I'll start by saying that I'am not a 30yr BattleTech fan, I was introduced to BT with MW2 and I thought that that the MechWarrior series WAS BT, it was only about a month ago that I saw an ad that had an Atlas with the word "BATTLETECH" underneath and it was only when I googled "BATTLETECH" that I found out about the wider BattleTech universe though Sarna.net, since then I've been reading about and researching the wider BT universe.
Now on to the threads main subject Contracts and the individual components of Merc contracts in the Battletech universe.
I felt that contracts in this game where to limited, both in the sense of what mission type are available and in the sense of the negotiation of said contracts.
After looking into the wider BT universe I thought to myself that there had to be more detailed information about what is involved in mercenary contracts in battletech (the detail in BT lore/rules is great) and so I searched "Battletech mercenary contract generator" and found "Mercenary's Helper v1.44" by mnmib1 on the battletech board game website forum, examples of which is shown here.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Now I can see some pretty big differences right of the bat, this game has no contracts with any of the following modifiers.
And this game does not seem to fully implement some of the contract modifiers it does represent, for instance.
Looking though it at a glance there are 17 different mission types that ranges from the types we already have like Extraction (Raid), Pirate Hunting (Assault), Assassination (covert) ect. to types we haven't seen but have been requested on these forums, like Reconnaissance (Raid, Covert), Planetary Assault (Assault (Mini Campaign on planet)), Observation & Mole-Hunting (Covert) ect.
Now that is just the missions, I was more interested in the other contract mod's like Command Rights and Overhead Comp, so what are they.
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Let start with command rights, there are 4 types of "Command Rights" and they are as follows.
I can see why including all of this was not really a high priority during development, while I do think it would add a little bit of variety to missions it is not of much use as is but it would be of use for extended contracts which is something I do hope to see in the future.
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Next I'll look at Overhead Comp.
Overhead compensation is the amount of money the employer provides the mercenary command to cover out-of-pocket expenses incurred during a mission, such as food purchases, spaceport taxes and run-of-the-mill supplies. Typically, such costs are minor, and so most employers offer generous remuneration terms.
I'm not really sure about this, on one hand I can see it as being "pedantic" and "excessive" detail to most people but personally I can also see these costs as adding up if ignored and adding to the simulation aspects of the mercenary company management game if included, but since most employers offer "generous remuneration terms" anyway I can see why it was skipped.
Although in the 3 "Mercenary's Helper v1.44" examples four of eleven contracts listed in my test gen (Pictured above) had Half listed as overhead comp so maybe it should be included as a factor in operation costs for extended contracts.
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Next I'll see what the Support contract terms are about.
There are two types of support listed in Field Manual: Mercenaries under "support" contract terms both of which are calculated as a percentage.
The main thing I see of note is that both these terms are done as a percentage of total cost rather then a fixed rate and that its not an either/or situation but a and/or one where you can technically get both straight support and BLC as a part of a contract.
All of this makes including things like ammo and armour replacement valid as a cost of business especially in extended contracts where those costs could add-up to quite a bit over an 18 month long planetary assault contract with only 40% support and 0% BLC (pictured Above).
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Now I'm interested in the differences between current in-game contract points and the ones presented in Field Manual: Mercenaries and Mercenary's Helper v1.44.
First I'll look at missions, Mission are broken up into four main types which are then broken up in to "sub" types of general missions, there are also multi-type missions, they are as follows.
Defence
Raid
Now I'll look at monthly pay, it seem obvious that this is in relation to multi-month contracts where you're hired by someone for several months then they pay for that time period.
The interesting part in the numbers given, which all seem to be 5. something, so looking it up and what that number is, is a multiplier because according to FMM(R) payment is.
It seem that on average your contract would payout 5x your monthly salaries per month when on extended contracts, which does seem quite high but I guess that 1x of that is your salaries and the other 4x is cover your expenses and makes up your profits.
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So on to Salvage rights and the four level that it apparently has.
As I understand it this mean that you get the following at each level.
Given that I've already made a suggestion about changing salvage to be by a percentile of the total value of salvage I can say that I think this system is much better then the current simplified system.
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And now its support rights, which somewhat confuses me now.
In payment it says,
but in the support section it has,
But Battle loss compensation still makes sense as a thing as it,
So it covers a percentage of the costs of armour, ammo, repairs and replacements which make tracking those thing have meaning and gives more purpose to the Argo section of the game.
