Discussion: Tech Level in Aurigan Reach/Periphery/Inner Sphere

[wundergoat]

There is an interesting discussion about tech and econ progression derailing another thread, so I figured it should be moved over here.

If you want to catch up to speed:

Spoiler

About where the discussion started:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ink-they-should-be-implemented.1095801/page-6

The last several posts on the subject:

View attachment 367135

It's described as "Like a mobile space station, in a sense." Here's the rest of what Dr. Murad had to say, emphasis on the last line of the first paragraph, if you'd simply exhaust or pay attention to her dialogue... And I'll just repost those Sarna links too...
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Argo_(Individual_Argo-class_DropShip)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Argo_(DropShip_class) (look specifically where it says when the game is released it will more than likely be declared canon, and even then since we're only talking about it in a one off sense, we only have the game's description to go off of)
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Behemoth_(DropShip_class) (and here's precedence for DropShips that can't land on planets)

I never said they "lacked knowledge." I said they lacked the industrial base. Even if the Aurigan Coalition had facilities to build 'Mechs, they are in the possession of the Espinosa Directorate at the start of the campaign, as, again, the Arano Restoration only has three backwater planets under their control at the time when they sell the Griffins to the Mercs. Go play HOIV as someone like one of the Chinese puppets of Japan and try to build a military infrastructure. Even if you could supply a basic army, it would be impossible to build up an army of tanks able to take on China, Japan, or the USSR because:
A) You would need someone to sell you the license
B) You need to sacrifice your other military infrastructure to build a paltry amount of tanks
C) No one will just *give* you tanks because you are not at war, they have no desire for some upstart nation to possess a large or semi-modern military arsenal, or they simply prop up the regime because it is supposed to be a distraction for a hostile regime, not a legitimate government.

It's ludicrous to to think a third- or fourth- rate regional power would be able to devote massive amounts to creating a modern army, moreso when that power has had almost all of its industry occupied. Look at Sweden, your example, at WWII. All of its armor designs are licensed models of old and outdated foreign tanks, and they only produced a paltry amount, 106, of the most modern Czech designs at the time. Today, if the Swedish army came into possession of tons of American or Russian tanks, they wouldn't have the personnel or the means to maintain and crew them, even if they had their own designs.

Look at another nation, the Netherlands, regarded as one of the richer countries in Europe today and at the time, had absolutely no industry, or inclination, to spare for the construction of tanks.
Then we have Poland, a true regional power with a large arms industry rivalling that of the Czechs. Even they only produced outdated tankettes no match for actual tanks, instead producing more useful rifles or anti-tank guns or aircraft etc (funny thing the Czechs, they also had a large arms industry but then suddenly couldnt produce anymore when their entire country was occupied).

And finally we have the Soviets, one of the two preeminent powers at the end of the war. They were entirely able to produce their own tanks and their own designs, and they captured swaths of German tanks. They made no effort to maintain these tanks though, because they considered them to be too expensive for their benefits, mechanically unreliable, and incompatible in general with the Soviet doctrine. They would use them, if they worked, but only until they broke, whereupon they were abandoned or used for target practice (we use UrbanMechs as target practice in the campaign, what a coincidence). They definitely had the *means* to maintain the captured tanks (something the Arano Restoration does not since its only three backwaters at the start of a campaign), it was simply more trouble than it was worth and the resources put to better use maintaining their own designs or building more.

The Directorate is stated as being able to produce its own 'Mechs, but it is also stated they field more than their industrial base could support, this is due to them recieving arms shipments from other IS members (huh how or why would IS states support a backwater with 'Mechs if they're desperate for 'Mechs themselves?). This leads one to believe they retooled their industry to maintain what they recieve rather than try to create their own, since they have a generous benefactor they do not need native industry. This mirrors post-war countries in Europe, recieving arms from either the Soviets or the Americans.

