Excerpt from House Steiner The Lyran Commonwealth 1987 FASA
Duke Greydon Brewer has been the head of Defiance Industries for the past 33 years. Under his leadership, Defiance Industries has ventured into other facets of the defense industry, while maintaining the high quality of its BattleMechs. This ambitious expansionism is due mostly to Duke Brewer's years as an officer in the 17th Skye Rangers of the LCAF. After seeing a comrade die because of a 'Mech's shoddy workmanship, Duke Brewer vowed that Defiance would never produce anything but the best. He demands stringent testing of every piece of equipment that rolls off the production lines, despite the extra cost and time. Though admirable, this cautious approach also tends to hamper the development of new weapon systems. Three times during the development of the Rommel/Patton tank prototypes, Greydon Brewer halted testing for long periods because he felt neither the preparation nor the conditions for testing were adequate.
Duke Brewer is a tall, distinguished black man whose 56 years show in his air of quiet dignity rather than in more obvious signs of age. Though slow to anger, he is fearsome when roused to ire. As a 17th Skye Ranger, he shaved the top of his head to provide for better BFT contacts in his neurohelmet, a style he wears to this day, including the two ponytails. While working in his office in the Tower on Defiance Mountain or when greeting dignitaries, Duke Brewer wears an immaculate formal suit, whose jacket is the same blood red color of the company's logo. A reserved man, the Duke is also extremely polite. Though some interpret this as haughtiness, his employees are affected by his decorum, and try to live up to the same standard.
+Break+
From the discussion between Ursula and Christine, it appeared that it would be a good idea for me to do both civilian and military construction.
I'm not sure why the civilian was advocating for more military stuff or why the military liaison was advocating for more civilian stuff, but, well, I suppose that everyone has their reasons.
I wouldn't venture a guess, after all, I was just someone that read a lot of military history and theory in my last life, not exactly someone that actually did any of the fighting or leading.
Still.
That was what I was looking at now.
Building the military stuff would allow me to have a lot of slack when it came to extra RP to use elsewhere.
The question was what right now.
I didn't exactly have all that much that I could do while I was waiting did I?
Things just ran without me after all and, well, I wasn't the kind of leader who would micromanage.
Those kinds of leaders were the kind who would just collapse from the strain of trying to manage everything and render everyone under them redundant which was a waste of wages.
Seriously.
Why did people feel the need to try and control everything?
So I let my managers whos names I needed to remember handle the issue while I…
Hmmmm.
What could I do exactly?
"Graf Vu, we've received word from Coventry, they would like to send an engineer here to have a look at our plant before the blueprints for the Commando 1B are handed over." Ah.
That would be Alan.
Good job Alan! A distraction!
Actually, that was a genius idea.
Why was I trying to do everything here?
I could expand out and then build alliances that would boost the RP available.
Each trade contract was worth an additional 10% RP after all. Well, 5% if they didn't share a border, but since everyone in the Commonwealth shared a border with me, well, 10% flat was easier to understand.
I hummed, this was excellent.
"Good point Alan!"
"Sir?"
Ah?
Oh right, Alan.
"Sure, tell them to come over. We can talk cooperation." I said before I turned away, this would be a pretty good day I felt.
+Break+
Aurelius von Randt felt a migraine forming in his head.
Despite the fact that the planets of Hesperus and Coventry fell under his nominal control as militia commander, he couldn't actually force anyone to do anything with regards to their private lives. That was a step too far. Granted, he sometimes wished he did have that power so he could force some of the changes that were necessary in the Commonwealth.
After all, did not Clausewitz make it a very clear point that one needed to, when waging war, mobilise the people?
Was it not Clausewitz's very specific point that if the people were not mobilised and the war changed from the king's war to the people's war, that they wouldn't put their all into it?
True mass mobilisation for war was what separated the Commonwealth's people from the Combine's, it was why they never managed to achieve what they truly could. The complete shaping of the minds of the people combined with the assignment of every person to a combat role. If they weren't fighting, then they were producing military equipment.
