Is ComStar dead in the Dark Age?

[Kovax]

Comstar had a significant presence in several of the Periphery states, where they often recruited.  HPG service was available on several major Periphery worlds, not just in the recent House Arano storyline and campaign game setting (where it was on every planet).  How much of that remains post-Jihad, I can't say.  There are enough independent and "forgotten" worlds that Comstar could easily have a hidden presence, although industrial capacity would be extremely limited due to the lack of many of the facilities and resources necessary to process a wide range of raw materials, and
to produce the countless myriads of smaller components which make up the major systems used in Battlemechs and other high-tech equipment.

I could picture Comstar having a network of jump stops which bypass any inhabited or regularly visited systems, in order to run a clandestine "empire" invisible to those outside the organization.  It would still be pretty sparse and weak compared to what they once controlled, and they'd still have to root out any remaining WoB remnants from those systems.

[idea weenie]

Comstar had a significant presence in several of the Periphery states, where they often recruited.  HPG service was available on several major Periphery worlds, not just in the recent House Arano storyline and campaign game setting (where it was on every planet).  How much of that remains post-Jihad, I can't say.  There are enough independent and "forgotten" worlds that Comstar could easily have a hidden presence, although industrial capacity would be extremely limited due to the lack of many of the facilities and resources necessary to process a wide range of raw materials, and
to produce the countless myriads of smaller components which make up the major systems used in Battlemechs and other high-tech equipment.

I could picture Comstar having a network of jump stops which bypass any inhabited or regularly visited systems, in order to run a clandestine "empire" invisible to those outside the organization.  It would still be pretty sparse and weak compared to what they once controlled, and they'd still have to root out any remaining WoB remnants from those systems.

I'd see it as Comstar being put on a very short leash after the Tantrum, where they are allowed to provide communications via HPGs, and Nothing Else.

No jumpship fleet to serve as a merchant empire, no Black Boxes to give them another avenue of providing communications, no hidden bases, nothing except for HPGs and HPG material factories.  Lots of internal and external checks to make sure Comstar never developed into a threat again, ranging from inventory auditing (raw material input to scrap output) to ruthless financial audits to make sure every bit of trade material, foreign currency, and C-Bill is accounted for.

[Colt Ward]

I'd see it as Comstar being put on a very short leash after the Tantrum, where they are allowed to provide communications via HPGs, and Nothing Else.

No jumpship fleet to serve as a merchant empire, no Black Boxes to give them another avenue of providing communications, no hidden bases, nothing except for HPGs and HPG material factories.  Lots of internal and external checks to make sure Comstar never developed into a threat again, ranging from inventory auditing (raw material input to scrap output) to ruthless financial audits to make sure every bit of trade material, foreign currency, and C-Bill is accounted for.

Except . . . we know that is not the case.  ComStar was de-mil'd, but they still maintained their planetary com nets- which had an advantage by being linked with the HPG- or had subcontractors like Stryker, and they still had jumpships & dropships- some owned outright, others with liens, and probably still others working for ComStar as a side gig as part of their contract/loan (here, you get to be the mailpacket for this route- you get a .5% interest reduction each month you travel that circuit).  They also still had pretty large holdings in the Houses, ran the backbone of the banking system, and likely had investments (what do you think happens with your ComStar Credit Union savings account?) in all sorts of other enterprises.

Heck, I would have been surprised there was not a ComStar Legal Zoom.

[pat_hdx]

Yeah, very few things in BT completely die, and Comstar has a ton of planets in the IS to lay low in. As well as being adroit at  masking things in shell companies and convoluted legal structures. They can "fade" until a writer or a Dev sees the just right opportunity to inject them into a plot line.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

Yeah HPG does exists on the periphery area, especially for major periphery power worlds, and it keep them in the border of Inner Sphere. They are borderline of the HPG network, but still they enjoy the communication until the Blackout. It is not like the area without internet.

It is Deep Periphery that is actually beyond the HPG link, and that is effectively severed with Inner Sphere&Periphery.

So, it is possible that still some HPG networks are alive on the border worlds and some remote ComStar structures are able to live. It is also possible that there are some cache on the remote planet that is beyond of the sight of successor states as well. And remember that ComStar did some charity for the backward periphery worlds before. Now is the time to pay back. But, I don't think that most ComStar cells are able to keep themselves in Inner Sphere.