First off, sweden during world war two, produced the famous bofors anti air gun, it produced their own fighter planes, it even produced its own light and medium tanks, not many, but for a small country like sweden, if you actually bothered to look up facts, you would see that, we had a fair share of military development despite staying out of the conflict... not to mention cracking the german codes, alot of the secret "accidently" ended up in allied or russian hands (cool dude called Arne Beurling)... you might want to look up Bofors, Landsverk, Saab among some of the army and airforce related companies to name a few

But back to the battle tech universe, in 3025 by your own sarna files, in the Canopian Magestry they produced a whopping 60 Mechs a YEAR... Its not about that there isnt planets with inner sphere tech, its the fact that the industry at this time is lacking, it barely exists... Mechs is a very highly priced battle machine, even alot of decomished Griffins, would be used IF they could, simply couse Mechs is barely produced at 3025, wich you stated the industry had recovered, it havent... its also directly stated in the game, they cant repair those Griffins, not even one of the major houses, and this disproves what you been saying... The argo can thanks to its los tech, its a flying space station...

And finally about the Argo... im going to state to you word by word was is said Dr. Farah Murad states...

-"Although shes far to large to land on a planet, her docking collar system allows for smaller Dropships like the Leopard to come along for the ride. The Argo is a mobile space station, in a sense, providing supply and temporary habitation for teams on dangerous missions in unsettled space"

To end this, the ARGO is far to large to land on a planet, she isnt a drop ship, the Argo is a flying space station !

PS if you going to quate something, quate the entire thing, "in a sense" dosent end that sentance, it refers to whats stated later, what it as space station is ment to do...

PPS, she says the "space station, in a sense" before stating its a DropShip. "In a sense" means "its easier to think of it this way but it actually isn't this way." Maybe look up what a DropShip is in BT before saying nonsense. Saying a smaller DropShip can dock with it doesn't mean it itself is not a DropShip. I never said it could land on a planet. Did you bother to even look at the picture? There is no way to get it more direct from source than that. To get to that dialogue you are literally *required* to hear her equate it to a space station.

Bofors, an AA gun. The same line of AA guns from WWI. Which happens to not be a tank, so maybe that proves my point about producing certain things that they are able to produce rather than some experimental or resource intensive thing they cannot support or have no desire for. Didn't see Tiger tanks or IS-2s or Shermans or some Swedish equivalent pouring out of Saab factories. Poland cracked Nazi codes too, so did Bletchley Park, so did the NKVD (all of whom actually particpated in the war) so no idea why you bring that up (tohugh its interesting to note Sweden exported raw materials, namely steel, to fuel the German war machine). Nice sidestepping every other point made with the WWII comparison as well.

The Canopian Magistracy is a Periphery Power. With a single manufacturer of military hardware. 60 'Mechs a year is still a large number of 5 story death machines. Before the Succession Wars started they produced none.
Compare them to the powerhouse of the Federated Suns who have no fewer than 14 military hardware manufacturers, the largest of which can produce 140 high end 'Mechs a year on their own. One of which, Corean, managed to develop automated factories and created the first of a new wave of four-legged 'Mechs in 3040, right as a 5th Succession War was brewing (but never came because of the Clans).
Then we have House Liao, developing and deploying the Raven, a fully new and ingenuitive design, around the Third Succession War but with production only being fully retooled to produce it en masse around 3048.

The Arano Restoration has zero industrial base at the time they sell the Griffins. They have three backwater planets, one of which was a penal colony. It's doubtful any of those planets hold the facilities to repair and equip dozens of 'Mechs, much less ones that have been mothballed for years. I do not know why it is hard to grasp the Arano Restoration starts in a weak position and only gets the capabilities to field or maintain 'Mechs as the campaign progresses. They do have a standing army off-screen that needs to be maintained, and so they cannot dedicate whatever limited facilities they have to the old Griffins.

It's not like the Magistracy is fully supporting them either, they are not allied. They would simply prefer the Restoration win and are funnelling funding. I doubt they are sending any 'Mechs, and if they are, certainly not massive numbers the Restoration couldn't maintain anyways.

