OBT Forum
General BattleTech => Alternate Universe => Shattered Dawn => Topic started by: Takiro on November 11, 2013, 06:03:03 PM
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Well folks I have had time to go over Field Report CCAF 2765 and for the purposes of Shattered Dawn wanted to jot down this quick review. Be warned there are spoilers ahead and of course I’d love to hear from you.
The Field Report confirms these numbers and paints an honest picture of the Confederation. The brief overview paragraph seems spot on. Its strengths and weaknesses are outlined very nicely in the strategic update. A Fragile Détente is a very Capellan speech by Barbara Liao which is quite fitting. Sadly it is too brief but hey it’s a field report so top marks thus far.
I found Goals of the State lacking to a certain respect. Yes it mentions the territorial ambitions of Liao with regards to Chesterton and Andurien but it fails to mention interest in Terran worlds once part of the Tikonov Union. Now I realize Chesterton is front and center at the time of publication thanks to the recent Demeter Incident of 2760. However the Hegemony inflicted several territorial losses on the Capellans which are unlikely to be completely forgotten. The Tikonov Grand Union once ruled Tybalt, Rio, Angol, Ruchbach, Azha, and Chisholm (aka Elgin). The Duchy of Liao possessed Zurich, Genoa, and Arboris while the Capellan Zone claimed Berenson prior to birth of the Hegemony. It also appears that the Nanking Collective (Terra Ferma and Capolla) was swallowed by the 2nd Terran Campaign of Persuasion. Even with the Shared World Agreements (Tikonov for one being shared) and the coming of the Star League the Capellans are unlikely to forget about these Coreward losses.
Now on to the Periphery and the one area the Capellans have made territorial gains historically. The Rim War bought the Confederation several worlds from the Taurian Concordat that perhaps most impressively they not only retained but did so without continuing enmity from Taurus. Successfully burying the hatchet with the Calderons is a lesson you’d think the Star League might like to learn. And what about the reliance of the CCAF on taxes levied on the Periphery to feed its military build up. More so then any other nation the Capellans rely heavily on this revenue to keep pace with their neighbors. Both of these north-south facts should have been included somehow but instead only east-west relations are thought of.
Okay folks, that is it for now. Next part of my review will be military academies, mercenaries (not a single mention of the Northwind Highlanders?!), the fleet (WTF!?), and infrastructure (yup industry). I got no beef with the Home Guard so I’m likely to save my ammo for those four topics before we get to units.
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GIMMIE!
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t that perhaps most impressively they not only retained but did so without continuing enmity from Taurus. Successfully burying the hatchet with the Calderons is a lesson you’d think the Star League might like to learn.
How?
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They passed the buck. The four year Rim War was brutal and saw the use of WMD. There were numerous civilian and military deaths while only gaining two systems for the Confederation. But the Capellans there after invoked a neutral course in regards to the Concordat. Often blaming the Davion bogeyman for all their problems in life despite third party moves by the Star League, Liao never really went headlong after them again. Distract the Taurians, blame someone else, even when the League is invading tell them your giving them a hard time about using Capellan, your taxing the snot out of them, its the Davions fault!
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I really can't complain about the Capellan Military Academies as it is pretty much Liao practice to have one on each Commonalty homeworld. I liked the different "personalities" that each institution had and they seemed appropriate. Specializations would have been a nice touch for example Capella with Dehli Warships HQ nearby could have been mentioned as the premier naval institute or Sarna with its extensive aerospace industry could have been the premier aerospace school. I suppose each of the five schools are skilled at instruction in every art of war given this is the Star League era. I would have added to candidates to the list of five given. The obvious one is Andurien now the sixth commonalty capital. Biggest missed opportunity here. What a great Star League school this could have been. I mean the League basically got its start here. Imagine Liao, Marik and other students attending. The other is Liao which isn't a commonalty capital true but the homeworld of the ruling dynasty. You'd think it would be prized as a bastion of loyalists for the rulers of the state.
Onto Mercenaries or independent defense contractors as the sidebar describes them. I find their history of service and Liao's insurance policy against domestic opposition a very Capellan reason for their being. The Confederation's continuing reliance and preference of foreign fighters to come here when work was drying up fits well. The lack of detail on who these 9 'Mech regiments plus other conventional forces are is concerning especially since you have one glaring example. Umm, Northwind Highlanders anyone?! Not one mention here or anywhere else in the Field Report which I found wanting in that respect. I don't mind that TPTB apparently wanted to leave a blank slate for custom units but come on mention the most premier formation.
My poorest marks I am leaving for the Capellan Navy which made absolutely no sense to me what so ever. Lets look at the numbers historically given - 2575: 45 / 2600: 45 / 2750: 30 / 2765: 37. Now Historical Reunification War tells us that (under Integration with the SLDF) "The Chancellor further transferred almost two-thirds of her nation's warship fleet to the Star League, seizing the opportunity to rid her military of its oldest and least capable equipment". Yet by 2765 the only true Capellan made warship still in service was the Du Shi Wang. My problem with this THE DU SHI WANG IS THE FIRST TRUE BLEEPING WARSHIP THE CAPELLANS EVER BLEEPING MADE!!!! Take out the Soyal which I got no big problems with and all that is left of the Capellan fleet are 22 old arse Terran relics. Your telling me every warship the Capellans built after the Du Shi Wang was inferior. In other words they got worse at making warships?!?! Huh.... Your telling me the latest Liao corvette, destroyer or cruiser was crap compared to the 200 year old Du Shi Wang?! I don't buy it. But ok, alright, so Terran stuff is so much better, why didn't the Capellans and every other House beat down the Camerons doors and buy every Farragut and Monsoon they could have? Du Shi Wang better then them too?? Don't buy it sorry. And while we are at it they couldn't have contracted Dehli Warships to build a new class (Soyal for example) or two during the Star League?? Why didn't the Houses buy stripped down version of Star League vessels, that would be plausible too it would justify all those massive production numbers limit the size of the Star League fleet. But no BattleTech equals Mech supremacy and we can't have warships. Piss poor job here guys. Hate what has been done warships in general and to the Capellan Navy. The original spirit has been ripped out and replaced with a few museum pieces and the Star League Navy had a though job?
