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ghostrider
08/16/15 09:23 PM
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Do the developers have any motivation to explain if the ammunition use by the clans are any different from the innersphere?
Electronics and such would not explain why the ranges are different if the ammunition uses the same amount of propellants.
I can understand it being a little more accurate, but that would be easy to say the innersphere has a penalty for things like the number of cluster shots that hit from an innersphere lbx cannon.

If it is a design issue of the weapons, I would figure the innersphere should have figured that out by now and come out with a mk II version of the weapon to remove the range issues. Then again it should be the same with the other weapons as well.
Akirapryde2006
08/16/15 11:08 PM
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based on the books I have read, I would have to say there is no difference in the ammo used between the Clans and Inner Sphere. Unlike between NATO standard rounds and those used by non-NATO nations, I have seen where Clan units have rearmed themselves off of stolen supplies. Most notable during the Battle of Tukayyid.
happyguy49
08/16/15 11:45 PM
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The ammo HAS to be different. Especially missiles. No minimum range at all on clan LRM's? That's gotta be due to fundamentally different electronics, controls, etc. in the actual missiles as well as different tech in the launchers. (witness the "enhanced" LRM's the FedSuns invented. kind of a bridge to Clan level LRMs.)

There was like 300 years of no-contact between the Clans and the rest of humanity. The dimensions of shells, their propellant power, etc. all would probably change and be refined over that amount of time. (giving you your large range differentials.) Even if the shots-per-ton and basic cannon bore diameters were the same, everything else might and probably would be different.

That Tukayyid fluff you mention doesn't make sense when you consider that, but it is just fluff; rules trump fluff. Although, you can pod-mount crappy IS weapons in Clan omni's if you really need to.. and if you have no ammo left AT ALL for your fancy-pants Clan cannons and missile racks, you would use whatever you might have available.. captured IS-tech weapons and supplies in this case. Then the fluff you mentioned can be made to make sense.
ghostrider
08/17/15 01:01 AM
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there is a minimum to the clan lrms. It is 3. Now it is possible to reprogram minimum arming time, such is done in hunt for red october movie. The set the safety arming device for after it was launched.

And from everything that I have seen and read it the game, both sides have used the others ammunition.

But there is NO where in any of the rule books that states the innersphere and clan ammunitions are incompatible, that is for the same weapon. You can not say cluster ammo does not work in normal ac's since that it true for all sides.. Even the scenario pacts have them raiding supplies to rearm. This isn't novels, but actual adventure packs made for the game. And to add a little fire to the whole shell size issue, that would hold true with all cannons made by different manufacturers. Even simple machine guns would be different ammunitions, and this is not saying light, medium and heavy, I am talking normal mg's.

And even with the clans warfare, if they could not use the innersphere stuff, why bother with taking a supply dump? Nothing is compatible during the original invasion. They would need alot more ammo brought up during the second part of the invasion, and they didn't bother with that much more.

And let's say it is true. Why would any innersphere unit swap out of clan weapons that require ammunition? Any captured ammo supplies would run out, leaving you with nothing to shoot with.
Now if you have a theory, i would love to read it. I might have missed something.
Akirapryde2006
08/17/15 09:06 AM
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Quote:
happyguy49 writes:

That Tukayyid fluff you mention doesn't make sense when you consider that, but it is just fluff; rules trump fluff. Although, you can pod-mount crappy IS weapons in Clan omni's if you really need to.. and if you have no ammo left AT ALL for your fancy-pants Clan cannons and missile racks, you would use whatever you might have available.. captured IS-tech weapons and supplies in this case. Then the fluff you mentioned can be made to make sense.



Look in the concept of a reality issue, I totally.....TOTALLY agree with you. It doesn't make sense. Of everyone on this board you will not find a person who is more bend on keeping it real then me. I know I can annoying with that, but I enjoy a large measure of realism in my games. Games that I can say yeah, that makes sense. Like in this issue. BUT there are a number of references in the books where Inner Sphere pilots have used Clan ammo and vise a versa.

In a real world, Inner Sphere powers would have totally different kinds of ammo. Consider here in our world.

In western (NATO) forces, the 7.62×51mm NATO round has been mostly replaced by the lighter 5.56×45mm NATO round, which is better suited for automatic fire than the larger round and allows each soldier to carry more ammunition.

