the shape of things to come

loads. The lower- to medium-size Protos can rival the fastest
and most maneuverable ’Mechs, and even the larger models
can move faster than battle armor. They can frequently be
equipped with ballistic weapons that rival scout ‘Mechs and
often have fl exibility to mount a wider variety of missile tubes.
Finally, the ProtoMech is much cheaper than a BattleMech,
making them an ideal replacement for scouting units, especially
those in second-line forces less likely to see combat.
Johnson: How much cheaper?
Anderson: After accounting for R&D costs, of course, our
cost analysis projects that most Protos would range from
500,000 to 800,000 kroner per unit, where most light ‘Mechs
fall well over 1 million kroner.
Shiffl ett: What about transporting units?
Anderson: A preliminary study found that more Protos
could fi t into a DropShip than BattleMechs, but the exact cost
or gain in number of units is still in the air. One of my engineers
thinks he could fi t eight Protos, two BattleMechs and
two fi ghters on a Leopard, but it’s too early to be sure.
Dolan: Expand that study. We need to push that forward.
What drawbacks do we face?
Chism: As noted earlier, pilots are the biggest issue. That’ll
be even harder than fi lling the battle armor demand. Protos
have an inherent limit on energy weapons because of their lack
of integral heat sinks on the engine. Our units would carry less
weaponry than Clan units, on a much more dramatic scale than
battle armor and ’Mechs, as well as much more limited selection.
The Clans have a variety of micro-scale weapons that we
really haven’t done any research on. They weren’t going to be of
much use on BattleMechs, nor would they be light enough to
really help out our battle armor troops. The recent development
of heavy and light machine guns gives us more choices, but the
fact that Clan missile systems are much lighter than ours limits
the number of tubes we can put on a unit versus what the Clans
do. Our energy weapons may be equal as far as number, but the
Clan versions are more effi cient and damaging, with better heat
management, so the advantage still goes to them.
Along with that, ammunition is usually much more limited,
with the standard ton of ammo being anywhere from eleven
to fi fty percent of the unit’s weight. Armor is an issue and
limbs are prone to destruction, but the eff ect is less damaging
than it is to battlesuits, and they’ll be cheaper to replace than
a BattleMech limb. Overall, I think the drawbacks are fewer
than the advantages.
McCoullagh: It seems like it. Any suggestions?
Siegfried: This might be a good time to try some of our experimental
equipment. Heck, we could mount a light PPC on
one of these things.
Johnson: Now, that might make anyone sit up and take
notice.
Dolan: That’s something we need, to keep us in the forefront.
I’ve got an overview from a marketing perspective. We’re
looking to target medium to large military forces. Small units
won’t have the resources to maintain a ProtoMech and aren’t
likely to want such specialized units.
Anderson: What if a small mercenary command wants to
form itself around Protos, like those Killer Bees and VTOLs? We
don’t want to cut ourselves short of any customers.
Dolan: No, if any customer approaches us, we’ll sell to
them.
Shiffl ett: …after the usual permissions, of course.
McCoullagh: Well, not the Word of Blake or the Fifth of May
or anything.
Dolan: Of course not. But we’re targeting our most likely
customers. We have to be effi cient with our advertising kroner
these days. We aren’t Defi ance, throwing money around when
we feel like it. We’ll want to start out with some recon units
and probably something like the Clans’ Roc, a versatile unit
with decent mobility. We want to focus on price. If we can offer
a fast scout unit and jack of all trades, both for the price of
a light ’Mech, a lot of customers will take the two units that together
can do both of their jobs better than one. An important
question we have is where to focus selling our ProtoMechs.
Siegfried: Well, fi rst we need to be sure we can—
Dolan: Yes, we aren’t going to get ahead of ourselves, but we
do need to plan ahead. Of course we’ll advertise in the Lyran
Alliance and also the Federated Suns. The Rim Commonality is
also a good candidate; we could work out a subsidy from the
Alliance for increasing the military of a border ally. A big question
is the Free Worlds League.
Chism: If anyone has the cash, they do.
Dolan: True, but their support of the Word of Blake is hampering
our sales and our raw material supply chain. Sales
thinks the Principality of Regulus and the Duchy of Andurien
are good markets to sell in and prevent Alliance fi nes. ComStar
seems likely.
Shiffl ett: What about the Trinity Alliance?
Dolan: As long as we don’t get into any more accounts payable
snafus like we had a few years ago. They aren’t on the
list of Lyran Alliance combatants right now. Sales doesn’t think
the Combine has the money or stable trade routes at the moment.
However, the trouble at Luthien Armor Works should
help us down the road.
McCoullagh: Sounds like our targets.
Dolan: Actually, we have one more potential customer.
Siegfried: Who? Not the Wobbies!
Dolan: The Nova Cats.
Shiffl ett: What? A Clan?
Dolan: They have advanced technology, but limited manufacturing
resources. They’re also likely the only potential customer
that can supply their own pilots.
Shifl ett: Apart from the Wolves on Arc-Royal.
McCoullagh: Well, that’s a good overview of our markets.
Let’s get to the action items for next week. Christine, get marketing
to do some prelim plans for the Alliance, FedSuns, Rim
Commonality and Free Worlds states. Dan, we need an update
on the cockpits and the advanced alloys—a timeline and how
it will impact the fi nal design. And we really need you to get a
more detailed study on pilots, especially how hard it will be to
attract volunteers and the cost of training.
Meanwhile, Aileen, look into that transportation issue. Our
customers will be interested in that. Quinn, I’d like you to get
some preliminary designs from Engineering. We don’t need
anything too detailed, just general specifi cations to see how
they’d stack up to existing designs.
How does that same time next month sound? Anybody
need more time? All right, hopefully we can come to a conclusion
for the Steering Committee by next quarter. Have a good
afternoon, everyone.
Siegfried: I’ll get minutes out fi rst thing next morning.
INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
BASICS
BATTLEMECH
CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRIALMECH
CONSTRUCTION
PROTOMECH
CONSTRUCTION
COMBAT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
SUPPORT VEHICLE
CONSTRUCTION
CONV. INFANTRY
CONSTRUCTION
BATTLE ARMOR
CONSTRUCTION
AEROSPACE UNIT
CONSTRUCTION
WEAPONS AND
HEAVY EQUIPMENT
INFANTRY WEAPONS
AND EQUIPMENT
COSTS AND
AVAILABILITY
BATTLE VALUE
INDEX
RECORD SHEETS
79