Oki, lets get back to sweden and wwII, your missing the point, just couse a nation is small, doesnt mean it lacks the knowhow, if you bothered to look up the facts, that AA gun, was copied by all waring nation, since it was superior to any other AA gun... not only did sweden reserch it own AA guns, it did the same for field artillery, it own light arms, its true we dident produce any heavy tanks, but we did produce out own light and medium tanks, wich serves well espechially since sweden isnt exactly open ground... we also researched and produced our own airplanes, and to extent naval vessles mostly submarines and lighter naval vessels, but the point it, a small country like sweden, made some cutting edge designs even if it were small, after the ww2, sweden actually were ground breaking researching jet fighters saab 29 "Tunnan"... As for cracking the germans codes, again it took the allies the entire bletchley park with the aid of poles to crack the enigma, wich is considered to be a easier code then the one, Arne Beurling cracked with pen and paper, just saying, you can look it up...

im just going to retype what Dr. Farah Murad says...
-"Although shes far to large to land on a planet, her docking collar system allows for smaller Dropships like the Leopard to come along for the ride. The Argo is a mobile space station, in a sense, providing supply and temporary habitation for teams on dangerous missions in unsettled space"

And about the Arano restoration, you should look up facts, at the time you get the griffins, is when you liberate panzyr, at this point you have far more then just three back water planets... Of wich two are manufacturing planets, Ryans Fate and Mechdur, described as a source of mech parts... So again wrong, The Arano Restoration have by fact entire planets with industrial base, and they still cant repair those mechs... PS, do take a closer look at the description of Mechdur...

I brought up the Canopians to show you how little mechs is produced, even by the majot houses, its true the canopians had by 3025 the smallest army, but they still managed to fight the taurians in a inconclusive war... just to prove to you, by 3025 the abiltiy to create mechs is basically non existant... My mercenary team have taken out more mechs then a entire major house can produce in 3025...

We can keep at this, but again, like research and development, the Argo being a station, and you stating that Arano restoration only have three back water systems... IF we are going to debate atleast read up on the facts

We’re not just talking about a small country, it’s also poor and undeveloped. All the periphery realms are, even the big ones, and the Aurigan realms are weak compared even to them.

So, my take is that the Inner Sphere has been recovering since the end of the 2nd succession war in 2864. The next ~150 years was the low intensity 3rd succession war, where all factions stopped destroying factories, jumpships, and other near-lostech things. By time we reach 3025 and the setting HBS battletech, I think the IS is rapidly recovering. Various factions have progressed to designing all-new mechs, trying to replicate Star League tech (Capellans with the raven's ewar equipment, FedSuns with 'freezer' double heatsinks), and developing original tech (FedSuns prototype improved jump jets). The IS is probably producing thousands of mechs/year at this time (sparse data but the FWL is making ~500/year and they're known for their emphasis on aerospace, so it stands to reason the other 4 factions are producing at least that many).

In a few years, the Helm memory core is found and distributed to every major power. The memory core not only included blueprints for lostech (which included a lot more than weapons), but how to make everything in the industrial base needed to make lostech again, effectively filling all the gaps in knowledge lost during the early succession wars.

By the War of 3039, prototypes of new lostech are being field tested. This equipment enters production shortly afterwards, though not urgently as there is a relative peace following the inconclusive war. No faction wants to spark an arms race, which slows the rate of lostech adoption and the development of new platforms (see the parade of hilariously bad 3050 mechs). Then the Clans invade, forcing a fast ramping up of new weapon production along with rapid development of new mechs.

Nothing is all that unreasonable in the initial loss of knowledge or the way that it was recovered and reintroduced.

 

[Sable Phoenix]

Your take on the state of progression in the Inner Sphere, both sociological and technological (despite ComStar's best efforts) is not inaccurate. In fact, one of the main contributing factors to the initiation of Operation Revival is that the creation of the Federated Commonwealth seriously spooked the Clans with the possibility that the Star League would be recreated without their intervention.

