Looking the TRO I can´t find the TPH-1N Typhoon, the TM-HWK-1A Tomahawk, the OSP-1T Osprey, the GRF-1T Griffin, the SHD-2T Shadow hawk or the Shrike VTOL. I suppose that all of them are taurian designs or variants, of course. Shouldn´t the griffin and shadow hawks be Hydras?
http://www.solaris7.com/Armory/ArmoryInfo.asp?ID=1939 <-- His list of Mechs for this... looks like adaptation that old list.
Wow. The shit has hit the fan. BTW, 'Breathing steady and deeply' should read 'Breathing steadily and deeply'.
God damn toaster worshipers, you can almost see their hand stuck up their pirate puppets... Still, the first hint has been given, lets see where this road takes us And its too bad about Edward, I'm guessing this is taking the name Edwards War because it would forever be considered starting with the death of the Heir?
I like the fic, itself, but you did make one post that bugged me. How very 'stereotypical American' of you (and I say this as an American). If the Taurians are based on Franco-Spanish roots, a Colonel giving orders to a Brigadier is by no means unreasonable, though it's odd to see them as junior commissioned officers, rather than either field officers or NCOs. Comptroller as a rank does look funny, but I chalk it up to centuries of historical drift. Likewise, a number of military forces skip positions on what the US considers standard ranking (though normally in the NCO ranks), so it may be that a canon Taurian Colonel is an O5/OF-04 rank (Lt. Col.), or overlaps two ranks. Checking the Rank Equivalence entry on Sarna.net... OK, that's a bit silly: A 'Cornet' is equal to a Davion Leftanant (O2), a 'Subaltern' to a Davion Captain (O3), and a 'Brigadier' to a Davion Major (O4). A TDF Colonel is equal to anyone else's Colonel, and thus is an O6 in American terms, or an OF-05 for NATO. BT has Lieutenant Generals being outranked by Major Generals, probably because the writers don't know what they're talking about, & has no slot for what we would call a Brigadier General, making Lt. Gen. the one-star position. Comptroller is in the Lt. Gen slot. Marshal at least makes sense, being in the O10/OF-09 slot (though they have to skip two ranks to put it there, and more if you count the ones skipped below Colonel). As for the small number of ranks, BT does that a lot, either because smaller militaries need smaller numbers of ranks (and BT militaries must be small enough for the player's mercs to be important), because there were fewer ranks in the era BT is emulating, or more likely, because they're just lazy. I have no problem at all with you adding ranks, especially as the numbers given in BT never really add up, and the rank equivalence linked above bothers me. I mean, six officer ranks is the same number as the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit, and I would have a great deal of difficulty believing that the TDF is as small as the ICRU, or even as small a a typical BT regiment.
That was an early project; some are still the same, but others have changed. A few of those 'Mechs incorporated LAC-2s and LAC-5s, RLs, and were not completely 3025 legal. Don't worry, you will see the various 'Mechs. And the DRG-1G Dragon should be the DRG-1T Dragon, sorry. I will fix. MA
Here it is for this story: a 65-ton medium ASF that is fast for the period. Produced by Taurus Territorial Industries and is the workhorse fighter of the Concordat, but is always in short supply. Named after the A-4 Skyhawk, a great plane that I wish we still flew. Excellent maneuverability, decent armor for the period, good weapons array, decent heat dissipation (for the era). Can fire the PPC and 2 mediums w/o overheating, or the nose medium/small lasers and one wing medium/small lasers wtihout overheating (4 medium; 4 small) AND it was a really good aft sting against faster, lighter tailgaters. Code: AeroTech 2 Vessel Technical Readout VALIDATED Class/Model/Name: Skyhawk Tech: Inner Sphere / 3000 Vessel Type: Aerospace Fighter Rules: Level 1, Custom design Rules Set: AeroTech2 Mass: 65 tons Length: 18 meters Power Plant: 325 Fusion Safe Thrust: 7 Maximum Thrust: 11 Armor Type: Standard Armament: 1 PPC 8 Medium Laser 6 Small Laser ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Class/Model/Name: Skyhawk Mass: 65 tons Equipment: Mass Power Plant: 325 Fusion 23.50 Thrust: Safe Thrust: 7 Maximum Thrust: 11 Structural Integrity: 7 .00 Total Heat Sinks: 16 Single 6.00 Fuel: 5.00 Cockpit & Attitude Thrusters: 3.00 Armor Type: Standard (152 total armor pts) 9.50 Standard Scale Armor Pts Location: L / R Nose: 42 Left/Right Wings: 42/42 Aft: 26 Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 PPC Nose 10 10 -- -- 10 7.00 2 Medium Laser Nose 5 -- -- -- 6 2.00 2 Small Laser Nose 3 -- -- -- 2 1.00 2 Medium Laser RW 5 -- -- -- 6 2.00 2 Medium Laser LW 5 -- -- -- 6 2.00 2 Small Laser RW 3 -- -- -- 2 1.00 2 Small Laser LW 3 -- -- -- 2 1.00 2 Medium Laser Aft -- -- -- -- 6 2.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTALS: Heat: 40 65.00 Tons Left: .00 Calculated Factors: Total Cost: 3,815,315 C-Bills Battle Value: 1,091 Cost per BV: 3,497.08 Weapon Value: 1,913 (Ratio = 1.75) Damage Factors: SRV = 25; MRV = 3; LRV = 0; ERV = 0 BattleForce2: MP: 7, Armor/Structure: 4 / 0 Damage PB/M/L: 3/1/-, Overheat: 3 Class: FM; Point Value: 11