But, well, that was a matter for the government to take care of, he wasn't the government.
Nor did he want to be.
In any case, he had a migraine, into a headache, a headache was merciful in that it went away.
A migraine stayed and gripped one's head like a vice until one felt the need to reach for the nearest blunt instrument.
Duke Trellshire was being a pain in the ass.
Head of Coventry Metal Works, the man was trying to stonewall him.
Unfortunately for the pain in the ass, the Commando 1B was actually a Lyran design and up to the Commonwealth to distribute as they saw fit.
Especially especially when Coventry no longer manufactured the design in the first place, and thus, could not complain about the appropriation of their intellectual property (gifted to them by the Lyran Commonwealth to begin with).
The Commonwealth needed the machines, the Commonwealth would get the machines.
The man was trying to stonewall him and calling on his friends in high places, but Aurelius had called for the highest friend in the highest place to put the man in his place.
The problem was what would happen because of this call.
Specifically, the Archon's eyes would be brought to the issue and one did not do that lightly, especially with the Deep Raid Archon.
The one that had the rest of the LCAF up in arms with his cavalier use of the men and women under their command.
But, needs must.
And the Commonwealth needed more Light and Medium machines.
He needed more lights and mediums!
So, back to the grind it was, shutting down the nobles that thought they were better than they were, out maneuvering those that were trying to get a pre-emptive slice of the metaphorical pie, and shutting out those from above tat were trying to claim credit.
It was exhausting.
But, hopefully, the maul of the Archon would sweep through now.
The only alleviation to this headache was a message from an acquaintance that he had made on Tetersen.
Colonel Alexander Slim of the Triple V mercenary command. Currently contracted to Tetersen, but, more importantly, working very hard indeed to develop strategies to take advantage of the Utes and 20 Ton Trucks being produced in prodigious numbers on Tetersen.
He especially liked the LRM variant of the Ute.
"Situation Excellent. Detailed report of training exercise as follows." He read out to himself and breathing out a sigh.
Excellent, excellent.
He might be able to employ Slim to the front to practice his resurrected form of warfare on the Combine.
Prove to them of who was superior in the matter of arms.
Yes, why not.
Give them all headaches too.
+Break+
"Blocking force is in place."
"Enemy force is attempting to fall back."
"Main force is advancing after the enemy."
"Blocking force is holding."
"Main force is engaging the enemy."
"Enemy is redoubling efforts to break through the block."
"Main force is engaging enemy headquarters."
"Enemy force is abandoning cohesion, escaping around."
"Enemy force annihilated."
Alexander heard the reports and nodded his head.
Over the course of three hours, the Opfor force had engaged with the main encounter force as they had been trained to do. Then, after a brief mauling by both sides, they had fallen back to consolidate and then plan a hooking attack. Again, as trained.
Unfortunately, that was when they had learned that they had been hooked prior to the beginning of the skirmish and they were now cut off and surrounded on the main roads.
Attempting to break out would mean leaving their infantry behind to be annihilated and most of their wheeled vehicles. The terrain was simply too unforgiving to allow anything else.
They then proceeded to attack into the blocking force that had been equipped with mainly Hussite War Trucks and Utes.
With 7 tons of armour on each Hussite War Truck and bristling with weapons, Opfor hadn't been able to break through despite multiple attempts. Their cohesion was still strong however, it wasn't until the main force came down their backs with their heavier weight and slower speed that broke them.
Faced on a battle with a blocking force they couldn't break and assault weight combat vehicles coming own from their rear, and, well, they panicked and broke.
Battlemechs abandoned their infantry and vehicle support to try to escape.
The infantry and vehicles were jammed onto the road and annihilated from both sides.
The Utes, not seeing battle until this point were deployed to chase after the incoherent Battlemech elements.
They too were then annihilated one by one as the Battlemechs were simply too spread out to provide each other with fire support.
In the end, the blocking force had proven itself in the simulation.
But, only this time.
They still had the problem of resupply.
