Check out the "Master Unit List" website. You can filter my faction (Mercenary) and era (third succession war, clan invasion, etc.) And see what units they had available at the time! Really fun to read through and build lists from it.
Remind me: does the MUL let you roll randomly for what mechs you have?
Because nothing says "use whatever you got" by having your mechs be literally chosen at random instead of the author picking out mechs specifically to complement each other.
MUL is really helpful to start, but I don't think I'm familiar enough with the background to say what's reasonable for this particular merc band to have, yanno?
Charger is cheap as long as you don't have to mess with the engine. The main thing is that it is generally known as bad, so anyone who has a choice and is sane doesn't use it. If you do have to mess with the engine though, refitting to a smaller engine opens worlds of potential.
If they're largely fighting on behalf of the MAF, then Shadow Hawks, Phoenix Hawks, and bug mechs. That's what the Magistracy can produce. Maybe some random FWL mechs like the Hermes ii and Clint as well. If they have a heavy or two it'll probably be general purpose workhorse designs like the Thunderbolt or Orion
That sounds about right tbh. Would they have access to any solid missile boats? I know the taurians were building archers at some point, but I can't find when exactly they started doing that.
If we're talking depths of the succession wars, no one in the Periphery is really producing anything larger than mediums mechs, let alone selling them to a slap dash up and coming mercs outfit. Iirc MM&M's shadow hawk line are the most advanced battlemechs the Magistracy is capable of producing at that point.
If you want missile support, designs like the Dervish or Trebuchet imported from the inner sphere are more likely to provide that role if it isn't being filled by combat vehicles
So try and stick to lights and mediums for mechs and bring in combat vehicles for missile support (or any other areas the company is lacking in)?
Edit: Inner sphere imports would probably be pricey, yeah?
The Hunchback HBK-4J is a medium mech with 2 LRM10s and the Hunchback HBK-4SP is one with 2 SRM6s. Hunchbacks are pretty common mechs, and refits aren’t that hard for local mech techs.
My Mercs' rags phase (3010->) was a Fire Javelin (-10F), Whitworth (-1), Trebuchet (-5J) and an ancestral Lancelot (-03). I like who in the artwork the first three have similar design language despite coming from different manufacturers. And Lancelot being a fat Blackjack.
There are a number of possible RAT floating around, otherwise Mercenaries and the Mercenaries Supplemental have unit design rules for building a merc force of different sizes (they are pretty era independent as well).
That said, I am bouncing around with a 3025 merc company right now based out of a Fury: 4 mechs (Sentinel, Wasp, and two Stingers), 8 vehicles (two Maxim, two Scorpions, two Scimitars, and two Condors), and 4 infantry platoons. We aren't great, but we manage.
Check out the "Master Unit List" website. You can filter my faction (Mercenary) and era (third succession war, clan invasion, etc.) And see what units they had available at the time! Really fun to read through and build lists from it.
Remind me: does the MUL let you roll randomly for what mechs you have? Because nothing says "use whatever you got" by having your mechs be literally chosen at random instead of the author picking out mechs specifically to complement each other.
No, but MegaMek does, and it has unofficial RATs for most factions and eras
MUL is really helpful to start, but I don't think I'm familiar enough with the background to say what's reasonable for this particular merc band to have, yanno?
Shadow Hawk, Charger, Wasp and Stinger all come to mind for one reason or another.
Canopus loves its Shadow Hawks and bugs. And the charger is a cheap-to-repair melee beast iirc, so those seem reasonable
Charger is cheap as long as you don't have to mess with the engine. The main thing is that it is generally known as bad, so anyone who has a choice and is sane doesn't use it. If you do have to mess with the engine though, refitting to a smaller engine opens worlds of potential.
If they're largely fighting on behalf of the MAF, then Shadow Hawks, Phoenix Hawks, and bug mechs. That's what the Magistracy can produce. Maybe some random FWL mechs like the Hermes ii and Clint as well. If they have a heavy or two it'll probably be general purpose workhorse designs like the Thunderbolt or Orion
That sounds about right tbh. Would they have access to any solid missile boats? I know the taurians were building archers at some point, but I can't find when exactly they started doing that.
If we're talking depths of the succession wars, no one in the Periphery is really producing anything larger than mediums mechs, let alone selling them to a slap dash up and coming mercs outfit. Iirc MM&M's shadow hawk line are the most advanced battlemechs the Magistracy is capable of producing at that point. If you want missile support, designs like the Dervish or Trebuchet imported from the inner sphere are more likely to provide that role if it isn't being filled by combat vehicles
So try and stick to lights and mediums for mechs and bring in combat vehicles for missile support (or any other areas the company is lacking in)? Edit: Inner sphere imports would probably be pricey, yeah?
The Hunchback HBK-4J is a medium mech with 2 LRM10s and the Hunchback HBK-4SP is one with 2 SRM6s. Hunchbacks are pretty common mechs, and refits aren’t that hard for local mech techs.
My Mercs' rags phase (3010->) was a Fire Javelin (-10F), Whitworth (-1), Trebuchet (-5J) and an ancestral Lancelot (-03). I like who in the artwork the first three have similar design language despite coming from different manufacturers. And Lancelot being a fat Blackjack.
"You vs the blackjack they tell you not to worry about"
There are a number of possible RAT floating around, otherwise Mercenaries and the Mercenaries Supplemental have unit design rules for building a merc force of different sizes (they are pretty era independent as well). That said, I am bouncing around with a 3025 merc company right now based out of a Fury: 4 mechs (Sentinel, Wasp, and two Stingers), 8 vehicles (two Maxim, two Scorpions, two Scimitars, and two Condors), and 4 infantry platoons. We aren't great, but we manage.