And here is the link to all of the unique Taurian 'Mechs used by the Roughnecks here. The PHX-1 Phoenix Hawk, VND-1R Vindicator, and PNT-9R Panther are stock models, not altered from their normal configurations. MA
Warhammer 6T annoys me, severely. In the BLASPHEMY sense. It might be a damn decent mech... but it is NOT A DAMN WARHAMMER.
Here are the vehicles mentioned. Both the Shrike VTOL and the Rattlesnake ACAV can carry a 5-man squad of Taurian infantry, so they can transport the entire Rifle Security Company if required. Normally, the TDF would assign infantry directly to these vehicles, but the Roughnecks are mercs and another 90 paychecks, pensions, medical, and provisions? They simply can't. And for those folks asking where the last two ASF are carried? The Fortress-class DropShip Ramrod can no longer hold heavy vehicles, only light ones, and it adds two ASF bays and more space for the infantry, as well as a bit of cargo and a MASH unit. Starting with the Shrike: Code: Shrike Mass: 25 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere Motive Type: VTOL Rules Level: Tournament Legal Era: Succession Wars Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/X-E-D Production Year: 3000 Cost: 968,556 C-Bills Battle Value: 423 Power Plant: 160 Fusion Engine Cruise Speed: 129.6 km/h Flanking Speed: 194.4 km/h Armor: Standard Armor Armament: 2 LRM-5s 3 Machine Guns 1 Infantry Bay (1.0 tons) Manufacturer: Primary Factory: Communications System: Targeting and Tracking System: ================================================================================ Equipment Type Rating Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Structure: Standard 15 points 2.50 Engine: Fusion Engine 160 9.00 Cruise MP: 12 Flank MP: 18 Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00 Control Equipment: 1.50 Lift Equipment: 2.50 Armor: Standard Armor AV - 24 1.50 Armor Factor Front 8 Left/Right 5/5 Rear 4 Rotor 2 ================================================================================ Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 LRM-5s FR 4 2 4.00 Machine Gun LS 0 1 0.50 (R) Machine Gun RR 0 1 0.50 Machine Gun RS 0 1 0.50 Infantry Bay (1.0 tons) BD 0 1 1.00 @LRM-5 (24) BD - 0 1.00 @MG (1/2) (100) BD - 0 0.50 BattleForce Statistics MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 1 Points: 4 12 1 1 1 0 1 0 Structure: 1 Special Abilities: IF 1 And the Rattlesnake: Code: Rattlesnake Mass: 40 tons Tech Base: Inner Sphere Motive Type: Tracked Rules Level: Tournament Legal Era: Age of War/Star League Tech Rating/Era Availability: D/C-E-D Production Year: 2750 Cost: 1,309,167 C-Bills Battle Value: 755 Power Plant: 200 Fusion Engine Cruise Speed: 54.0 km/h Flanking Speed: 86.4 km/h Armor: Standard Armor Armament: 1 PPC 1 LRM-5 1 Machine Gun 1 Infantry Compartment (1.0 tons) Manufacturer: Primary Factory: Communications System: Targeting and Tracking System: ================================================================================ Equipment Type Rating Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Structure: Standard 20 points 4.00 Engine: Fusion Engine 200 13.00 Cruise MP: 5 Flank MP: 8 Heat Sinks: Single Heat Sink 10 0.00 Control Equipment: 2.00 Lift Equipment: 0.00 Turret: 1.00 Armor: Standard Armor AV - 128 8.00 Armor Factor Front 30 Left/Right 25/25 Turret 30 Rear 18 ================================================================================ Equipment Location Heat Spaces Mass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PPC T 10 1 7.00 LRM-5 T 2 1 2.00 Machine Gun T 0 1 0.50 Infantry Compartment (1.0 tons) BD 0 1 1.00 @LRM-5 (24) BD - 0 1.00 @MG (1/2) (100) BD - 0 0.50 BattleForce Statistics MV S (+0) M (+2) L (+4) E (+6) Wt. Ov Armor: 4 Points: 8 5 2 2 2 0 2 0 Structure: 2 Special Abilities:
Heh. A lot of people feel that way. But I think that it keeps the basics of what makes the 'Hammer a 'Hammer. Two big arm-mounted guns (sure, one is now an AC-5, but that helps with heat and keeps the range), an SRM-6, two medium lasers, and machine-guns. In fact, it loses just that one left arm PPC and two small lasers for the AC-5 and four more MG (SIX total!). For in exchange, it is one-point shy of maximum armor and it is heat balanced for bracket fire: 11 at range with PPC and AC, 11 in close with AC, SRM, medium lasers, and MGs, with 12 heat sinks. Yeah the old-two PPC punch is not there anymore, but it is a capable 'Hammer and a good option if you don't have enough PPCs to meet demand. Master Arminas