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Finally its transport rights, transplantation rights cover the cost of transport to the contract with the left %/ being for if you own the transport (dropship/jumpship) or chartered it it or if its half an half (own the Argo, not the jumpship) then you just use the right /% number.
So funnily enough the overall mechanics is halved for us as we have the Leopard and Argo which means we just use one percentage value, although that value (%) should still be a negotiation point as it partially covers the cost of the Argo.
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Interestingly, to myself at least, is that each contract type, employer and your "rating" adds modifiers (Both +'s and -'s) to the contracts Command, Overhead, Salvage, Support and Transport components for negotiations, for instance a "Diversionary Raid" contract with a "Federated Suns" employer as a "D ranked" Mercenary Company offers.
And these are just the modifiers to the contracts "default" setting, after this you get some Bargaining points in a "Pool" which you spend to increase or decrease the contract terms, you can give up salvage to gain pay like in the current game but you've also got more contract items to negotiate with all with there own effects on the outcome and profitability of you contracts.
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TL;DR
Basically I really like the depth of the contract negotiation system in Field Manual: Mercenaries and would hope that something akin to this is added in to the game in the future as a DLC that Expands upon the Argo, Mercenary Company simulation side of the game.
Now on to the threads main subject Contracts and the individual components of Merc contracts in the Battletech universe.
I felt that contracts in this game where to limited, both in the sense of what mission type are available and in the sense of the negotiation of said contracts.
After looking into the wider BT universe I thought to myself that there had to be more detailed information about what is involved in mercenary contracts in battletech (the detail in BT lore/rules is great) and so I searched "Battletech mercenary contract generator" and found "Mercenary's Helper v1.44" by mnmib1 on the battletech board game website forum, examples of which is shown here.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Now I can see some pretty big differences right of the bat, this game has no contracts with any of the following modifiers.
- Duration (mo.)
- Command Rights
- Overhead Comp.
- Support
- BLC
And this game does not seem to fully implement some of the contract modifiers it does represent, for instance.
- Extra Missions: Recon Raid, Relief Duty
- Monthly Pay for extended contracts
- Salvage Rights: Exchange/Shared/None, 10%/20%
- Transport: 55%/50%, 10%/20%, None
Looking though it at a glance there are 17 different mission types that ranges from the types we already have like Extraction (Raid), Pirate Hunting (Assault), Assassination (covert) ect. to types we haven't seen but have been requested on these forums, like Reconnaissance (Raid, Covert), Planetary Assault (Assault (Mini Campaign on planet)), Observation & Mole-Hunting (Covert) ect.
Now that is just the missions, I was more interested in the other contract mod's like Command Rights and Overhead Comp, so what are they.
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Let start with command rights, there are 4 types of "Command Rights" and they are as follows.
- Independent: Independent command allows a mercenary force full battlefield autonomy, with no interference from the employer, his troops or a representative (though the mercenary force remains bound to explain any questionable actions to the employer and the MRBC after the contract expires).
- This is basically what we have now.
- Liaison: Under liaison command, the mercenary force accepts a liaison who represents the employer and accompanies them during the mission. In exchange, the employer assumes limited legal responsibility for the actions of the mercenary force during the length of the contract.
- This would probably play out the same as independent for the most part and as such its mention would be mostly fluff.
- House: Under House command, the mercenaries are placed under the direct authority of a regular military officer designated by the employer. This designated commander may dictate tactics and strategies to the mercenary group, but the mercenaries otherwise retain command integrity.
- Mostly useful in extended contracts like a Planetary Assault.
- Integrated: Under integrated command, the employer assigns regular officers to most of the mercenary force’s command positions, effectively making the mercenaries a part of his regular forces. Understandably, mercenary leaders shun integrated command because it requires them to give up virtually all control over their troops.
- Not that useful to the player, excepting extended Contracts meant to allow the player to "offload" units to a secondary contact (2nd lance on garrison duty?) while the player does other missions with Independent or Liaison Command.
I can see why including all of this was not really a high priority during development, while I do think it would add a little bit of variety to missions it is not of much use as is but it would be of use for extended contracts which is something I do hope to see in the future.
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Next I'll look at Overhead Comp.
Overhead compensation is the amount of money the employer provides the mercenary command to cover out-of-pocket expenses incurred during a mission, such as food purchases, spaceport taxes and run-of-the-mill supplies. Typically, such costs are minor, and so most employers offer generous remuneration terms.
