Author Topic: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us  (Read 116373 times)

Doc Swift

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #480 on: 25 November 2022, 13:56:16 »
The League was a different nation than the Caliphate and Castile territories. Most of the League was serfs, whose lives would improve under the Clans. But eliminating the social structure of the League in one fell swoop, only a tiny portion of the population would resist the new status quo. And most of those would be merchants who would find a new and mostly unchanged life in the merchant caste. The biggest change would be the improved and greatly enlarged merchant caste and the resulting political shift in the Clan itself. With Schmidt joining the Clan and quickly rising to a prominent position, there won't be many former Hansa military trying to mount a rebellion. They'd be more likely to follow his lead or obey his order to lay down arms. In my view, resistance of that type would be minimal, since the former serfs would be eager to repay their former masters for generations of abuse and oppression before any serious uprising could form.

I've also previously stated my idea of how the Scorpions would begin any sort of move toward the Inner Sphere. It would be the same as their expansion toward the League before the Crusade. They established colonies, reducing the distance between the nations. That shrinks supply lines and makes transit time shorter between the original territory and the new one. The Scorpions learned how the great distance between the Homeworlds and the Inner Sphere affected the invader Clans, and they would not want to suffer the same fate. Instead, they'd grow the nation physically with those new colonies, including perhaps some former RWR worlds to appease the Seekers. A trading enclave here or there might be an exception, as with the one they acquired in the Chaine Cluster.

In other words, they're not impulsive and consumed with a need to return to the Inner Sphere for any reason. Their territory is large and needs to be secured, with provision made to increase the territory organically rather than spread their forces too thin via establishment of additional, distant territories to defend.

This of course is all my vision. Other writers might crumple that up and toss it in the trash to repeat all the former stuff that happened with the other Clans instead of trying something different.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #481 on: 25 November 2022, 14:23:33 »
I'm definitely down for a faction or two that isn't aggressively expansionist solely for the sake of expansion. (The Raven Alliance repeatedly disappoints me in that regard, but oh well)

Of course, this being Battletech, we still need a reason for them to come into conflict with others, and encounters with Deep Periphery pirates or more cases of "Seekers show up out of nowhere and challenge for something kooky" will only carry things so far.

Also, Lei Kung is the only McKenna left aside from the Pride outside of the Homeworlds, and it'd be a shame if it never got used. :)
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #482 on: 25 November 2022, 14:29:55 »
I have ideas how to shape the Empire's future, but I shan't mention them here. That'd be the surest way to prevent them from happening.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #483 on: 25 November 2022, 14:52:23 »
In other words, they're not impulsive and consumed with a need to return to the Inner Sphere for any reason. Their territory is large and needs to be secured, with provision made to increase the territory organically rather than spread their forces too thin via establishment of additional, distant territories to defend.

I like how you think Doc. There's also still the possibility of adventurism from the Homeworld Clans to consider.

Still looking forward to your next installment, be it within the Imperio or the Seekers continued exploration of the former RWR territories.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #484 on: 25 November 2022, 16:18:58 »
I have ideas how to shape the Empire's future, but I shan't mention them here. That'd be the surest way to prevent them from happening.

By no means tell us a damned thing!   ;D :D :thumbsup:

I have faith in ya, Doc!  You've done well so far, and so have others like Isberner and company.

I love the Sea Foxes, but the Scorpions are my next favorite corner of this universe, followed by the Ravens.  A few of us right on this very page agree on at least 2 of those 3. 
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #485 on: 25 November 2022, 16:40:43 »
I could see some Seekers taking on the role of Explorer Corps, going out into the unknown to find the last forgotten SLDF / Rim World outposts. There sure seem to have been a fair amount of them around.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #486 on: 25 November 2022, 17:06:38 »
That kinda makes me want to put together some Rim Collection stuff, because you just know that any Seekers looking for RWR leads are gonna be poking around that part of space...
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #487 on: 25 November 2022, 17:14:32 »
Any excuse to get the Timbuktu Collective or Rim Territories some attention is welcome
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #488 on: 25 November 2022, 23:13:36 »
Any excuse to get the Timbuktu Collective or Rim Territories some attention is welcome

As long as they don’t get destroyed in the process I agree.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #489 on: 26 November 2022, 00:42:39 »
As long as they don’t get destroyed in the process I agree.

Agreed.  Faction Death Fatigue is a thing.  And it lasts for years.  Because the faction killing went on for years.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #490 on: 26 November 2022, 03:48:19 »
Eh. If they get destroyed but we get some nice focused products out of it, I can live with it. I love factions that are not fully fleshed out, that have just enough information to get the brain going and have enough room for my own ideas.


But I still want them to appear in the official writing. I want them to be part of the game. If your not getting kicked in the teeth every now and then, your not part of the game. For small factions that can mean being wiped out. But to me, that's preferable to them just sitting there and filling space on the map.


The amount of words that can be written about the universe are limited and often we learn about the small factions only when they get in conflict with the big stars of the show. If done well, as with the Scorpion Empire, it gives us a chance to learn more about a faction through its demise than we would have gotten by them existing as a label on the map for another 100 years. With the empire have three underused factions all mashed together. We got a whole bunch of cool products out of it and the Castellians and Hansa got more screen time than ever before. And the best thing is, if we're ever nostalgic about the lost factions, we can just take our new understanding of them and play before they were conquered.


Tl;dr: I, for one, am looking forward to the inevitable rise of the Rim Scorpion Empire. 


 
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #491 on: 26 November 2022, 04:34:59 »
So what official Scorpion Empire stuff is out there ? Shrapnel, quiaff ?