The Infrastructural Integrity gives a general overview of the Capellan Industrial Complex. It gets the thriving industrial worlds along shared House borders created thanks to Star League cooperation right. Nice bit of foreshadowing is given describing the hopelessness of defending such frontier installations. A few planets and industries are named quickly giving a nice glimpse although I'd love more detail that would go far beyond the scope of this field report. Terran investment thanks to low Capellan wages seems plausible even though you'd think a high amount governmental regulations might temper such capitalist enthusiasm. Still with all the bureaucratic red tape I guess Liao provides for everyone's health care and pensions limiting corporate responsibility.
Next on to the units.
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I have mixed feelings about FR CCAF 2765. Overall I think it is a decent work, they have about the right number of units for 2765, leaving room to get to the canon 122 regiments in 2785/2799.
Takiro - you reference relations with the TC but I didn't see anything about the Concordat in the FR. During the later years of the Age of War there were decent relations between the TC and both the FS and CC. With the CC largely sitting out the RW it is possible that the Concordat had good relations with them but if you look at Periphery 1e, the TC mistrusts the CC almost as much as they mistrust the FS.
I agree with your comments about the Merc forces. They should have been mentioned in some detail, especially since they are apparently serving very long term contracts. Even a listing of the 9 regiments would have been sufficient.
The warship section....I'm not even sure where to start. First off the fleet is small, way too small. H:RW implies the CC transferred 2/3's of their fleet to the SLDF. We have numbers for the House fleets in 2575, which is after they transferred their forces to the SLDF in 2571, so in 2571 the CC must have had about 120 warships (If 45 is 2/3's of the CC fleet they would have 135, but they need less then 127 ships since the TC had the 2nd largest fleet so let's call it 120). Making things worse is that during the RW, the SLDF transferred 6 Aegis to each house and may also have sold/transferred Vincent Corvettes, Vigilant Corvettes and other vessels. Yet the CCN is still at 45 ships in 2600s, despite having suffered no losses (other then maybe a few operational losses- the CCN did not see combat like the other states and should have no combat losses). Then by 2765 they are down to 37 ships, (actually in 2750 they were as low as 30 ships) despite having received Barons, Carsons, Lola Is, Vigilants and Essex Is from the SLDF. (I am assuming the Vincents were new builds from Delhi- let the Capellans build their own corvettes). And they built 10 Soyals. So what happened to the rest of the ships in their fleet? Were they retired? Scrapped? Destroyed? Given that warships seem to stay in service for centuries and that the Capellans got rid of the worst of their fleet in 2571, what happened to the other vessels in their fleet. Were they that poorly designed that hand me down HAF ships were better then them?
It's also worth noting that in TR3075 the implication was that there were more Du Shi Wangs in 2765 then we see in the FR- the book refers to less then a dozen surviving to the 1st SW. While no production numbers are given the fact that the TRO refers to less then a dozen surviving implies that the CC built way more then a dozen. Also I find it interesting that the TRO entry says less then a dozen survived. Including the Du Shi Wang captured by the SLDF there are 6 know survivors in 2765. Typically you would say only half dozen survived or some such, when I read a vague statement like "less then a dozen survived to the First Succession War" I translated that as more then 6 but less then 12. So I was disappointed to see only 6 in service. But enough about the fleet- the writers have a different vision then I do and they are not going to change what they are doing. As for SD well I think we are in agreement that the fleets need to be bigger and that we need to take our own approach to this.
Moving on to the industries section I found it the most interesting section of the FR. It was a little light on hard details but there were enough tidbits to provide a good basis for the Capellans industrial capability, while allowing us to flush it out as needed. I would have liked a little more coverage of the aerospace industry but overall it was well done.
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I agree with you Irose. I believe the figure for the CCAF was 129 regiments with the LCAF being 122 regiments. Both old canon numbers which Shattered Dawn will cling to cause hey all published material should count IMO.
That was my point about the Taurian Concordat - there is no mention of them. Goals of the State should have included something as the Capellans might rely more heavily on the tax income of the Periphery then any other Great House to sustain their arms race. Same point with the Terran Hegemony - no mention at all yet there are territories and foreign policy interests which matter.
The Fleet is a mess. Sadly the writers have an agenda against warships which I don't agree with but even with this bias throw us a bone. Maybe a Liao Destroyer, a Corvette, hell an armed transport but all we get is some Du Shi Wangs (their first ship) and acknowledgement that every warship they made after it sucked! Makes no sense. Very poorly done. It is a shame you will see just a single classic canon Capellan design. I still hold out hope that other Houses will be done better. Luckily many have multiple designs present in canon already. Shattered Dawn will be utterly different. This "vision" or lack there of one will be struck from little universe.
Agreed on the Industrial section. I should have my thoughts on units together tonight. Mind if I include a few spoilers on Threat Assessments for general comments?
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So what happened to the rest of the ships in their fleet?
Reserve/mothball...
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So what happened to the rest of the ships in their fleet?
Reserve/mothball...
If that's the case then why weren't the ships returned to service following the expansion of the Edict of 2650 limits. It would be far quicker to return those vessels to service (even if only as training ships) then it is to build new ships, especially when you have only built 1 warship class, totaling probably less then 15 ships, over the last 300 years. Yes they have been building jumpships, but jumpships are very different from warships with their compact cores and large maneuvering drives. Not to mention naval weapons, sensors, etc. There's also the consideration of shipyards capable of building these vessels. Prior to 2731 the CC had not built a warship since the reunification war. It takes time to build a shipyard and get experience building warships. To me there is a hole in the logic with the Capellan fleet, but then again trying to apply logic to Btech is a bad idea....