I'm not really sure about this, on one hand I can see it as being "pedantic" and "excessive" detail to most people but personally I can also see these costs as adding up if ignored and adding to the simulation aspects of the mercenary company management game if included, but since most employers offer "generous remuneration terms" anyway I can see why it was skipped.
Although in the 3 "Mercenary's Helper v1.44" examples four of eleven contracts listed in my test gen (Pictured above) had Half listed as overhead comp so maybe it should be included as a factor in operation costs for extended contracts.
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Next I'll see what the Support contract terms are about.
There are two types of support listed in Field Manual: Mercenaries under "support" contract terms both of which are calculated as a percentage.
- Straight: Under a straight support arrangement, the employer agrees to pay a percentage of the command’s normal monthly technical expenses, including technician salaries and the costs of tools and materials. (listed as support in above picture)
- so it is just a "straight" reduction in operating costs, would lower the cost of mechs "in" the mech-bay (assigned to contract) for the duration of the contract, it might also include the cost of ammo (materials) depending upon how you read it, mostly useful during extended contracts like Garrison Duty.
- Battle-Loss: With a battle-loss compensation arrangement, the employer agrees to cover a percentage of the cost of repairing or replacing the command’s battlefield losses and damage. (listed as BLC in above Picture)
- now this one is interesting, it would reduce the cost of heavy damage and could offset the cost of the whole outnumbered 3-1 thing that missions currently have, it could include things like armour and ammo on an itemised list at the end of contract (cost covered and costs to be paid).
The main thing I see of note is that both these terms are done as a percentage of total cost rather then a fixed rate and that its not an either/or situation but a and/or one where you can technically get both straight support and BLC as a part of a contract.
All of this makes including things like ammo and armour replacement valid as a cost of business especially in extended contracts where those costs could add-up to quite a bit over an 18 month long planetary assault contract with only 40% support and 0% BLC (pictured Above).
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Now I'm interested in the differences between current in-game contract points and the ones presented in Field Manual: Mercenaries and Mercenary's Helper v1.44.
First I'll look at missions, Mission are broken up into four main types which are then broken up in to "sub" types of general missions, there are also multi-type missions, they are as follows.
Defence
- Garrison (Defence) - A unit on garrison assignment may guard anything from a facility to a planet, defending against hostile raiders or even assault forces.
Running anywhere from one to five years.
-No active/guaranteed combat, time passes over a longer term only initiating combat/mission on occasion.
- Cadre (Defence) - Cadre, or training, duty is possibly the lightest duty of all. Generally, a unit on cadre assignment trains corporate security personnel or a local planetary militia in combat tactics.
Normally, cadre contracts last from six to twelve months.
-A series of training "combat" mission, "defeat" enemy force's (strip armour only?).
- Relief Duty (Defence) - Entails reinforcing friendly military forces that are often in danger of being overrun.
Relief duty generally runs two months or more.
-Multiple of the current 3-1 outnumbered style missions, perhaps a counter/slider to indicate how well you're doing at reinforcement.
- Defensive Campaign (Defence) - Unlike a garrison assignment, mercenaries hired for defensive campaigns are expected to engage an active enemy and fight delaying actions until the employer can move additional relief forces into the area.
Defensive campaign contracts typically run a minimum of three months.
-Multiples of the current defence and escort missions in a single contract.
- Riot Duty (Defence) - The most unsavoury of all defensive missions, riot duty involves using heavy assets against civilians.
Riot duty does not pay well, and contracts run a minimum of three months.
-Not much to say here, could be good for variety's sake but seems mostly worthless
- Security Duty (Defence, Covert) - Security duty, also called “bodyguard” or “watchdog” duty, is a specialised form of short-term garrison duty that involves protecting a specific person, object or place from attack and/or capture.
An example of covert security duty would be escorting a disguised House noble through enemy territory, through open streets and public transportation
Four months is considered the minimum standard length of a security-duty contract.
-Basically short-term defence/escort missions, so almost exactly what we have with the current base defence & escort missions.
Raid
- Objective Raid (Raid) - Objective raids, also known as tactical raids, are the most common type of mission a mercenary command may receive. These operations consist of infiltrating enemy lines to destroy a specific target, then pulling out.
A typical objective raid contract runs a minimum of two months, starting when the mercenary force reaches a designated staging area.
-The current destroy lance and/or base missions, seem to be one off's with a single objective.