Other nations, especially forces with former ties to the Soviet Union tend to use rifles related to or developed from the AK-47 with similar sized rounds to the NATO ones. In 7.62×39mm and 5.45×39mm for assault rifles and 7.62×54mmR for sniper rifles and light machine guns.

For those that don't really know, Frequently the first number reflects bore diameter (inches or millimeters). The second number reflects case length (in inches or mm). For example, the 7.62×51mm NATO refers to a bore diameter of 7.62 mm and has an overall case length of 51 mm. And yes that second number really does mean a lot. I have a SKS (Russian built 7.62x39mm) and a M1 Garand (7.62x51mm) They take different ammo and can't be interchanged. The issue is in the way the breach seals. Even though the Russian ammo is shorter, it won't fit right in the chamber for firing.

There is little reason why Ammo from say Free Worlds League should fit weapons of the Draconis Combine. And even less reason why Clan Ammo would fit Inner Sphere weapons of the same type.

But the powers who created this game/universe created it like that.


Now allow me to address your comment about rules trumping fluff.

I would not say rules trump fluff or in this case, canon. If it is canon than it is the rule. After all that is what canon means (Ref: Canon - an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority). Why put it in the books if they are not meant to be taken as canon.
happyguy49
08/17/15 12:43 PM
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I concede the point, especially if published scenarios, etc. have the ammo's being interchangeable. It just really doesn't seem like they should be, for the above divergent-civilizations reason and also the big differences in performance, specifically range. I can see a couple hex difference if the gun itself is much more sophisticated, but its like 6 or 7 hexes in the case of the Rotary cannons. How do you get that without like rocket-assisted projectiles or something? Which would be physically quite different. Much different minimums on LRMs, 3 hex difference in streak SRM's, that could only mean the missiles themselves are very different.

If the descriptions state that the ammo is qualitatively different, like the AMS systems of IS using a machinegun VS the Clan AMS using flechette, they should not be interchangeable.
Akirapryde2006
08/17/15 01:22 PM
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@happyguy49

You and I think so much alike. But in this case canon says we are both wrong lol.

I hate it when authors do this, but there comes a point and time when you just have to either change the canon or accept it as is.
ghostrider
08/17/15 02:19 PM
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The ams is about the only thing that states the ammo would be different. Other then that, I have yet to see anything that says you can not use each others ammo for the proper weapon.

And with your asking how one set of ammo reaches out further then another if it is the same stuff, is a question I had asked before. If you can use clan ammo in your weapon, why are you limited to the innersphere range with it?

This is where things go wrong in the game. If you can use the ammo, then there is no difference in the size, shape, propellant, and flight characteristics, then the ranges should be the same. If they are different, then like infantry damage, the entire invasion time line is thrown out the window.

And it gets even worse when the video games have things in it, and they are supposed to be oked by the developers. I do understand there are some things that are not written to allow more variety in game play, but atleast put this crap in optional rules.

Granted they might do this to keep people talking about the game.
CrayModerator
08/17/15 06:54 PM
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Quote:
ghostrider writes:

Do the developers have any motivation to explain if the ammunition use by the clans are any different from the innersphere?



I believe the question has been asked and answered on the official forums' Ask the Line Developers page. I don't recall the answer.

Quote:
there is a minimum to the clan lrms. It is 3.



As far as I know, they've always had a minimum range of 0. In the 1990 publication "Battletech Compendium" (first place with Clan weapon tables, I think), Clan LRMs had a minimum of 0. In the most current Total Warfare printing, Clan LRMs have a minimum of 0. In Heavy Metal Pro, they have a minimum of 0.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer

Disclaimer: Anything stated in this post is unofficial and non-canon unless directly quoted from a published book. Random internet musings of a BattleTech writer are not canon.
Retry
08/17/15 06:55 PM
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Yep, all clan missile systems have no minimum with the sole exception of some ATM types. The only missile system I can think of with a minimum range of 3 are enhanced LRMs of the Inner Sphere, which IMO make very nice additions for IS mechs.
ghostrider
08/17/15 09:14 PM
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I stand corrected. The books I have all say 0 as well. I don't know where I got the 3 from.