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Agreed on the Industrial section. I should have my thoughts on units together tonight. Mind if I include a few spoilers on Threat Assessments for general comments?
That's fine with me.
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There may be more ship classes in the Historical early Succession Wars
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Reserve/mothball...
With the last sentence in the side bar describing the Capellans as "desperately attempting to acquire Warship hulls however they can." That would seem to indicate there ain't nothin left in the cupboard. Plus the Capellan Navy seems to have activated there Reserve Squadron which is led by a Block I Black Lion the CNS Typhon. Bottom line this was an agenda driven piece of fiction that really doesn't add up. You know I'm a Warship guy but all I'm asking for is a fair interpretation of the setting which we didn't get.
There may be more ship classes in the Historical early Succession Wars
Possible Blacknova but one of the first casualties of the Succession War is the shipyards. So you only have the 20 years between this publication and the start of hostilities to build these ships. You'd have to overcome a pretty severe economic crisis during that time, no Periphery taxes helping to finance said projects, and no help from Terran industries. Don't forget the SLDF eating up some resources and possible defections from the Great Houses to fight the Usurper.
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I've got a real problem with the 'minimizing' of assets (ground AND space) that The Powers That Be have done. With the small official sizes of the various Great House/Periphery militaries . . . what REASON is there to have the SLDF be so freaking HUGE?
I mean, between all five Great Houses and the Periphery (minus Amaris' hidden army that NO ONE knew about), there was approximately 500 Regiments . . . right? About maybe 500 WarShips . . . if I am remembering right.
Yet, the SLDF had more than fifteen thousand regiments, organized into 486 Divisions (with a minimum of 1,725 of those regiments being 'Mech units, not including the independent regiments; that number is JUST from the Divisions). Along with thousands of WarShips (at least 15,000 combined WarShips, JumpShips, and DropShips).
Why in the world would the leaders of the Great Houses have allowed the Camerons to gain such a force advantage over them? What was it needed for . . . IF the forces of the Great Houses were so small?
It is bad writing (in my opinion) when the universe makes no sense within the constraints of that universe.
Nonetheless, I was happy to see the original Black Lion class.
MA
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For the unit review let me lead of with Liao Guards. The original defenders of the Republic of Liao are a nice fit even though they seem more Lyran than Capellan. I like their devolution into a parade unit and hints that they are on the come back trail. Like the story, the insignia, and history but there might have been a better fit. There seems to be a bit of an overlap here with the Capellan Hussars. I know the unit doesn't Guard the house but rather represents their ancestral homeworld. Isn't there a lack of a dedicated Special Operations Force for the Capellan Confederation at this time?
We at Shattered Dawn came up with our own unit from the Duchy of Liao. The Liao Rangers filled were meant to provide Liao with an appropriate elite force and foreshadow the coming of the Warrior Houses and Death Commandos. They were inspired by the formation of Vincent’s Commandos who according to HLSB were formed in 2805-2810 from “various commando battalions". As one of the elite forces of the CCAF they were adept at rapid battalion sized strikes making them ideal for modern combat. Their brand of highly mobile warfare had been honed as recently as the Star League’s infamous Hidden Wars. Striking at Liao's neighbors with a high degree of success would already be second nature to these crack troops. Organized around a single BattleMech battalion with infantry and aerofighter support which will no doubt remind you of the Death Commandos and the Warrior Houses.
I'd love to save the Rangers and still use them in the SD universe perhaps as a purely conventional force. Or maybe they were attached directly to the Maskirovka with nothing to do with the CCAF and hence not included in the Field Report. Still canon wise Liao lacks any Special Forces unit in the time period as the Death Commandos weren't assembled for another two centuries. Here is the Liao Ranger insignia. The Chinese symbol is the Liao dynasty according to what I found on the internet.
What do you think? How did you like the Guards? What of the Rangers?
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I like the rangers far more then the Guard. You hit it on the head when you described the Guard as Lyran- that is exactly what I was thinking when I read the entry. Keep in mind they only detailed 92 regiments in 2765- by 2785 there will be up to 37 other regiments added to the CCAF's rolls. So there is plenty of room to add the rangers, even if they are only 2-3 regiments strong.
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Based on H: LoT I, the CCAF could be as big as 180+ by the start of the 1st war and have 70+ Warships.
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Well said Master Arminas, the warship numbers are completely broken by any fair assessment. I remember in one of the TROs, think it was 2750, where bandits had a warship! Believe it was an old Dart but hell they ain't that far away from a Great House. The Star League Fleet should have been much smaller if the Houses had these pitifully small navies. That and the fleet make up should have been much different. Why 200 plus McKennas when one could probably wax the entire Capellan fleet?? That maybe a bit of an exaggeration but still. I liked the Black Lion I as well and my review will come on that a little later.
I like the rangers far more then the Guard. You hit it on the head when you described the Guard as Lyran- that is exactly what I was thinking when I read the entry. Keep in mind they only detailed 92 regiments in 2765- by 2785 there will be up to 37 other regiments added to the CCAF's rolls. So there is plenty of room to add the rangers, even if they are only 2-3 regiments strong.
Me too Irose. The Liao Guard tells the cautionary tale of a unit involved in ceremonial functions then peace comes and they really get fat. I'd like to keep the Liao Rangers as well and I think they fit in both Threat Assessments (2600 and 2785). There is definitely room and a number of excuses we could use. They aren't attached to the CCAF but rather the Maskirovka or as a special forces unit they aren't regularly assigned BattleMechs. Matter of fact I could see the Commando Battalions being used in discretionary warfare and not there for listed. Gradually they get add to CCAF line units and used in mass during the Succession Wars. We could even use the Guards as a drag on the Rangers reputation being so closely tied to the Duchy of Liao maybe there is a bias against them. How about the opposite mindset of the CCAF - Rangers are hesitant to trade their lives in massive wave attacks - meaning they don't want to accept heavy casualties. After all they are highly skilled warriors but the rest of the military might read negatively into that especially with the example set by the Guard. Would foreshadow their ultimate dissolution in favor of the Warrior Houses and Death Commandos.