- Extraction (Raid) - Extraction raids, commonly known as “smash-and-grabs,” are nearly identical to objective raids. In an extraction raid, however, the mercenary group must capture a target and return it to the employer.
Extraction raid contracts usually run a minimum of three months but may last considerably longer depending on the complexity and secrecy surrounding the mission.
-Again just the current mission (retrieval) type with a single objective, mainly because to covert part of those mission does not fit into the current game at all.
- Reconnaissance (Raid, Covert) - Reconnaissance duty involves infiltrating an enemy world and testing the preparations, willingness to engage and overall expertise of the defending forces. Typically, reconnaissance raids are staged before a planetary assault or major raid, but must not alert the enemy that an attack is imminent. Therefore, recon forces must be able to move quickly, avoid detection and operate in small detachments.
Most reconnaissance contracts run a minimum of one month, but typically employers sign the mercenary command for a “follow-up” planetary assault or another raiding mission that begins as soon as the recon contract expires.
Covert reconnaissance raids stress infiltration even more than engagement, and may even require the mercenary command to travel to the target incognito to gather information on troops strengths, deployments and equipment make-up in a more passive manner than a direct recon raid.
-This is a much requested mission type which flavors light mechs over assault mechs, also covert recon seems like it would be a logical place to implement those much requested drop limits if required to travel "incognito" on a private (not yours) dropship.
- Diversionary Raid (Raid, Covert) - Typically staged just prior to a major assault or raid, a diversionary raid requires the mercenary unit to draw as many enemy troops as possible from the primary assault objective. This involves hitting hard and moving fast, typically with little to no battlefield support close at hand.
Diversionary raid contracts rarely run longer than one month.
During a covert diversionary mission, the mercenary force must avoid capture at any cost for the length of the operation and present the appearance that anyone other than their employer is responsible for their actions.
-These mission seem like they could be fun, having to "re-paint" your mechs and avoid the capture of your mechs or pilots without any support.
- Planetary Assault (Assault) - Mercenaries are generally hired to act as support forces for regular troops during planetary assaults. This duty involves heavy protracted fighting.
Contract duration's of four months or longer.
-This seems like the much requested planetary conquest contract where you help a faction conquer a planet over a series of missions, some sort of war score to determine both the overall victor and player companies war "contribution".
- Pirate Hunting (Assault) - Pirate-hunting duty is considered an excellent combat assignment for its fair pay and excellent salvage rights.
Pirate-hunting contracts generally run about two months.
-Just the current pirate hunt mission stretched out over a couple months, good for multi-mission contracts.
- Guerrilla Warfare (Assault, Covert) - Guerrilla warfare is one of the most challenging and dangerous missions a mercenary force can accept, these missions demand that mercenary commands operate behind enemy lines without support for extended periods. While on the job, the mercenaries harass the enemy by identifying and destroying vital targets, while training local allies (most often civilians) in the art of guerrilla fighting.
Because of the obvious dangers, guerrilla warfare contracts offer the highest pay and most generous rights of any type of mercenary contract, with a typical length of around six months.
Covert guerrilla warfare contracts differ from the norm only in the stipulation that the mercenary command never reveal the identity of its employer and take every step necessary to prevent such information from falling into enemy hands.
-this seems like a good high-risk/reward type of contract.
- Assassination and Terrorism (Covert) - Assassination and terrorism missions are among the most underhanded contracts a mercenary command might ever be offered, and are not sanctioned by any MRBC-sponsored Hiring Hall.
Essentially variants on objective raids and guerrilla warfare, these contracts differ in that civilians are classified as fair game— indeed, civilians tend to be the focus of attention.
-This seems like a really fun contract type with some great risks in that you're committing war crimes for money and nobody can ever know.
- Espionage and Sabotage (Covert) - Another variant on the standard guerrilla warfare contract, and similar to terrorism campaigns.
The espionage/sabotage contract requires a mercenary command to engage civilian and administrative objectives rather than military targets with an eye toward crippling the enemy’s infrastructure rather than the people.
- Another fun mission type, would be fun to get offered a mission to just "burn" a town to the ground, no survivors allowed.
- Observation (Covert) - The observation contract is essentially a long-term reconnaissance raid against an enemy objective, where the mercenary agent is expected to infiltrate and gather information on a subject or suspected activity without being detected.
The typical observation contract runs anywhere from six months to a year, though some have lasted much longer.