Except for the fact it feels more like a Cataphract or one of those other designs... Hell. I would settle with twin Large Lasers...
Then killing that one heir of Concordat throne that was personification of what you value in Concordat and whose death in canon caused said shift... is not exactly... how to say it...
Not sure that he is dead, for all we know the pirates caught him and then killed everybody that can tell, including most of the city inhabitants. That, of course opens some possibilities, if it is a C* operation perhaps they want to brainwash him and then return him to the taurians, if it is the Maskirovca the same except for the brainwashing perhaps. With both possibilities they gain some good will from the Taurians and the means to influence the Concordat in the future.
My money is on Comstar (hey... anytime something weird happens in Battletech you should add Comstar to the list of suspects... unless its post 3052, in which case you add the Blakists.) or Liaos or Michael Hasek-Davion. That or it's a massively AU pirate force deciding to pretend to be Taurians and FedSunners in order to throw off blame so that everyone makes it look someone is trying to start a war between the two while they get away scot free and are busy hightailing it for the Lyran/Drac Coreward Periphery region with their illgotten gains.
Edward's death caused Thomas Calderon to become paranoid. But the writers THEN made the entire bloody Concordat paranoid as well! Ignoring that the common Concordat citizen disagreed with the paranoia of the Protector when he became obessed with the Davions; to the point where his Marshal of the Armies and his son removed him from power without any protests from the citizenry. Jeffry was sane, but then they replaced him Shraplen (not a Calderon) who was ten times as nuts as Thomas ever was and just had the Taurians follow him over the cliff like lemmings! An alliance with the Capellans? Taurians hate Capellans as much as they hate Davions! Get real, some of the ideas and themes that they have for the Taurians are . . . grade-school quality ravings of wanna-be evil overlords. Edward's death (if he actually is dead) is a blow to the Concordat and to the sanity of Thomas Calderon. But it shouldn't be the reason for an entire nation-state of forty worlds and billions of people literally going insane. Master Arminas
The Taurians were given the big idiot ball to carry, especially in the Jihad 'Oh, BTW, that huge pirate raid you've been basing most of your hatred for the Davions on was actually Comstar, but we'll build you a factory so you can kill Davions!' says the Word of Blake *after* crashing asteroids onto the Taurian capital *and getting caught at it* and the Taurians go "YAY! KILL DAVIONS WOOOOOOOO"
Cháteau des Calderon Samantha City, Taurus Taurian Concordat June 2, 3026 Sean waited beside the door as the Jesuit finished his whispered conversation with Thomas, and the two men hugged each other, and then knelt in prayer, the cheeks of the Protector moist with new tears. He glanced around the spacious, yet spartanly furnished private office; the bay windows on the western side of the traditional home of the Protector facing out over the bright blue waters of Lake Taurens. The towering snow-capped mountains and thick forests on the far shore stood defiantly pristine and primeval, as if ignoring that on this side of the glacially fed waters stood the most populous city in the entire Concordat could make that city vanish. Named after Samantha Calderon, Samantha City was clean, with wide streets and breath-taking architecture—and while, as with any major inhabitation of humanity across the endless depths of space and time, there were slums and neighborhoods less picturesque, those were far from this place where the Protector could gaze out over the still waters and calm his mind. Sean’s mouth twitched. To think that the Inner Sphere call our people barbarians—if one of these Great Lords of the Inner Sphere could see our capital, our Core Worlds, they would faint from shock. And he snorted softly. Unlike their capital worlds, Taurus had never been touched by combat—not directly. No pirates or raiders or invaders had ever landed here with guns and cannons and lasers and missiles blazing. Not even during the Reunification Wars, although the Star League had occupied Taurus for twenty long years afterwards. And the colony had the benefit of fusion power from the first day of their landings until