was renewed.
Luthien: There will come the strategic weakness into play. Add to that Hanse sent 7 Elite Regiments to Luthien, otherwise there was no chance in hell it would have held, even then, 4 or so Galaxies mauled all those pretty regiments, without Air superiority. Granted, a costly defeat.
Others accomplished more with less. Have a look at the forces on Rasalhague or Twycross Phase II. The assembled Jaguar and Nova Cat forces were considered enough to defeat the original defenders of Luthien- and were deploying units far in excess of the 1 Cluster per Regiment ratio already well established. Full-Galaxy assaults by other Clans occurred against Regimental Combat Teams, not against the Forward-ARC units of the DCMS.
Put simply, the five Galaxy bid grossly overmatched the defending forces. It took the addition of the Kell Hounds and Wolf Dragoons to make it a fair fight.
Tuk, strategic problem, bidding away too much. Against a foe who knew all your weakness and had even time to study you from within, having huge troops at his disposal. Ok cannot defend so much there.
The Smoke Jaguars' problem at Tukayyid was not bidding or Focht, but command and internal discipline. Its forces were so bloody-minded that they were removing themselves from battle (like Elemental Bolin) and rushed the defending forces heedless of any kind of tactical, let alone strategic concern.
The "traitor" Ulric can solely be credited with the Jaguars' survival. He ordered them to retreat, and had that not occurred, all their forces would have been destroyed outright rather than merely shattered.
Hammered by the Combine before Bulldog? I would say a desperate House Lord tried Guerilla Tactics.
Guerilla tactics do not typically include confronting the enemy at their strongest and defeating them. Repeatedly.
The DCMS, with minor losses and minimal expenditure of material, was able to keep the Smoke Jaguars trapped at their post-Tukayyid strength for five years.
As for the Draconis Combine being the least advanced in tech? Are you serious? The Draconis Combine received upgraded mechs from Comstar in the war of 3039. I highly doubt the Draconis Combine was the least advanced in tech in the Inner Sphere. I would look to the Capeallans before I even thought about giving that distinction to the Dracs.
Again, depends on if you're going with the BoK or H: Wo3039 timeline. The Capellan machines in the original TR: 3050 are more advanced than the Combine's. Of the Great Houses involved in the Invasion, the Combine was the worst off. In all honesty, due to the support they were recieving from outside, the
Royal Kungsarme were at least their equal, perhaps even (however marginally) better.
Post Wo3039, debatable, though events still occur the way they played out in BoK regardless.
Ultimately, the Jaguars being seen as a threat was because they lied through their teeth about their strength and put on a good show. The truth, as revealed by Bird Dog, Bulldog, and Serpent, was somewhat different.