Based on H: LoT I, the CCAF could be as big as 180+ by the start of the 1st war and have 70+ Warships.
That is the new canon line Blacknova but not mine. We are using the old 129 BattleMech regiment number given in the HLSB and while I will revise the Capellan Navy for Shattered Dawn it will be much larger than this broken version.
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The Capellan Hussars as presented in Field Report CCAF 2765 were a far larger formation then I thought they'd be. We had planned for 4 such regiments for Shattered Dawn's Threat Assessments 2785 and to see that doubled 20 years before the 1st Succession War is scary. Yikes if they double again in canon before the outbreak of hostilities. I really can't see them expanding too much more then the 8 units described in the Field Report. Without giving too much away I like their histories and reasons for being. By the way the lone regiment specializing in unconventional or special warfare is in the Hussars but with their focus on Chesterton I can't believe they are the national special operations unit.
For Shattered Dawn we had the three Hussar units we knew about - The Red Lancers, The Prefectorate Guard, Blandford's Grenadiers - plus one The Celestial Hand. This fourth and final Capellan Hussar regiment represented the unbreakable bond between the Capellan people and the will of the Chancellor. In that role this regiment called out to defend the most critical planets. This explained why of all of the Hussar units it was the only one to be destroyed before the 4th Succession War. I'm going to retain the Hand in the SD setting although I'm not sure when it was created. In other words it will certainly be around in 2785 but 2600 I'm not that sure. ??? What do you think?
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I think what we will see in canon is slight growth of the line brigades and the development of Reserve Brigades, like the Confederation Reserve Cavalry. Then over the course of the SW's, the line troops get belted and the Reserves absorb what's left.
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Agreed there buddy. I was actually pretty impressed with the write up on the Confederation Reserve Cavalry. How they augment other forces, sort rapid reinforcements. Liked the idea. Unfortunately since they are a new formation you won't see them in Threat Assessments 2600 but count on it for 2785. We envisioned 6 (traditionally there is one for each Commonalty including Chesterton, we didn't foresee Andurien being a Commonalty) in 2785 but the FR has 7 already in 2765. And yes as you get further down the line you see Reserve Regiments replacing line units during the Succession Wars really showing the devastation caused by the conflicts.
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The Capellan Hussars as presented in Field Report CCAF 2765 were a far larger formation then I thought they'd be. We had planned for 4 such regiments for Shattered Dawn's Threat Assessments 2785 and to see that doubled 20 years before the 1st Succession War is scary.
And actually a retcon. FMCC p. 51 indicates there is a single regiment per commonality.
Also per HLSB p. 77 the Red Lancers were originally the 2nd Hexare Lancers from the St Ives Commonality. It was the Protectorate Guard that had ties to the Sian Commonality.
For SD I would have 6 to 8 regiments- 1 for each commonality (Tikonov, Sarna, Capella, Sian, St Ives, Andurien, Chesterton(?)) and possibly 1 for the entire CapCon.
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And actually a retcon. FMCC p. 51 indicates there is a single regiment per commonality.
Thats pretty much how FR CCAF presents the Hussars with a regiment for all seven commonality with the Red Lancers being the Chancellor's regiment. Although the Ares Titans don't "fit" if you ask me. What do you think about keeping the Celestial Hand in the SD setting? Perhaps they are a new unit?
The final nation wide force of the Capellan military is the Capellan Chargers which were hinted at in previous canon publications. Also referred to as the Rangers in FR 2765 they are Liaos version of the Knights of the InnerSphere sort of. Heavily involved with the Lorix Order they rely on the BattleMech, no combined arms here it sounds like to me. Overall I felt their description was a little all over the place. Additionally they seem tided to the Capellan Hegemony which I will cover more in my next post. I think the writers tried to cram too much in here even though I liked their interpretation of the Chargers.
Shattered Dawn had the Chargers as well inspired by FirstStarLord who developed the basic Charger role from the history of Cochraine's Goliaths. Building on their profile as a clue to the Charger's overall mission profile, he surmised that the Chargers were an assault brigade. Usually Capellan units are composed of medium mechs mixed with some heavies and lights in support. The Goliaths on the other hand were one of the few regiments in the CCAF to use assault mechs in large numbers.
Here is the SD Overview: The Chargers are the "strong hammer" of the Capellan military. Quite simply they are a four regiment force of heavy and assault BattleMechs used to spearhead assaults against heavily defended enemy worlds. The Chargers carry this aggressive tactical doctrine to its end point both on and off the battlefield. Typical their members are described as brash and callous in manner. In other words they come straight to the point and won’t hesitate to fight if provoked.
Gonna do my damnest to integrate both visions but is it possible??
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And actually a retcon. FMCC p. 51 indicates there is a single regiment per commonality.
Thats pretty much how FR CCAF presents the Hussars with a regiment for all seven commonality with the Red Lancers being the Chancellor's regiment. Although the Ares Titans don't "fit" if you ask me. What do you think about keeping the Celestial Hand in the SD setting? Perhaps they are a new unit?
But if you are going for 1 regiment per commonality what they have doesn't work.
Red Lancers- should represent St Ives but in the revised canon represent Sian
Blandford's Grenadiers represent Tikonov but now apparent represent Sarna- not
Gryff's Hussars represent St Ives
Ares Titans represent Capella
Prefectorate Guard represents Capella
Marshals of Tikonov represent Tikonov
Chesterton Guardians represent Chesterton
Andurien Heavy Guard represent Andurien
I don't get the Blandford's Grenadiers representing Sarna and I don't care for the Ares Titans. I would keep Blandford's Grenadiers as the Tikonov unit, drop the Ares Titans and Marshals of Tikonov and add a Sarna Regiment. We can also keep the Celestial Hand - I have no problem with a pan-Confederation unit.