 

[Fiona Marshe]

Between around 2864 and 3030, the IS really only managed to stop stagnation. The loss of knowledge was more devastating than the physical plant (not helped by ComStar's assassination program). The 'new' designs ("First in Centuries" from 3037 Readout) were effectively hand-built for the first several dozen units. Proper factory production only started when either: 1. An existing factory was retooled (or put together from the remains of several factories) or 2. the Helm Memory Core was utilised to build new factories.

With regard to the Aurigan Reach, being able to build anything more advanced than ICE vehicles is surprising. The combination of factors required is long, but summarised to:
1. Having the knowledge
2. having enough raw materials
3. training enough technicians to use both of the above.
4. having a big enough economy to absorb the enormous startup costs.

Building a fusion engine (let alone a full production run of military grade engines) is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the process; not counting the advanced materials of everything from myomer to armour to battlecomputers.

Over the 30 years of lore, the production rates fluctuated a bit and additional factories have been retroactively added in weird places that even the Star League wouldn't have tried to build them.

 

[theCarthaginian]

The Periphary shouldn't be slinging heavy mechs around willy-nilly like this game does, that's for sure. We should have started in something like a Panther or Commando, and have been forced to scratch for some decent mediums for the first campaign mission.

As it is, we're seeing WAY too many heavy and assault types out there to make.up for the fact that the game lets the player have too much firepower, and the power creep that results makes uncommon mechs become ubiquitous.

 

[macd21]

I’m broadly in agreement, but differ in some of the specifics.

I wouldn’t say the IS was really recovering since the end of the 2nd Succession war, they just weren’t regressing any further. They may be slightly better off, but not much. But yes, they’re producing thousands of mechs a year (that’s just a pathetic number).

The recovery starts in 3025 and really kicks off with the memory core. And once the war of 3039 ends, lostech production begins to kick off, but still in limited numbers. No one can afford to completely retool their economy (especially given they were still recovering from said war). It was the clan invasion that forced them to shift to a total war economy.

It should be noted that the reason the 3rd Succession War began was because ComStar estimated the IS would be back to a SL level of tech within 30 years - and that was without the benefit of a memory core. So that roughly fits with the timeline between 3025 and 3052.

 

[Havok_99]

I think you will see the changes you guys are talking about pop up in mods here in the coming months. I think the reason you see so many heavy and assault mech is that lets be honest that is what most people want to get and see so from a dev standpoint it be silly to make them uber rare but I think people can and will mod that type of thing in.

 

[Arch-Heretek]

I wouldn't have said it was a derailment since it was in arguing why the IS was a match for the Clans canonically rather than writer magic. Probably the bit about the Argo though, that was irrelevant.

From http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Periphery:

Spoiler

Overview
Although some Periphery colonies pre-date the Star League, this region of space remains sparsely populated and fiercely independent. Worlds within the Periphery tend to lack amenities available within the Inner Sphere, including faster-than-light communication. However, the Periphery is not devoid of civilization and culture. Interstellar trade is common, and a handful of strong Periphery realms have emerged over the centuries. Always restless and rebellious, the largest Periphery states were subjugated by the SLDF in the Reunification War. Further, the Amaris Civil War resulted in the destruction of the largest Periphery realm, the Rim Worlds Republic, and a lasting vilification of the Periphery in general. Though largely spared the horrors of the Succession Wars, Lostech development within the Periphery has been relatively stagnant.

Inhabitants
Population Density by Region
The density of settlement within the Periphery is directly related to the time of initial settlement, initial success, resources, and Inner Sphere interference. Resource-rich regions of the Periphery, including the Hyades Rim (abundant mining and natural protection) and the Outer Sphere (fertile lands), developed colonies with relative ease. Colonial efforts in both regions slowed significantly after the Reunification War. Abundant colonization also occurred in the Marik Expanses, due primarily to defection from the porous Free Worlds League and the relative freedom guaranteed its settlers. With the horrors of the Succession Wars, expansion has continued at a moderate pace. The Rim Worlds Republic, however, developed in the Rift with only one overly abundant resource - privacy. Following the Amaris Crisis, colonial efforts within the Rift have mostly been stagnant.

