First Look at Sphere-Wide Fighter Production

We know the Free Worlds League is "the preeminent builder of new and reconditioned DropShips and Aerospace Fighters," manufacturing 325 AeroSpace Fighters per year (HM:FWL, p114-115).

Recall that the Inner Sphere builds 2700 'Mechs/yr, with the five Great Houses each taking 7/27ths, 6/27ths, 5/27ths, another 5/27ths, and 4/27ths of that total. We have no reason to think AeroSpace production would be apportioned the same way, but if the FWL's 325 fighters/yr did represent 7/27ths of the Inner Sphere's total production, then that would put the annual total around 1254 fighters/yr.

I don't have a direct way to corroborate that figure, but I think I can check it indirectly by estimating LAM production.

I suggested a few posts ago that the Draconis Combine may produce 270 Stinger LAMs/yr; and we've seen that LAMs are as prominent in the FWL as are assault 'Mechs, of which the FWL builds 34/yr. 270 Stinger LAMs + 34 Phoenix Hawk LAMs makes for an annual total of 9800 tons of LAMs. I imagine LAM turnover would've been figured as an average of 'Mech and AeroSpace Fighter turnover, so, after some algebra...

...and assuming that (like 'Mechs) AeroSpace production averages 49 tons per fighter, we get an annual turnover of 1263.63 Aerospace Fighters. This figure is intriguingly indistinguishable from 1263.89, which is what the total would be if the FWL's 325 fighters/yr represented 9/35ths of the Inner Sphere's production, with the other four Houses taking 8/35ths, 7/35ths, 6/35ths and 5/35ths.

This 9:8:7:6:5 split is enticingly simple, but there may be one or two more LAM manufacturers yet to account for, and I'm not certain that AeroSpace Fighters do average 49 tons like 'Mechs do.

I hate to go to the Availability Chart in the old Mercenary's Handbook - I think I've mentioned before that its biases make extrapolation difficult, and AeroSpace Fighters have the added problem that I don't know what total percentage of fighters are light, medium or heavy.

But unlike the 'Mech availability numbers, the AeroSpace ones actually fall into some kind of order.

Summing (or multiplying) a faction's chances of rolling its light, medium and heavy fighters puts the Houses at fairly regular intervals with Marik reassuringly at the top. The other Houses seem to follow according to how much attrition their average 'Mech regiment suffers each year (ie, annual 'Mech production divided by number of House and mercenary regiments):

Marik = 500 / 60 rgts
Kurita = 600 / 80 rgts
Liao = 400 / 60 rgts
Steiner = 500 / 75 rgts
Davion = 700 / 110 rgts

[Edit, March 16: the JumpShip and DropShip manufacturers on page 15 of DS&JS are also keyed in this order! /Edit]

I'm not surprised that Davion would come out on the bottom. House Davion: The Federated Suns (hereafter HD:FS) seems to list weapons manufacturers from biggest to smallest, and its three AeroSpace manufacturers are all listed after a 60-65/yr 'Mech manufacturer, so a Davion total around 180 fighters/yr is to be expected.

Bandit Kings (part 2): Year Founded vs. # Worlds

P1e doesn't say how many worlds the Taurians or Canopians have. It does say the Outworlds Alliance has 38, and it also gives the year each of the three was founded.

Remember how the size of the mid-sized kingdoms corresponds to the size of their armies? I didn't really think it would work for the three big Periphery states. But it does. The Canopians have six 'Mech regiments (see fourth paragraph here) which corresponds to 31 worlds; and the Taurians have ten regiments, which corresponds to 49 worlds.

The Outworlds Alliance: Their four 'Mech battalions account for 6 of their worlds, and 4 worlds are free, leaving 28 for the fourteen air wings stationed within the Alliance. (A fifteenth air wing is stationed at "Grondass," which--given the book's inconsistent spelling of other worlds--is probably the Taurian "Girondas" struck by Cassandra's Volunteers in 2940.)

Looks like half an air wing (an air wing is about twenty fighters, so half would be ten) is as good a defense as two-thirds of a 'Mech battalion (based on a 128-'Mech regiment, that's about 28.44 'Mechs, plus 4.9 fighters in air support). Or in other words, four average fighters can scare off a Union and its two fighters.

Tiny Kingdoms:  The single-world armies (the kingdoms marked in red) are simple enough. The gaps between them get longer as they get older, which is what you'd expect if a steady fraction of them were getting overthrown every year.

