OBT Forum

That's what I thought.  The original 3050 TRO had all the new versions of the old classics coming off the assembly lines, but I still can't find anything on the upgrade kits.  Were they just weapons and heat sink upgrades or did they go as far as swaping out armor and installing XL engines, too?

As for Hickok, its a good distance from the DC boarder.  I've got it pegged as a civilian industrial world dominated by one family owned corporation so I'm thinking it has a small to medium sized militia force.  I'm just trying to figure out what small to medium "means" (I think Nova's estimate is what I'll go with), what tech level it would have (thanks for the info DM), and what combination of Mechs, armor, and ASFs it would have (again, thanks DM).

If your talking TRO3050 your talking upgrade kits usually produced in the Free Worlds League but throughout the InnerSphere to combat the Clan Invasion. Good date for the ramp up is the Outreach Conference and the year of peace. Priority were AFFC and DCMS units followed by the FWLM and select mercenaries (most were kept out of the loop). Wasn't until after 3052 and Sun Tzu's ascension to the throne that the CCAF began to receive upgrade kits. By TRO3055 you have a whole nother level of tech upswing with the introduction of new models designed with recovered tech.

And upgrades presented in TRO3050 if I remember correctly were extensive which didn't make too much sense to me. Weapons and heat sinks I could see. Armor ok, XL engines yeah I geuss, but EndoSteel??! Yes some refit kits somehow got your chassis lighter too.

Takiro touches on this, but you have one key decision to make here. Are you going by fluff refit/upgrade kits or rule refit/upgrade kits? There's a world of difference between the two. The original TRO 3050 had most of those designs being refit kits, rather than new factory produced variants. TRO 3050 Upgrade focuses more on the later (due to the rule changes eventually found in StratOps and the War of 3039 tech retcon). Rule based refit kits are completely different from the ones mentioned in the original 3050. If you wanted to change an older model to a newer model with an XL engine or endo steel (for example), that requires a factory-grade facility just to accomplish that, even with the refit kit. Even just swapping single to double heat sinks would require a refit or maintenance grade facility, rather than simple a field grade facility. Endo steel is a great example of how difficult tech upgrades really can be. It effectively requires replacing the entire frame of the design, which basically means stripping it down to how it looks before assembly. (It also brings up a lot of interesting questions on double heat sinks, since they seem to require endo steel for manufacturing.)

The older fluff based refit kits worked much like Battletech's magic armor. Don't ask any questions on how the techs in the field were able to replace that Banshee's old engine with an XL model, just using repair gantries. They just worked.

Either way works (I have my own preference, but that really doesn't matter for your tale), but you need to pick one and stick with it. You're dealing with a period of time that has seen substantial changes in how the new technology was implemented across different eras of Battletech's writing and production. With the war of 3039 tech retcon, the rediscovered technology didn't come exclusively from Jamie Wolf's data and the Free World League factories. It in fact started showing up in prototype form as far back as the War of 3039 and production form (for some things) before the Clans even arrived. The Year of Peace also is no longer the big roll out period for all the new/upgraded variants.

Regarding militia forces, I'd disagree with Takiro a bit here. This is more personal preference, but I tend to estimate that most planets can easily pull up a regiment or three of infantry (provided they are in the hundred of millions for population) and no less than two battalions (possibly as high as 2 regiments) of non-upgraded, mostly ICE tanks (lots of Vedettes, LRM/SRM carriers, and Scorpions). Scale up from there. That regiment or two of armor still won't stand up to even half of the 3rd Succession War sized invasion forces (which are a much different size than the raiding forces). I'd also put conventional fighters closer to at least a company (maybe multiple companies), but keep true aerofighters very rare until you hit larger garrison sizes. These are worlds that changed hands as a direct result of the massive deployments of the 4th Succession War, and army and militia sizes changed very drastically from 3030 forward.