I know the question was asked, but I don't remember anyone getting an answer for the ammo question. I believe the novel source was said they get wild with things and it wasn't necessarily canon, yet the packs say they use them, which countered the novel part of that. Don't remember anything afterwards.
Akirapryde2006
08/18/15 08:51 PM
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This topic gives raise to a good question for the group.

If you have a situation in the Novels that contradicts the rules of the game, which takes precedents?
ghostrider
08/19/15 01:07 AM
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The rules are supposed to have control here, but what it really comes down to is your group you are playing with. They say what works and what doesn't.

That is why we started the house rules threads. Some things don't make sense, while others need a little more information. The whole idea of jumping 240 meters in 10 seconds, while firing, and landing without any inertia, does sound a little off of physics.
And turning in air while doing it really makes you ask how, if all the jets are in the back of the mech.

One question came up about how weapons fire. How many bullets does a machine gun actually fire? I wanted to know how the mg fired from a mech moving 240 meters to get into range to use it, when they max range they have is 90 meters? 10 seconds of move and fire. That doesn't sound physically possible.
But someone did say the game is fantasy, so you do have to ignore a few inconsistencies.
Retry
08/19/15 01:35 AM
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Standard BT MGs have a burst mass of .5 kg/s. Not very impressive, that's about the equivalent of an AN/M2 browning, the same as what was mounted on the P-51 Mustang and F6F Hellcat. Assuming a similar sized round, you're looking at around 12 rounds per second if the MG is sustained fire in BT, or much much more if it's a burst fire pattern.
ghostrider
08/19/15 03:29 AM
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It was more about the amount of time you had firing the weapon really. You have a burst no matter how long you hold the trigger. And as I said. Jumping 240 meters with everything else going on, and firing just as or after you land in 10 seconds and hold the position on the enemy long enough to damage it.

But that does bring up the point of lasers and the argument you need to hold it in the same exact position to do damage. I don't think that is possible with a jumping mech, even if the unit you are shooting at is stationary. So something is wrong with the length of the laser beam, or the targeting computers on mechs are a lot better then they suggest.
ghostrider
08/23/15 09:39 PM
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something else that always bugged me about the game.
The extra crits endosteel and ferrous fiber armor need, does not have to be evenly distributed around a unit.
How is this possible? You need the same strength, thickness and such in all locations, but some how, you can make one section like an arm more bulky yet, with the same amount of materials leave the other the same size? That is like saying you have one fat useless arm, and another lean arm that is as strong, yet not burdened with the extra weight.

Is there any one that might be able to explain this in real physics? I know it makes designing easier, but it just sounds completely wrong.
ghostrider
08/23/15 10:05 PM
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Thinking about the crits for endosteel and ferrous fiber, another question came to mind. If you do crap like that, why can't you move where the extra critical slots go for the xl engine?
Why not use the 2 spots in the center torso to avoid full loss of power for innersphere ones with a side torso being blown away?
I would ask about moving the entire engine into a side torso, and keeping that side towards the back of the mech as it is moving, but the lesser armor would make that a bad idea.
ghostrider
08/28/15 02:08 AM
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One thread had me thinking of the over abundance of ways vehicle crews die, which makes me wonder how there is any crews to make elite status?
I do not see any crew, besides those in a unit that never gets hit, to survive many hits on the tank with 3 of the critical spots being instant death before case. And even then, alot of tanks still do not carry it.

Maybe someone can explain this to me, as I have rarely seen a tank crew survive more then 3 combats where they actually get hit.
ghostrider
09/16/15 11:23 AM
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I understand there will not be an instantaneous upgrade when new weapons systems come out, but why is it implied that the star league was not closer to the clans in the aspect of normal weapons? Why did they not use the upgrade versions exclusively?

Another thing I would like to know is what is the true star league versions of the common mechs that are in 3025. You hear of people finding star league caches, but one very big problem exists. I seriously doubt the star league would have locusts with the standard lasers and mgs. I would think every single one of them would have ermls and other advanced equipment on them. After all, the 3025 units were like that because of the decline in technology, not because that is the way they were originally outfitted for the leagues time.

And if the developers want to make some money on a tro that may not have been thought of yet, the standard mechs that are from the star league, might be a good idea to publish their version of the mechs in the leagues time. Ie, the warhammer would probably have erppcs with double heat sinks. But what about the other weapons? Streak pack? Ermls? Something completely different? Maybe gauss rifles instead of ppcs?

