Merc units fail not in war but economically, often because their employers are jerks. The handbook expands on the idea that a merc company isn’t just mechs—there’s infantry, jump infantry, motorized infantry, light tanks, etc. Makes me think about players running tanks at some point or at least controlling mixed units. All-mech could be the default, but if they want variety, I should be ready.
Infantry (7-man squads) are for garrison, riot control, and rough terrain. Jump troops and motorized infantry are great for recon but expensive. Tanks are cheap for houses to produce, with 50+ ton models acting as mech alternatives. Artillery is situational, mostly for defense, so not a big merc company thing. The mech breakdown: 30% light, 40% medium, 20% heavy, 10% assault. Land-air mechs (LAMS) exist but are rare—feels too Robotech for my taste.
Aerospace (which most mech companies start with) handle recon, strafing, bombing, and air superiority. Not sure how to make them matter in battles without overshadowing mech combat.
Terminology: a lance is 4 mechs, a company is 12 (3 lances), a battalion is 36 (3 companies), and a regiment is 120 (3 battalions + company HQ).
Wages: 250 c-bills per soldier/month (7 per squad, pricey), 500 for aerospace/mech pilots. Profit sharing instead of paying wages is an option, but it gives everyone a say in command decisions—seems like a bad idea.
Mission types are expanded on —some don’t seem gameable. Garrison duty covers the entire planet. Riot duty is dangerous and underpaid, a last resort. Mercs can be hired per mission or on retainer (fixed term with certain missions covered, others negotiated separately). Retainers pay less. Command rights are negotiable—employers like embedding advisers to limit merc independence. Supply, transport, maintenance, and salvage rights can be traded for higher pay.
Pay is based on unit size, mission type, and length. Base fee: 2.5-25k per squad per week—garrison at the low end, diversionary assaults at the high. Reputation boosts pay. Handbook numbers so far are vague. You can take 25% of the fee upfront if using comstar as the contract handler. Raids and short missions get a month to complete (hire time includes travel to and from friendly territory). Offensive/defensive ops run 3-6 months, garrison duty a year, and retainers a minimum of a year with 3 months’ notice to quit.
Transport: Houses prefer to provide it for free, so owning your own jump/drop ship doesn’t necessarily mean extra pay. They also supply free supplies, but if you handle it yourself, it’s 500 c-bills per squad, doubling after a major battle.
The handbook then lays out mercenary maxims. Plunder isn’t just cash—it can be art, resources (?), trade goods, or ransoming nobles and mech pilots. Also, jumpships, but not drop ships, are strictly off-limits. There’s mention of opting out if things go south, but breaking a contract tanks your rep and forfeits your pay. You can surrender but that puts the surrendered squad/lance out of action for 1-6 months. I don't understand what happens to your mechs if you surrender, are they returned to you? Do you pay a ransom, what's expected?
Relevant to where I want to set things, Steiner offers generous contracts but suffers from incompetent generals who love putting mercs under their command. They blame mercs for failures (of which they have plenty), and because they don’t win much don’t expect much loot. Kurita wins battles but pushes mercs to use their supplies and transport, making them dependent. They also don’t respect mercs.
Comstar might hire for lost colony searches, but these jobs don’t boost your rep (not sure why) or offer plunder—mechanically, they count as garrison or security assignments. Merchants could hire you for garrison duty but expect low pay.
Periphery states are poor, and bandit kingdoms are even worse. If you’re taking jobs here, it’s for plunder and salvage. The Oberon confederation is almost a periphery state - its pay will be poor regardless. I want it in the mix as an avenue for missions.
So, my mission sources, at least in the starting conflict zone, seem to be Steiner (good pay but you chances of winning are worse), Kurita (average contract but win more), Merchants (garrison contracts = poor pay), Oberon (raids with rewards being mostly salvage), Bandit Kingdoms (salvage and I guess your rep ends up wrecked) and possibly Comstar. Of course, the players can move on to other conflict zones to mess with completely different houses/groups, but I hope they stay in the area I flesh out for a while first.
Creating a merc company produces stronger units than MW1e and gets granular. You can build your roster with salvaged gear at less than half the cost of new, though it doubles monthly maintenance. Seems worth it. Mech selection involves rolling for each unit, likely to reflect rarity, and you do the same for starting aerospace support. Jump and drop ships are expensive to maintain, and profit sharing is only for veteran or elite units—interestingly, it seems to help dodge those brutal drop/jump ship salaries, which probably isn’t intended.
Units start with reputation based on the makeup of your mercenary force (I don't like how the text handles reputation and will dump it), and morale is determined separately. Morale affects mutiny risk if the unit isn’t paid/fed. Morale is another thing to track and doesn't add enough; It's dropped. Hirelings are covered—I could see hiring a solo mech pilot to fill out numbers or add a high-value unit for a short-term contract; Necromunda hired-gun vibes.
Supplies are a mini-game: pay upfront, then roll 1d6-1 months for arrival. Roll doubles, and they never show up due to various reasons. No supplies mean double maintenance costs and morale hits.
There’s a random mission generator and a one-page negotiation system. The latter took a few reads to understand—fiddlier than I wanted but still usable. Missions are usually 2d6-3 jumps away, with 0 meaning an in-system job. Mission parameters, including pay, are random, but modifiers from different missions smooth out extreme results—so no getting max c-bills for a simple garrison job.
The book provides two systems to track the overall conflict the merc unit is involved in, but both are overly complex. I’ll need a simpler substitute. Mercs does this a lot—overcomplicates things. I’ll strip it for parts, keeping maintenance, salaries, supply costs, the mission generator, and probably the negotiation system.
All up, the first 45 pages were useful. A short but worthwhile read.
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