Here is the SD Overview: The Chargers are the "strong hammer" of the Capellan military. Quite simply they are a four regiment force of heavy and assault BattleMechs used to spearhead assaults against heavily defended enemy worlds. The Chargers carry this aggressive tactical doctrine to its end point both on and off the battlefield. Typical their members are described as brash and callous in manner. In other words they come straight to the point and won’t hesitate to fight if provoked.
Gonna do my damnest to integrate both visions but is it possible??
I think it will work. The Chargers are described as the "heavily armored core of the CCAF". During the Age of War they are said to go"diving into the thick of every major offensive". 2 regiments (the 1st & 2nd) are described as being heavy units, the 3rd is described as being light-medium and the 4th is not described (so we can do whatever we want...). What I would say is that the 1st, 2nd a& 4th are heavy units, the 3rd is a lighter and used to provide recon/scouting for the other regiments. The units mechwarriors are described as having an arrogant swagger and seeing themselves as "virtual gods amongst men"- which ties in to the brash and callous nature we are going for. I think with just a little work we can easily make the Chargers fit what we want.
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And actually a retcon. FMCC p. 51 indicates there is a single regiment per commonality.
Well then I screwed up Irose cause there should have been more Capellan Hussars for BTSD. At least seven, one for each commonalty, although we didn’t originally envision an Andurien Commonalty. However, I don’t get the new canon line with some of these units especially if you have one per Commonalty. The original canon three are the Red Lancers (Sian or the Chancellor’s Guard), The Prefectorate Guard (Capella), and Blandford's Grenadiers (Tikonov). I don’t have the foggiest idea why the Marshals of Tikonov (Tikonov?) were invented when you had the Grenadiers. Got no problem with Gryff’s Hussars (St. Ives), Chesterton Guardians (Chesterton), and Andurien Heavy Guard (Andurien) but the Ares Titans (Capella?). Again you already have a Capellan Hussar representative for this region and why is there such a need to exemplify the Ares Conventions? Also don’t you think they’d be ticked when they get tossed by I don’t know pick your poison? Periphery rebels, Amaris Imperials, SLDF, any Successor Lord including the Chancellor?? Anyhow what the hell did Sarna do to end up in the doghouse for this entire report? I’ll explain that latter but there should be at least one Capellan Hussar regiment from that Commonalty. Any name suggestions? I’d also like to keep the total number of regiments to nine in 2785. Figure that is an entire division of BattleMechs.
Anyhow back to the Field Report and starting with the Capellan Chargers the rest of the CCAF units I list will all be Commonalty Forces. They are all from one of the seven political subdivisions of the Confederation. Makes sense as we planned something similar for BTSD and before I go into detail on the new canon units I want to tell you what we had originally planned for Threat Assessments 2785. Recognizing the St. Ives Armored Cavalry as the military of one such subdivision we thought why not have the Confederation defense apparatus composed of similar mini militaries. After all there were examples to be found in the old canon text like Tikonov Border Guard, the Capellan Defense Force, and the Sarna Shock Brigades. The Field Report however just gives traditional BattleMech unit names for each Commonalty Force and I suppose it is justified. However with the coming of Threat Assessments 2600 maybe we can show a CCAF in transition. I’d like to stick with our ideas for the earlier work and foreshadow the modernization or centralization of the Capellan military into its 2785 form. What do you think?
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Takiro, how much units do you have and how much could you find in this Field Report?
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Well Ice, Threat Assessments 2785 is set on the eve of the 1st Succession War some two decades after Field Report CCAF 2765. So we were operating under the high water mark of the CCAF given in the HLSB at 129 Mech regiments while the Field Report deals with a rearming Liao military just before the Amaris Coup at 92 regiments. Threat Assessments 2785 originally split the CCAF into 14 units (including two SLDF expatriate formations not yet mentioned and the Northwind Highlanders) while FR CCAF 2765 has 10 major formations (units like the Capellan Hussars, Capellan Chargers, Liao Guard, etc.).
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Okay lets talk Liao Lancers which are a unit pointed to by previous canon material (the HLSB and the Succession War board game). The Preston's Lancers and the Blackwind Lancers both hinted at this bye gone formation which fans speculated on the forums. The rub for me comes with their assignment as the Commonalty Force for Sarna in Field Report CCAF 2765 which is detailed extensively in the first Lancers paragraph. The previous Commonalty unit, the Sarna Sabres, was infamous for its savagery and war crimes during the Age of War. The disreputable Sabres came to an end in 2529 when they were shattered in an assault against the Free Worlds League when they were disbanded. I liked that story but found the Lancers formation as their replacement less than appealing. Of the 16 regiments that make up the Lancers in 2765 only 6 hail from the Sarna Commonalty and before the Edict of 2650 was repealed (?) out of the 7 regiments that made up the Lancers only 2 were Sarn. It just seems to me that they wanted it both ways. Lets have a national force as a commonalty force. Doesn't feel right to me. Then there is the 14th "Zurich" Lancers (who become the Blackwind Lancers) existing in 2765. Huh?? Zurich is a Terran world and no where in my research did I find evidence that it was a shared world with the Capellans. Could it have been? Sure I guess as the Terran-Capellan border was a frequently disputed one but it seems like they jumped the gun to me. See here;
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blackwind_Lancers (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blackwind_Lancers)
So the whole text on the Lancers just left me confused and ultimately disappointed.