today, leaving the planet far less polluted than many younger settlements of mankind. From January 23 of 2253 until today: seven hundred and seventy-three years all told. Most of it, by far most of that time, the people of Taurus and her daughter worlds had been under the rule of the children and grand-children and great-grandchildren to the nth degree of Samantha Calderon. The Concordat was old, the people of the Inner Sphere tended to forget that little fact; the government of today had begun life as the Taurian Concord in 2270, and expanded into the Concord of the Taurian Homeworlds, and finally the Taurian Concordat when colonies were founded outside of the walls of Hell’s Heart—the vast nebula that sheltered the core of the Concordat from danger. The Taurian government, essentially unchanged from that day in October of 2270, when Timothy Calderon was anointed as the Second Protector of Taurus, continued to rule over the Taurian people. And always, since that day, except for the dark hours in the aftermath of the Reunification War, a Calderon had led them. The Concordat was older than the Free Worlds League, founded in 2271. It was older than the Terran Hegemony, founded in 2315, or the Federated Suns, founded in 2317. It was older than the Draconis Combine (2319), the Lyran Commonwealth (2340), and the Capellan Confederation (2367). No, the people of the Concordat were no barbarians of the Periphery, although they lived out their lives surrounded by many who could reasonably be called such. Even today, not one of the Great Houses can match our literacy rates, our education, our arts—and our freedoms. But then, they did not need to, for quantity had a quality all its own—and they outnumbered the Taurians hopelessly. Sean quit his wool-gathering as he heard the scrape of shoes on the polished hardwood floor, and he turned to see the priest and the Protector rising to their feet. He stood at parade rest and gave General Morton Grenadine, the commander of the Taurian Guards Corps, a nod, which the man—who was fully aware of Sean’s true status—returned warmly. Four armed specialists from the Guards elite Secret Service stood around the room in uniform—and Sean smiled slightly as he considered the gaggle of civilians. At least four of them were probably SS in mufti, as well. But the smile faded when he met the sour gaze of Grover Shraplen—a close friend of the Protector. Sean had never cared for the man, with his Liaophilia and rabid Davionphobia. The Jesuit said his goodbyes to Thomas and Thomas’ second wife Katherine—Edward’s step-mother. Emily Calderon, God rest her soul, had died in a skiing accident on the slopes of those mountains in the bay windows, overlooking the lake and her home below. She had died when Edward was just three, back in 3007, and for years Thomas swore he would never remarry—but then he met Katherine, Edward’s nanny and she made some of his pain disappear. They married in 3018 with Edward’s blessing, and Katherine had given Thomas a little girl—Janice—who was almost seven years old, and three more sons—Ian (5), Felix (3), and little Jeffrey, born just two months ago. Then the Jesuit turned and made his way to the door—but he stopped and smiled at Sean. Then he shook his head. “News travels far and fast, does it not, Monsieur Walker?” “That it does, Father Oliver—how is he? The truth.” “Not well, Sean, not well at all. He is angry and he is looking to lash out—be on your guard.” Father Oliver patted Sean on the bicep and then he exited the room, and the mercenary née intelligence officer squeezed the hand of his former Chaplin. Thomas’ cybernetic left eye—the legacy of a pheasant hunting accident ten years ago, when Grover Shraplen's inexpertly aimed pellets had grazed across the cornea and destroyed his vision—whirred and clicked and he smiled sadly at Sean, his roommate at the École Militaire so many seasons ago. But before he could walk across to Thomas, another man stepped forward, his white robes out of place with the somber dress of the men and women in this room. A ComStar demi-precentor? Here? Sean wondered. “The Peace of Blake be with you, Protector Calderon,” Demi-Precentor Taurus said with a face that simply oozed too much compassion to be sincere. “Primus Tiepolo sends his condolences at this. . . tragedy which has fallen upon your family.” “We thank the Primus for his words,” Thomas answered curtly. “And we ask why there was no warning—if ComStar wishes to be our friend, they could have passed information regarding this attack before it came about.” “Alas, the assault took us by surprise as well—but the Primus knows well your justified anger at those who are responsible for the destruction leveled against your worlds. He is concerned that Hanse