This also does not touch on possible omni connections being done before the league fell. The did talk about it not being fully developed in the fluff for the mercury if I recall.
happyguy49
09/16/15 08:24 PM
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check out these guys:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Star_League_Defense_Force_Royal_Divisions

They did have equipment like you suggest, i.e. 3025 designs but with top-of-the-line Star League equipment instead of the regular kind. The stratification of technology was a deliberate policy of the Terran Hegemony; they didn't have the size of population or the number of systems of the other IS powers, but they did have the most advanced technological base. The Hegemony systematically and intentionally kept the best stuff for its best and most-loyal units. (the Royal units) Here is a cool one, Atlas II

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Atlas_II

There is even a Star League Warhammer, WHM-6Rb, in TRO 3075, that rocks DHS and an artemis iv... (no ERPPCs though )

There are some other Royal units in the Star League section of TRO 3075.
ghostrider
09/16/15 09:34 PM
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That shows just how little they thought the game was going to succeed. The atlas II was should have been the normal atlas and the one in the first release should have been the II since time would suggest the modified unit be the next step, not the first.

And i didn't see the area the mechs were in their original star league stats. Maybe I didn't look in the right place.

Still. With the league caches found during the wars, I find it very difficult to believe there was no 'advanced' weapons or even heat sinks in the 3025 era other then the invasion of Hoff by the unit that had the law suit and the Wolf's Dragoons. Even with the tech base dropping down, there should have been working models of everything the league had, since not only should whole units be found in the caches, but stockpiles of those same weapons and equipment.
I would think Team Banzai and a few others would have been able to reproduce those very items. Even the nais should have as well. I understand comstar would have sent raids to destroy them, but let's face it, there would be too much of it to stop it from being worked on. And it would be found out who kept sending the raiders as there is no way to find all the equipment stashes in a house by those outside the house. Even baiting traps for the enemy would show it was not one of them for all the raids.
Karagin
09/17/15 07:53 AM
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Clearly someone didn't think that the fans would notice or care about a lot of this and the awe and fun of giant robotic suits of armor piloted by a human bashing the crap out of another same unit would outweigh all of the worries about high tech toys, BUT the issue of the player being able to make their own mechs puts a huge hole in that. Folks will tinker with things, many people I have meet over the years who play this game, have their own home tech weapons, some had double heat sinks long before they were official, others had longer range laser weapons, as well as Autocannons and missiles that had more in their opinion realistic ranges. And no where was the game ruined or lost the fun.

NAIS and the other House's version would have working copies of League tech on hand if nothing more then to study and figure out how it works. Limited amounts could be made, and I agree sooner or later the Houses would figure out it was ComStar attacking their R&D sites and start returning the favor.

Another hole in the no high tech is the Dragoons, let's be real here, they show up with "lost" designs, now UNLESS the Clans dug through their scrap yards and museums and warehouses and replaced every single weapon and heat sink on the mechs the Dragoons brought with them, it stands to reason many of the Dragoon mechs had SL or Clan tech on them. Now I can understand and see Jamie ordering his warriors to only engage at the same ranges their IS counterparts were attacking them at, thus giving the illusions that while they Dragoons have older mechs (i.e. Hoplite, Flea, Hornet (a mech that had two different sets of artwork), Falcon etc...), they didn't have higher tech, but this would fail once a Dragoon mech fell into enemy hands and the gig would be up. Now the in universe answer would be that the Dragoons, swapped out the high tech items for IS versions as soon as they could, and while that makes things work for the game, it makes NO sense for the Dragoons to give up an edge they had over the other mercs in the Inner Sphere.

This also brings up the question that why were there other companies or groups challenging ComStar role as the HPG king? We have computer companies trying everything to get us to buy their version of the computer, be it Apple or one the IBM clones, the catch isn't how the item looks, but the software and easy of upgrading, and given the whole tablet etc...how to plug them all together and talk to each other, so where is this kind of thing in the Battletech Universe? Or did merchant families and corporations just stop trying to make money?
Karagin

Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
ghostrider
09/17/15 12:01 PM
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Actually, in the one novel, they talk about the higher tech equipment they brought to the innersphere and they left it in an uninhabited system. Even the Imp was something that brought questions to the IS leaders. They even had warships with them, so that was an issue.