For Shattered Dawn I think we will stick with our Capellan Lancers which were pieced together by myself and several others (Irose, FirstStarLord, and more). Here is the overview;
Several times throughout its history the Confederation has recruited line military units from specific worlds. This whole scale conscription seems arbitrary and ill-conceived to foreigners who individually elect to join the military. In Capellan society such efforts are considered the norm as the individual rights are less important then the well being of the whole. The Lancer Program fosters a special camaraderie among its participants who have the high honor of being chosen to serve the state. Their world is also rewarded with service benefits and recognition which provide significant boosts to the locale economy. Potential aspirants, often Home Guard units, train along senior Lancer formations like the 1st (Preston) Lancers. The 1st claims to have instructed many illustrious Capellan units like the Red Lancers and the St. Ives Lancers. Many groups across the nation have tried to become Capellan Lancers but few who do succeed. Graduate units either stay with the Parent Formation and become teachers themselves or go onto serve in other Line Formations. As such they are Liao’s version of training cadre essentially serving up feeder units for the Confederation military.
Now I plan to refine that and retain a Sarn unit for Threat Assessments. Not sure how exactly we will work it out and I'd love to hear some suggestions. ;)
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I liked that story but found the Lancers formation as their replacement less than appealing.
Agreed- this didn't make much sense to me.
Then there is the 14th "Zurich" Lancers (who become the Blackwind Lancers) existing in 2765. Huh?? Zurich is a Terran world and no where in my research did I find evidence that it was a shared world with the Capellans. Could it have been? Sure I guess as the Terran-Capellan border was a frequently disputed one but it seems like they jumped the gun to me. See here;
Per HLSB p. 91 the Zurich Lancers were raised during the Amaris Coup and 1 battalion was unofficially loaned to General Kerensky in the closing stages of the war. Maybe the use of Zurich was to disguise the fact that this was a Capellan unit aiding the the SLDF. You call them the Zurich Lancers and people would think they are from Zurich, despite the fact that all of the troops are Capellan and all of their support & equipment comes from the CCAF.
That said they should not exist in 2765- I would put their creation at 2768 or 69.
Now I plan to refine that and retain a Sarn unit for Threat Assessments. Not sure how exactly we will work it out and I'd love to hear some suggestions. ;)
We had talked about using the old Sarna Shock Brigades. I kind of like that name and it fits with the description of the Sarna forces.
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BTSD Fix will retain the Capellan Lancers as an ancient national unit of the Confederation. We could have them fill in for the Sabres temporarily and train their replacement formation.
I was thinking of the Sarna Lancers as our new Capellan Hussar unit.
As for the Sarna Shock Brigade and the other mini militaries would you like to keep them or like I suggested disband them during the Star League era showing transitioning CCAF?
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As for the Sarna Shock Brigade and the other mini militaries would you like to keep them or like I suggested disband them during the Star League era showing transitioning CCAF?
Personally I find the 2765 unit names bland. The lancers/hussars/regulars/guards/dragoons nomenclature- that sounds a bit AFFS for me. Yes there is going to be some overlap in nomenclature but I think each state should have unique flavor.
I much prefer for Tikonov using the name Tikonov Border Guard (or even Tikonov Union Guard which was used originally by Blandford's Grenadiers.). (although to be fair there were references to the 1st & 3rd Tikonov Lancers fighting on Lee in 2363 HLSB p.25 so I guess that works.) I also happen to like the name Sarna Shock Brigade- I have visions of them using mass swarming attacks against their enemies, which result in heavy casualties that lead to their demise.
That said I think we either need to throw out the FM for BTSD or incorporate it with minimal changes (i.e. fix the issues we have with the units in the Capellan Hussars, drop the Zurich Lancers from 2765, etc)
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I got no problem with keeping Commonality Forces the way we had them. We can include some of Field Report CCAF 2765 but certain stuff is just plain wrong. I do agree the nomenclature does give you a davion feel but there would be a certain amount of that given the Star League integration. True Liao units names I'll have to think about. Some Russian names for Tikonov fit. What of Sarna? A Carthage feel? A Fanatic or Zealot name??
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See, this is one reason I think the revised totals for the House militaries given by Liberation of Terra Vol. 1 are useful. I have a feeling that the whole point of giving those greatly expanded numbers mean that a player can add a significant number of "new" formations for his Succession War campaigns without having to trample over the units explored in these new Field Reports or old canon. I know Takiro wants to stay close to the hard numbers given in the old Sourcebooks from the 80's, but if we are complaining about the small navies, we should expand that argument to the land-based forces as well. The Great Houses should have big fleets, and have even bigger mech and conventional forces to match.
A lot of good work went into those initial drafts for the TA 2785 militaries, and I don't think either they or the new material provided by the writers should go to waste. And if it gives us an excuse to clean up some discrepancies and maybe even create some more material in the process, so much the better.
Although, I should probably download the FR first before I go around making too many bold declarations. :P
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Happy Birthday FirstStarLord! Good hearing from you again.
I'd like to stay faithful to the 129 BattleMech regiments even though we are an alternate universe as Knightmare keeps reminding me. You guys are definitely right to push for changes but I'm trying not to loose touch with what came before. It is a difficult balance. Larger warship fleets is a must for BTSD, there will be a dramatic difference between new canon and us there.
Trying to meld what we can of the Field Report series (which is worth the money, its just a flawed work in my opinion) is a personal goal of mine. For example, I like the Marshals of Tikonov but not as a Capellan Hussar unit so my proposal for BTSD is to include them in the Tikonov Border Guard (Commonalty Force). Most of the TBG will still be composed of the Tikonov Lancers seen in the Field Report. Was also thinking we could have another force like Irose suggested the Tikonov Guard perhaps split off from Blandford's Grenadiers during the buildup. That way we have four or five different units within the TBG like the St. Ives Armored Cavalry. To me the Commonalty Forces like the Tikonov Lancers are bland with a singular designation and unLiaoLike. We originally had Kincaid's Rangers, Lefarge Hussars, and a number of Lancer regiments making up the TBG for Shattered Dawn. Otherwise the Tikonov Lancers from the Field Report are fine by me.
The St. Ives Armored Cavalry is perhaps the best unit write up in the Field Report because it gets the right feel for me. Like the Centauri Guards and other units included within.