Extremely sparsely populated regions of the Periphery also exist. The Draconian Drift is home to few Periphery colonies, mostly independent systems and small pirate havens. The Capellan Marches are also particularly sparsely populated. This paucity of settlement is due to random chance (fewer settlers) and lack of viability. Further, the Capellan Confederation largely ceased its colonial efforts and maintained a proactive diplomatic stance towards the Periphery by the 25th century. Whether the Confederation's stagnant colonial efforts are due to lack of interest in nearby uninhabited Periphery systems or mere lack of desire to move towards the Periphery are debatable.

Despite previous lack of interest, the Capellan Marches were one of the fastest-growing regions within the Periphery during the mid-31st century, primarily due to the combined efforts of the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat.

Stereotypes Held by the Inner Sphere
The common Spheroid perceives the Periphery in one of three ways:

• The Periphery is largely unpopulated. The inhabitants are brave (or foolish). Little centralized government and economy means poor education and medicine.
• Worse, the Periphery is home of interstellar villains bent on destruction.
• The denizens of the Periphery care nothing for the welfare of the Inner Sphere.

The first two of these views became prevalent when the nascent Star League began an anti-Periphery propaganda campaign run around 2571, just before the commencement of the Reunification War. The third of these three views became popular in response to the callous indifference of Magistrix Janina Centrella, who ruled the Magistracy of Canopus during the Amaris Civil War. Most Spheroids also believe the paucity of settlements means small groups practice vigilante ("frontier") justice, but given the vast nature of the Periphery, bands of criminals are able to find refuge and depredate the weak. Spheroids generally dismiss Periphery nations as "Bandit Kingdoms".

Attitudes Held by Periphery Denizens
Periphery denizens commonly harbor a grave mistrust, callous indifference, or ruthless social Darwinist tendencies towards the governments and people of the Inner Sphere. Upon discovery of (most) Periphery realms, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere tended to depredate Periphery realms. After the end of the Reunification War, the Territorial Period began. The economic and industrial burdens placed upon the Periphery, all a result of short-sighted Star League policies, crippled the Periphery and froze most major Periphery realm expansion for more than 400 years. Though generally not robust by Inner Sphere standards, the central governments of the Periphery were capable entities before the Territorial Period; the Periphery denizen has not forgotten these transgressions.

Star League Economics
From approximately 2600 to 2750, the major Periphery realms were forced to participate in the Star League High Council as non-voting Territorial States. Territorial States were forced to pay steep taxes, with little return. Those people who did not emigrate to new colonies were gravely mistreated by the heavy-handed economic policies of the Star League, policies which ultimately led to the death of many worlds after the demise of the Star League. Though the Periphery had been self-reliant for centuries, the Star League Bureau of Economics, Agriculture and Technology attempted to dissolve most of this independence to ensure that the Periphery would never leave the Star League fold.

Through the creation of (mainly) short-lived "co-prosperity spheres" shortly after the Reunification War, systems were forced to specialize in a specific industry and rely on interstellar trade for everything else in order to survive. The intention was simple: if a world revolted, an embargo would pacify the world relatively quickly. Massively unsuccessful, the co-prosperity sphere resulted in more famines, unrest, lost production and outrage, and did little to avert revolt during the trying times following the Reunification War. The program ceased expansion in 2602, and was all but completely dissolved in 2612.

The Star League then turned its efforts to two resources it could control, energy and water. Using the economic might of the Inner Sphere, the Star League outcompeted nearly all domestic production of water purification equipment and power plant equipment. Less than 3% of these domestic industries survived until the fall of the Star League. The cessation of much of the interstellar trade late in the 28th century resulted in the demise of many worlds, unable to generate power or purify their own water. The crisis became so grim, neighboring Periphery systems began depredating each other in the event of a boom in industry, savaging industrial expansion and independence. Concerted efforts by several worlds or a larger, centralized governments, were also savaged; an Inner Sphere power would generally take interest, and raid the new facilities to alleviate their own crises.