Now using the higher tech and limiting to IS ranging still would not work. An IS medium laser does 5 points of damage, not 6 or 7. So a hit from one of them would removed fully armored arms off mechs that a normal ml would not. It would be found out sooner or later.
Now since they were mainly freebirths, they were used to using lesser units in battle. But the training of using a star verse a lance would show thru as well. And a lack of elementals would show holes in their tactics.

The issue of a lack of competition to comstar lies in the fact they destroyed anyone that can close to starting up a business like that. Little things like their funds being hacked, stolen, or even accidentally locked up for years would be the nice way of dealing with them. Raids on the r&d as well as pressuring the governments to deal with the people is another form. A communications interdiction would be enough to get the house lords to resolve the issue. And when all else fails, assassinations work. Labs blow up. Car accidents happen. Even simple muggings that kill the victim work. Comstar raided NAIS during the 4th war to get at the helm core stored there, and framed the confederation. Taking out a small company is nothing for them.
Karagin
09/17/15 07:47 PM
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Yes they did all of that, and many real world examples do come to mind, but folks would still keep trying, we have a lot of tech advances and things we take for granted because folks didn't take no this won't work or that will never happen for an answer. I could see folks Chandi and others like NAIS working hard to come up with their own HPGs or better black boxes (aka the fax machines).

Thing about lasers is you can adjust the damage levels, since many of the novels talk about low power settings for mock combat, so I could see the Dragoons refocusing their lasers to lower settings while keeping the higher tech overall setup, though combat loses would effect this over time and as spare parts run out. Part of what I am getting at is the tech they would have would have been Royal level stuff, aka the Terran Hegemony mechs and vehicles etc...not House level tech, so the Wasp would have Med. Pulse Lasers vs standard Mediums and Art IVs built in to the SRM or maybe even Streak as standard since it would have been built that way from either the Exodus or post Pentagon wars.
Karagin

Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
ghostrider
09/17/15 08:14 PM
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Well we know from the novels, Wolf's Dragoons knew how to work on hpg's. The did it to send a message out from Outreach in the one novel. Though they are clan personel.

And I would agree there would be lots of people trying to break comstars hold on communications. Probably several companies that have the tech to do it. The biggest issue would be actually doing it, since comstar's use of rom would do anything and everything to stop it.

As for toning down power levels on the energy weapons, that does work until you get to the point of losing units in combat. Someone is bound to have salvaged Dragoon units and had to know the tech was not their level. But then that does go back to the original idea that I seriously doubt the star league had many mechs they took with them rigged to use the 3025 tech weapons. Everything should have been advanced. So the entire Dragoon saga would be completely inaccurate.

I would seriously doubt they had many, if any normal lasers and even then, the fact they were more compact in the second line units tells the story. There is no way it would have taken that long for the houses to get the newer tech.

And now comes the harder to believe part. No one ever hacked into comstars network including their computers? Please. That would be like saying the sun revolves around the earth. There is no way they have NEVER suffered a security breach.
happyguy49
09/17/15 10:58 PM
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The Clans sent the Dragoons back to the IS with Star League era tech; which they still had plenty of in old Brian Caches. So, a fair amount of machines with 2750 tech as well as 3025 tech. (as we know already, Star League didn't only use advanced level 2 tech; they also used regular tech in second line units, garrisons, etc.) The rest of the IS thought the Dragoons had their goodies from a Star League cache.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Brian_Cache

RE: ComStar
Could the brightest computer minds in the Successor States circa 3025 hack computer technology two centuries more advanced than the stuff they are working with? By analogy it would likely take even Alan Turing (or more accurately, Babbage) a lifetime to try to hack into a modern military or secure government system with him only having his 1940's level knowledge. Plus ROM would kill him.

Also, any successor state trying to do this risks an Interdiction by ComStar. Which would:

-crash their entire national economy; also any individual world with interstellar trade would see its economy collapse and suffer attendant societal disruption and collapse. Individual worlds or provinces, duchies, baronies, inside the interdicted House would start to declare independence to end the Interdiction against them individually.

-make interdicted House VERY vulnerable to attack by all four of the other Great Houses; they would pounce on the now very-very-weakened interdicted House like a school of piranhas. No interstellar communication means you have no idea where to send reinforcements, or even of where you are being attacked. (FedCom avoided this fate because of its size and power at the time, and most of all the Black Boxes!)

