CLASSIC BATTLETECH CATALYST game labs

I apologize, yet again, for the lateness of this.  Again, a job fair, and then numerous applications has procurred my time.  But, I still got it done, and I did, if I don’t say so myself, a pretty good article.

The nations of the Periphery have long been proponents of vehicles.  They can be significantly cheaper and yet provide those nations with significant firepower.  It may seem that this week’s article is just going to be a repeat of the Podunk Militia article, but it isn’t.  Periphery nations have, they just don’t have a lot.  They have far more resources and probably a few more enemies (real or perceived).  Periphery nations are going to be able to have resources to devote to their vehicular forces.

So within this framework, we’re still covering a huge set of forces.  So let’s narrow things down.  We’re going to focus on the “Big 3,” meaning the Taurians, Canopians, and Marians.  They are the major ground players in the Periphery, the nations most likely to field large ground forces, and the only Periphery nations to manufacture their own vehicles, a fact we will look at in depth.  That’s why I’m doing the three of them, back to back to back.  And this week we’re starting with the Taurians.

Now then, we have our subjects  What do we know about the Taurians?  Well, they give us quite a vehicle lovers’ dream.  Every world has at least a battalion, many have a regiment, and a few even have multiple regiments.  But these aren’t any standard regiment.  These regiments are 50% bigger.  The reason is that a Taurian Armor Lance has six tanks arranged in three maniples of two.  The rest of the organization is the same, but a regiment of 162 tanks is a lot more firepower than one of 108.  They were also stated to have been receiving newer tech for longer than their mech counterparts.

As far as front-line forces go, the Taurians were equipped, at their peak on 1 January 3064, with thirty-eight companies of tanks, spread across nine different units.  Two of those units, the 1st and 2nd Taurian Lancers, have full 162 vehicle regiments integral to the unit.  The others vary in size, but the average is about a battalion of fifty-four vehicles.  So what we can take from the size of the Taurians?  They love their vehicles, that’s the key.  The Taurian Lancers are new units, and their inclusion of a regiment of vehicles as a core part of the unit from the inception of the unit tells us that they are recognizing their affinity for vehicles.

Now, as for their industrial might, the Taurians do have a good smattering of vehicles.  They’ve got numerous vehicle factories, as listed below.

Light SRM Carrier Plainsman Vedette Heavy Tracked APC Hunter Light Support Tank Maultier Hover APC    Tracked APC Hunter Light Support Tank

Pinard Pinard Pinard Sterope Sterope Sterope Sterope New Vandenberg

Pinard Protectorates Limited Pinard Protectorates Limited Vandenberg Mechanized Industries Taurus Territorial Industries Taurus Territorial Industries Taurus Territorial Industries Taurus Territorial Industries Vandenberg Mechanized Industries

It’s a nice smattering of vehicles, but it betrays a few clues to the Taurian vehicular mindset.  Thsoe vehicles are all low end, lighter, vehicles.  The Vedette is their biggest.  Most of the others are infantry support units.  The question is why?  The Taurians have always feared a Davion invasion.  Wouldn’t it make sense to get bigger vehicles to blunt the invasion?  And where are the expensive vehicles I talked about?  Or the upgraded vehicles that they supposedly received?

The answer is simple: they’re already there.  The vehicles on the RATs from FM:Periphery (and they’re the same as in FM:U) are all old vehicles.  Number seven on the assault chart is the Schrek.  Number seven on the heavy chart, the Manticore.  These are old vehicles.  And yes, the faction vehicles (Light SRM Carrier in our case) do appear, but aside from them, there is very little from beyond 3026.

What those vehicles also tell us is the reason for the light, and very specialized, vehicles.  The Taurians, and other periphery powers have no trouble getting big general vehicles.  A Manticore or Ontos will survive a battle to change hands.  Smaller stuff won’t.  The Taurians almost certainly have their quota of big stuff, hence their production for the small stuff.

The proponderance of APCs and other units suited to supporting infantry also makes sense given the history of the Taurians.  They are fanatical.  Their citizens are the most likely in the CBT universe to rise up against an invader.  Hordes of people are good, but hordes of people armed with mech scale weaponry and trasnported by APCs are much better, and the Taurians have plenty of APCs to choose from.

So when building a Taurian force, what are the key points to keep in mind?

• Lots of APCs of all types.
• Heavy use of old 3026 stuff.
• Limit newer equipment to Capellan stuff (the Zhukov
   and Po jump to mind) if you’re before 3067.  After that, you can bring in Davion stuff like the Musketeer.
• Include at least one Light SRM Carrier.  It’s a Taurian product, use it.  It’s cheap too.

That’ll get you a basic Taurian force, but of all the non-Clan factions I think the Taurians most would be dependent on the player to create the feel for them.  The Taurians are fanatical in the defense of their homeland.  If you are playing a Taurian as a defender, you really should get in character a little bit, because it is a much more defining characteristic than any smattering of vehicles.  It is the essence of being a Taurian.

The Gladius is not built in the Taurian Concordat.  It never has been.  That the Taurians had a fair number is noteworthy, but the number in Taurian service is very likely to have diminished a great deal by 3067, owing to great amounts of combat, and a non-existent replacement pool.

Don't have 3039 so I can't mention something I don't know.   While the J. Edgar is a good vehicle, it certainly does nothing to reduce the singular importance of Pinard to the Taurians though.

That's odd, because TRO:3039 makes it abundantly clear that the Rommel is a brand-new Lyran tank.  For the Taurians to get a factory up and running between 3039 and 3054 is impressive.