As for the militia unit I also agree.  Infantry, armor, and conventional aircraft should be readily avaliable, just like it is right now in RL (though dragging RL into BT can be dangerous  ).  Mechs and ASFs, on the other hand, should be in short supply for a relatively safe strategic backwater like Hickok.  I'm thinking 2 lances of light and medium Mechs with mostly 3025 tech, a company of conventional fighters, 2 regiments of armor, and 2 regiments of infantry all of which would be rated as green.  Of course these units will be spread over several continents and mainly used as security forces around the planets manufacturing facilities.

I'd make a slight suggestion here to make it a lance of medium and heavy 'Mechs (or two mixed medium/heavy lances). Using 3025 tech makes sense, but using 3025 army-building mentalities doesn't. This is militia, built primarily for defending the planet. So use units designed for defending, not recon. Light 'Mechs are fantastic, but you should have plenty of VTOLs or oldtech hovercrafts to handle recon needs (setting aside any satellites or anything else). Those 'Mechs are rare and will be specialists. So make them specialists that suit the milita's need (defense). The older ratios regarding weight class don't hold true as strongly (still there, but they've become much more muddled) post 4th SW. You can still grab a few faster heavies if desired (like the Ost series of 'Mechs). But light 'Mechs have jobs best filled by other units, if you are restricted to a very small amount of 'Mechs.

That's all personal opinion, but then again, I've always been of the opinion that the old ratios are complete bunk. Light 'Mechs are specialists and very good at what they do. Simply saying that weight somehow restricts production to make lights more common than heavies...that's a theory on very thin ice. You use the right tool for the job, and you build or purchase the right tool. Mediums should still be your most common, as they are workhorses. But I don't see an overwhelming need to suddenly equate militia to lights and mediums only.

Good points but for my story I'm going to keep the militia's Mech forces in the light/medium range for a couple of reasons.  One is that Hickok has no military history (or any history for that matter) that I can find so it has little reason to rate anything more then the barest of militia forces.  Second I see their militia as more of well, a militia.  Part timers who are only called out for natural disasters and possibly crowd control after sporting event championships.  And lastly I need their mech forces weak for my storyline.

Fair enough. Just keep in mind that having heavy 'Mechs doesn't equal being strong. There's a whole lot of terrible 3025 heavy 'Mechs that will die insanely easy to anything 3050+ (one of the key ones I'm thinking of, the JagerMech, is quite common for the Davions). Additionally, nothing wrong with the idea of a militia as you presented, but just note that it does seem to differ from militias as they have commonly been noted in fluff. I like the concept, but I might recommend having the actual 'Mechwarriors be part of the ducal guard and hence, full-time. 'Mechwarriors are not easily trained or replaced, even in more modern eras and even the greenest one can rate a pretty decent yearly salary on the mercenary market. Leaving them as part-time works, though I might suggest putting in an explanation of why.

Full disclosure, there has been fiction in BT (in Total Warfare, I think) about part-time militia Outworlds Alliance Aerojocks, so there's definitely precedent.

Just to interject a tad bit here I see light Mechs being more common then anything else for Militias just cause they are the most prolific (greater number as they are smaller and easier to produce).

Going by the older FASA ratios, they aren't the most common. Mediums 'Mechs are the most common.

To answer all the questions to my question's answers (okay, now I'm confused)...

I see the Hickok militia to be predominantly part timers with the exception of Mechwarriors and pilots (and even the pilots my be more like a reservist outfit) who are full time.  Their biggest problem is that they only have 2 lances of lights and mediums to protect a couple of spaceports, factory complexes, and cities on several continents.  As for throwing in the Jaggermech I just can't do that to anybody, not even a fictional character.

As for contract info.  On their first contract the unit was a heavy lance (2 mediums, a heavy, and an assault), green, working as a personal bodyguard for a planetary leader/dictator in the Chaos March.  For their next contract they will be a company (1 light/medium recon lance, 1 medium/heavy fire lance, and 1 heavy command/assault lance), still green, working as a security force for a civilian corporation that is for some reason willing to throw a ton of money at them (that is if they can scrap together a company worth of Mechs from the dregs of Outreach).