Mid-Size Kingdoms:  The Oberon Confederation (founded circa 2855, per MW1e) lies at the crux of three trends:

• As the largest and most civilized of bandit kingdoms, it falls in line with the three big Periphery states, a line which zeroes out near 3028 (the year P1e is set). It's a rate of one world every sixteen years, and probably represents the growth of non-predatory alliances.
• Almost perpendicular to that trend is another which passes through Circinus, Tortuga, New St. Andrews and the defunct Rim Worlds Republic. No doubt it represents the tendency for nations to fragment or be absorbed into larger neighbors.
• About halfway through the Second Succession War, Oberon starts a new trend--with the Marian Hegemony and Morgraine's Valkyrate--growing at a rate of one world every thirty-two years. I guess that's when the Successor States stopped expanding into the Periphery.

I notice that kingdoms which are young for their size--Morgraine's Valkyrate and the Marian Hegemony--also happen to be over-armed for their size, while kingdoms which are old for their size--Circinus and Tortuga--happen to be underarmed.

I don't know if the four Illyrian worlds bucks these trends or not. They were settled in the 24th century (exact year not given), but that isn't necessarily when they formed the Palatinate. P1e doesn't give a founding date for the Elysian Fields, either, and it wouldn't surprise me if that were timed to make the thirteen-world Oberon-Elysian combo align with the big three states.

This is all more highly structured than I expected, and I'm not sure how to translate those structures to other eras. The number of worlds is probably a combination of the nation's infrastructure and the rapaciousness of the era; and army size probably combines the size of the nation with the era's technological level. I'll be curious to see how the 20 Year Update colors things.

FWL 3025: the three unnamed ASF sites

I know from HM:FWL (page 118) that the League manufactures 325 Aerospace Fighters at eight sites, including Westover, Lopez, Helm, Marik and Atreus. The other three sites aren't specified. (Bordon may have an LAM site, but LAMs may not count.)

Danais, Regulus and Wisconsin

The Silver Hawk Irregulars are "well supported with light AeroSpace Fighters and light tanks" (HM:FWL page 98). The light tanks are built on Amity (page 160), which suggests another member may build the light fighters. Kalidasa builds 'Mechs, Callison is a trade world, and Shiloh has nothing of value, which leaves Danais. Danais also happens to be one of the tax zones in the Succession Wars boardgame.

Some of the tax zones (Megrez, Bella, Sierra, Landfall, Tellman, Xanthe and maybe Furud) appear to be named for their outermost world. But most of the others are production sites: Westover, Marik and Atreus (fighters); Oceana, Oriente and maybe Ryerson (ships); Oriente and Calloway ('Mechs). Since the last two--Regulus and Wisconsin--aren't at the edge of their zones, I think it's likely that they're production sites too.

FWL 3025: Regimental Compositions (part 3)

Is the number of FWL assault battalions proportionate to its rate of assault 'Mech production? If so, then battalion weights can be my guide to FWL Aerospace and LAM production too.

Assault Regiments: the FWL has only two. The way the 6th Marik Militia describes its three assault battalions makes me think the 20th Marik Militia probably has two. (That regiment might consist of two battalions total.)

Heavy Regiments: the composition of five are known and include two assault battalions. If the other twelve regiments are similar, they'd add another 4.8 assault battalions.

Medium Regiments: the compositions of twelve are known and (assuming the Border Protectorate's Iron Guards and Steel Guards entries are a little mixed up) include a single assault battalion. If the other eleven regiments are similar, they'd add another .92 assault battalions.

Light Regiments: the compositions of four light regiments are known, and (assuming the Iron Guards and Steel Guards entries are mixed up) none are known to possess assault battalions. The compositions of eleven more are unknown.

Unknown Regiments: the 25th Marik Militia is listed on the 3025 deployment tables, but not included in the regimental descriptions. Based on the 57 regiments given, I'll abstract it as containing .19 assault battalions.

Land-Air 'Mechs: the four known light regiments include 2.25 battalions of LAMs; if the other eleven are similar, they'd add another 6.2 battalions. The twelve known medium regiments include 1.67 battalions of LAMs; if the other eleven are similar, they'd add another 1.5 battalions. No heavy or assault regiments are noted to possess LAM battalions, and based on the 57 regiments given, I'll abstract the 25th Marik Militia as containing .2 LAM battalions.

This gives the FWL about 14 assault battalions (8 known and 6 more estimated). That's about 7.78% of the regiments claimed in HM:FWL, while assault 'Mechs are 6.8% of the FWL's annual production--pretty close. Based on that, the FWL's 11.8 LAM battalions (3.9 known plus 7.9 estimated) imply that at least 29 of the Stingers, Wasps and Phoenix Hawks built annually in the FWL are actually LAMs.