The Sian Dragoons are the other side of the coin and amplify the problem with the Tikonov Lancers. As the Dragoons are the largest formation in the CCAF with 17 Mech regiments fielded as of 2765 seeing the number 1 through 17 isn't at all Liaoifying to me. Granted we don't know that much about the units of this time but what of the Lost Legion of Shuen Wan? We couldn't have come up with a few Chinese sounding unit names? Diversification will be my goal here again.
This leaves the two remaining Commonalty Forces from disputed regions to discuss. BTSD didn't plan to have an Andurien Force but after reading Field Report 2765: CCAF I guess it isn't a horrible idea. The Andurien Hussars are again too generalized in individual unit name which was the trend for areas who didn't have known forces at this time. A little lazy to me. The Commonalty and its rise in crime following the departure of Marik authorities is interesting. Good area for UrbanMechs. You could really play up the peacekeeping and security duties of this Commonalty Force, just have to think of a name.
The Chesterton Regulars join the St. Ives Armored Cavalry as my favorite Commonalty Forces from the Field Report because it gets that Confederation military unit feel right. Your all over the place with individual unit names, formations like the Chesterton Cavalry which are missing members, and even talk of the Fenlons of Davion ruled Cheterton along with the rightful Hargreaves rulers in exile.
Well folks only one more entry left for me to conclude my review, the warships included in the Field Report. Stay tuned!
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Alright lets talk Black Lion I. I liked seeing James McKenna's the long lost Battlecruiser finally canonized. Its unusual but not unprecedented in the BattleTech universe to have a class named for its first ship. The design reminds of the Dreadnought seen in Historical: Reunification War. The art from Technical Readout 2750 for the original Black Lion is a nice touch.
However Field Report CCAF 2765 isn't the place for the Black Lion I in my opinion. A Capella warship other than the Du Shi Wang would have been more appropriate. Irregardless of what agenda TPTB are pushing numerous Liao warship designs were built during the Age of War and would be better then these first generation Terran warships. I'll get more into House Warship designs, known canon classes, and different warship generations in a separate post.
A few glaring things stand out. Docking collars are stated to be unavailable at the time of its design (2315) and yet the Dart (TRO3057 Revised) which was introduced ten years earlier has 6! Now the Dart is the only one of the five known first generation Terran warships to have docking collars so maybe the mistake is there.
What is an unforgivable fluff mistake leads off the Black Lion overview and is a glaring error. As the Black Lion was introduced in 2315 and the Hegemony formed in 2316 it was a Terran Alliance design not a Hegemony design which is clearly implied. Getting started on the wrong foot like this really put me off.
All that being said this design will replace BTSDs Hegemony class Battlecruiser which was heavier had more armor and 4 docking collars. I will incorporate the fluff into a better fleshed out design at some future time. If your interested in comparing design you can find the Hegemony in FM Terran Republic 2785.
Next up the Soyal.
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Its unusual but not unprecedented in the BattleTech universe to have a class named for its first ship.
Actually pre-SW it seems that ship classes were named after the first ship. The change seems to have occurred with the re-introduction of warships in the 3050s.
A few glaring things stand out. Docking collars are stated to be unavailable at the time of its design (2315) and yet the Dart (TRO3057 Revised) which was introduced ten years earlier has 6! Now the Dart is the only one of the five known first generation Terran warships to have docking collars so maybe the mistake is there.
I think this is easy to work around. From various books prior to the introduction of the docking collar, Jumpships could carry large (5000 ton) shuttles in internal bays. Just treat the "docking collars" on the Dart as large shuttle bays in the early 2300s and then you can say later they were refitted to be standard docking collars.
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I think this is easy to work around. From various books prior to the introduction of the docking collar, Jumpships could carry large (5000 ton) shuttles in internal bays. Just treat the "docking collars" on the Dart as large shuttle bays in the early 2300s and then you can say later they were refitted to be standard docking collars.
I don't know Irose perhaps our Darts should just lack docking collars and incorporate the space as cargo. When was the docking collar introduced again?
The Soyal is the final topic for my review of Field Report CCAF 2765. It is a contradiction of sorts with the small navies envisioned by TPTB to have this warship that features a mass driver. Really throws you for a loop that the Capellan Navy is so tiny but more than a quarter of its vessels are the brand new Soyal! Oh and the rest of its ships according to the Field Report are ancient, talk about upgrade. Before the Soyal the newest ship in the Capellan Navy are a pair of Caron class Destroyers (2632) and a trio of Barons (2520). The rest of the fleet are relics from the 2400s and 2300s. I was just rereading how poorly the House Fleets of the 3050s were put together in Strategic Operations and was that writer lacking perspective.
You’d figure more of these failed Star League designs would make it into Capellan service during the Golden Age of Mankind as Dehli Warships could simply shift operations from its facility on Carver to Capella. I mean the Capellan Navy is said to have three Vincent class Corvettes in 2765 why not more? They were built for the Star League by Dehli Warships and certainly a low tech version would have been available for wider spread use and that is a successful SLDF ship. Other failed projects could have made into the latest generation of House Warships.
Its classification as a Heavy Cruiser doesn’t bother. The natural upward progression of naval classes to the heavier side would have likely continued even if Mass Drivers were not deployed. Other than the Medium Mass Driver and a pair of Heavy Naval Gausses nothing else on the Soyal is that advanced tech wise proving that the original Star League entry was stripped down for House naval building.
You’d have to think the other Great Houses will attempt to match this innovation in the field. The FWLM ordered some Soyals from Dehli Warships probably not as many as the CCAF fields but that is another power that we know fields mass drivers. Couldn’t you just see the Lyrans trying like hell to fit a Heavy Mass Driver on something or Kurita maybe Davion fooling around with a Light Mass Driver warship. During the fall of the Star League with an arms race under way you’d certainly think so. Especially with the SLDF putting a prototype Kimagure the SLS Surprise in the field.