Educational "Reforms"
Propaganda campaigns were also implemented, and nationalistic activities were at best frowned upon. Not limited to media, propaganda also included "higher educational reforms" in the 2670s, and "primary education reforms" in the 2680s. Though these reforms increased literacy and basic education through some sections of the Periphery, these reforms were really intended to inculcate Periphery denizens, attempting to increase loyalty to the Star League. The common student in a primary school would be forced through the following indoctrination daily:

• Pledge allegiance to the Star League and the First Lord
• Meditate on "the many benefits that the bountiful Star League has bestowed on us"
• Give a prayer of thanksgiving to the First Lord
• Turn to Terra to offer thanks

Migrations
The "Second Invasion of the Periphery", the migration of undesirables (including the poor and uneducated, anarchists, carpetbaggers and speculators, and political and religious extremists), increased the economic burden on the already crippled, post-war Periphery economies, leading to even greater mistrust. Though some Periphery and Deep Periphery settlements were located well over 500 light years from Terra, it was during this "winter of our discontent" in which another outward migration commenced; this time, Periphery denizens decided to migrate even farther from Terra in order to escape the unwanted Star League.

The Periphery itself is by and large my reasoning for why the Inner Spher was not in perpetual decline, and probably not for a long time, either the second Succession War or even earlier (at least in the case of the Periphery; stagnation is not decline).

The above spoiler shows that most Periphery realms in general suffered horribly in the Star League era, the so-called Golden Age, with famines, depopulation, industrial destruction, etc, even among those that supposedly prospered like the Taurians and Canopians (though to a lesser degree than the worst cases). Additionally, this shows that most if not all of the realms would possess no means of producing new 'Mechs or militaries to arm themselves, nor would the Star League have wanted them to, while more than likely destroying any existing infrastructure during the Reunification Wars like in the early Succession Wars (there are some exceptions like the Canopians single arms producer).

And yet, by 3030, most of these factions are able to domestically produce enough BattleMechs to be sufficient for their armed forces and still have some left over for export to independants. Diplomatic efforts are increased among each other and the Great Houses. Economic investment greatly increased and cemented the Magistracy and Concordant as dominant powers of the Periphery, able to stand against the Great Houses in their expansion attempts.

Rather impressive for realms that had either secret (minimal) or nonexistant production of modern war material and saw the majority of their fortunes flow to the Star League for years. The civil industries of trade and tourism picked up greatly during the "off" years of the Succession Wars after the Second.

On top of that, we have canon confirmation from Technical Readout: 3039 that even during the Third War the factions were making progress in regaining the technology they had lost or were unable to produce. The Helm Memory Core itself is discovered in the year of the game and while there might not have been immediate industrial gains from it, it could be more than guarenteed that the various tech houses got to work immediately on new designs that would more than likely take months or years to come to fruition.

This more than sets the stage for a technological explosion in my opinion, with the Clan invasion only acting as catalyst to kicktart the physical arms race early.

 

[theCarthaginian]

I think you will see the changes you guys are talking about pop up in mods here in the coming months. I think the reason you see so many heavy and assault mech is that lets be honest that is what most people want to get and see so from a dev standpoint it be silly to make them uber rare but I think people can and will mod that type of thing in.

Of course - everyone wants to drive an Atlas...

but this is a game about mercenaries.
Embrace the suck. Suffer the stress of the day-to-day grind, about having to pull payroll out of thankless jobs, of trying to pay off a mountain of debt.
Feel the accomplishment of finally salvaging a solid medium mech... only to realize you can hardly arm the thing with your limited weapon stock.

That's what life as a Periphery merc should start off as... and I was looking forward to it. Yet, here I am, driving a SLDF monster assault mech and facing King Crabs.

 

[WageSlave2006]

I thinks it's probably best to describe the technology of the Innerspere and Periphery as patchy or uneven. I keep on coming back to the two essential technologies that make an Interstellar Civilization possible, FTL travel and communication. By the end of the 2nd Succession War jumpship production had been crippled and Hyper-Pulse-Generators were left as the sole purview of Comstar, who actively suppressed information on these two subjects.

