First Look at Lyran Manufacturing in 3025

First, some ballparking:

Defiance Industries is "by far" the largest 'Mech manufacturer to survive to 3025, so it has to be substantially bigger than the Lyrans' next biggest manufacturer, Coventry Metal Works. If Commando production is anything like Valkyrie production, then Coventry (which also builds Stingers, Firestarters, Vulcans and Phoenix Hawks) should be building at least 150 'Mechs/year.

I've already established overall Lyran production as 500 'Mechs/yr, and House Steiner: The Lyran Commonwealth (hereafter HS:LC) lists five other 'Mech plants. If we estimate them as one share each, Defiance of Furillo as two shares, Coventry as 150/yr, and Hesperus II as one share bigger than Coventry, then Hesperus II would rate 175/yr, Furillo would rate 50/yr, and the other five plants would average 25/yr.

I enjoy how the 'Mechs are in scale with each other but not with the humans

Maybe it isn't surprising that Defiance and Coventry together would represent 75% (or more) of Lyran 'Mech production; and maybe I shouldn't be surprised that them being so big would bring the the lesser plants into line with the FWL's lesser plants.

I notice that TR:3050's entries for the Stinger, Wasp, Griffin, Wolverine, Victor and Atlas list variants from fastest produced to slowest produced. If other entries do the same, that would mean the Lyrans produce less of almost any given 'Mech than the FWL does. That's a useful constraint.

Okay, modeling Lyran factories on those in the FWL:

Red Devil Industries & Trellshire Heavy Industries

Suppose Red Devil of Pandora builds 9 'Mechs/yr like Technicron of Savannah in the FWL, and Trellshire of Twycross builds 18/yr like Ronin of Wallis. If the Riflemen, BattleMasters and Stalkers are built in the same ratios the FWL builds them, then Twycross should build 10 Stalkers, 4 BattleMasters and 4 Riflemen/yr, while Pandora builds 3 Riflemen and 6 BattleMasters.

Very little wiggle room here. You could shift a Rifleman and a couple BattleMasters from Trellshire to Red Devil, but the FWL's low production of these 'Mechs means the overall numbers can't be off by much.


TharHes Industries

"A fairly new manufacturer of 'Mechs...When some Crusaders manufactured by TharHes were found to be flawed, the company had to recall the first 200." Supposing TharHes builds 21 'Mechs/yr like Irian of Irian does, that would mean they've operated for at least ten years, which fits the "fairly new" remark fairly well. (Events from 3005 and 3013 are also presented as "recent" on the HS:LC "Weapons Industries" page.)

I might adjust the rate up or down a little, depending on how Coventry and Defiance shake out; and since TR:3050 adds additional FWL lines on Asuncion and Bernardo, it doesn't matter that 21/yr is more Crusaders than the FWL produced in 3025.


Olivetti Weaponry

Suppose Olivetti of Sudeten builds 25/yr like Kali Yama of Kendall. Using the FWL's ratio of Thunderbolts to Warhammers, and supposing the FWL builds 14 to 25 Thunderbolts (HM:FWL doesn't quantify Thunderbolt production so I have to guess), Sudeten would build 10 to 13 Thunderbolts and 15 to 12 Warhammers.

I hope to pin this down better as I work through Coventry and Defiance.


Bowie Industries

TR:3050 lists the Steiner Marauder ahead of the Marik Marauder, so if Bowie of Carlisle builds 26 'Mechs/yr like Kallon of Thermopolis, 21 to 23 of those pretty much have to be Marauders, leaving 5 to 3 Archers. Defiance of Hesperus II also builds Archers, and if the Lyrans build Marauders and Archers in the same ratio the FWL does, then the Defiance line would make 10 to 13 Archers.

This fits reassuringly well with the order Archer variants are given in TR:3050; and Bowie's total production is unlikely to be off by much, since there's a bunch of FWL factories of about the same size.


Coventry Metal Works & Defiance Industries

From my Valkyrie test (from this post), I can guess that Coventry builds about 108 Commandos/yr; and if the Commonwealth averages 3 Firestarters per regiment, then I'd expect Coventry to build about 12/yr (because 12 is 3/128ths of their overall 500/yr).

The other 'Mechs built by Coventry of Coventry, Defiance of Furillo and Defiance of Hesperus II are more difficult to estimate because these manufacturers are too big, and build too many Steiner-specific 'Mechs, to compare directly with individual FWL factories.

Luckily (some might some say maddeningly), if I can sort out the contradictions between HM:FWL's text and its manufacturing chart, I'll be able to compare the Commonwealth's overall production against the FWL's overall production, and work out Defiance and Coventry from there.


To Be Continued.