Davion seeks to upset the balance of power—and restart the Succession Wars all over again.” “Your Succession Wars are your concern—not that of Taurus. But whoever was behind this deed—they will pay for their crimes, Demi-Precentor!” Thomas thundered. "Regardless of who they are or the power at their disposal." And the ComStar official bowed his head. “Indeed . . . and if I could have a few moments of your time this week, the Primus has given me certain . . . latitudes in arranging for your forces to increase their strength. So that you may secure your vengeance and in doing so preserve the status quo of the Inner Sphere and the Taurian Concordat, Protector Calderon.” The private secretary to Thomas Calderon frowned—appointments to meet privately with the Protector were arranged through him, but the Demi-Precentor had just managed to circumvent him. And Thomas gazed hungrily at the official. “How? ComStar has no army, no weapons.” “But we know those who do, Protector Calderon . . . and we can arrange a transfer of arms to provide you the means of achieving your vengeance. That discussion can wait, of course, until you have finished mourning your loss; I remain at your disposal.” “Information is ammunition,” Henri Jouett whispered to Sean as he moved into the room. “And one wonders just how much ammunition ComStar has at their fingertips?” “I am shocked, shocked! That you would suggest ComStar might actually read everyone’s confidential mail,” Sean whispered back, and Henri chuckled. “Just so. I know that neither I nor my predecessors have ever been able to penetrate their organization—their counter-intelligence operatives are fiendishly effective at ferreting out spies from their ranks. I wonder what they are hiding that they put such an effort behind it?” Sean started to reply, but Thomas thanked the ComStar official once again, and called out his name. He walked over to the Protector and without a word he put his arms around the man and held him tight. “I am so sorry for the pain you must feel right now, old friend,” he whispered. And then he stepped back and gave the Protector a full appraisal. “Katherine hasn’t been feeding you,” he said with a frown. “You’ve lost too much weight, my Lord. And you haven’t been sleeping, have you?” Thomas shrugged and he walked over to the windows, Thomas trailing behind him. “I cannot sleep, old friend. Why? Why my son of all things?” he croaked. “Edward was safe—he wasn’t on the front lines of combat—why was his life just thrown away for nothing?” Sean jerked and he stared at the Protector of the Taurian Concordat for a moment, and he cleared his throat, and Thomas turned to face him . . . and Sean’s open hand slapped the leader of the Taurian Concordat hard on the cheek. The CRACK of the slap echoed across the room and the guards began to surge forward . . . but they stopped as General Grenadine held up one hand and resumed their station. Thomas simply stared—and the civilians were looking at the two men in absolute horror, Grover Shraplen looking as if he were about to have a stroke. “How dare you dismiss his service so flippantly, Sire? How dare you dishonor the memory of your son? Edward swore his oath to Concordat—an oath freely given because of his love for our homeland and our people, a people he wanted to serve. Your son’s life was not wasted, it was not thrown away, he died doing his absolute best to defend your people, Sire! It is tragic, and his loss should be mourned, but it must never be trivialized in such a manner again. Loss is something that the House of Calderon knows well—it comes hand in hand with serving the Concordat. Edward died as he lived his life—for his people; do not besmirch that service, Thomas Calderon, Protector of Taurus, of the Taurian Homeworlds, and the Taurian Concordat! Remember him as the man that he was, remember the joy that he gave you, and shame not his memory by making his last stand into something less heroic, less inspiring, less courageous than it was. He saved lives on Charleston, Sir. He organized the defense and he led the civilian volunteer Constabulary into the fire to give time for thousands to get to shelter or make their escape! Mourn him, grieve for him—we all will join you in that, my friend. But do not make the sacrifice he made in vain.” Thomas sobbed and he sank down into a chair and he began to cry. Sean turned to glare at General Grenadine, but the old soldier was already barking orders. “This audience is ended—all will leave NOW!” But the SS Guards allowed Sean to stay, and he knelt next to Thomas and wrapped the man, his friend, his liege in his arms and held him tight, as Thomas released all of the emotions he had bottled so tight within him, and he cried on the shoulder of his friend.