The reason that General Slim was able to prosecute such an aggressive campaign and annihilate the Japanese armies was simple. He had the ability to resupply from the air, negating the need in many cases for land based supply at all.
His men could march forward confident that no matter where they were, they would have supply.
Granted, there wasn't the jungle to worry about on Tetersen with its soft forests with well manicured and maintained trees, but it did mean that he lacked the cornerstone of this entire strategy.
Nor was he working with a mainly infantry force here that needed approximately 80 tons per division per week to subsist. No, a a mechanised command he was looking at 250 tons per day to maintain combat operations or 150 to subsist.
Which meant that he needed to talk to Huu again about manufacture of resupply craft and manufacture of air superiority craft.
And, just as importantly, a craft to keep those resupply craft safe.
He was looking specifically at the Eagle R6.
Manufactured on Gibbs which was one stop away from Tetersen which would assist with the manufacturing.
Something to think about in the short term at the very least.
+Break+
The newly ennobled Duke Greydon Brewer read the missive in his hands.
It was from Aurelius von Randt.
The man was always trying to requisition more Battlemechs from his father.
Mildly annoying, but, he could say that about every combat commander in the Lyran Commonwealth.
Hence, it was standard.
Still, it would be impolite to not at least read the missive.
Opening it up, his eyebrows rose.
Well now.
That was certainly unexpected.
Under the Commonwealth Defence Law as well as the Commonwealth Strong Competition Laws, unused designs were being requisitioned to support a new manufacturer in their attempt to build a Battlemech factory.
His eyes narrowed as he considered this.
Especially when it had happened during the time of his father's death and his own assumption of power.
The date was a month prior to his father dying however so that absolved Aurelius of any crime there… but, you could say he was very lucky in the timing of this.
Especially when he didn't have any time to respond before it became fait accompli.
It wasn't enough that a single design was being procured in this manner, but two of them.
With requests for an engineer to check their work once it was done.
Well then, he would see just how great their foundation would be and he would then critique their location on Tetersen, a planet not known for its defensibility or ability to resist a raid.
Then he would offer a transfer of their design and team to Hesperus.
After all, if they were indeed as capable as Aurelius was indicating with his missive, he wouldn't be amiss to incorporate them under Defiance as a subsidiary.
One could only be so stupid right? To miss out on this opportunity was the height of stupidity.
Clearly a new genius had been born in the Lyran Commonwealth and bringing… him, him alongside would be only second to that level of intellect.
Hmmm?
A second missive under that?
Hmmm?
The factory was already done?
Two of them?
Two Commando 1B factories were completed?
He checked the first missive, then the second.
One month!?
+Break+
Ursula von Richards looked at Christine Andrews.
Their names separated them, a noble and one who was quite definitely not.
Yet, one was part of the ruling family of Tetersen with the head holding the rank of Duchess.
She meanwhile, a noble, was the child of a Graf and did not have any of her father's power. If anything he had washed his hands of her, stating that she was to make her way in the world in the same manner that he had done.
So whilst she appeared to be superior, she was, in fact, inferior to the other woman.
She was, in reality, not that important.
But one couldn't afford to allow the lack of power in such a way prevent her from making her best effort at a sally forth. She was a von Richards and she wold uphold that name.
"Ursula." She nearly flinched at her name.
"Ursula, I think we need to clear the air a little." Christine continued as she sat opposite her. Her office chair was seated under her buttocks. Her chair.
"Yes. I think that would be best." Ursula simply said, refusing to allow any of her thoughts onto her face.
She was better than that.
"I think we need to be clear on our purposes here. We don't need to work against each other." Christine said as Ursula stared at her.
Was this a surrender?
Had she won a game of noble intrigue by outlasting her foe?
Father would be so happy to hear it!
"We need to talk about priorities for Graf Vu's time." Christine said.
Ah?
"Specifically, if we keep arguing about allocation of production priorities, we won't be able to get what we want and things are just going to get more complicated." Christine said.
Ah.