Administering a program to make your own HPG's might have been possible, if all interstellar communications related to this program were done strictly via the pony-express method. You are a Great House in constant rivalry with the other four Houses; are you going to waste precious JumpShips and other resources to hide your attempt at reinventing the wheel, thereby making yourself vulnerable to attack; I don't think so. ComStar had them over a barrel cheaper and easier by far to just pay ComStar to handle HPGs.

Trying to unseat ComStar from its monopoly would be all downside from the perspective of a 3025 IS power.
Karagin
09/17/15 11:16 PM
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Who says ComStar had advanced computers? And who says that the computers the Houses had feel back to the level we have today? We are making some incrediable leaps here, kind of like TPTB expecting folks to accept the WoB being able to do all they did so fast, and then their reasoning as to why is still band-aids kind of like their band-aids with the Dragoons and the story line and the tech not keeping pace.

And the Dragoons used an HPG when they fled the Combine, the head Seventh Kommando managed to get a message out, AFTER HACKING IT, and complained about the shoddy upkeep and jury-rigged patchwork done to it, so that to shows that ComStar wasn't able to keep even the basic preventive maintenance checks and services done on their machines away from Terra, so I am not buying the prevailing theories that they and the WoB can do no wrong and always managed to come out ahead of the game, sorry but no has that kind of luck without some kind of major set back else were.

Actually it would not be all downsides for one or more of the Houses to upseat ComStar and their monopoly on interstellar commo. It would be in their favor to do so, first it would remove the threat of ComStar in that it would prevent those accidental leaks of military and other intel from ending up in the hands of the other houses, second it would mean they would not have to pay the insane fees ComStar charged and lastly it would remove a threat of a power that could and did play blackmail with the House Lords.
Karagin

Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
ghostrider
09/18/15 02:44 AM
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I would have to say that comstar are using the same technology as they did in the star league. And honestly, you could use a commadore 64 to hack into the militaries computers today. It just takes knowing coding.

And I have yet to see anything other then some advanced targeting equipment on things like streaks or artemis that would be considered beyond normal tech available to all. If you look at jump ships, without the advanced computers and programing in them, a jump would not be possible. For an hpg, you are sending energy alone to a point in space, not trying to send a large ship.

And you are also assuming the computers they had in say NAIS were not advanced. Hell they could very well be more advanced then the centuries old stuff comstar was using. And that isn't saying that the houses didn't have spys in comstar despite their rom agents. In fact the second in command was a combine agent when the clans were invading. The person that became primus after operation scorpion failed is a perfect example. So this kills the not enough smarts to do anything. Thomas Marik was also a tech in comstar. Why would he not know their coding?

And the black box fax machines did indeed show the tech was out there. It was just a problem using it without major backing. I do agree comstar would pull out all the stops to make sure that did not happen. And we do know comstar did leak intel to the enemies for political, personal, and monetary gains. Even just holding up comms should be considered along these lines. They did fake the comm traffic for the clans for a while.
The interdiction basically saved the confederation from complete destruction, and the suns would have continued to destroy them, and the FWL would have to attack them to prevent the suns from taking it all. With the interdiction the pony express was used, but that is part of why they had the supply problems. Hanse Davion KNEW comstar would do something like this. Now if they were neutral, why would the stop the suns from destroying the confederation?
Power.
ghostrider
09/18/15 12:44 PM
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The big issue with the commercial side of trying to rival comstar that should end why it would never happen. Even if someone did offer services to all, who would actually use them?
There is no way to cover anywhere close to comstars range of stations and there is one simple fact.
How would you deal with comstar interdicting you for using another company? Even if they could keep comms flowing in your area, that means anything outside of it, like spys and agents, could not communicate with you, unless a pony express was set up, and frankly that would not happen in enemy territory.
So profits might look like they are there, but in the end, there is no one that would use the new services.
RockJock
09/19/15 10:34 PM
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I think it is worth noting that the game rules have never exactly matched how the novels read. This covers everything from titanium claws on a certain Centurion to grazing PPC shots to the fact that every AC/LRM round is exactly the same and fits in exactly the same cannons/launchers nomatter where they are made. I think these differences would cover some of the range/damage differences between systems. Nobody would be saying "that medium laser had greater range/more punch" because the 270m range and 5 points of damage is already an average of models.
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