Page 115's production table doesn't list LAM variants explicitly the way it does Wolverine-Ms and Marauder-Ms, though, and the LexaTech entry in House Kurita: The Draconis Combine also hints at separating LAM production from BattleMech production. Pending how other Houses shake out, I think I'll peg the FWL at a little less than 12 assault battalions (34/500ths (ie, the production ratio) of its non-LAM battalions) and 12 LAM battalions (11.8/166ths (ie, the previously estimated ratio) of its non-assault battalions), and count LAM production as part of AeroSpace production:

FWL 3025: Regimental Compositions (part 1)

I've been wondering how to discuss the FWL's 3025 Regimental listings for weeks now. I can't keep putting it off if I ever want to get around to Lyran 'Mech production, though, so I'll just run through bare-bones observations.

To start with, the compositions of only 23 regiments (and 8 independent battalions) are described or can be inferred. We don't even know how many battalions the other regiments have, since the Capellans and Periphery (the only House books to consistently reach that level of detail) list some regiments as two battalions strong instead of three. (I should probably revisit that issue in the future.)

AeroSpace Weights

The weight listed for each regimental wing looks like it might be influenced by the weight of the regiment's battalions.

Assault Regiments (all two of them): heavy weight wings;
Heavy Regiments: mostly heavy or medium wings, only three (including one with an assault battalion) have a light wing;
Medium Regiments: split pretty evenly between heavy, medium and light;
Light Regiments: split pretty evenly between medium and light wings, with a slight (maybe insignificant) tendency for excessively light regiments to take light wings.

The single example wing has five Stingrays, two Cheetahs, and a recently captured Lyran Chippewa. (That recent action may be why the wing is at half strength.) Given the range of weights, I'd guess that each air lance would be rolled individually.

Infantry and Armor Support

Looking at the merc units, infantry support seems to be a prerequisite for tank support, in the same way that air support is a prerequisite for DropShips and DropShips are prerequisite for JumpShips. There's no telling just how much support is actually present, though.

(The Davion book lists these types of support for its merc units too, but it has exceptions to the Fighter - DropShip - JumpShip progression, and at a glance I see no pattern at all to its ground support.)


Next Time: the 'Mechs

FWL 3025 Manufacturing: AeroSpace Fighters

From left: 100-ton Rievers, 60-ton Stingrays, 25-ton Cheetahs

Based on my earlier figures, the Free Worlds League should have 1100 fighters attached to 'Mech units, and (assuming the same number per collar as for 'Mech units) perhaps another 380 attached to their navy. House Marik: The Free Worlds League (hereafter "HM:FWL") says eight factories build 325 per year. Modeling their outputs on the 'Mech production sites, I'd expect them to produce 90, 74, 58, 39, 33, 21, 6 and 4 fighters respectively.

• The six fighters from 1st edition AeroTech--the Sabre, Centurion, Lightning, Hellcat, Eagle and Thunderbird--are, by all accounts, common and manufactured in every Successor State. The "standard" 'Mechs from the 2nd edition set make up about 65% of the FWL's 'Mech production, so I imagine these six fighters constitute a similarly high percentage of the FWL's fighter production.
• The planets Westover and Lopez both have factories for the Stingray and the Riever (HM:FWL page 126). TR:3025 calls the Riever the FWL's "impressive mainstay" and the Stingray merely "common." Free Worlds Defense Industries (merger of Gibson Federated BattleMechs and Andurien Aerotech) is a larger corporation than Earthwerks despite building 70 fewer 'Mechs; aerospace production probably makes up the difference.
• The Helm asteroid belt has aerospace fighter bays (HM:FWL page 79); it's mentioned alongside both of Kali Yama's 'Mech plants, so I suspect it's also a Kali Yama production site.
• The planet Marik, in addition to being the military capital of the Free Worlds League, has an Imstar Aerospace facility (HM:FWL page 154). Imstar's light Cheetah is said to be Marik's standard fighter and is probably produced at other sites as well (TR:3025).
• The planet Atreus has an unnamed aerospace fighter production facility. (HM:FWL page 153)
• The planet Bordon, home of Allied Aerospace (from TR:3025), probably produces aerospace craft. (It was hit in the same deep raid which destroyed the "secret" factory on Ling; HM:FWL page 44.)
• The Principality of Regulus may have a Corsair factory (based on TR:3025). Given Regulus' share of the military, I'd expect such a facility to produce 18-26 fighters (not necessarily all Corsairs).

The regimental writeups (including merc battalions and extra Andurien wings) show roughly 2/7 of Marik's fighter formations to be light, 3/7 medium and 2/7 heavy. Can't say for sure if production weights break down the same way, but it's a starting point.

From left: 100-ton Thunderbirds or 75-ton Eagles,
60-ton Hellcats or 50-ton Lightnings, 30-ton Centurions or 20-ton Sabres