This was compromise, the second worst outcome but the one that she had been taught was the most likely.
"Okay then, compromise."
"Compromise. Yes. I'm going to lay my cards out here Ursula. We on Tetersen know what it is like when there is a factory complex on our world. We just have to look to Hesperus II to see the consequences of that." Christine started, looking at Ursula in the eyes.
She looked back and nodded minutely, everyone in the LCAF knew the story of Hesperus II and the numerous raids it had suffered which had caused catastrophic damage to the factories and other parts of the planet.
"As a result, we would like it so that we could manufacture higher quality machines and tools that could be used in the defence of Tetersen in a pinch if needed. It doesn't help us very much if we have 1000 trucks but nobody to crew them."
Ursula frowned.
"I would have been of the same opinion if I hadn't seen the capability that the Graf demonstrated. 1000 trucks is not something to raise a nose at. We could very definitely use that scale of manufacturing, especially for planetary militias which often struggle with finding the sheer mass of equipment to beat off a raid." She replied, thinking of the number of raids that would have simply turned around the way they had gone if they saw multiple regiments of 5 ton trucks armed with missiles and lasers streaming their way.
"And you can see my problem there. With that sheer amount of tonnage being produced and stored on-site, it will present an even larger target for anyone who wants to gain a large number of cheap fusion engines in one quick raid." Christine said.
Ursula considered this.
It was true, the sheer number of jumpships and dropships that could manage the number of fusion vehicles being produced on Tetersen was not available, anywhere in the Inner Sphere right now. Most of the production then was being stored in warehouses across the planet.
It was a tempting target wasn't it?
"The Donegal Region does need this production, if we have the equivalent level of tonnage per Battlemech, that would mean we have another Battlemech ready for raiding into the Free World's League or the Combine."
Christine frowned.
"But you would be getting the equivalent with a Battlemech factory…"
"Well, no, I've seen the numbers. Even 5 Griffin Battlemechs per factory would be outmassed by the 108 Utes leaving in the same time frame. Double the mass actually."
Christine's face set.
Ursula felt her own harden.
It did not appear as if this compromise would be an easy one.
+Break+
Excerpt from The Jungle, Japanese and the British Commonwealth Armies at War, 1941-45 Fighting Methods, Doctrine and Training for Jungle… by T. R. Moreman
The sweeping changes made in the organisation, equipment and above all training of British and Indian units implemented during the summer of 1943, based on the lessons of Arakan, were vital in rebuilding the overall combat effectiveness of Commonwealth troops and preparing them for living, moving and fighting in the jungle against the IJA. The reduction of the Order of Battle by two divisions was a bold step. As the Indian official historian has observed, the work carried out during the summer and autumn of 1943 was 'a landmark in the training policy and was without precedent in the history of the Indian Army' . Training was seen as a vital means of building confidence, fostering morale and in turn improving combat effectiveness. It was recognised that it would take considerable time for them to take effect, however, especially changes introduced into the system for basic and refresher training of individual British and Indian reinforcements regarded as so vital. As Auchinleck reassured the CIGS in mid-September 1943: 'The reorganisation of the system of instruction in training centres and the institution of training divisions... will, I hope, go far to improve the individual efficiency of reinforcements, particularly in jungle warfare, both of junior officers and of other ranks.' Hard thought had been given to means of countering characteristic Japanese infiltration, encirclement, roadblocks and now bunker tactics, as well as applying tanks, artillery and tactical air power to a jungle battlefield with maximum effect. At last the publication of MTP No.9: Jungle Book provided an authoritative doctrine upon which training could be based.
+Break+
Total RP Turn 9 2991 + 1 Year 1 Months
36 RP 12×3 Ute Factory
24 RP 12×2 20 Ton Utility Truck Factory
32 RP 16×2 Commando 1B Factory - New Built
RP Bonus Calculation = 0.8 (Indytech 3) + 0.3 (Lyran Bonus) + 0.1 (Economic Treaty) = 1.2
Total RP = 92×1.2 = 110.4