All in all I can’t being myself to hate this conflicted design I can easily see these planet killers on the battlefield of the 1st Succession War. I’d like to incorporate them in the BTSD storyline as it brings another kind of mass destruction to the playing field. During the Star League era I’d see them as a major diplomatic bone of contention with neighboring realms being concerned about this WMD. Certainly more could have been written about this ship and its infamy. I’d imagine they’d have a bad name for awful catastrophes and perhaps help bring an end to the age of the warship.
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Sure- a few Soyals could have been helping Marik "burn" that parsec-wide corridor...
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It is an interesting thought about these Interstellar WMD and word is Kurita has a warship that outperforms the Soyal. We will have to wait and see on that and now for some final thoughts on the review.
All in all Field Report CCAF 2765 leaves me feeling truly conflicted, which is a true shame. I’m happy that Star League era was given more coverage in canon but in some ways I’m not. In spots the Field Report gets it right especially leading off with a brief overview that really nails the Confederation’s status. Let me also praise the outlay and overall look of this book. The art is done well as the page layout with that omnipresent Liao symbol. If you buy this work print it, looks very nice. The Liao Home Guard, the nation’s industrial base, and the St. Ives Armored Cavalry all seemed right to me.
Some units like the Commonalty Forces feel real generic. Ah they’re gonna get killed soon anyway so there is no love there. Other places your left feeling this is 3025 where there is no Hegemony and the Periphery powers are wholly unimportant. Yet in this 2765 setting both of these foreign powers should not have been forgotten. They were an integral concern to the CCAF which should not have been overlooked. Where is the Capellan Special Forces at this time, this is another big oversight. Failing to at least address the Northwind Highlanders a key Liao unit felt like the author didn’t want to draw fire for a mistake.
Again I must say the Capellan Navy is the worst. I understand efforts to scale back the warship and reduce its presence but what is left here was done so badly I can’t even call it a fleet. The lack of Liao designs is the bitterest pill to swallow. There is plenty of time for development of said fleet from 2380 with the introduction of the Du Shi Wang through the Age of War into the Star League to 2765. Almost 400 years of naval construction and only one true Capellan warship design ever survives to this time?! Sorry don’t buy it.
So at the end of the day Field Report 2765 is really all over the place. Don’t get me wrong it is interesting in places but except for the big Soyal reveal there isn’t anything new to spark thought. In my opinion its not gonna get you excited about playing in this time period which is a true shame. I do plan to incorporate some pieces of Field Report CCAF 2765 into our Threat Assessment series but ultimately was disappointed with this book. I can’t say don’t buy cause if you’re a Capellan fan or someone looking to play in this time period it maybe somewhat useful. I still have high hopes for the rest of the series and hope that future Reports will address some of these issues.
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I really liked the size and feel of the Capellan forces except for the WarShips where it was truly let down. At the same time I kinda understand it.
Me personally I'd have probably had 3-4 designs per faction because of the era. It would have at least brought the Capellans closer to a couple of the other nations which already have quite a few designs floating around.
The Biggest problem to date for the Capellans is they've lacked the back-up from the products the Dui Shi Wang was the only real WarShip that they had with a big "Capellan go faster this one is ours" sticker on it.
The Lyrans have already had a few
Davion has more than a few
Draconis Combine's a little light on homegrown talent if memory serves (Samarkand... Samarkand II... ???)
as is the Free Worlds League (Atreus)
Bigger problem for the developers is you have the Taurians who already have 3 or 4 of their own designs and they are a Periphery nation!!
Now biggest easy way to explain this is some of the Succession States were lazy instead of developing their own designs they concentrated on other areas - advanced line regiments - LAMs etc and bought Star League Navy cast offs. While the Taurians who wouldn't have access to such stores went out and built their own knowing they couldn't match their enemies on the ground so they went into space.
The Federated Suns have a big developed navy because of their neighbours the Taurians having one. And the Lyrans have their developed navy because of the Rim Worlds Republic. Both act as nice counters and buffer states for the Star League so their ship numbers are overlooked and probably well supported (Aegis in both their fleets)
Unfortunately you have sourcebooks both old and new that state that WarShip fleets were pretty huge and really common until the Succession Wars which killed them all (a personal gripe but it's also one from the Jihad so I'm not winning there - I don't mind them dying its the not being replaced bit I don't like)
I guess there has to be a balance. You as a developer produce something that will grab attention (Field Reports) to the wide audience and bolt a couple of WarShips on the back while slimming down the WarShip fleets (and taking a bit of flak) while making a couple of pennies.
or
You produce something with 10 WarShips in it that few people care about and it doesn't make enough money to cover itself.
Given the two I can understand why they went with option one - annoying as it is.
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Finally got my hands on this one, and the one thing that strikes me is the strong parallels it has to the report found in FM: 3145. A lot of the 32nd century CCAF units are reborn regiments of the Star League era. One might say it represents the "rebirth" of Capellan military power to levels not seen in centuries, but the cynic in me feels that it was mostly done to not burden the writing staff with too many new units to flesh out at the same time.
With that out of the way, I like the overall layout of the report. I think the CCAF was depicted in a balanced and fair light. Capellan soldiers are good both as individuals and in a group, but the industrial and social limitations of the state they serve reduce their combat power greatly. It matches up nicely with the depiction of House Liao's army in the original soucebook from the 80's, and nods to continuity are always nice. I will echo some of the complaints made by other posters on this thread, in that some of the brigades feel disconnected of what we already knew about the pre-4th SW CCAF from older sources. The big omission is Sung's Cuirassiers, who were stated to have been reformed sometime before 2761 in the old House Liao SB. An explanation for the Preston Lancers would have been nice to have, since there are so many lancer regiments depicted in this report as it is. The miraculous existence of the Zurich Lancers years before they should have been formed is another irksome mistake.
Those are small nitpicks in the larger scheme however. I think it's a great set up for the future expansion of the CCAF during the Amaris crisis and breakdown of the Star League. I hope the other field reports can at least match if not exceed it in quality.