Also what is their Chaine Cluster outpost ?
« Last Edit: 26 November 2022, 04:37:32 by JAMES_PRYDE »

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #492 on: 26 November 2022, 04:48:18 »
They had a series of Turning Points and Spotlights.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #493 on: 26 November 2022, 07:58:35 »


Or claiming the planets in between the two (this is where the pirates are?)



Pirates are coming from everywhere. As depicted in Moving Forward, they are also coming from the IS. Fleeing from someone and expecting a brighter pasture far away from the IS, only to run into the Scorpions.
But that is not exclusive. Wherever they are coming from, the Scorpions will pump them for information.
There might be some big pirate bases out there, though. That they haven't been mentioned doesn't mean they don't exist. There was simply a limit as to how much information I could put into Moving Forward before the balance would have been lost.
Geoff and I already coordinated a butt load of information to squeeze in there, while trying to keep the focus on actual story telling.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #494 on: 26 November 2022, 08:54:29 »
Eh. If they get destroyed but we get some nice focused products out of it, I can live with it. I love factions that are not fully fleshed out, that have just enough information to get the brain going and have enough room for my own ideas.


One reason why I’m anti-Clan Wolf and anti-Jade Falcon is that despite some literature hinting at certain mercenary groups core values may have crept into their mythos it has never happened.  The only Clans that have actually allowed coexistence (and have become the most interesting) are the Scorpions, Ravens, and Ghost Bears.  The Nova Cats are reversed and the Jaguars are a big question mark.  The Wolves and Falcons (until 3150) have become more cliches and the Hells Horses are just followers right now.

Letting yourself to flesh out your own ideas is great but I find it a blocker when I hear the words disbanded and destroyed because it tells me “doom to fail”.  This is also why I like Doc Swifts approach.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #495 on: 26 November 2022, 09:23:18 »
I also want more tales of the Fronc Reaches and the Marshals.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #496 on: 28 November 2022, 01:30:58 »
...

 :thumbsup:

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Doc Swift

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #497 on: 28 November 2022, 12:20:48 »
I also want more tales of the Fronc Reaches and the Marshals.

I wrote a short novel as a sequel to "The Marshal Way" several years ago. Don't think it's ever going to see the light of day, though. Shame, that, as I have enough ideas to write a few more.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #498 on: 29 November 2022, 00:35:38 »
I hope to hear more as the Scorpions Seekers have grown on me.  I don't need them to go battle just to get to big to hold their state together.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #499 on: 03 December 2022, 20:39:59 »
Did the Hansa have a named military intelligence apparatus that is described anywhere, however briefly?
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Doc Swift

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #500 on: 03 December 2022, 20:51:43 »
Nothing comes to mind. Remember, the Hansa military was not considered a priority and existed primarily to defend merchants' interests for most of its existence. Any intelligence would surely have come from those same merchants. The skullduggery of the League, fomenting unrest in between the Caliphate and Castile for all those years, was probably also carried out by merchants.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #501 on: 04 December 2022, 00:01:48 »
This may be better answered in another thread, but could the Seekers have a working Mackie somewhere? Like an 8B or a 9H?

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #502 on: 04 December 2022, 10:06:45 »
They had one (model unknown) in the Temple of the Nine Muses. Whether that's one of the treasures they managed to get out when they left the homeworlds is unknown.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #503 on: 07 December 2022, 15:11:38 »
This may be better answered in another thread, but could the Seekers have a working Mackie somewhere? Like an 8B or a 9H?

TBD if it survived the Scorpion retreat from Roche, but IIRC there are a few Mackies still in Inner Sphere museums. Most of the best surviving Mackie variants (the newer ones still used by Terran militia, etc.) died with the absorption of the Hegemony in the First Succession War.
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #504 on: 10 December 2022, 00:07:18 »
I also want more tales of the Fronc Reaches and the Marshals.

It's not a story, but the latest RecGuide has my writeup of the TinStar battlesuit, which premiered in OTP: Fronc Reaches.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #505 on: 11 December 2022, 13:31:55 »
Thanks, Doc. I picked it up on Friday.  The new Tinstar art is fantastic. I also love how the original and the ew versions were integrated together after their first release.

I think i need to start building some Periphery Dark Age and ilClan forces. What's the standard general line
Trinary for the Scorpion Empire called? I don't have my Hanseatic Crusade handy right now.

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #506 on: 12 December 2022, 12:37:15 »
Thanks, Doc. I picked it up on Friday.  The new Tinstar art is fantastic. I also love how the original and the ew versions were integrated together after their first release.

I think i need to start building some Periphery Dark Age and ilClan forces. What's the standard general line
Trinary for the Scorpion Empire called? I don't have my Hanseatic Crusade handy right now.

You mean Battle Trinary?
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #507 on: 12 December 2022, 17:03:03 »
Sarna mentions they were one of the most strict in terms cluster/trinary/star make up.
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https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Imperio_Militar_del_Escorpión

There is a spotlight on a seeker Star, although those are much more eclectic than regular units.

Best bet would be the newer turning point on the Hanseatic crusades and the other pdfs
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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #508 on: 05 January 2023, 04:19:23 »
Just finished "Moving Forward"

Good read, really cements the Empire.

Question though, for Dark Age and ilClan eras, where have the Warhawks gone ? Are they still around in a niche somewhere ?

I do not recall seeing one released with Wizkids / Clicktek stuff, as if there was a mini from there I would have definitely got it

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Re: The Scorpion Empire: All your Warhawks are belong to us
« Reply #509 on: 05 January 2023, 06:02:26 »
Post Jihad / WoR the Warhawk is Scorpion exclusive, as per the MUL
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