Clan Military Structure
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(Redirected from Clan military structure)
Clan military structure is built on a quinary, or base-five, system of grouping. The base unit is the Star, made of five "Points". A Point is usually one 'Mech, but could also be five Elementals or ProtoMechs, two combat vehicles or aerospace fighters, or 25 standard infantry.
Clan military structure developed from the traditional Inner Sphere military structure, which is built on a quaternary (group of four) structure. The Inner Sphere equivalent of a Star is called a lance.
| Rank | Unit | Inner Sphere Equivalent[1] | Formation Size | Symbol | Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior[2] or Point Commander | Point | — | 1 'Mech, 2 tanks or aerospace fighters, 5 ProtoMechs or Elementals, or 25 standard infantry |
|
A Point is the smallest unit in Clan organization. A point consists of one BattleMech, two aerospace fighters or combat vehicles, five battle armored troopers, or a 25-man platoon of conventional infantry. For all except BattleMech points (where there is only one warrior), points are led by a Point Commander. |
| Star Commander[3] | Star | Reinforced Lance | 5 Points | 
|
Stars generally consist of all the same unit type, as mixed Stars were found to suffer poor performance. One exception to this is Clan Wolf's strategic command Star, composed of four BattleMech or Elemental Points and an Aerospace Point, which has seen limited use in other Clans. |
| Nova | Augmented Lance | 1 'Mech Star and 1 Elemental Star | 
|
Essentially Binaries, Novas places much more emphasis on combined arms training that allows them to outperform their standard counterpart. The tradeoff comes at less efficiency when its component Stars are forced to act individually. | |
| Star Captain[4] | Binary | Light Company | 2 Stars or Novas | 
|
May be classified as either "pure" (containing all the same types of units) or "mixed" (containing different types of units). Both are common throughout the Clans. |
| Supernova | — | 2 Novas | 
|
||
| Trinary | Reinforced Company | 3 Stars or Novas | 
|
May be classified as either "pure" (containing all the same types of units) or "mixed" (containing different types of units). Both are common throughout the Clans. | |
| Supernova Trinary | — | 3 Novas | 
|
||
| Star Colonel | Cluster | Battalion/Regiment | 3-5 Binaries, Trinaries, Supernovas, and/or Supernova Trinaries | 
|
Though varied by nature, a typical Cluster would consist of two BattleMech Trinaries, an Elemental Binary, an Aerospace Binary and either a "mixed" Trinary or a Supernova Trinary. |
| Galaxy Commander | Galaxy | Brigade | 3-5 Clusters | 
|
Primarily a logistical organization. Includes by an independent command Trinary or Cluster. |
| Khan | Touman | — | 4+ Galaxies | (Clan Insignia) | The sum total of a Clan's martial assets. |
References[edit]
- ↑ The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 65
- ↑ The rank the warrior holds is used as their title unless they hold the lowest rank (for example, Star Commander Zane). If they are warriors, they have a title denoting their subcaste – e.g. a warrior who pilots a vehicle will be called "crewman", and aerospace pilot will be called "pilot" and so-on (for example, MechWarrior Aidan). Since the lowest MechWarriors are Point Commanders, they have the title of MechWarrior instead of Point Commander even though they have a Point Commander rank
- ↑ In Clan Coyote and Clan Hell's Horses, commanders of a Nova have the rank Nova Commander, which is one rank higher than Star Commander
- ↑ In Clan Coyote and Clan Hell's Horses, commanders of a Supernova have the rank Nova Captain, which one rank higher than Star Captain