The flow on effect of this is that trade and data transmission would have been heavily curtailed, systems would have to be largely self sufficient. Only worlds of political, military or industrial importance would see regular jumpships and therefore regular trade. If you were lucky enough to live on one of these worlds I suspect your standard of living would be fairly decent.

However let's say you lived on a world that specialised in producing wine, you import high-tech component for power generators, mobile phone towers etc, after the 2nd succession wars the towers breakdown & you can't produce parts to fix them. You divert resources to create stop gap solutions and soon you have nobody capable of running or repairing these toys even if you want to.

What does this mean for the Aurigan reach, I suspect that the general standard of living across the reach is pretty low, however on the capital and major regional worlds it would be pretty high.

In regards to mech manufacturer it's doubtful that the Aurigan reach would have any dedicated mech manufacturing, however both the Taurians & Canopians have mech manufacturing capablilities, mainly lights (locusts, stinger and wasps) with a spattering of heavies and mediums. Based on this, I certainly think the game ramps up to heavies and assaults far too quickly.

I would be really comfortable with the game if in the final battle the best we could manage was an assault and three heavies. For me the game plays better with lights and mediums.

 

[Rymeer]

I thinks it's probably best to describe the technology of the Innerspere and Periphery as patchy or uneven. I keep on coming back to the two essential technologies that make an Interstellar Civilization possible, FTL travel and communication. By the end of the 2nd Succession War jumpship production had been crippled and Hyper-Pulse-Generators were left as the sole purview of Comstar, who actively suppressed information on these two subjects.

The flow on effect of this is that trade and data transmission would have been heavily curtailed, systems would have to be largely self sufficient. Only worlds of political, military or industrial importance would see regular jumpships and therefore regular trade. If you were lucky enough to live on one of these worlds I suspect your standard of living would be fairly decent.

However let's say you lived on a world that specialised in producing wine, you import high-tech component for power generators, mobile phone towers etc, after the 2nd succession wars the towers breakdown & you can't produce parts to fix them. You divert resources to create stop gap solutions and soon you have nobody capable of running or repairing these toys even if you want to.

What does this mean for the Aurigan reach, I suspect that the general standard of living across the reach is pretty low, however on the capital and major regional worlds it would be pretty high.

In regards to mech manufacturer it's doubtful that the Aurigan reach would have any dedicated mech manufacturing, however both the Taurians & Canopians have mech manufacturing capablilities, mainly lights (locusts, stinger and wasps) with a spattering of heavies and mediums. Based on this, I certainly think the game ramps up to heavies and assaults far too quickly.

I would be really comfortable with the game if in the final battle the best we could manage was an assault and three heavies. For me the game plays better with lights and mediums.

Hello there... I think you're overlooking a vital bit of data about the Reach and other 'named' Periphery States. All are within 'easy' Jump ranges of the Inner Sphere. At most they are less than half a dozen jumps away, so less than a dozen jumps round trip. Call it a 6 month round trip... the British Empire was working on that kind of scale of time and even longer during the phase when they were building their 'Sun don't sit on the Empire' phase.

So, Periphery States (the listed ones) have access to IS produced Mechs and Vehicles. Like another poster said, the IS has been 'boot strapping' it's way to higher and higher production of Mechs and such for decades previous to 3025... probably starting right after the 2nd succession war.

Once the Helm Memory Core was disbursed, things pretty much ramped up from there in the IS. The Periphery is lagging behind, but they have the core as well and are using it to improve themselves as well.

What you describe is about what the rest of the periphery is like... hard scrabble worlds that have to scramble, scrimp, and save, to get even basic improvements for their citizenry.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Timaeus]

Greetings,

This a thread that hasn't been posted in for almost four years. As such it's getting locked for necroing. Make a new thread if you want to discuss a similar topic in the future.

Timaeus