-A good contract for non-direct player involvement, assigning a lance to it for 6 months and having it "run" in the background.
- Mole-Hunting (Covert) - The mole-hunting mission resembles the observation mission, except that the mercenary command must infiltrate a certain portion of its own employer’s operations to root out possible spies within the organisation.
A typical mole-hunting stint runs close to six months, allowing mercenary operatives time to infiltrate and investigate security leaks.
-Does not seem that conductive to the current game, could work like observation as a "background" mission.
Now I'll look at monthly pay, it seem obvious that this is in relation to multi-month contracts where you're hired by someone for several months then they pay for that time period.
The interesting part in the numbers given, which all seem to be 5. something, so looking it up and what that number is, is a multiplier because according to FMM(R) payment is.
- The amount of C-bills in base payment offered for a mercenary force’s services is determined by adding up all the force’s combat and support personnel salaries (including those for all DropShip/JumpShip crews of vessels owned by the mercenary command) and multiplying this sum by a payment multiplier
- A mercenary force’s base payment for a given contract is the sum of the salaries of all combatant and non-combatant personnel (excluding auxiliary vessel crews, which are counted as chartered transportation; see Transportation, p. 170), multiplied by the final contract multiplier as determined under Employer Contract Terms, p. 157.
It seem that on average your contract would payout 5x your monthly salaries per month when on extended contracts, which does seem quite high but I guess that 1x of that is your salaries and the other 4x is cover your expenses and makes up your profits.
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So on to Salvage rights and the four level that it apparently has.
- Salvage rights have four levels—none, exchange, shared and full.
- Of these, shared and exchange rights are commonly offered with a percentage to denote how much of any equipment captured during battle must be turned over to the employer (or exchanged for money and other equipment), and how much the mercenary force may keep
As I understand it this mean that you get the following at each level.
- None: you got none son.
-Seem a reasonable concession to maximise elsewhere in the contract.
- Exchange: you get paid the C-BILL value of a set percentage of total salvage.
-A useful option to those that want it.
- Shared: You actual get a set percentage of the total value of all.
-I'd much prefer a percentage based salvage system.
- Full: its all yours.
-I'd like it as at least an option.
Given that I've already made a suggestion about changing salvage to be by a percentile of the total value of salvage I can say that I think this system is much better then the current simplified system.
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And now its support rights, which somewhat confuses me now.
In payment it says,
- A mercenary force’s base payment for a given contract is the sum of the salaries of all combatant and non-combatant personnel (excluding auxiliary vessel crews, which are counted as chartered transportation; see Transportation, p. 170), multiplied by the final contract multiplier as determined under Employer Contract Terms, p. 157.
but in the support section it has,
- Straight support covers the salaries of the mercenaries’ support staff, including technicians, mechanics, medics and administrators
But Battle loss compensation still makes sense as a thing as it,
- while battle loss compensation covers the damage and ammo depletion a mercenary force may sustain during combat operations
So it covers a percentage of the costs of armour, ammo, repairs and replacements which make tracking those thing have meaning and gives more purpose to the Argo section of the game.
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Finally its transport rights, transplantation rights cover the cost of transport to the contract with the left %/ being for if you own the transport (dropship/jumpship) or chartered it it or if its half an half (own the Argo, not the jumpship) then you just use the right /% number.
So funnily enough the overall mechanics is halved for us as we have the Leopard and Argo which means we just use one percentage value, although that value (%) should still be a negotiation point as it partially covers the cost of the Argo.
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Interestingly, to myself at least, is that each contract type, employer and your "rating" adds modifiers (Both +'s and -'s) to the contracts Command, Overhead, Salvage, Support and Transport components for negotiations, for instance a "Diversionary Raid" contract with a "Federated Suns" employer as a "D ranked" Mercenary Company offers.
- Payment: 5.1
- Command: -2
- Overhead: 0
- Salvage: +1
- Support: +3
- Transport: +2
And these are just the modifiers to the contracts "default" setting, after this you get some Bargaining points in a "Pool" which you spend to increase or decrease the contract terms, you can give up salvage to gain pay like in the current game but you've also got more contract items to negotiate with all with there own effects on the outcome and profitability of you contracts.
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TL;DR
Basically I really like the depth of the contract negotiation system in Field Manual: Mercenaries and would hope that something akin to this is added in to the game in the future as a DLC that Expands upon the Argo, Mercenary Company simulation side of the game.
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