But first:
Second Look at the MAF
Magistracy fighter production seems to be based on FWL fighter production. At a ratio of two fighters per company and nine companies per regiment (because the Periphery author is ignoring command elements, I guess, and the MAF doesn't have independent attack wings), the FWL's 60 'Mech regiments would have 1080 fighters; the FWL builds 325 fighters per year, which would be 30.1% turnover/yr. That's a very good match for the MAF's "roughly 30" per year out of "fewer than one hundred."
The FWL produces 500 'Mechs/yr for 60 regiments. At that ratio, "less than 60"/yr could imply that the Magistracy possesses 7 'Mech regiments. On the other hand, MW1e claims that the MAF has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years (aided by a source of supply "somewhere beyond the periphery"), so building 60 'Mechs/yr instead of 50/yr may be a sign the MAF has only 6 regiments but is still growing.
First Look at the Outworlds Alliance
The Alliance Military Command has two 'Mech regiments of two battalions each. "Two-thirds of the Alliance BattleMechs are light, Wasps and Stingers mostly, and the rest is an assortment of medium and heavy 'Mechs produced on Alpheratz."
Alliance Defenders Limited is the Alliance's largest manufacturer and the only one to build 'Mechs (Wasps, Locusts and Stingers). At the Magistracy's ratio of production:regiments, it would produce about 13 'Mechs/yr--not enough to include "an assortment" of mediums and heavies. Considering the Alliance's friendship with the Concordat, I suspect that's supposed to read "Taurus" instead of "Alpheratz."
The AeroSpace arm has "a total of 240 AeroSpace Fighters of various types. Though many of these craft are the salvaged remnants of previous conflicts, some 40 percent are less than two generations old." A generation is what, 20-30 years, so taking the 40th or 60th root of 51% to 60% survivors to get an annual survival rate, which converts to production of... 2/yr to 4/yr. Applying the FWL's ratio of ASF:Mech production would give us 8.5 fighters/yr instead.
Applying the FWL's (instead of the MAF's) ratio of 'Mechs/yr:rgts, the Outworlds would produce 11 'Mechs and 7 fighters per year. Using ratios from the Federated Suns, Draconis Combine (or both combined) would mean 8.5 to 10 'Mechs/yr and fewer than 5 fighters/yr.
To Be Continued: First looks at the Taurian Concordat and ComStar
hey, thanks for the valuable information. I am writing about Outworlds Alliance and using this as reference:
ReplyDeletehttps://owa3025.blogspot.com/
Cool!
DeleteI've refined my estimates in the last few years:
* The Outworlds Alliance builds 33 'Mechs/yr. (Canopus builds 56 and the Taurians build 78.)
* "Two-thirds of the Alliance BattleMechs are light" has to mean that two-thirds would fit in a light regiment (which has an average weight higher than 35 tons). Any other reading is mathematically impossible.
* I haven't decided what "an assortment of medium and heavy 'Mechs produced on Alpheratz" should mean. It could be a mistaken reference to Taurus, like I said; it could be Amaris-era 'Mechs from the Alphard Trading Corporation; it could be salvage reassembled on Alpheratz.
* The Outworlds Alliance technically has 260 fighters. The First Air Regiment consists of a single elite group of 20 fighters; the other three regiments have 60 fighters each; minus 20 fighters on loan to the Taurian Concordat.
* The Draconis Combine has shared ownership of a medium fighter factory which builds 100 craft/yr. I don't know how many of those go to Kurita and how many to the Outworlds Alliance. I suspect that all three Periphery states build around 30 fighters/yr.
If you have questions, feel free to ask. I can't do direct research right now but I have a pretty good memory.
I put some hyperlinks in there but for some reason they aren't highlighted anymore. Repeating here for visibility:
DeleteMech production rate: https://skiltao.blogspot.com/2017/08/house-regiments-10-mech-production.html
Alphard Trading Corporation: https://skiltao.blogspot.com/2017/11/forgotten-periphery-states.html
Other FOUR (full) regiments have 60 fighters each. Forgive my lapse.
DeleteI don't think the original Periphery book described the Outworlds ground vehicles in any detail. My intuition is that they'd mostly use Quikcell products.
Delete